New Apple iPods promise to rock music world

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The new iPod Shuffle comes in five colors with 2GB capacity and sells for $49.

The new sixth generation iPod Nano has gone through a more radical makeover. The signature click wheel has been replaced by a multi-touch enabled screen. Also gone is the 2.2-inch screen – now the Nano has a smaller 1.54-inch screen. Like the new Shuffle, the new Nano also has an aluminium casing and a built-in clip along besides hardware buttons for hold and volume controls. The new Nano also features FM radio. However, Apple has ditched the voice recorder functionality and video camera that were present in fifth generation Nano.

The new iPod Nano comes in a square shape and will be available in seven different colors, including a Product (RED) version. The 8GB model is priced at $149 while the 16GB model is priced at $179.

But the biggest change was seen in the most popular iPod, the iPod Touch. The device is thinner and sleeker and now includes many iPhone 4-like features, including a high resolution (960x640 pixels) "retina" display, A4 1GHZ processor, 3-axis gyroscope motion control and front and rear facing cameras. While the rear facing camera can record videos in HD, the front facing camera supports video calling and can capture VGA photos. However, like the iPhone 4, the new iPod Touch will be able to support video calling only over Wi-Fi network.

And, most importantly, the new Touch comes with an improved battery life - it supports up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback on, yes, a single battery charge!

The new iPod Touch will sell for $229 (8GB), $399 (32GB) and $399 (64GB).

All the new models of iPods are up for pre-orders beginning today and will be available from next week.

Apple also refreshed the iTunes music store by giving it a new look (logo) and adding a new social networking feature called Ping. With Ping, iTune users can now track the music selections of their friends and artists they are interested in.

Ping users will also be able to follow bands and get updates on their new releases, concert tours and other events.

"Ping is for social music discovery. It's a social network all about music," Jobs said. "You can follow people and you can be followed." Ping also comes with privacy controls that allow you to choose your followers.

The iPods and the iTunes have always played an important role in Apple's business growth.

To date, Apple has sold over 275 million iPods since first introducing the device in 2001. And even though the iPod showed signs of reaching market saturation in Apple's fiscal third quarter - Apple said in its fiscal third quarter it sold 9.4 million iPods in the period, an 8 percent decline from the year ago period and the fifth straight quarterly decline - revenue from iPod sales climbed 4 percent year-on-year to $1.55 billion. Besides being the most popular MP3 player in the world, the iPod, viz. iPod Touch is also the most popular hand-held gaming console in the world beating the likes of Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation, according to Apple.

And, playing a major role in the success of the iPod is the iTunes music store.

According to The NPD Group, it is music not apps that have made iTunes so successful. Though nine out of ten iPhone or iPod users are downloading at least one free application, NPD said 56 percent of iTune buyers shop for music while the majority of iTune users spend search time looking for music. NPD also said iTunes accounted for 28 percent of all US music purchases and 70 percent of all digital sales in the first quarter.

Apple also said in February iTunes store has sold over 10 billion songs since its founding.

Shares of the Cupertino, California-based company were trading up 0.66 percent at $251.99 during pre-market hours on Thursday. They closed up 2.97 percent at $250.33 on Wednesday.