The Nano's most dramatic design change is, of course, its larger, brighter screen. The 2-inch color screen packs a dense, crisp 320x240 video resolution that looks richer and brighter than that of any iPod to date. It's not often that we deem a screen smaller than 2.5 inches worthy of video playback, but with a tightly packed 204 pixels per inch, the Nano looks incredibly sharp. Unlike the Apple iPhone or the iPod Touch, however, the Nano's screen is covered with a scratch-prone plastic that will quickly show wear.

Cosmetically, the iPod Classic's improvements over its predecessors are minor. An anodized-aluminum faceplate now replaces the glossy, all-plastic facade found on the previous generation. Overall thickness has also improved, with the 80GB iPod Classic now measuring 2.4x4.1x.41 inches--just a fraction of an inch thinner than the 30GB Video iPod we had in our lab. The screen, however, is still made from scratch-prone plastic (unlike the iPhone's and iPod Touch's), and the chrome found on the back cover still begs for smudges.

The following review was originally written for the second-generation Apple iPod Shuffle. The latest series of the Shuffle is functionally identical to the second-generation series, although the color options have changed.

Those who have been lustfully eyeballing Bose's SoundDock or Altec Lansing's iM7 boom box will no doubt be pleased with Logitech's latest iPod speaker offering. The mm50 Portable Speakers for iPod ($150) offer sleek style and decent sound at half the price of the SoundDock and for a hundred bucks less than the iM7.

Pay close attention to the new Apple iPod when you get one in your hands. Most of you will notice a design that's thinner, lighter, and sexier than its predecessor's, as well as a new screen that dwarfs the Click Wheel. A few of you will notice subtler differences, such as the absence of the smart headphone jack, a smaller Click Wheel, and the iPod's superflat face. Experienced iPod users may complain that essentials such as a power adapter and A/V cables aren't bundled with the device. But despite the fact that it is an audio player first and foremost--and that the term is overused--all of you will remember the fifth-generation iPod as the video iPod.

The iPod Classic is the latest revamping of Apple's iconic hard drive MP3 player, formerly known as the Video iPod or fifth-generation iPod. As Apple's only remaining high-capacity MP3 player, the iPod Classic comes in both 80GB ($249) and 160GB versions ($349), available in black or silver.

Let's face it: as a category iPod speakers are a pretty uninspired lot. Their plastic, boxy, and sometimes downright awful industrial design flies in the face of the iPod's masterful aesthetic and intuitive ergonomics. Until now, that is. Bowers & Wilkins' curvaceous Zeppelin iPod speaker is as every bit as sophisticated as Apple's iconic player. Best of all, the Zeppelin isn't all show--its detailed sound largely lives up to B&W's high-end reputation (at least when we played acoustic music). So sure, it's one of the most expensive iPod speakers you can buy, but it may well be worth it, especially if you fall in love with the Zeppelin's looks.

Those who follow gadgets know that Apple didn't invent portable digital video; companies such as Archos, Creative, and iRiver have produced good if not stellar products that play back video--and on larger screens with better battery life. But if Apple can do for video what it has done for audio--that is, deliver a hardware/software ecosystem that offers a decent choice of content and makes it easy to get video on to the iPod--then this device, like it or not, will be remembered as the one that started the portable digital video revolution.

Since the introduction of portable music players, consumers haven't been given many options in the realm of cutting-edge headphone technology. Sure, there are high-end vs. low-end debates, meticulously designed in-ear bud and wraparound designs, and even a recent influx of high-definition studio monitor headphones. However, we've seen relatively few portable wireless stereo headsets, forcing us to contend with a mess of restrictive and tangle-prone cords. This is no longer an issue for Ten Technology and its NaviPlay Bluetooth stereo headset kit for Apple iPods. The NaviPlay won the Best of Show Award at this year's Macworld Expo in San Francisco and with good cause--it performs superbly. Of course, this comes at a price, as the NaviPlay will set you back $200.

At Apple's September 12 media event, Steve Jobs jumped right into introducing an updated fifth-generation iPod. Not a tremendous surprise here, as we believed the sixth-generation "true video iPod" would not be announced until later in the year or even early in 2007. Underneath the familiar and still-scratch-prone polycarbonate and metal skin of the updated iPod (a.k.a. the 5.5 generation, or 5.5G) lies a more mature iPod, many steps wiser and more able than its one-year-old predecessor. The iPod gains many incremental improvements, including a brighter screen and better video battery life, but probably the most appealing aspect is the tantalizing price points of $249 for the 30GB version and $349 for the huge 80GB version (available in both white and black). While it may still not fully address the needs of a new population of iTunes movie watchers, the updated iPod is the best one to date.