What's new in the family?

A new word has appeared on the internet – iPerbole, a variation of hyperbole that's defined by the Urban Dictionary website as "the overly big deal made over Apple iPod products".

Apple's new-generation iPods, launched in the US a few weeks ago with all the usual hoopla, have hit the shelves in Dubai and each of the four models has been revamped to a greater or lesser degree.

So should you be thinking about upgrading your existing player or can you afford to ignore all the iPerbole surrounding this particular relaunch? And if you decide to go ahead and buy, which model should you choose? Emirates Business set out to answer these questions by testing the entire range.

The changes vary from major in the case of the Nano, which has been completely redesigned and packs several new features, to negligible in the case of the Shuffle, where the update amounts to nothing more than a few new colours.

The Touch gets a curvier shape and other improvements. The Classic has the oddest change – the previous 80GB and 160GB models have been replaced by a single version with 120GB. This is a blatant contravention by Apple of the unwritten law of gadgets that says the memory size of a device must always increase with each new release.

All the iPods work in the same way as before. You plug them into your Mac or PC and use iTunes to sync songs or other files such as videos, photos, games and contacts, depending on the model.

The Nano is the stand-out offering in terms of improvements and new features. The curved aluminium case is unfeasibly small, light, thin, stylish and pleasing to handle and is available in a choice of nine colours.

There's a built-in accelerometer, the kind of motion detector that made the Wii such a hit. The accelerometer rotates pictures when you turn the Nano on its side. And if you have, say, a list of songs on the screen and turn the Nano sideways, a Cover Flow display appears. Another neat trick is shake to shuffle – if you shake the Nano while you're listening to a tune it switches to another, randomly selected track.

There are two innovations designed to help those with poor eyesight – the Nano can be set to read out the names of menus and tunes and the size of the display font can be increased. All in all it is a truly desirable device.

The Touch's new features include a built-in speaker and volume controls on the side of the case.

Favourite elements from the old model such as the 3.5-inch touch screen, wi-fi internet access and accelerometer are as good as ever, but there's still no camera, Bluetooth or FM radio.

An increasing number of Touch games and applications – some free, some paid-for – can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store. The best games make the most of the accelerometer, allowing you, for example, to steer a car just by moving the Touch around.

And as new apps appear from industrious third-party developers around the world you will be able to continuously add capabilities to your Touch.

Note that in the UAE you can use the iTunes Store only to download games and apps for the Touch – music and video iTunes downloads are not officially available here.

Apart from those new colours there's not a lot to report about the Shuffle. The fact is the smallest iPod does what it does perfectly well – i.e. relieve the tedium of a gym session or run – and there's little scope for improvement.

If they made it any smaller you'd lose it in your kitbag. A bit more memory would be welcome but other than that – at least until Apple offers a version that can be implanted inside your head – the Shuffle has pretty much reached the end of its development path.

There's not a lot to say about the Classic either. There aren't even any new colours – it's available, as before, in black or silver. The case is a little thinner than the old 160GB version but the other dimensions remain unchanged.

Though the maximum available memory has been reduced, most users will find 120GB quite enough. All that memory is the Classic's unique selling point – you can store a mega-library of tunes, videos and your entire photo library and still have plenty of space left. You can back up files to all iPods but this feature really comes in to its own with the Classic, which can be used as a portable external hard drive.

However, the lack of development leaves you feeling that Apple has lost interest in the Classic.

The Nano, Touch and Classic have the new Genius feature that was launched with the latest version of iTunes. You select a song then click the Genius button and a playlist of 25 songs that somehow sound good together is generated. Goodness knows how this works but the results are surprisingly enjoyable. It really is a stroke of, well, Genius. But Apple has not provided a software update allowing owners of the previous Classic to acquire Genius.

Something that struck me about the whole new range was the lack of any improvement to the sound quality. Some rivals are moving ahead in this area, one that Apple has consistently neglected throughout all the many iPod reincarnations. And, to please the audiophiles, isn't it about time the iPod supported files in the lossless FLAC format?

So, returning to our original questions, should you consider upgrading to one of the new iPods? Probably not in the case of the Touch, Classic or Shuffle – there's just not enough new to justify replacing an earlier model. But if I had one of those squarish old Nanos or one of the earlier versions I would be seriously tempted by the sleek new one.

In the absence of any must-have sensation to compare with, say, last year's launch of the original Touch, the revamp is generally worthy rather than exciting.

It freshens things up and adds attractive features such as Genius and the Nano's accelerometer that will be appreciated by new buyers or anyone whose iPod needs replacing because its battery has died.

But which one to choose? Cost will be a factor, of course, but aside from that the models are all very different so you need to think carefully about how you are likely to use the device.

For example if you want to watch lots of videos then get the Touch as its big, pin-sharp screen is ideal for viewing. If you want loads of memory then obviously the Classic is the one for you. Spend a lot of time on the Safa Park running track? Then get a Shuffle.

In other words consider your requirements, weigh up the options and make a sensible, intelligent and informed choice.

Or else just go to the mall and buy a Nano – you know you want one.

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