Finally the rumor comes true, the new iPod is now capable to play video. Steve Job announced it in the One More Thing event at San Jose, California. Compare to previous iPods, the new iPod has slimmer body and wider screen. It has a 320 x 240 QVGA display in 65K colors. It is available in 30GB and 60GB sell for US$299 and US$399 respectively. Same as iPod Nano, each model comes with 2 colors, black and white.

• Size and weight (30GB model): 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43 inches, Weight: 4.8 oz
• Size and weight (60GB model): 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.55 inches, Weight: 5.5 oz
• Screen: 2.5 inch (diagonal) QVGA transflective, over 65,000-color liquid crystal display with white LED backlight, 320 x 240 pixel resolution, .156-mm dot pitch
• Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV
• Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
• Playback time (30, 60GB model)
  • Music playback time: Up to 14 hours (30GB), 20 hr for 60GB
  • Photo slideshow with music viewing time: Up to 3 hours (30GB), 4hr for 60GB
  • Video playback time: Up to 2 hours (30GB), 3 for 60GB
• Dock (slideshows): TV out on, off or ask, TV signal PAL or NTSC
• Voice recording settings: Low (22.05 KHz, mono) & High (44.1 KHz, stereo)
• $ 299 (30GB), $ 399 (60GB)

Nothing to complaint about the excellent features except the poor battery life on video playback.

Together with new iPod, Jobs also introduced iTunes 6.0 that supports video playback. Apple’s iTunes Music Store is also offering download of DRMed music video and TV shows. There are currently 2000 music video and 5 ABC and Disney shows ( including Lost, Desperate Housewives, Night Stalker, That’s So Raven, The Suite Life) available to be download at the price US$1.99 per piece.

{ More details on The iPod and iTunes 6.0 }