New iPods unboxed and dissected

You knew this was coming.

It has become a ritual with new Apple products. Upon arrival, copious photographs are taken of the new product's packaging and invariably someone throws their warranty to the wind and cracks the case to take even more photographs of the innards.

It's didn't take long, but Wednesday's iPods are the latest victims.

iLounge has posted pictures of the 2007 iPod's packaging and their hidden diagnostic menus. (To enter diagnostic mode hold Menu and Action buttons together to restart iPod, then quickly hold Action and Back.)

iFixit has posted the first internal photos of the new iPod nano 3G and iPod Classic.

The photos and accompanying commentary for the new models focus on major changes and enhancements in the new iPod models, and includes several close-up images of their updated logic boards and other components. iFixit will provide replacement parts and complete repair guides for these models in the coming weeks.

We're just missing the teardown analysis and component costs from iSuppli.