There's a lot of speculation surrounding the next iPod. Historically, Apple has released a significant upgrade to the iPod every year since 2001. Here's a timeline of iPod release dates I found online.

Now, aside from boosting storage capacity from 60GB to 80GB on its latest fifth-generation iPods, nothing dramatic has changed on the iPod since October 2005. It seems Apple has been focusing its attention on promoting and developing its upcoming iPhone.

Because of this, I seriously doubt a 6G Apple iPod will be announced until after the iPhone comes out on June 29. The iPhone is such an important product launch for Apple that the company is very unlikely to distract the public's attention with a new iPod until it is sure that it won't steal attention away from the iPhone.

Still, this is just my guess. We don't have any insider knowledge about what Apple has planned. I can tell you that many iPod fans are very excited about how the iPhone will handle music and video playback on its wide touch screen. The hope is that Apple will release a new iPod later this year that has the wide touch screen features of the iPhone with a 60GB or 80GB capacity (the iPhone only holds 4GB or 8GB).

Until then, you may want to take a look at our list of alternatives to the iPod (some of Apple's competition is really picking up the slack), or participate in our MP3 player forum.