So some new iPods came out yesterday..

Unless you were living in a cave yesterday you have more than surely noticed that every single line of iPods (minus the classics) were given an update.  This tells me one thing and that all iPods minus the touch are in serious sales declines.  Lets go over what the new ones have in store for us.

iPod Shuffle.  This reeks of we royally screwed up the last model but lets still make the damn thing smaller.  Sometimes being small is just bad news.  Recently my dog ate the chewing gum version and I wasn’t about to follow her around for it either.  Not too much of a loss as it was my wife’s and now she is more than content with Pandora on her phone.  So that leads to the question who or what is the market for this thing now?  With this one not being the only clip-able one now I do not see who will actually buy one of these now.  Even worse is how the shuffle interacts with iTunes, worse experience ever.

iPod Nano.  This reeks of how the hell do we make this one smaller??  I am going to be in the minority on this but I thought the 3rd gen (Fat Boy) is the best one of the bunch up until this one.  My current iPod is the aforementioned 3rd gen as I am a heavy runner and got it mainly for the Nike + integration way back in the day.  However, with this new model they have taken off their physical controls and went multi-touch on the display.   Plus they had to get rid of features (which I think is a first for any apple product) to make this thing smaller such as video playback and removal of the camera.  I have a feeling this will be the last Nano model that comes out since you can’t make the thing any smaller.  This will be a typical either you hate this or love it.  I will reserve judgment til I get my hands on one.  But being a runner I could see this one be a huge hit with the athletic crowd with it being clip-able and still having Nike + with the radio.

iPod Touch.  This reeks of actually nothing.  The iPod that accidently became a gaming machine is now soon to be equipped with more functionality in multiplayer gaming and even more kick ass games in the future.  In the technology sector has there been any other gadget that totally hit with the public in such a way that it wasn’t originally thought to be used for?  If there claims are true and that they outsell the DS and PSP combined then I am impressed.  This new version is lighter has Facetime and will be on par with the iPad in iOS land in the near future.  Unlike the rest of the iPod’s this one does have a future and it is bright.

So..  some new and improved iPods but the main story is that the writing is on the wall that the iPods we have loved true and dear are now on their last legs and the future will be in touch.  Iconic Click Wheel, you have served your purpose for the last decade.  May you click into the sunset.