The New iPods

If ever there was such a thing as technical pornography, Steve Jobs and Apple would have the market cornered. But make no mistake: the newest lineup of appealing, "dude-friendly" iPods are anything but gratuitous. Welcome the next generation of mp3 players: a colorful spectrum of iPod Chromatics, plus the thinnest, fastest, and most tricked-out versions of the Nano and iPod Touch yet. The latter is being touted as "the funnest iPod ever," and we won't disagree. This time around, Apple has included some key built-in features, including integrated volume controls, a speaker, and Nike + iPod receiver technology (all you need is the shoe transmitter). Both the Nano and the iPod Touch are rigged with a portrait to landscape accelerometer, improved hi-res display makes videos sharper than ever, and you can create, save, and refresh "Genius" playlists with a tap of the finger. All this, plus requisite lower price points (the Nano starts at $149 for 8 GB, the iPod Touch $229 for 8 GB) and more song storage, too. Resistance is futile.

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