On the heels of Thursday’s iPod announcements, Apple has added an "iPod Store" to the online Apple Store. The iPod Store prominently features Apple’s four iPod offerings as well as links to a multitude of iPod and iTunes-related pages and accessories.
A section titled "iPod Everywhere" includes pages with specific accessories for connecting an iPod to your vehicle’s stereo, a home stereo, a computer, or simply taking it with you. A "Battle of the Speakers" page masquerades as a review of three iPod specific speaker systems (Bose’s SoundDock, JBL’s OnStage, and Altec Lansing’s iM3), rounding out the features of each.
Not to be missed is Apple’s description of the neodymium drivers that each speaker system features:
"A silvery rare earth metal, pure neodymium quickly tarnishes in air. But it’s stable when combined with iron and boron, making a powerful supermagnet. Neodymium-Iron-Boron stomps butts of previous high-power magnetic champs. Ferrite magnets? TKO! Aluminum-Nickel-Cobalt? Yesterday! Samarium Cobalt? Close, but no cigar. Neodymium-Iron-Boron wears the permanent magnet crown. Neodymium magnets are so strong that a pair pinches fingers like pliers and shatters when it slams together, spraying chips of metal. But harness them in a speaker driver and they sing."
You can see the new store off of the Apple Store’s home page.
The Mac Observer Spin:
With sales of iPods outstripping sales of Macs by three-to-one (and likely four-to-one if not more this holiday season), an iPod Store makes perfect sense. Now if only Apple had those nifty socks on there already… (Oh, and we can’t believe that we ever thought samarium cobalt magnets were stronger! What were we thinking?!)