I couldn’t help but notice that the new iPod line up now mirrors the Mac line-up in a few respects:

The shuffle is the runt of the family, only deserving a colour refresh in the same way the Mac mini only deserves a meagre processor upgrade once a year. Also, neither of them ship with a screen.

The nano is pretty fresh, but is equipped with just a twentieth of the capacity of its bigger brother. With its smaller screen size, I guess you could say it’s comparable with the MacBook.

The new classic iPods, with 2.5″ screens and massive storage capacity — up to 32 times that of the original iPod could maybe, just about, possibly be compared with the MacBook Pros. I admit that the analogy falls down a little here as the nano to classic comparison is probably more like the low-end MacBook to “BlackBook” comparison.

The new iPod touch is, in my opinion, the iMac of the iPod line. Its looks are similar, its screen size is impressive and it’s pretty good value for money.

Okay, the analogy fails a little (again!) with the iPhone and the Mac Pro, but only thanks to storage capacity. The iPhone is clearly the most full-featured iPod with all the goodies that are absent from the iPod touch and (obviously) the ability to make phone calls. When the 16 Gb flash iPhone is (inevitably) introduced, it really will be the king of the iPod line-up.

Maybe that was all a load of rubbish, but either way, my 8 Gb “phat nano” (in black) is already on the way. I couldn’t really justify buying the touch, as I fully intend to buy an iPhone once they’re released here in the UK.