If you have just bought an iPod, then you are in for a bit of bad news as Apple have announced updates to their ubiquitous iPod line of MP3 players, mainly regarding the iPod Nano and iPod Touch. As we warned before, it was highly expected that Apple would use the event today to announce new products, and it seems many of the rumours around the new iPod Nano turned out to be true.

I managed to keep up with the event via Gizmodo’s liveblog, which provided photos and text updates through the hour. So what did Apple show us today?

iTunes 8

iTunes has been hanging on to version 7 for a while now, and one of the biggest rumours leading up to today was a new version of iTunes being released, version 8. What’s new? Apart from a new visualizer (can I have it as a screen saver, Apple?), a new feature called Genius is meant to help you find music that “go great together”. For people with huge libraries, this could be a lot of help of getting some stuff organized for once. As for me, I am someone who doesn’t use playlists that much, or in fact at all, so I can’t really see this making much of a difference to me in any way. Also updated is a new view which presents your album covers like iPhoto or iMovie skimming, where you swipe the mouse over the Artist or Genre to see album covers inside. There is something about this view which for now makes it feel as though it doesn’t really fit in iTunes, but it may just need some getting used to.

iPod Nano

As Kevin Rose had predicted (or received in a leak) the iPod Nano has reverted from its old, fatter design back to the taller one we knew before, coming in a variety of colours, and with a new, curved design (much like what is going on with the back of the iPhone, or the tapering of the MacBook Air). Also, we have seen new features such as an accelerometer so that when you turn the Nano, it will also turn what is on screen, useful for Cover Flow mode and more importantly watching videos and movies, as the screen is now taller. Also included is an update to the iPod OS with Genius, the feature seen in iTunes which recommends music to you, rather like a Pandora or Last.fm of your iTunes Library. Another feature, although maybe viewed as more of a gimmick by many, is the ability to shake the device, which uses the accelerometer to turn shuffle mode on. In my eyes, that isn’t really a selling point, but I am sure in some way to some people that will be handy.

Another change comes in the capacity of the Nano: You can now get 8GB and 16GB versions of the device, coming in at £109 and £149 respectively. This is a welcome addition to the line of iPods.

iPod Touch

The smaller brother of the iPhone, the iPod Touch has also received some updates, although not as massive as seen on the Nano. The second generation of the device is now even smaller and lighter than it’s predecessor, and includes a speaker, hardware volume control buttons (much wanted by existing Touch owners) and intergration of Genius from iTunes into software 2.1. Also included into the new Touch is Nike + iPod support, a technology which helps you with your workouts, which helps you track your progress during exercise. Oh, and the prices have been dropped slightly on the Touch, now coming in 8, 16 and 32 GB sizes at £169, £219, and £289.

What else?

Well, Apple decided that the iPod classic needed some love and upgraded the 80GB model to 120GB, but in doing so also dropped the 160GB model. Not too sure what to make of that move. And to (presumably) avoid a mass server flood, the iPhone 2.1 software, which has been described as having a multitude of fixes for bugs in iPhone OS X, and helping battery life, poor call quality, crashes and other random annoyances that have plauged the iPhone 2.0 OS since it’s release.

It seems that the 120GB Zune was let out a bit early recently as a lucky shopper in Atlanta, USA got their hands on a brand new Zune, as well as providing the receipt and some unboxing pics to prove his luck. It will cost $250, which isn’t bad when you consider that an 80GB iPod classic costs $249.

Now that the September 9th event has been confirmed, we are just waiting too see whether the rumoured new iPod designs and iTunes 8 will be released. As a result, you may want to wait before the 9th if you plan on buying a new iPod with the Back to School promotion, which ends on the 15th September. No one quites knows what to expect, but if it’s any bet, the iPod Touch and iPod Nano will probably be updated, as well as a new version of iTunes to be expected. So wait until after the 9th to avoid any possible dissapointment.

Banding around the internet is a revival of the long standing rumour that Apple will be releasing a subscription based music service for its iTunes Store. The specific iteration rumoured this time would be called ‘iTunes Unlimited’, this comes from several Apple rumour sites, including TUAW, who were tipped by anonymous email recently.

The insider suggests that for $129.99 (or $99 with a current MobileMe subscription) customers would ”buy unlimited music access for one year”, allowing you to play it on your computer or iPod/iPhone. But, does this allow you to keep the music you’ve purchased with the subscription service (bearing in mind you’ve already put it in your iPod)? Apparently not, but this isn’t too clear. Apparently the option to “buy and keep” would “replace the subscription version of a song with a downloaded version” and both the subscription and full download version of the song would be encoded with at least 256 Kbps- this starts to sound slightly like iTunes movie rentals. So, surely, if Apple did it with movies… they’d do it with music, right? Probably wrong.

Whenever I see rumours like this, I instantly remember the infamous video of the MacWorld 2003 launch of the iTunes Store. Steve Jobs absolutely slated subscription music services saying

“These services treat you like a thief….. we think subscriptions are the wrong path…. people have bought their music for as long as we can remember…. people want to buy their music on the internet by buying downloads just like they bought LPs, just like they bought cassettes and just like they bought CDs.”

And indeed, almost every profitable online music service today favours a buy and keep system rather than a subscription system. However, times have changed, especially in the world of online music. Despite it only being released 5 years ago, the iTunes Store has catapulted from its inception to worldwide dominance. The question is: has Steve Jobs changed?

Credit to http://resnet.ucsc.edu/besmart/filesharing/

As has been rumoured for a number of weeks in online and print media a group of the biggest Internet service providers (ISPs) in the UK have signed up to a ’Memorandum of Understanding’ drawn up by the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR). This treaty of sorts between ISPs, the Government and the British Phonographic Industry (which acts to serve the interests of the ‘big 4′ music labels in Britain) comes after Virgin Media admitted that it had sent several hundred ‘warning letters’ to customers whom, it had been deemed, had obtained songs illegally on their internet connection.

Unsurprisingly many customers who had received these letters from Virgin, such as this man, began claiming that they hadn’t illegally downloaded the songs Virgin Media said they had and furthermore that they were extremely taken aback by being accused of such an infringement of copyright.

This first attempt at a ‘warning letter’ scheme clearly shows the faults the system would have on a wide scale. Sending a letter of this nature to customers will obviously cause them considerable discontent with the ISP, whether they did perpetrate the crime and are annoyed that their ISP has effectively been ’snooping’ upon their internet usage or whether they didn’t download the songs in the first place, ultimately this looks set to contribute to the ISP losing subscribers (this being the main reason most ISPs have been reluctant to join such a scheme). Another incredibly obvious yet key problem is that in the age of WiFi networks and Foneros it is always a possibility that someone is piggybacking on an unwitting customers network and maintaining illegal activities without their knowledge.

This week, despite numerous causes for concern from all sides, the ‘understanding’ which certifies that ISPs will not only commit to a “significant reduction” in music file-sharing in the UK but also help develop legal music services was signed by BT, TalkTalk, BSkyB, Orange, Tiscali and Virgin Media.It has also been announced that regulation and future amendments to the ‘memorandum’ will be overseen by Ofcom.

To me, the idea of British internet providers attempting their own content delivery services on a large scale when giants like Universal have failed to make a significant mark upon iTunes gargantuan market share seems preposterous, it also veers on being monopolistic. However, there are intriguing whispers of a different method of collecting royalties from users who download music illegally. The Times reports that Ofcom may introduce an annual download tax, similar to TV licensing. This move however would beg the questions: ‘what do those of us who buy content perfectly legally online do?’ and ‘how would this system be policed?’.

Thankfully, there is one glimmer of hope coming from this ongoing crusade against internet users. Several ISPs have made it clear that there was “absolutely no possibility” of them disconnecting alleged pirates from the Internet.

You may ask why I think this a good thing and from it you may assume that I ‘obtain’ my music, but as something of a very small-time artist myself I appreciate the value of music and do pay for all I download. Having said this I wouldn’t be too surprised if I ended up getting my very own warning letter from my ISP, despite zealous protection of my network, and I, like everyone else, wouldn’t want to be disconnected and blacklisted for something I simply didn’t do (or indeed because the ISP or the BPI made a mistake).

We have created a poll on the right in the sidebar too see how many people fileshare and how many steer clear. Take your vote now or leave a comment.