When Apple supremo Steve Jobs unveiled the latest version of the iPod earlier this month, his presentation was met with a stony silence.

Thankfully, he managed to save the day by launching a bunch of other new products as well – including the absurdly miniaturised new version of the iPod Shuffle .

However, this upgrade to the top-of-the-range fifth-generation iPod was, to be honest, a bit of a disappointment.

The key improvement, apparently, is that the screen is now 60% brighter. That’s all very well if you’re downloading Disney movies or episodes of Lost onto it, but since Apple’s iTunes Store doesn’t sell films or TV programmes in the UK that’s not much of a selling point over here.

You can buy the new iPod games on the iTunes Store, though – at £3.99 a pop for titles such as Tetris and Pac-Man.

Battery life is improved too. Our 30GB review unit increases the battery life from 12 to 14 hours for music playback (or 3.5 hours for video playback), while the new 80GB model can play music for a full 20 hours or video for about six-and-a-half hours.

These features are nice enough, but they hardly represent a major step forward for a company that prides itself on its ability to innovate constantly and drive technology forward.

In fact, the most important change was not to the iPod itself, but to its pricing. The iPod now drops below the £200 mark for the first time, coming in at £189 for the 30GB model and £259 for the 80GB version.

This obviously isn’t the sixth-generation iPod many people had been expecting, but Apple’s aggressive pricing should ensure it still stays ahead of rivals such as the Creative Zen series this Christmas.

Also consider:
Sandisk Sansa e260
A 4GB mp3 player with a long battery life

All Mp3 player reviews