With the onslaught of iPod changes, it’s easy to get confused as to what’s new, and what’s different – especially now that old iPhone users get $100 credit – a free or nearly free iPod (some models).

THE SHUFFLE

The shuffle is perfect for someone who flat out wants the smallest, least obtrusive thing to listen to music with. The Shuffle is limited to about 240 songs (1 GB) music ONLY.* It is literally about 1″ by 1″ and not much thicker than 4 quarters stacked. It is tiny. It’s perfect for exercising since there’s no screen to distract you. It’s perfect if you know exactly your couple hundred favorite songs and don’t need to see the name or artist. It’s the perfect gender-neutral extravagant gift that’s not really all that spendy (@$79) and you’re giving them an iPod! The downside is there is no screen and the included charger requires a USB connection (& a computer) – though you can buy an optional 3rd party wall charger.

The SHUFFLE also has a setting to lower the bitrate so you can fit more music.

DIFFERENCE between New & Old SHUFFLE?

Nothing really except the colors:

OLD COLORS – bright and fluorescent-ish

NEW COLORS – pastel-ly

Note, the new SHUFFLES also come in the Global Funds to Fight AIDS in Africa RED – only available from Apple’s retail & online stores.

*Technically, you can load an audiobook if you know how to fool the SHUFFLE into think it’s a music track and you turn off the “shuffle” feature.

The “older” colors are still available at Amazon – just follow the link and click on COLOR NAME to see what other older colors are still available.

The NEW 2nd Generation: Silver, Blue, Green, and Purple.

THE NANO

The Nano is the smaller choice with less capacity iPod. It also has a flash drive so better for exercising and general jostling is fine since there are no moving parts. It takes the Nike + iPod Sport Kit in which a sensor in your shoe transmits and stores data to your iPod – giving you encouragement through voice or music cues – back home, you can download and track your performance day to day and over longer periods.

The Nano is a tradeoff from the massive storage of the previous “video ipods,” now-called “iPod Classic.” If you don’t have the need to store up to 40,000 songs or around 150 full length movies … the Nano screen is now video capable but slightly smaller than the “iPod Classic,” a 2″ screen versus a 2.5″ screen. The iPod Nano is either @$149 or $199.

OLD NANO:

NEW NANO:

Differences?

WHOA, NELLY!

A huge gulf of differences. For one, now – small and wide versus small and rectangular. Color changes (other than black & silver) are also more pastel-ly than bright fluorescent colors.

Available in 4GB & 8 GB versions.

If you only store songs – about 1,000 songs for the 4 GB versions & 2,000 songs for the 8GB version. Keep in mind a typical movie is about 1 GB and for most typical digital cameras, a photo at max resolution is about 1 MB so maybe 3 photos equals 1 Mp3 song (though with a 2″ screen, you can certainly squeeze a typical photo down to about 100 KB so photo storage shouldn’t be a major factor).

Now with VIDEO & PHOTOS!

Now with GAMES!

Now with Cover Flow (link to Apple demo QT movie).

Screen 2″ 320-by-240-pixel resolution (same as previous & current “video” iPods) though you can store movies at the the iTunes store resolution of H.264 – up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second.

Can output video to TV’s.

Battery Life – 24 Hours Audio, 5 Hours, Video.

Comes with dock adapter.

Actual Size: 2.75 inches high by 2.06 inches wide & 0.26 inch in depth.

Weight: 1.74 ounces.

The same?

Scratch resistant, music, audiobooks and as before – you still can sync a calendar & contact/address book info but you can only make changes on your computer. No real input possibilities. You can also add text files.

NOTE

No longer available in the 2GB version so if you’re looking for a silver nano with a color screen and can live without photos or video, better hurry! The following “old Nanos” are still listed at Amazon (Silver 2 GB, Green 4 GB, Pink 4 GB, Blue 4 GB, Silver 4 GB, and Black 8 GB.

The new “video Nanos” are available: Green 8 GB, Blue, Black and Silver.

There is a also a RED version only at Apple or Apple’s online store.

The IPOD CLASSIC

Previously known as the “video ipod” are the the deck of cards comparison-in-size iPods. They have massive storage – either 80 GB or 160 GB and a 2.5″ screen. This is the shape that you are familiar with as the one iPod consistent over the years though it has changed quite a bit if you set them side by side. This was the model that could do it all – in addition to music, podcasts, audiobooks, it could playback movies, video and photos. Prior, this was the only iPod that you could add additional games to. This was the top-of-line iPod and if you are looking for massive storage – even as a portable hard drive, this is your choice. If you measure price for storage, this is your best value iPod.

OLD:

NEW:

What’s different?

The main thing if you are traditionalist is there is no white version of an iPod anymore – the only two colors are silver & black. The storage has changed from 30 Gb & 80 GB to 80 GB & 160 GB. There are some interface and navigation improvements including the addition of “Cover Flow,” but the overall changes are very minor in appearance – though it is now all metal. However, while it is still the largest available storage and hard drive iPod, it might have ceded its top-of-the-line status to the flashier “iPod Touch.”

The same?

All the previous features are carried over including the 2.5″ screen.

The two links above are for the 160 GB iPod Classic, the silver 80 GB and black 80 GB are here.

THE IPOD TOUCH

The all-new and presumably new flagship iPod (though unlike previous flagship iPods, the drive storage on these new iPods are only 10% as much as the iPod Classics).

This is basically the iPhone without the phone portion.

It’s actually slightly smaller than the iPhone in length and thinner. The earpiece connector is at the bottom and you can send output to a TV.

The iPod Touch is basically a widescreen video iPod with WiFi capabilties.

The following features of the iPhone which are available with WiFi, EDGE or 3G are only available under WiFi with the iPod Touch:

Stocks
Google Maps
Weather
Notes
Mail
Safari
iTunes Store
YouTube

And of course, these features are not available at all

SMS Text & of course, using it as a Mobile Phone.

And of course, now you have access to 90-95% of the apps on the iTunes store – only a few that require features of the iPhone are not available to you.

Available in 8 GB version, 16 GB version & 32 GB version.

Students who buy a new Mac also get a “free/after rebate” 8GB iPod Touch before September 15, 2008.

Apple’s Guided Tour of the iPod Touch.

iTunes 7.x Download (note, if you don’t check the send me email boxes, you can leave the email box blank – how about that!)

Our Ringtone Guide

NOTE: NONE of the photos above are in scale to each other.

This might give you a more realistic comparison: