New £200 iPod is real long player

Apple has launched a cheaper version of its iPod digital music player - which stores fewer songs but plays for longer.

The new 20Gb iPod will hold 5,000 tracks and is expected to sell for £219, compared with £299 for the earlier 40Gb model.

The latest version has a 12-hour battery life, against eight hours for the older version. Poor battery performance in some iPods has drawn criticism from users.

The new model is slightly thinner and its menus have been altered to make navigation easier. The buttons have been moved to lie around the wheel used to navigate through menus - an innovation copied from the iPod Mini.

The iPod is the world's most popular digital player, with 860,000 sold since April.