SAN JOSE, Calif. - Just in time for late back-to-school or early holiday shopping, Apple, Microsoft and others have unveiled a new crop of digital media players.
Some have radical design changes. Many have neat new features. And most offer more storage space for songs, videos, pictures or games at a lower price.
Here's a look at the new lineup:
Apple
The iPod may have debuted seven years ago and its sales may be maturing, but there's no sign Apple is about to relinquish its industry lead.
Apple has effectively cut the price on all of its iPod lines, except the low-end shuffle, by reducing the amount you have to pay for storage. The 16-gigabyte and 32-gigabyte models of the iPod touch have dropped in price by $100 each.
One new feature on all the new iPods, again except the shuffle, is called Genius. After users select a song, the feature creates a playlist of like music found on their iPod and, on their computer, suggests related songs they could buy from iTunes.
The biggest change this year is with the mid-range nano. It returns to an elongated shape from last year's square model derisively dubbed "fatboy," and is available in new colors.
The device also gets an accelerometer that detects and reacts to how you are holding or moving it. If you rotate the nano 90 degrees to one side, for instance, the image on its screen will also rotate. Shake the nano, and it will create a new mix of music for you to listen to. Game makers are designing games for the device that allow you to play by tilting it.
The iPod touch gets a presumably more stable operating system and thinner case. It also has software from Nike that uses an additional sensor to keep track of users' workouts.
The low-end shuffle also gets new colors. Meanwhile, Apple has consolidated its lineup of hard-drive-based iPods, renamed the "classic," to a single 120-gigabyte model in black or white.
Sandisk
SanDisk's line of Sansa players has long been runner-up to the iPod in market share. But the company has made only one notable update in recent months: introduction of the all-new Sansa Fuze.
Ironically, the Fuze, which was introduced in April, seems to take its design cues from the discontinued "fatboy" iPod nano, having a similarly square shape.
But unlike the nano, it has a built-in FM tuner and a microSD card slot. The card slot allows users to add additional memory and to plug in albums that are starting to be sold on the cards.
