And God bless them for that.

Battery life. Ick.

man, they dont even look real. they look like there should be a disclaimer - "artist rendering"

This makes me awful jealous:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T6714LL/A

it looks a lot better than the older one...still costly ($$$$$$$$) though.

This could be the smartest move they've made in a long time, or the dumbest. But either way, they're driving a TON of traffic to their site.

that battery pack looks quite nice, even though it is sixty dollars. i'm not even sure if my integrated firewire ports work.

Yeah, the ratbags spammed me this morning about this - I haven't even suscbribed to their newsletter.

I'm very unhappy at Apple spamming me today.

I'm guessing Apple didn't just magically assume your emai address, Martin. You probably downloaded something and didn't notice the "notify me" checkbox. They have unsubscribe instructions.

Hi Jon,

it was my personal BBC email address they sent it to - I've never given it out to Apple for any reason, and I'm not daft enough to have left myself subscribed to their junk email newsletters anyway.

I've never given my personal BBC email address out for anything like this - and certainly never with Apple. I'd have no reason to. I use a windows-based PC, and software like Quicktime is preinstalled on my machine due to software and download security restrictions.

I'm guessing either someone subscribed me or it's been a straightforward bit of spam.

Or the BBC sold your email address to them.

They spammed me and I don't even have an email address.

they sent me an unwanted e-mail as well and all i got in return was a free copy of jaguar. bastards!

I'd seriously doubt the BBC sold my email address.

Face it: they spammed me and I'm ticked off about it, but Apple are soooo goody-goody because they've released a new toy.

Martin, you're boring us now. Just hit the unsubscribe button and get on with life. I don't have an iPod, but I sure do now, looks like it rocks. :)

Martin, let me get this right, you assume the best of BBC but the worst of Apple? Don't get me wrong, I like both companies, but what exactly informs this hierarchy?

Sorry to bore you Nathan - you're obviously into illegal forms of marketing, if the product you're spammed about "rocks". I never subscribed in the first place, why should I have to unsubscribe?

Confused: the BBC have never spammed me, Apple now have - that's what informs my hierarchy.

Don't take this as a dig at Apple - if it had been any big company, I'd still be furious.

hey martin, really interesting stuff. thanks for all your thoughts on apple's announcement of new ipods. this is why web communities work!

the new ipods are gorgeous. almost as gorgeous as the packaging. i think apple has learned a lot from the japanese. they are really good at evoking emotion simply through packaging. not sure how i feel about the location of the new buttons, though, because it takes an extra brain function to switch between the belly-button (in the center of the scroll wheel) and the menu or play buttons above. maybe it's the location or maybe it's their orientation. (going from round motions to horizontal ones) but it's a disconnect. kind of like using a mouse. still, neat that they're getting even closer to a perfectly digital device with no formal mechanical "buttons."

When arguments like this can erupt in innocent little comments sections for itty bitty little links on the side of a personal journal, what hope have we for world peace?

Sorry, it just seems so unnatural.