Apple's iPod touch is much more than a mp3 player. For many — including Yours Truly — it is first and foremost an internet device, with the added bonus of being able to play your music, movies, and podcasts. Apple needs to do something to make the iPod Touch more attractive for customers, whether it be lowering the price or adding more features to it or both. With the $199 iPhone, if Apple doesn’t do anything, the iPod Touch sales will plummet. Apple released a 2.01 update for both the iPhone and iPod touch. The net-wide hope is that this update provides a more stable mobile experience for iPhone and iPod touch users.

Of all the gadgets invented to make life more fun, the iPod® has to be one of the coolest. Boasting elegant styling and an intuitive interface, Apple's iPod classic and the other members of the iPod family are a delight to use. An iPod can be your portable jukebox, video player, movie theater, digital photo album, and hand-held game console all in one. What's more, its user-friendly companion program, iTunes®, seamlessly works with your iPod.

The iPod touch comes in three different models (8-GB, 16-GB, and 32-GB). It can play music, movies, and can access the internet from Wi-Fi hot spots. The iPod Touch has to limit the amount of power it consumes so as to provide reasonable battery life and not generate too much heat. I imagine the reason that it limits video resolutions and bitrates and won't support videos using space-saving "B-frames" (bidirectional frames) has to do with this understandable design constraint. The iPod Touch case has a new cut out part on the top right of the device. Many think this is for the light sensor to extend the functionality of the sensor.

The iPod touch is the first PMP device to overcome the PC requirement. Content purchase and direct download to the device is enabled using the latest iTunes application. The iPod touch acts more like a PDA than an MP3 player. Therefore, whenever you turn it on it has to boot up. The iPod touch's screen turns black areas somewhat grayish, washed out shadow detail, with absolute blacks appearing shimmery.The iPod touch is an unbelievable 8 mm thin, and is priced starting at just $299. The iPod Touch differs significantly from the other three iPods in several ways. First, it no longer uses the trademark click wheel of earlier iPods, but, instead, uses the newer touch screen, also found on the Apple iPhone.

The iPod touch includes a new iTunes icon on the Home screen for doing just that. Tap it while connected via Wi-Fi, and you?re taken to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store . The iPod touch will also receive a boost although its changes are small in comparison with the iPod nano.

The iPod touch also has (and will continue to have) a much wider range of accessories, car and home integration options, and that one last killer app. The ipod touch is another device on the development life cycle that is the ipod. Dont get upset because you dont have access to the newest device because the next stage of developemnt is just around the corner anyway. The iPod touch will feature support for YouTube, like the iPhone, and users will be able to navigate around the web via the device's on-screen keyboard.

Apple is giving away 8GB iPod touches for free, when a student purchases a Mac computer for “back to school” purposes. Chances are, they are clearing out their stock of the 8GB models, so they can eliminate them from the market completely. Apple is good at advertising and people are lazy at researching other products. Apple has proved capable of near-miraculous things. The original iPod changed the world’s perception of digital music by demonstrating the value of a cutting-edge 1.8” hard drive and a simple, intuitive user interface.

Apple have already sold over 100m iPods , not all of which were full sized versions, but it gives an idea of the numbers. This means there is the possibility of many millions of people with the ability to browse the web on a quality mobile device.

I want to surf the Internet with my iPod.

For wireless web surfing, there's currently just one choice: the iPod touch. The iPod touch features wireless connectivity that lets you go online through almost any open Wi-Fi® hotspot. The player includes a built-in Safari web browser and a virtual keypad, so you can do Internet searches and surf online pretty much as you would with a PC or a laptop. Apple also includes some dedicated widgets to make navigation easier — one takes you directly to YouTube, for example. Another gives you access to the iTunes Wireless Store where you can purchase and download music directly to your iPod touch.

Smart Touch-Screen Display: The 3.5" widescreen multi-touch liquid crystal display has a 320 x 480 pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch. The multi-touch interface uses the same technology as the ultra-popular iPhone, and allows you to scroll through playlists or album art with the swipe of a finger. You can view the Internet, videos, photos, or album art in either a portrait or landscape orientation. The display automatically changes when you change the orientation of the iPod touch. The display can be oriented vertically or horizontally by rotating the iPod touch.

Screen Brightness: Screen brightness affects battery life. In the menu, you can dim the screen to extend the time before you need to recharge. You can also choose Auto-Brightness, which uses a built-in ambient light sensor to determine the screen's brightness.

Display Off: You can easily turn off the display altogether when listening to music to extend battery life.

Of all the gadgets invented to make life more fun, the iPod® has to be one of the coolest. Boasting elegant styling and an intuitive interface, Apple's iPod classic and the other members of the iPod family are a delight to use. An iPod can be your portable jukebox, video player, movie theater, digital photo album, and hand-held game console all in one. What's more, its user-friendly companion program, iTunes®, seamlessly works with your iPod.

The Good: Built-in Wi-Fi for music downloads and Web access, large screen, a wealth of applications

The Bad: Slightly underpowered external speakers

The Bottom Line: A poor man's iPhone, the Touch offers wireless music downloads, mobile Web access, and hundreds of applications while on the go