Intro: On Wednesday, September
5, Apple announced a new product, the iPod touch. In this podcast we take a look at the itouch.
Mike:
Gordon, the itouch is not available yet - you've done a little research
- if you had to describe the device in a few words how would you
describe?
The iPod touch is
basically an iPhone without the phone. It comes in two storage sizes
– there is a 8 Gigabyte version for $299 and a 16 Gigabyte
version for $399. I've written about the iPhone and storage
capacity in the past - as a rough guideline, 1 Gigabyte of storage
space will hold approximately 250 songs or 45 minutes of video.
The
iPhone requires a 2 year AT&T contract while the iPod touch idoes not
require any cellular contracts. You buy it and use it as you would a
classic iPod.
Gordon: Mike - the products appear to be similar and you have an iPhone - can you describe wireless connectivity?
In addition to allowing
you to listen to music and watch video the iPod touch has built in
wireless WiFi functionality and can be used for Internet access in
any area where there is WiFi availability. Places that provide free
WiFi access include most college campuses, libraries, some coffee
shops, restaurants, etc. Many of you probably have WiFi in your homes
now, with services provided by companies like Verizon and Comcast
Gordon: How about web browsing?
The iPod touch has a similar 3.5-inch widescreen display that the iPhone has
allowing you to surf the web, watch videos, TV shows and view photos. The iPod touch's screen appears to be of a slightly higher quality than the iPhone, with 163 pixels per inch to the iPhone's 160 pixels per inch.
For web browsing, and
like the iPhone, it comes with the Safari web browser. If you have
not had a chance to "surf? the web with an iPhone (or
iPod touch) the next time you are in the mall stop in the Apple store
and give it a try with one of the display models. I think you will be
very impressed.
Mike: I know you are impressed with the user interface - can you describe?
If you currently own an
iPod you are familiar with the click wheel interface that you use to
select, play, fast forward, etc. The iPod touch does not have a click
wheel, it has the same multi-touch screen interface as the iPhone. It
does not take long to get used to the multi-touch interface. You can
do all the things you can do with the click wheel and also use simple
hand motions like pinching, flicking and flipping to do things like
zoom in on websites, scroll though music lists and flip through album
covers. Once I tried multi-touch I was hooked.
Gordon: How about some differences when compared to the iPhone?
Mike: And how about iTunes - any news on where Apple is going with it?
Also if you own an iPod
you are familiar with the process of purchasing songs and video from
the iTunes store. The songs are purchased from the store using your
computer. The iPod is then connected to your computer with a cable
and the purchases are downloaded to the iPod. When the downloads are
complete you disconnect the cable and can now listen to and watch the
music and videos you purchased on your iPod. I've always found
this process cumbersome but it looks like it will get easier soon.
Later this month Apple plans to launch a Wi-Fi version of the iTunes
store. This means you will be able to purchase and download music
directly from the iTunes music store using an iPhone or iPod touch.
You will be able to find what you're looking for, preview it,
buy it and download it directly to the to either of these devices. If
you own a classic iPod (with a click wheel) you will still have to
use the computer and cable to make purchases and downloads.
