Teens take iPods back-to-school

A new survey suggests that 64 percent of 13-17-year-old teenagers want an iPod as part of their back-to-school supplies, while 70 percent of teens say they want a computer to complement their studying. "We're seeing a great deal of interest in some less traditional 'school supplies' during the back-to-school retail season," said Brian Hand, CEO of ShopLocal.com, a national Web-to-store comparison shopping site. "Among some of the biggest searches are for MP3 players -- iPods specifically -- and cell phones." The poll queried 500 American teenagers commissioned in July by ShopLocal.com, finding that youngsters aren't just tech-hungry but also brand-conscious. Of those who responded that they would "most want" an MP3 player for the new school year, 97 percent cited iPod as the preferred brand.

iriver ships 2GB T10 portable player...

iriver America today launched a new higher-capacity version of its T10 portable media player which is capable of playing Audible content, offering competition to Apple's iPod player. The iriver 2GB T10 can store and play back Audible's audio titles out-of-the-box, and is PlaysForSure verified to support subscription-based music download services such as Napster or URGE. iriver is also offering customers who purchase the new player a free book from Audible. The new player offers the same storage capacity as Apple's 2GB iPod nano flash-based device, which is currently available for $200 from the Apple Store online. iriver's 2GB T10 is priced at $150, and features up to 45 hours of battery life with a built-in FM tuner/recorder. [image included]