Apple launches new iPod range

Ping - New iTunes feature

Apple announced a new range of iPods today, including a Nano model that has a touch screen and no buttons.

Like previous versions, the Nano has a built-in FM tuner and can display photos, but instead of buttons, controls for playing, pausing and selecting music are on the screen.

In an update to the iPod Touch, Apple is adding video-chat features similar to the newest iPhone. It has a front-facing camera for conducting video chats with other iPod Touch and iPhone users over wi-fi using Apple's FaceTime programme.

A camera on the back can be used for taking snapshots and recording video.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs also introduced a new iPod Shuffle, the lowest-end music player in Apple's range.

Like the past generation, it can speak the names of playlists and songs, but it brings back the square shape and buttons of Apple's second-generation Shuffle.

Apple, meanwhile, is adding social features to its iTunes software.

Mr Jobs said iTunes 10 brings new ways for people to learn what their friends are listening to. The feature, called Ping, is probably based on the technology Apple acquired with the purchase of Lala.com last year.

The Ping section in iTunes lets people "follow" friends, musicians and others, similar to the way Facebook and Twitter work. Ping builds custom top-10 lists based on what the people someone follows are listening to.

Earlier, Mr Jobs said iPhone users will be getting a software update that offers the uploading of high-definition video over wi-fi. When people take photos, the new software will save three slightly different copies that, when combined, make for a sharper image.

The new software is version 4.1 of the iOS system. It will be available next week for free, initially for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch.

The iPad currently runs an older version, though Mr Jobs said an update coming in November will add such features as wireless printing to Apple's tablet computer.

Apple had been criticised for making the powerful iPad but hobbling it by not including any ports for USB devices such as printers.

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