Apple Adds Album Booklets, DVD-like Movie Extras To iTunes, New iPod Includes Camcorder, Pedometer

September 09, 2009 14:08 by Kris Abel

The entertainment side of Apple's business is getting a boost today. The company is releasing a new version of their iTunes Store today, updated software for the iPhone, an expanded choice of iPod sizes and prices, including a new nano that features a camcorder, FM radio, voice recorder, and built-in Pedometer.

iTunes 9, which will be available as a free download today, will include new rules for content sharing, introducing a feature that will allow users to manage and share content across five different computers in one home. Apple's Genius, a feature that analyzes your music library to create customized playlists, will be expanded to include virtual DJ-like mixes. Ringtones will now make up a new section to the store, starting off with 30,000 official ringtone tracks from the four major record labels. To support these new features, Apple will release a new software update for their iPhone models that will be available as a free download. The new iTunes will also include a feature that will allow users to manage and organize Apps using their home computer.

The most significant change to their store systems comes in the form of extra content being added to existing music albums and movies. iTunes LP is a feature that adds photography, lyrics, liner notes and essays to full music albums sold through the online store, an effort to fill in the content missing from traditional CDs. iTunes Extras will offer a similar service for movies and TV shows, adding extra clips, biographies, and interactives to movie and TV show selections, again to match the experience from traditional DVDs.

The initial music albums to include iTunes LP content include Bob Dylan's "Highway 61", Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me", The Grateful Dead's "American Beauty", and Dave Matthew Band's "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King".

At launch, iTunes Extras will only be available on select movie titles including "Twilight", "Batman Begins", "Wall-E", "Iron Man", and "The Da Vinci Code".

Reflecting the latest trends in social networking, iTunes will now allow users to send links to in-store items to their friends or followers on Twitter and Facebook.

Three of Apple's iPod models are changing in terms of memory and price.

The iPod Touch is being improved in terms of its performance speed and graphics, with an upgrade to OpenGL 2.0 for better support for video games. It will be offered in 8GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB sizes.

The Classic iPod is being reintroduced as a thinner model with a choice in memory storage that now goes up to 160 GB.

The Shuffle will receive a slight improvement in its Voice control, it will now speak when the battery status changes and the model itself will be offered with 2GB and in addition to the traditional black and silver choice, will include pink, green, and blue. A Special Edition 4GB in black will also be released.

The biggest change in iPods comes with the introduction of a new nano. Now sporting a video camera in the back, complete with microphone and speaker, the new nano also includes a built-in FM radio, pedometer (for use with the Nike+ sensor), and voice recorder. Videos created with the nano's camera can be synced to the iTunes library and uploaded directly to YouTube.

Update: More nano Features

The new nano has a larger screen at 2.2" and videos shot with the camera and synced with your home computer (Mac or PC) can then be directly uploaded to Facebook, MobileMe, or added to e-mail in addition to YouTube.

The Camcorder feature includes real-time video effects such as Thermal, Film Grain, Kaleido, and X-Ray.

The FM Radio supports Live Pausing, meaning you can pause and resume live broadcasts as well as the option to "tag" a song you like so you can later find it instantly at the iTunes Store for purchase.

The built-in Pedometer will keep track of the steps you've taken and calculate the calories you've burned.

Stated battery life is 24 hours for music, five hours for video.

Everything announced today is being released today. I will update this entry with Canadian prices as soon as they are released.