New iPod Features: 12 Hour Battery, Lower Prices; Goodbye 15GB

Further details of the new white iPod, to be officially announced by Apple Monday, have surfaced through a sidebar story accompanying Newsweek magazines feature article on Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the iPod phenomenon.

Key features of the new iPod are:

- 50% improvement in battery life to 12 hours from the current eight through better power conservation.

- A click wheel identical in design and functionality to that of the iPod mini.

- A thinner iPod by one millimeter.

- More efficient menus, so thereis less thumbing through to get to content.

- New ability to create multiple playlists and delete songs from them.

- Variable speed control to listen to content faster or slower.

- No new hard drive sizes, but lower prices. The 20GB will now cost US$299 from $399 and the 40GB model will cost $399 from $499. The 15GB is being phased out.

At the time of this writing, access to the sidebar story was unavailable due to a "Network Error".