The fine folks over at Engadget are doing some kick-ass near-realtime blogging on the Apple keynote that's happening today,
so head on over to check it out. Here are the highlights:
The full-sized iPod will now do 6.5 hours of video
New headphones, improved sound, will come standard on all iPods
Gapless playback (important for the hardcore audio folks)
Instant search allows you to filter through your collection faster
Gaming has been added (PAc-Man, Zuma, Texas Hold 'Em, Mini Golf, others), being sold for $4.99 each via iTunes
Lower prices: $249 USD for the 30 GB iPod, $349 for the 80 GB iPod
The Nano will come in 2GB for $149, 4GB for $199, and 8GB for $249
24 hour battery life is a new feature on the Nano, which will also come in Blue, Pink, Green, Silver and Black
A 40% smaller charger for iPods
The new iPod Shuffle looks insanely small and will sell for $79 in 1 GB size
iTunes video will now be sold at 640 x 480 resolution
iTunes 7 has an improved layout, an album view that's very Windows Media Player 11-esque, auto cover art downloading
75+ movies are available from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, and Miramax. Not very impressive - all are Disney-owned studios. Prices on new movies are $12.99 USD for the pre-orders and first week, no mention of the price after that point. Likely $14.99. Older movies will cost $9.99.
iTunes movies will be internationally offered in 2007
iTV is how you get your media onto your TV. Looks like a flatter Mac Mini. Built-in power adaptor, no brick. HDMI output, component video output.
iTV has a 10 foot view - it's basically Frontrow
Pricing is $299 and coming in Q1 2007 (missing the Christmas season? surprising!)
All in all, this is a lot of impressive news to absorb. The new iPods are have some decent new features, though nothing mind-blowing. Still, 80 GB and 6.5 hours of video with a brighter screen makes for an impressive iPod. The iTunes video store is a yawner - there's no mention of burning to DVD, but I doubt it will be possible. The movie selection isn't very impressive - you can tell the other big studios don't want to cooperate with Apple (yet). iTV is the most impressive thing, because it's something that no vendor has executed on with any degree of competence.
UPDATE: So it looks like Jeremy and I were both working on an Apple keynote post, neither one of us telling the other. ;-) Consider it two opinions on the same subject then...
