Review: New iPods deliver the goods

By Marc Saltzman

It's easy to become complacent when you're no. 1.

But Apple -- responsible for the most popular brand of MP3 players since 2001 -- isn't resting on its laurels.

We got our hands on the three new iPod models announced last week, and now available in Canada nationwide, and while more evolutionary than revolutionary, all three offer bang for your buck with new features, more capacity and new colours.

Here's a quick look at each one:

iPod nano

The biggest advancement in the new Apple line-up is in with the iPod nano, the best-selling portable music player on the planet. Appealing to the YouTube generation, the new nano adds a convenient video camera -- which shoots surprisingly clear video -- viewable on its larger 2.2-inch screen or once transferred to a computer via a USB cable (included). The nano is also the first iPod to (finally) include an FM radio, which also supports station presets, tagging ("bookmark" a song to later preview on iTunes) and the ability to pause for up to 15 minutes. While you can hear your digital music through the nano's teeny new speaker, the radio requires earbuds as it doubles as an antennae. Also new is a built-in pedometer to count your steps while walking. Available in nine colours and with a polished aluminum finish, the iPod nano sells for $169 (8GB) or $199 (16GB).

iPod shuffle

The world's smallest MP3 player, and the first one that talks to you, is now available in five colours and at a reduced price. The iPod shuffle is now available for $69 (2GB; 500 songs) or $89 (4GB; 1000 songs), and comes in silver, black, blue, pink or green. A tiny clip lets you attach the lightweight player to your clothing or belt, while all the controls are on the earbud cord: play, pause, volume, playlist access and the awesome VoiceOver feature. In case you haven't heard this yet, at anytime you can press and hold the small bump on the cord and you'll hear a synthetic voice tell you the name of the song, artist and playlist (after all, there's no screen to read this information; this feature is also great for the seeing impaired). As the name suggests, you can also choose to shuffle the songs, which randomly plays tunes from your library.

iPod touch

Finally, the iPod touch -- a gateway to the amazing App Store with more than 75,000 downloadable applications to choose from -- now starts at $219 for the older 8GB version, as well as newer models for $329 (32GB) or $429 (64GB). The newer iPod touch models look the exact same as the previous models except it's now roughly twice as fast to launch and run apps compared to its predecessor (while Apple refused to confirm, it's likely a comparable processor to the one found in the faster iPhone 3G S smartphone). The new touches also offer better-looking 3-D graphics (read: games)  thanks to support for Open GL ES 2.0. As with previous versions, the iPod touch rocks a gorgeous 3.5-inch touch-screen, integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, accelerometer (tilt sensor) and speaker.