When we started covering iPods in 2001, no one believed that tiny devices - music players - might one day transform Apple into a consumer electronics giant and globally respected brand.

Today, between the dominant iPod, the number one music retailer iTunes, and the industrychanging iPhone, Apple is the company every rival - even Microsoft - wishes it could be.

Apple currently sells 45* different iPod and iPhone models, spread across 10 official colors. There are thousands of third-party accessories and applications, each transforming what could just be a media player, a smartphone, and PC or Mac sync software into so much more.

As the world’s leading resource for iPod, iPhone, and iTunes information, we spend our days testing all of these products to help you learn what’s best. This year’s top picks are inside.

The 100 Best Apps + Games
Up-to-Date New + Used Buying Tips
2500 Ratings of iPod + iPhone Products
Gift Guides, iPod + iPhone History, and More

Visit 2009 iPod + iPhone Buyers’ Guide Download Page

You can download full publication in PDF format.

The 2009 iPod + iPhone Buyers’ Guide is published by iLounge, Inc.

CONTENTS
6 Editor’s Notes
7 A Snapshot: Apple’s iFamily
8 The iLounge Community
10 Sneak Peeks
16 The iPod + iPhone Buyers’ Guide
Our definitive look at the 2008-2009 iPod and iPhone lineup, plus top accessories for each.
48 New + Used iPod Buying Tips
56 Know Your Colors + The Color Chart
62 The 100 Best Apps + Games
72 Ten App Developers Worth Watching
74 The iPhone OS App + Game Report Card
78 The iPod + iPhone Accessory Gift Guide
From speakers to earphones, cases and toys, we spotlight the best add-ons for every iPod + iPhone.
104 iLounge’s Best of the Year Awards
112 The Big Report Card
Our complete list of over 2,000 iPod and iPhone accessory ratings, compiled since 2001.
124 iProvocateur and iPod as Art Contests
128 iPods + iPhones Around the World Galleries
132 iPod, iTunes + iPhone History: 2001-2008
Seven years of iPod and iPod history in a convenient timeline, plus iPhone + Apple TV.
146 Index to Advertisers
Note: All ads in this Buyers’ Guide are clickable.
147 Backstage
149 Closing the Curtain

EDITOR'S NOTES
As we prepare to enter 2009, it’s obvious that 2008 wasn’t a perfect year for Apple.

Launched in July, the iPhone 3G quickly became synonymous with uncontrollably long lines, software crashes, dropped calls and slow speeds, requiring two months and changes to both software and selling policies before issues started to subside. MobileMe, an iPhone- and iPod-refocused e-mail, contact, calendar, and photo synchronization service, failed to work properly for weeks. iPod sales briefly slowed down, leading Apple to start giving away iPod nanos and touches with computers. Third-party accessory companies started to disappear. And despite updates, Apple TV floundered.

Thanks to its second half, however, 2008 will more likely be remembered as a great year for Apple. Even with the brief slowdown, iPod and iPhone sales reached historic levels - 174 million iPods, 13 million iPhones. ...

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