Apple is gearing up for the release of the new iPad 2 which is coming Friday at 5 PM to Apple Stores and several other retailers including AT&T, Best Buy, Target, Verizon and WalMart stores.

Apple iTunes Minor Update for Bug Fixes is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

In addition to handling music the lovely display can be used to read eBooks from the Amazon Kindle store or Google Books as well as others. You can also use the device to read textbooks in college or when it comes time for entertainment to play Netflix movies or rent TV shows form teh iTunes store.

There are also an almost uncountable number of apps to pass the time in lines or in meetings that are appropriate for all ages. The iPod Touch may be one of the gifts that spans the largest age groups as we have seen them in the hands of toddlers and senior citizens — almost always accompanied by a smile.

If your recipient is a lover of subscription music services like Rhapsody, they can even use the Rhapsody iPod Touch app to take their music with them instead of buying tracks that won’t be listened to anymore next week.

The iPod Touch comes in several sizes 8GB, 32GB and 64GB starting at $229 from most retailers like Best Buy where you can also get a $40 gift card with purchase which is almost as good a deal as we saw on Black Friday. You can also find the iPod touch starting at $215 at Amazon.com which may be cheaper since you aren’t charged tax up front and starting at $214 at Walmart.

Here’s a look at the iPod Touch:

If you have questions about this gift and who might like it leave a comment below.

Gift Guide: iPod Touch Is The perfect MP3 Player For all Ages is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

This deal has been around for many years, and now that Apple has released their 4th generation iPod Touch, new iPod Nano or Classic, this might be a good time take them up on the offer again, either for yourself or someone on your holiday gift list.

The first step is to sign up for an account from Audible. Monthly plans start at $14.95 for 1 credit a month. This is called the Gold plan. The Platinum plan is for 2 credits and costs $22.95/month. For a limited time new customers can sign up for the Gold plan at $7.95 for the first three months. If you want to pay for a year at a time, it will cost $149.50 for the Gold plan and $229.50 for the Platinum plan. That amounts to a savings of about $2 per credit. And with the yearly plans you don’t have to wait for a new credit each month. You can use up all 12 or 24 right away. A credit usually equals one book, although some very long books a valued at 2 credits. Credits can be rolled over so you can download one of the 2 credit books if you don’t use your credit in one month saving it till you have two the next month. The maximum credits allowed to roll over at a time for monthly plans is six.

After signing up for the plan, an email confirmations will be sent with the code. When you select your device and check out insert the code and $100 will be taken off the price.

The real question is what can you buy with the code. Despite the fact that they are capable of playing audible books, the Kindle is not a valid choice. However, most iPods with the exclusion of the iPhone are. A 32GB iPod  Touch, which normally costs $299 and is on sale for $269 at Amazon, would then be $169. Also included are MP3 players from Sansa and the Microsoft Zune. Other devices are GPS devices, speakers like this one from Bose or this one from Sony or Logitech. Heaphones are included as well. There are also digital cameras like the Flip UlstraHD and a Panasonic HDC-SD60K. This is just a sampling of the many devices available. Just look for the words “Audible Qualifying Device” in the device description.

Understand that you are signing up for a two year commitment, just like you would for a cell phone. At $8/month for the first three months and $15 for the remaining 21 months, that is $339. So this is not a good deal if you don’t plan to remain an audible customer. The way we look at it, if you were planning to sign up for Audible, this is a nice add-on. If you weren’t planning to do so, this is absolutely not enough of an enticement. We love books so we signed up and got an iPod Nano that will just stay in the car till each book is finished. And even if you took advantage of this before and then quit being an Audible monthly subscriber, you can do it again so long as it was more than 2 years ago that you first took them up on this offer. You just won’t get the discounted price for the Gold plan on the first three months.

So, should you give it a try? If you love listening to books, then go for it. The audio files sound great and most of the readers really make the books come alive. We’ve only been disappointed with a couple of books over a four year period of listening to one to two books a month. And even if you cancel your subscription at the end of the two years, the books still are yours and can be downloaded from Audible over and over again. Right now Audible offers a free audio version of the Wall Street Journal or New York Times. For some, that alone might be worth the $15/month. And if you have a Android or iOS device, there is a free app which will list all your books and offer to download and play them for you.

Get an Apple iPod Touch or Nano for $100 Off from Amazon and Audible is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Black Friday is in full swing and we want to hear about your experience- good, bad and ugly. One lucky reader will win a brand new 32GB iPod Touch. Read on for details!

The new Appel iPod Touch is one of the most wished for item this holiday season. Many call the iPod Touch the ‘iPhone without the phone,’ which is largely an accurate statement. The iPod Touch comes loaded with iOS4.2, the same software that runs the iPhone 4. The iPod Touch can run virtually all of the same apps as the iPhone and now features Facetime, allowing for free video calling to others with iOS4 devices or Macs with Facetime Beta installed.

If you’ve read this far, you probably know what the iPod Touch is and you probably want one for yourself or a loved one. The 8GB iPod Touch starts at $229, but is on sale for a few bucks less on Black Friday.  But we want you to be able to stretch out a bit and record and download a bunch of HD video. That’s why we’re offering up a 32GB iPod Touch, which retails for $299.

Here’s how to win the 32GB iPod Touch Black Friday Giveaway:

To be honest, we’d rather keep the iPod Touch for ourselves. But since we’re pretty lucky and have a ton of gadgets at our disposal, we figured we might as well get in the holiday spirit and give it to one of you.

All you have to do to win this deal is leave a comment and/or tell your friends about the giveaway on Twitter and Facebook.

Each legit entry will be assigned a number and we’ll choose one via Random.org.

Each participant has three chances to enter and will receive one entry number for each section they complete below:

1) Simply leave a comment in the comments section below and tell us about your Black Friday shopping experience.

-Did you buy any gadgets on Black Friday? Which ones and from where?

-Few people have enough cash these days to buy all the gadgets they want. What are the top three items Black Friday deals you wish you could’ve taken advantage of? Be specific and include a link to the Black Friday deal description on Notebooks.com or the retailer’s site. If you need ideas, visit our Black Friday page or hover over the green Black Friday tab at the top-left of this page.

-Did you buy online or go shopping at a retail store? Which store(s) or site(s)?

2) Tell your friends about this giveaway on Twitter. Simply click on the Twiitter logo on the upper-left hand side of this page, visit Twitter.com or use your favorite twitter app. Send out the following message and we’ll see it automatically:

“I just entered to win an iPod Touch from @notebookscom at http://notebooks.com/winipodbf to celebrate Black Friday #nbbfipod”

We’d love to have you follow us at @notebookscom on Twitter.

3) For a third entry, Like Notebooks.com on Facebook. If you already follow Notebooks.com you’ll automatically be entered to win the iPod touch.

We’ll pick a winner on Friday, Dec. 3 and notify the winner by email and/or via the method of entry, so keep an eye on your DM’s, Facebook inbox and the below comments section. You must be 18 or older to enter and we will not accept entries from where it’s prohibited by law. This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents.

Update: Thank you for entering. The winner has been notified via email.

Giveaway: Win an Apple iPod Touch from Notebooks.com! is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

Both the iPod Touch and the Apple TV are now an even better value to college students. Let’s talk about why:

iPod Touch

The iPod Touch has become increasingly popular with students thanks to its great battery life and other features borrowed from the iPhone. Apple has offered back-to-school specials which afford students a free iPod Touch with the purchase of a new Macbook. With the proliferation of WiFi in schools, it’s not uncommon to see students using their iPod Touch for music all around campus and quickly checking emails and Facebook between classes.

Apple’s latest iPod Touch adds some features that will certainly be appreciated by users, such as increased performance with the Apple A4 chip, and a great new high resolution display. However, I’m willing to bet that the most useful new feature for most students will be the front and rear cameras.

Better display:

Apple has bumped the iPod Touch’s resolution up from a measly 320×480 to four times that at a whopping 960×640. The new screens (same resolution and technology as the iPhone 4) look incredibly crisp and make it much easier to see detail in games and other apps. This new display also makes reading on the iPod Touch a new experience.

Cameras:

Apple has added a 0.9MP rear-facing camera to the iPod Touch which is capable of recording 720p HD video great for capturing campus events or for remembering what happens during wild parties. Some film students will appreciate the HD capability as an upgrade over outdated campus provided video cameras! The rear camera also takes photos which will see plenty of use (especially with the popularity of Facebook among college-aged students). Sadly, the rear camera only snaps photos at a paltry 960×720 resolution (much smaller than the iPhone 4′s photos), but the photos will likely be better quality than most cell phone cameras out there and definitely better than that crappy point-and-shoot that you never have with you when you need it!

FaceTime:

And let’s not forget the front-facing camera for it’s FaceTime use. That’s right, the iPod Touch is Face Time enabled which will absolutely change the way that students conduct their inter-campus communication and even the way that they stay in touch with extra-campus friends and family.

Faster processor:

The new iPod Touch now uses Apple’s A4 chip, the same powerful processor that’s found in the iPad and the iPhone 4. This puts the iPod Touch on par with Apple’s fastest mobile devices and makes it compatible with the very latest demanding games.

No contract (like iPhone):

The newest iPod Touch is the closet thing you can get to owning an iPhone without actually paying for a massive monthly contract. You’ve got access to most of the great features like Facetime, the Retina Display, the App Store, and HD video recording. What is the iPod Touch missing out on that the iPhone 4 has? GPS, compass and high-resolution rear camera, however, most of the awesome stuff is still there.

An easy to use, personal web browsing, video conferencing, social networking device right in your pocket? The new iPod Touch is an absolute must-have college companion.

And probably best of all, the iPod Touch remains reasonably priced at $229, $299, or $399 for 8/32/64GB storage respectively. The iPod Touch is going to be at the top of many Christmas wish lists this year.

Apple TV

It’s very common to find students with 22” 32” HDTVs in their dorm rooms and apartments. And now, thanks to the Apple TV, students have a very affordable and simple way to get great HD content to their HDTVs.

The new Apple TV is small enough to fit in the hand, and setup couldn’t be easier. It uses an HDMI port which means just one single plug will hook up your audio and HD video. And trust me… for my friends who can’t even figure out the old color coded plugs, this single cable setup will be much appreciated.

On top of it being simple to set up, the Apple TV is simple to use. New movies can be rented in HD for $4.99 and HD TV shows are just $0.99 per episode! Everything is streamed right to the Apple TV, so you’ll need a sufficient internet connection. Renting an HD movie for $4.99 from the seat of your couch and being able to start the movie in mere seconds absolutely beats the pants off of finding your way to the nearest movie rental store with no car and paying $8 for a non-HD movie rental!

The folks back home might have a Netflix subscription, but you can’t get those movies delivered to your door when you are away at school. Fortunately, you can use the Apple TV to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix’s Play Instantly” collection which will even stream in HD! And if you are an advanced user, you can stream photos, videos, and music from your own computer.

And let’s not forget YouTube. YouTube might not be very old, but for college students, there is a definite group of YouTube classics” that result in seemingly endless laughter. Apple TV will bring classics such as N64 kid” to the big screen in front of the comfy couch, which is a great alternative to having everyone crowd around the tiny computer screen without chairs! I’m certain students will waste away hours sharing their favorite videos (when they should probably be studying).

Can you name two other gadgets that will get you: HD video recording, FaceTime video chatting, a 960×480 screen, access to 250,000 apps in the App Store, in your pocket, and Instant on-demand HD entertainment right to your HDTV starting at just $328? I doubt it!

Apple’s New iPod Touch and Apple TV Are a Great Value to College Students is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.

iTunes LP

Apple is hoping to revive the original album music purchasing experience but this time bringing it to the digital age. iTunes LP looks to provide the user with additional content rather than just music tracks. Select albums will that come with the iTunes LP experience will feature …animated lyrics and liner notes, performance videos, artist and band photos, and other bonus materials.” iTunes is encouraging users to use this new experience to become an even bigger fan”; rough marketing to English translation looks something like this: Buy more music.

Home Sharing

Apple has always allowed you to ‘authorize’ up to five computers with one Apple account, allowing you to keep purchases synced across those computers, but previously there were no included ways to actually keep entire music librarys synced between multiple computers in your home. iTunes 9 is changing that with this new feature which should make it easy to share your library between up to 5 computers in your home. Apple says that you’ll be able to easily see which computers have which songs, and copy them from one computer to another if you’d like.

iTunes Extras

Previously, if you purchased a movie from the iTunes store, you got just that the movie. Now movies with extras content, such as that which one would find on a DVD, will also come with your movie purchase.

Improved Genius

Genius, in the iTunes context, mixes songs from your library that go well together and, more importantly for Apple, recommends additional music for your to purchase based on what you already have. This feature has been expanded to create multiple mixes of your music, fitting similar songs together. The Genius can now also make app store recommendations, pointing you toward apps you might enjoy based on those that you already own.

Organize Your iPhone or iPod Touch Home Screen Through iTunes

It’s been a long time coming, but with iTunes 9, you can finally manage the position of apps on your home screen, through iTunes. You’ll be able to rearrange icons from your computer and even move around entire pages. All changes will be synced to your device to correspond with your new arrangement.

Ringtones and Social Networks

Along with the release of iTunes 9, Apple has licensed many more ringtones that are purchasable through iTunes and they will cost $1.29. There is also integrated social network support for Twitter and Facebook, presumably to tweet or status update the media that you are currently viewing. Be prepared to get bombarded with John Smith is currently listening to X” statuses or tweets as soon as your friends figure out how to use this feature.

iTunes 9 Available Today; Enhances Music Purchasing Experience and More is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.

Keep reading to find out more about the iPod Nano 5G, iPod Touch 3G and updates to the iPod Classic and iPod shuffle lines.

iPod Nano:

It makes sense to start out with a closer look at the iPod Nano since it certainly has one of the most fundamental changes to the new iPods announced today. That change is the addition of a video camera which shoots in 640×480 at up to 30 frames per second and offers 15 different real-time special effects. Your movies will come complete with AAC audio which is captured by the microphone that has also been added to the Nano 5g.

Here’s a hands on video with the iPod Nano 5G from SlashGear showing off the new camera and video features.

Apple’s introduction of the Nano at today’s event pitted it against the Flip camcorder but given the limited resolution even a good performance will likely leave the Nano as handy camera for capturing on the go movies an impromptu scenes rather than a true camcorder replacement. Nano users will be able to view their movies the 5G Nano’s larger 2.2” screen and listen in on the newly included speaker or move them to a computer for easy uploading to YouTube.

Other notable additions to the iPod Nano include an FM Tuner which comes complete with iTunes tagging and the ability to pause a radio program and a pedometer with Nike support to track your steps and calories burned.

Price:  8GB – $149 and 16GB – $179

iPod Classic:

The iPod classic retains its classic status, garnering a size bump and nothing else at today’s event but for an iPod that some were predicting to be put out to pasture an increase to 160 GBs and no price jump makes for a decent update.

iPod Shuffle:

The shuffle also saw a price cut today and got new colors and a special stainless steel edition. During the event Apple announced that new headphones would be available which could control the tiny player from manufacturers such as Sony, V-Moda and others. For more info on the iPod Shuffle special edition be sure to check out SlashGear’s hands on.

Prices:

• 2GB – $59
• 4GB – $79
• 4GB stainless steel case – $99

iPod Touch:

While I was disappointed by the lack of a camera on the new iPod Touch, or iPod Touch 3g as some are calling the 3rd generation device all was not lost. Apple bumped up the capacity of the iPod Touch to a whopping 64 GB’s of flash memory!

The cost for a new iPod Touch has also been lowered to $199 in order to make it more accessible to consumers. According to an interview given to the San Francisco Chronicle this magical” price point was one of the major reasons why there is no camera in the new iPod Touch.

Costs are as follows:

• 8 GB – $199
• 32 GB – $299
• 64GB – $399

Aside from Memory the new iPod Touch has some big improvements, noticeably that it’s faster. The new power is there to support the inclusion of Open GL which provides a better gaming platform pitting the device against the likes of the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS when it comes to gaming. At the event several games were demo’d which showcased the new power including a FPS called Nova from Gameloft which Engadget called “Impressive” comparing it to Halo and noting a solid” frame rate in their liveblog of the event.

All of these new iPods are available right now from the Apple Store.

A Closer Look at the New iPods is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

In order to take advantage of this deal before it is no longer available (until next year anyway) you pretty much just need to have a qualifying university email address. Unfortunately the process of actually claiming your prize is a bit roundabout, in all honesty, I expected more from Apple, but what should I expect from marketing games?

What you need to do first of all, is order an iPod Touch and an Apple computer (it seems that all of their most recent computers are eligible) by September 8th (or walk in to an Apple store and ask them about the offer). The iPod Touch and the computer need to be on the same receipt and ordered at the same time in order to qualify for the program. Once you receive your receipt, you’ll be able to apply for a rebate on Apple’s website. That’s right, they don’t actually give you the iPod Touch for free, they give you the equivalent of an 8GB 2nd gen iPod Touch in the form of a cash rebate. While this method is certainly devised to make sure that the fewest possible number of people actually get around to fulfilling all of the requirements needed to claim their prize (as all rebates are) at least [it appears as though] you can apply this $229 rebate to a 16GB or 32GB iPod Touch if you are already in the market for one. Anyway… you’ll need an Apple ID at the time that you apply for the rebate, and the rebate needs to be claimed by October 8th (sic). Oh and if you are sick of the fine print, shield your eyes, I’ve got more: After taking a look at my roommates iPod Touch that he got through this deal, it doesn’t have the latest software on it (3.0+) so you’ll need to pony up an additional $10 for the update right out of the box. So whereas a brand new 8GB iPod Touch (including 3.0 software) would run you $229 (which is how much they give you for the rebate), the one that they’ll give you through the promo essentially costs $239 because of the optional (but strongly suggested) software update that will need to be applied.

And in case you were wondering… the offer can’t be applied to an iPhone. Why? I have no idea.

Phew… anyway, good luck getting all of that done by September 8th if you are looking for a new Mac and want an iPod Touch ‘free’* (see above!)

Apple’s Mac + Free iPod Touch Back-to-School Deal Ends September 8th is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.