now about ipod touch, nifty little device, main usage – browsing, email, videos, all apps – games etc.. many of them become free once in a while – just watch some forums. genie is one horrible function for non english music. it just doesn’t work. i just hate it.. get a cover bcos it will scratch easily.. not the glass but the body. speaker is horrible. camera would have been awesome but steve the jobs doesn’t think we deserve it yet.. or else he thinks anyway you homosapiens you don’t have any option, so buy what he gives..

anyways .. good device for what i want to do, browse, watch youtube, play some games on the train, watch some videos on flights, sometimes for kids..

some nice games and apps i use – paper toss,weatherbug, google earth, sportacular, tapdefense, table tennis, fss hockey, unblockme, tvulite, bubblewrap spaceballs, personal assistant, sneezes lite, hookme..

However, this ONLY applies to the 32GB and 64GB versions as others have noted. The 3rd gen. 8GB version is exactly the same as the 2nd gen. except it is repackaged so even with the reduced price, the 8GB is an inferior deal.

The first thing I noticed was how much the price of the ipod touch has dropped since its debut. The 16GB was $399 when it first came out and now this 32GB is only $299 ($279 on amazon). This does makes sense because that is how the market works but this is a very good deal.

Obviously $300 is not money to be thrown around, but the ipod touch is well-rounded and offers many features other than just being a decent music player. I personally could not tell any difference in sound quality from my 1st gen. and my 3rd gen. touch, which is a major disappointment because the basic function of an ipod is a music player and improvements are always welcome if not necessary.

The 3rd gen. offers really shoddy and quiet internal speakers, which is better than nothing on the 1st gen. and the stock Apple headphones are just terrible. Note that the 32GB and 64GB versions come with headphones that have a built-in mic and music player controls, but they are basically the same. So you should factor in the cost of buying new headphones.

Some respectable brands for headphones or earbuds are Klipsch, Shure and Bose. I personally use Bose overear headphones because the noise that they block off really makes a difference on the crowded subway. While looking for headphones keep in mind that like all things out there, price and quality (and warrenties) have a direct correlation. But really, the ipod touch sound quality is not bad at all as much as I bash it.

What makes me give 5 stars to this 3rd gen. ipod touch is the fact that its overall package is unmatched in the market today, even with the new Zune HD (the Zune has a much inferior internet browser and limited apps). I am not going to make a comparison between them because both music players attract different audiences, where ipod touch users prefer the apps and the interface while zune users find the Zune Marketplace to be much better than itunes (Marketplace prices for music is cheaper and a better value especially for heavy downloaders). But for the casual music listener, both are the very similar in form, function, and price.

The 3rd gen. ipod touch has a terrific internet browser that is superior to the Blackberry, but its limitations are that it requires a wifi connection and it does not support adobe flash. I use it to jot down notes quickly, to view my documents on my subway to study, check my mail, look up something quickly on the internet, and obviously to listen to music. There is a plethora of apps that can be downloaded and many are free and quite useful like AIM and SportsTap, and Remote. Apple advertises the ipod touch for the games that it can play and you will not be disappointed if you want to play something on the go.

Th 3.5 inch screen is crisp and watching videos is a pleasure. And the ipod touch does look great with clean lines but if you don’t want to get the backplate scratched, you must by a case. The screen itself on the other hand is very scratch-resistant.

I highly recommend the new 3rd generation ipod touch for those who are looking for something in this price range and want a balanced music player that can also play vidoes, surf the web, and play quick games. In a way, people are also paying for the Apple brand, which is not a bad thing considering you can bring your ipod to the apple store to get it fixed, you can purchase many different accessories, and you can have special conpatibility features with other apple products such as with macbooks if you already own one or your school/business uses them.

In other words, The iPod Touch 3G is clearly a better model. I do wish it had a camera, but can live without it, and don’t give a darn about having an FM radio. In fact, I rarely play music on it.

My only complaint is the battery life. It’s no worse than the old one, but it still couldn’t be called even adequate with the wifi on. I can’t keep it on like my cell phone.

One more thing- I wish Apple would pull its head out of its you-know-what and have several cell phone companies selling the iPhone, and not just ATT. I’m locked in to my carrier for several reasons, and would get an iPhone in a second if Verizon sold them. I don’t think I’d be caught dead using AT&T as my carrier, iPhone or not. I understand they have a contract to complete, but after that they’d be just plain stupid to continue the exclusive arrangement they have now, even if they are getting a sizeable kickback from AT&T for every iPhone sold.