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| Apple’s new iPod nano |
Every fall, Steve Jobs entices you to take a bite of the Apple. Traditionally, the company announces its new products in September. And as usual, the apples are so lush that you end up buying.
This year is no different. Back from a six-month medical leave, Jobs left everyone stunned with a new iPod nano and massive price cuts on other products. This now makes the gadget affordable for most people in India, who were earlier cribbing about the high price of Apple’s music player.
The iPod nano is so popular that over 100 million units have been sold worldwide so far. So, Apple thought it worthwhile to improve it further. The new iPod nano comes with a 2.2-inch display that lets you take videos on the move, capturing the sound as well.
What’s more, 15 types of video effect let you add originality to your clip. Just scroll through, choose the effect you want — such as film grain or motion blur — and start recording. When you’re done, sync the iPod nano to your computer and iPhoto. Then email your masterpiece to your friends or post it on YouTube or Facebook.
Another great feature that most people wanted was FM. If they could have the radio on their phones, why could they not have it on the iPod? Apple listened to the complaints and the nano now has FM. I have yet to test the product, but my sources at Apple gave me a great description of what the radio can do.
You can pause your live FM broadcast for up to 15 minutes. Listen to what you missed and fast forward to the live broadcast again. Say there is a song you like, but have no clue about the name or the artiste. You can use the Click Wheel on the iPod nano to tag the song. iTunes creates a list of all your tagged songs so that you can easily preview them when you sync your iPod nano to iTunes.
Apple should have allowed you to purchase the song too. It does so in other countries, but in India the App Store is closed to songs and films. You are only allowed to buy applications for your iPhone and iPod Touch. You visit the App Store through iTunes to buy applications.
For those who do not know, iTunes is a free programme with which all iPods and iPhones interact to load songs and movies into your device. iTunes too has been upgraded to version 9. I have used it and I think it has two great features.
One is iTunesU. This is a boon for students. You will find lectures given by great professors on any subject of your choice. Some of these come with a price tag, but many are free.
The second is home sharing. Earlier, I found it a hassle to share apps for my iPhone with my nephew or brother. I would have to log in to iTunes with their password and then download the app into my phone. Now with home sharing all you have to do is click on “home sharing” on the left panel of iTunes, put in you password and simply drag the song, movie or app into your computer.
Here are the Indian maximum retail prices for the new range of iPods. The new iPod nano is available in an 8GB model for Rs 9,400 and a 16GB model costs Rs 11,200. It comes in nine brilliant colours — silver, black, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, red and pink.
The iPod shuffle 2GB model comes for just Rs 3,700 and a 4GB model for Rs 4,800. Both models come in silver, black, pink, blue and green
The 8GB iPod touch is now available for just Rs 12,400, the iPod touch 32GB model for Rs 18,400 and the 64GB model for Rs 24,400.
Sadly, iPhone prices in India have not dropped. Only the software has been upgraded to version 3.1.
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