The big announcement from Apple was, as many people suspected, the arrival of the Motorola ROKR phone, an as of now on-Cingular-only mobile phone with iTunes compatibility. The phone has a maximum capacity of 100 songs, and there is no direct downloading- the ROKR needs to be synced with a computer for loading music. Some unusual features: built in speakers and rhythm lights (who doesn't like those...)and a dedicated iTunes key on the number pad that will take you directly to your playlists. The battery talk time is 9 hours with standby up to 9 days, but no word on how that translates to music playing time. Considerably less, I'm sure, particularly if you use the speakers. Still, if you regularly juggle between an mp3 player and a cell phone and their attendant earphones, then the ROKR may make life a little easier and your bag a little lighter (the ROKR weighs a little over 3 oz). It's available now for $249.99 from Cingular.

The bigger news was the arrival of the iPod Nano. The slim-as-a-pencil new Nano is the new mini-er iPod Mini. The Mini is no more. But as much as I try not to fuel the Cult, the Nano has some features which make it a more than worthy upgrade. The flash memory makes the Nano incredibly lightweight, just 1.5 oz, but there's a color screen for viewing photos and album art, and unlike the runt of the bunch, the Shuffle, boasts the trademark click wheel. And while most Flash memory based players top out at 1 GB, the Nano comes in two jumbo sizes, 2 GB and 4 GB. Battery life is comparable to that of the full-sized models (14 hours is what's listed but expect slightly more than half that realistically), but the charge time is reduced by an hour to 3 hours for a full charge. They come in white and black, and you can also buy silicone protectors, called tubes, in Mini-esque colors like pink, purple, green, and blue. The 2 GB model is $199, the 4 GB is $249, and both are available now from Apple.