Apple on Wednesday unveiled the new lineup of Apple iPod personal digital media players. The new players feature higher storage capacity, better performance, larger screens or built-in camera. Furthermore, iPod has finally gained support for FM radio. Even more importantly, the new iPods do not cost more than predecessors and some even cost less.

“iPod nano is the world’s most popular music player with over 100 million sold. And now we’ve added a video camera to its incredibly thin design, without any additional cost to the user” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive officer.

The new iPod nano features an ultra-thin and sleek design with a larger 2.2” color display and polished aluminum and glass enclosure. iPod nano also features a built-in FM radio with live pause and iTunes Tagging, as well as a built-in pedometer. The most important update to the iPod nano is build-in camera that can capture video with 640x480 resolution and AAC audio.

Few people are likely to be interested to capture video using iPod nano since those, who need such features, either use Apple iPhone or other smartphones with cameras. Therefore, it is unclear, for what the camera is needed on nano. FM radio, on the other hand, is a valuable feature; however, the main rival of iPod, Microsoft Zune HD, already supports high-definition audio in addition to FM.

The new iPod nano is available today in an 8GB model for $149 and a 16GB model for $179, and comes in nine colors, including silver, black, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, (Product)Red and pink.

The 8GB iPod touch is now available for just $199, along with new models which deliver twice the capacity for the same price, with the iPod touch 32GB model for $299 and 64GB model for $399. The 32GB and 64GB third-generation iPod touch models also include faster microprocessor and better graphics with Open GL ES 2.0 support.

The new line of iPod shuffle players is available worldwide today in a new 2GB model for $59 and a 4GB model for $79, and both models come in silver, black, pink, blue and green.

Besides, Apple also increased capacity of hard disk drive inside its iPod classic to 160GB. The device will cost $249.

The update of the lineup comes just before the holiday season and is likely to catalyze customers to acquire new iPod music players.

Tags: Apple, iPod