The littlest of the family, the iPod shuffle, saw the least change. The screenless iPod is now available in new muted shades of blue, green, purple, silver and Product Red.

The shuffle remains $79 for 1 gigabyte.

Increasing in size, the iPod nano saw a new design focused around a larger screen, allowing Apple to add video playback on the nano. The eight-gigabyte nano got the same new color treatment, with the addition of a black model. Its graphic user interface now incorporates album art and animated ‘cover flow’ browsing, which lets users scroll through album art to select what they want to listen to.

New pricing offers double the storage at the same cost: $149 now buys four gigabytes, and $199 buys eight gigabytes.

Apple dubbed the traditional iPod the iPod classic. Its case got a slight redesign, and it has the same new user interface as the nano. It comes in black or silver.

The iPod classic focuses on increased storage, too. Consumers can chose from an 80 gigabyte model or a 160 gigabyte model, which can hold about 40,000 songs – roughly 111 days of nonstop music. Price points remain at $249 and $349, respectively.

The eight-gigabyte iPhone’s price dropped from $599 to $399, and the four-gigabyte model is only available while supplies last. Apple is offering $100 of store credit to iPhone buyers who paid the original price.

‘That certainly softens the blow, because there’s always things that I need to buy, including more storage or more software, so that’s really great,’ said Derrick Cogburn, assistant professor of information studies at Syracuse University.

Cogburn said he waited in line the day of the iPhone’s release to purchase one.

‘Being in IT and knowing the market fairly well, I was really surprised that that would happen so quickly and so deep,’ he said.

In with the new

Apple announced a new device in its lineup called the iPod touch. The touch, which ships Sept. 28, resembles an iPhone but does not have phone capabilities.

With a 3.5 inch touch screen and Wi-Fi internet connection, it features all of the multimedia and Web surfing functionality of the iPhone. The touch will be available in eight-gigabyte form for $299 and a 16-gigabyte form for $399.

With the iPod touch and iPhone, Cogburn said Apple is ‘making the move into more mobile computing, where more and more functionality is being pushed to these little handheld devices, and it’s not just…a portable music and video player.’

He was surprised that an e-mail application will not be available on the touch.

Cogburn said he is excited about the Apple’s final announcement on Sept. 5. Both the iPhone and iPod touch will have access to the upcoming iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.

The mobile version of Apple’s digital music store will allow users to purchase and download songs directly on their devices. Through a partnership with Starbucks, the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store can be used to purchase the song playing at participating Starbucks locations.

‘And most of us love Starbucks in one way or another,’ Cogburn said.

Reactions

‘They’re pretty hot,’ freshman Mary Cappabianca said. She and her friends Tracy Kendrot and Kyle Fahey, also freshmen, were browsing the Apple Store Saturday evening at the Carousel Center Mall, where the new iPod classic, nano and shuffle are available to try and are in stock for purchase.

Kendrot said she liked the new colors more than the previous generation of iPods.

‘Purple’s my favorite,’ she said while turning over a new nano in her hands at the store.

‘I think they’re too small,’ Fahey said. The three had mixed opinions about the shuffle and agreed that the not-yet-release iPod touch is ‘the coolest.’

‘There’s really not another player that comes close, and there’s certainly not another company that has the vertical market integration that Apple does,’ Cogburn said.

He said the pricing and variety of devices is Apple’s way of saying, ‘We have something for everybody at every price point, and depending on what your mobile computing needs are, we’ve got a product for you.’

An Apple public relations representative said the company couldn’t comment on how the company feels the new iPods affect or target college students.