New iPod photos and iPod minis released!

It would seem that Apple is really serious in taking on the likes of Samsung and Creative in the race for domination in the MP3 player arena.

Just after about six weeks from releasing the iPod shuffle, Apple revamps the iPod photo and iPod mini line. The new iPod photo comes in 30GB and 60GB priced at $349 (less $150 than the 40GB model) and $449 (less $150) respectively. The 40GB model seems to have been discontinued. The price drop, however, comes at a price: they removed from the package the AV cable, the Photo dock with S-Video out ($39) and the Firewire Cable ($19). The new included items are the usual earbud headphones, a USB 2.0 cable and a power adapter.

A new accessory called the iPod Camera Connector ($29) can be used to connect the iPod photo to a digital camera so you can transfer pictures from the camera to the iPod.

The 30GB iPod photo is thinner than the 40GB model while the 60GB still has the same thickness.

News articles from Playlist, MacCentral, MacNN and MacMinute.

Upgrade and price drop: two things that describes the second generation iPod mini (though it's still not officially called as "second generation". I'm just getting ahead of the pack.)

The iPod mini now comes into two varieties: the original 4GB and a larger 6GB version. When the iPod mini was first released it was priced at $249. Now, it's priced at $199. The 6GB is priced at $249. The iPod mini still looks the same except for the color coordinated click wheel icons.

Like the iPod photo, the cheaper price comes at a cost: the charger is now sold separately, as well as the Firewire cable.

One good news is that the battery life is now advertised to last for 18 hours. This we have to wait and see.

As before, Apple offers different colors for the iPod mini but this time they removed the gold colored mini. Sales of the gold colored mini must have been really poor as to make Apple decide to pull it out as a choice.

As with the new iPod photo line, they chose to package the mini with a USB 2.0 syns and charging cable instead of the Firewire cable ($19). Other items that are included in the package are: earbud headphones, a belt clip case and the iTunes 4.7.1 CD.

Articles on the iPod mini from Playlist, MacCentral, MacNN and MacMinute.

I will watch out for reactions on the web from both Apple fans and Apple haters.