Product: music player
Price: €319
With the latest range of iPod devices that boast not only music but also a cool place to store all your digital photos, Apple is working overtime to ingrain itself firmly in the zeitgeist of the 21st-century digital society. Not only is the device a reservoir for your digital assets but with the 4.9 version of iTunes it is positioning itself to be the conduit for latest digital media trend — podcasting — radio-style programmes you can download that cover topics ranging from amateur to professional personal audio journals. Think of it as blogging with sound.
What Apple also appears to realise is the growing democratisation of technology in terms of pricing. The future of technology, it believes, does not lie in the hands of cash-rich thirtysomething professionals but in devices that are reasonably priced for anyone with an inclination to pursue, but also extremely sophisticated for both the beginner and the perfectionist. A price tag of €319 (incl Vat) for the 20GB colour iPod (capable of storing more than 5,000 songs) is a major breakthrough if you consider less than a year ago an iPod Mini with storage of only 4GB (storing about 1,000 songs) would have set you back around €260. The parameters are narrowing and it’s all good news for the consumer.
The catchphrase “everything looks better in colour” is one Apple is using to good effect to promote this current range of iPod devices. It wasn’t initially apparent to this journalist how I could transfer photos to the iPod and the good old-fashioned way of reading the manual promoted me to transfer about 12 or 13 digital images to the device within seconds and the resolution on the screen is impressive. The device is set up to enable the seamless transferral of images between your computer and any digital camera. This is made all the more impressive when you can play all your digital photos as a slideshow on any television anywhere by connecting the device through a headphone jack.
Using the latest range of colour iPods is an experience that guarantees to prove intuitive to any seasoned iPod user with a familiar look and feel. New iPod users will find the latest iPods to be a more welcoming and engaging experience than their monochrome predecessors.
By John Kennedy
