Apple's 30/80GB iPod video Play Hollywood Movies

The Apple's "It's Showtime" Special Event also brought us an updated iPod video. Informally designated version 5.5, the new duo in 30GB & 80GB are considered to be just a somewhat disappointing upgrade with all the hype surrounding a touch-sensitive wide-screen iPod and movie download service. Though, the latter did materialize with debut of iTunes 7.0's movies. The $249 30GB, even with the same features size, receives a better screen (25% brighter than its predecessor), better battery (3.5 hrs instead of 2), and a much needed $50 price drop.

Its a tad larger sibling has a $349 80GB PMR hard drive and an impressive 6.5 hours of video playback. The new iPod video as well as the other two shipping since October of last year now runs games, and are capable of playing back H.264/MPEG-4 encoded at 640x480. And in case you haven't noticed yet, all TV shows are now encoded at this resolution as well.