Tech Shout!

On Tuesday, apple announced a new refresh in its collection of iPods that include the iPod, the Nano and the Shuffle. The latest iPod will feature a 60-percent brighter screen alongwith an enhanced video playback time of 3.5 hours, which is approximately 1.5 hours more than the present iPod. In addition, Apple will also be launching a greater capacity iPod that is embedded with an internal 80 GB hard drive that can play video for 6.5 hours.

The iPod Nano will also be pepped up. Apple today announced that the iPod Nano will now be all aluminum and available in various colors. At present, the iPod Nano is made of plastic and was previously reported to be easily scratched. Available colors for the new iPod Nano are green, silver, black, blue and pink. Apple will be making the new iPod Nano in three flavors: 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. The 2GB iPod Nano will only be available in silver color.

2GB: $149 - Silver only
4GB: $199 - All colors except black
8GB: $249 - All colors

The new iPod Nanos will come with a new charger, armband and new lanyard. Apple claims that the new Nano will be able to play for roughly 24 hours non stop.

Apart from the new iPods, Apple will be releasing new software for the small players as well. New generation software will include such features as gapless playback, searching, and a host of new games: Bejeweled, Pac Man, Texas Holdem, Tetris, Mahjong and others. Users will also be able to purchase games for their iPods off of iTunes for $4.99 per game.

Apple’s iPod Shuffle will also receive a refresh. The Shuffle has been reduced in size to roughly the size of the iPod radio remote. The iPod Shuffle’s body is now metal and comes in only a 1GB version for $79. Apple said that the new Shuffle will ship in October 2006.