I ended last week’s article with “And you thought the iPod was just an MP3 player”. Little did I know (well, actually, I had an inkling, but I absolutely won’t reveal my sources) that this week Apple would be expanding the iPod’s capabilities into another medium – digital photography.

As I mentioned last week, you’ve always been able to store digital photos on your iPod, the same way you would on any other portable hard drive. However, even though the iPod has a small monochrome LCD screen, you can’t view your photos on this screen (and you really wouldn’t want to, I would think). Well this week, Apple announced an iPod that serves up both audio and visual smorgasbords. They call it the iPod Photo.

iPod Photo retains the many features that make the iPod the runaway best-seller among personal digital music players. With the iPod Photo, however, the space you don’t fill up with your favorite music can be loaded with your favorite photos. And there’s more space to fill up. A 40GB model (the music-only iPod’s max capacity), and a new 60GB version. According to Apple, the 60GB model can hold 15,000 songs, or 25,000 photos, or whatever combination of the two that fits your fancy.

How can you view your photos? The monochrome screen is replaced with a razor-sharp, 65,536-color (remember that number – there’ll be a test later) screen, which is back-lit to look great indoors or out. All your photos show up as small thumbnails, 25 at a time on the screen. Use the patented Apple Scroll Wheel to select a thumbnail, click the center button, and a bigger (well, bigger as in 2-inch diagonal) version appears on the screen.

Wanna see them even bigger? Use the included AV (composite video and audio) cable to connect to a TV or projector. Of course, you’re gonna want to add some music to your slideshow, which you can select from the tunes on your iPod.

Keeping the photos on your iPod Photo synced with your computer’s photo library is easy, whether you use a Mac or a Windows PC. Connect the iPod Photo to your computer, and it can manually or automatically sync to the photos organized with your iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0, or Adobe Photo Album software. Or, you can just sync to any folder on your computer with photos in it. iPod Photo can also display the album art you can download with music you buy from the iTunes Music Store, or add yourself.

iPod Photo is slightly thicker and heavier than the music-only iPod. Apple claims battery life is increased up to 15 hours of music playback, and up to 5 hours of continuous slideshows with music. Your results may vary.

Current iPod features, like the Calendar and the included games (Solitaire, Music Quiz, Bricks, and Parachutes) also benefit from the clarity and vivid colors of the new screen. What about price? The 40GB iPod Photo model retails for $499, with the 60GB model at $599, and availability is listed as “immediate”. Your results may vary.

In other iPod-related news, Apple also introduced the “iPod U2 Special Edition” ($349). It’s a 20GB music-only jet black iPod with red Click Wheel. On the back side, there’s laser engraved signatures of the band. It comes with a poster for your wall, and a coupon for $50 off the first-ever downloadable boxed-set music collection - “The Complete U2” ($149). It contains over 400 songs, and will be available for download in November. Broadband is recommended (duh).

© 2004 Peter F. Zimowski