In anticipation of the new iPods to be announced tomorrow here is a read from Newsweek profiling the ubiquity of the iPod in the US and the rest of the world.

Steve Jobs noticed something earlier this year in New York City. “I was on Madison,” says Apple’s CEO, “and it was, like, on every block, there was someone with white headphones, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, it’s starting to happen’.” Jonathan Ive, the company’s design guru, had a similar experience in London: “On the streets and coming out of the tubes, you’d see people fiddling with it.” And Victor Katch, a 59-year-old professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan, saw it in Ann Arbor. “When you walk across campus, the ratio seems as high as 2 out of 3 people,” he says.

Funny because for about 5 minutes the only thing I could notice was that oldie Steve Jobs was getting to enjoy the presence of the beautiful Alicia Keys. Hmph, in any case it’s a cool article, if not the ultimate propaganda for Apple.

New features of the new iPod include:

• Click wheel (like the iPod Mini)
• A millimeter thinner
• More efficient Menus
• Multiple on-the-go playlists
• Listen to audiobooks slower or 25 percent faster without affecting pitch
• Longer play - 12 hours of battery life due to more power conservation
• Lower price: 40GB - $399, 20GB $299 (no 15 gig model now)
• Still white

More insight can be garnered from this Newsweek article (via Macrumors).

Update: Kottke has some interesting insight into the launch of the new iPods.