With the holidays getting closer, consumers are thinking of not only great gift ideas for the season but also ways to please family members while staying in focus with the budget. Apple has some products to satisfy most budgets as well as different levels of technology with its iPod line of media players and can assist in personalizing the holidays with the gift of photos with iPhoto books and calendars which can be created with the iPhoto program that is a part of the iLife suite of products that ship with all new Macs.
Easy to create and personalize, the iPhoto program features pre-designed templates for arranging your message and images to complete a greeting that can say more than a standard greeting card and in some cases at less cost. Apple iPhoto Greeting cards are available for as low as $1.59 each for orders of 50 or more in 5 x7 Size. All of the iPhoto greeting cards ship with envelopes to make the process even easier. Apple iPhoto Calendars can be created easily with personalized photos to represent each month and are available for only $19.99. Family's will enjoy the quality and thought into the gift of an iPhoto book which can be placed on Coffee tables of family living rooms to share every day of the year. They are of great quality and really signify a classy gift for the holidays with a range of sizes available from 6 x 8 Medium Soft cover to 8.5 x 11 Hardcover for only $29.99.
For those wanting to give the gadget type gift, Apple has an entire line of iPod Shuffles to satisfy the music lover. The iPod Shuffle is available in 5 different colors including the original silver, blue, pink, green and red. The Apple iPod Shuffle is available in two different capacities with 1GB or 2GB available. The 1GB model is estimated to store about 240 songs while the 2GB model could reach about 500. This of course is determined based on file size and song length. The iPod Shuffle runs off a rechargeable lithium polymer battery which is built on averaging about 12 hours of battery life before a recharge. A USB dock allows for easy charging as well as transferring music via iTunes from personal collections or through the iTunes store. This handy colorful music player works with not only the Mac OS X version 10.4.8 but also Windows XP home or Pro and Vista. The Apple iPod shuffle also comes in a nice well built case perfect for gift giving.
Take a step up from 5 colors to 9 with the Apple iPod Nano and also see increases to 8GB and 16GB models. Seeing is also something that can be done easily with the iPod Nano with a 2 inch screen that that can be used to view movies and television shows downloaded from iTunes or converted from your own videos. Let me know if you would like to try out a Tech Tuesday segment! A nice feature to the Nano is the ability to shake the player and shuffle to another tune on the player. Using the Cover Flow feature, tilt the player on its side in music mode and see your cover album art flow by, select the album with a center button press and begin listening. Games made for the Nano can also be played on the device which weighs in at less the 1.3 ounces. Depending on the model and file length, the Nano can store from around 2000 to 4000 tunes or 8-16 hours of viewable video. Photos can also easily be stored and displayed on the Apple iPod Nano. Audio playing with the battery is said to achieve around 24 hours of life before a recharge. Earphones also ship with the Nano as well as previously mentioned Shuffle.
Each one of the available media players from Apple offer a little something for everybody. From the Apple iPod Shuffle, to the iPod Nano to the iPod Classic and the iPod Touch, different users will find different features they will appreciate off each unit type. There is very little I could fault with about the iPod Touch which is an almost perfect experience with its long battery life of almost 36 hours and storage of close to 1750 songs with the 8GB model to the 3500 songs with the 16GB and a whopping 7000 songs with the 32GB model. Storage is great however using the iPod Touch is what makes it so addicting. Surfing the web couldn't be easier and reading text on the 3.5 inch diagonal screen is amazing with the zoom feature accomplished with two fingers on the screen and reverse pinched to zoom in. Scrolling through the pages is accomplished with a slide of the finger on the screen and that same screen presents movies which look great on the iPod Touch. The web can be used with 802.11 b/g and the Safari browser. While website Flash Video's can't be viewed on the iPod Touch, YouTube videos can. Hundred of Apps are available at the iTunes Store which can add some great features, games and utilities to the iPod. The iPod Touch is a ton of fun starts at around $229.
Laser Engraving is also available for all iPod Units, including the Shuffle, for Free when ordered through the Apple Store which also ships orders over $50 Free for those wanting to send to other locations. Another great gift idea for anybody getting an iPod or looking to give a gift this year is the iTunes gift card which is available in different denominations for the shopper looking for games, music, videos or apps.
