Apple Merges IPod Lines, Lowers Shuffle Price

Apple Computer today announced that it had merged the IPod and IPod Photo lines of its popular MP3 player. The decision to merge the lines is a way to streamline product offerings, Apple executives said.

"We are simplifying the lineup," Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of IPod product marketing, told Macworld.com. "We think it's a great next step--people have loved the color display, and to be able to make that available across the white IPod line is going to be an exceptional feature for our customers."

The new IPod lineup features a 20GB model, which holds up to 5,000 songs and is priced at $299, and a 60GB model, holding up to 15,000 songs and priced at $399. Apple is also offering a new 20GB U2 IPod, which will cost $329, and the company reduced the price of the 1GB IPod Shuffe to $129.

Through a software update available from Apple's Web site, IPods will now offer a Podcast menu, including bookmarking within a podcast and the ability to display podcast artwork in color. Podcasts are radio-style shows that you can download over the Internet and listen to either in ITunes or using an Apple IPod.

"The hardware/software integration is a strength our competitors can't match," said Joswiak.

Podcasting

Apple also today released ITunes 4.9, a new version of its digital music jukebox and music download store software for Mac OS X and Windows. The new release features the ability to browse and subscribe to podcasts.

The software has been released through Mac OS X's Software Update system preferences pane, and it is also available as a separate download from Apple's Web site. System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later, a 400MHz or faster G3 processor, QuickTime 6.2 or later, and 256MB of RAM. A broadband Internet connection is recommended for buying and streaming music.