Walking Leaf

The next generation of portable music players from Apple have been unveiled to the world’s press this week and the one that caught my attention was the much-rumoured touch-screen iPod.

This new device looks remarkably similar to the popular iPhone launched earlier this year in America but without the obvious phone calling capabilities. There are two versions available – 8GB and 16GB – though I am disappointed that the size of the hard drive is less than my current black iPod that I brought a couple of years ago.

Despite that, the ability to access the Internet with Safari, watching YouTube videos and downloading the latest music tracks from Apple’s new Wi-Fi online music store just by touching the screen is pretty amazing. Though compare to the many functions available on the iPhone, the iPod Touch is disappointing for the price you pay.

So if the iPod Touch is too expensive for my liking, then what else is available from Apple? How about the re-branded iPod Classic? It looks identical to the fifth generation iPod but this time it’s thinner and now has a massive 160-gigabyte data capacity – perfect for storing thousands of songs and video clips.

As for the iPod Nano, I think it looks horrible in its pastel colours and obese shape… Though I must admire its ability to playback video for the first time with its new high quality screen.

All the iPods from Apple features a new user interface in particular Cover Flow, which allows you to see the different album covers in your music collection.

But the key dilemma for me is what to buy. Should I buy one of these iPods even though my current one is working fine? Or should I be patience and wait for the UK release of the iPhone?