Eric Dahl

The Touch is certainly an amazing piece of technology. Mobile Safari is the best portable Web browser around, Cover Flow works great on a device with limited storage capacity, and the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is extremely slick for a first-generation product.

Almost every feature of the iPhone has now made it over to the iPod Touch. The Touch is available in 8GB ($299), 16GB ($399), and 32GB ($499) capacities. At 0.31 inch deep, it's substantially thinner than the iPhone, but it has the same 802.11b/g wireless support. In addition, it features the same 3.5-inch Multitouch screen with 480-by-320-pixel resolution. The single button on its face brings up the main menu; a small button on top of the device turns the unit on and off.

The first thing you'll notice about the new Windows Media Player is how streamlined the interface is. Microsoft went for a much less cluttered look with this revision, playing off some of its design goals for Windows Vista, and I certainly like the result.

Instant Search is the star of Media Player 11. Even when dealing with large libraries, the search feature is amazingly fast, updating as you type each letter of your search query to help you quickly drill down through your music collection to find exactly the song, artist, or album you want. The speed of the search function helps make it a primary tool for navigating your media library, allowing Microsoft to streamline Media Player's interface further and to focus on a clean, engaging look.