CONSUMER
Apple launches new iPod
19-07-2004
by Craig Liddell
The long-awaited new iPod was finally launched by Apple on Monday, as the unit contributed significantly to the company's bottom line.
A key feature of the fourth-generation iPod is the removal of the buttons that sat under its screen. These have been moved to lie around the wheel used to navigate through menus, an innovation copied from the iPod Mini.
Another welcome change is a boost to battery life. The new model can last up to 12 hours, by contrast to eight hours on the previous models.
Two other features added to iPod, which claims to hold approximately 50 percent of the digital music player market, are direct access to the iTunes on-line music store and Shuffle Songs, which gives users the opportunity to randomly plays songs in a selected playlist or their entire music collection.
iPod features Apple's Auto-Sync technology that automatically downloads an entire digital music library onto iPod and keeps it up-to-date whenever it is plugged into a Mac or Windows computer using FireWire or USB. Users can transfer two songs per second from their Mac or Windows computer and can now charge iPod with either the included FireWire or USB cable.
The unit has had a dramatic effect on Apple's bottom line. On 14 July, the company announced that third-quarter profits had trebled from the corresponding quarter a year ago to USD61 million, with 860,000 iPods being shipped, a 183 percent increase in over the year-ago quarter.
In Ireland, the new 20GB iPod model will cost EUR339 and the 40GB model will be EUR449.
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