iTunes 8 announced
Apple's "Let's Rock" event held in San Francisco today has been the subject of widespread media attention for the past week, and following no shortage of rumours, Apple's key announcements have now been made.
Steve Jobs, Apple's head-honcho, took to the stage with a message stating that reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated. With that quirk over and done with, he moved on to a trio of product launches; iTunes 8, a new iPod nano and a new iPod touch.
iTunes 8, expected to be available to download from the Apple website later today, introduces "Genius". This new feature analyses a user's music collection using complex algorithms and automatically creates playlists of songs it thinks will go well together. As you'd expect, it'll also recommend music that you may want to buy from the iTunes store.
Genius, arguably the star feature of the show, will use data collected from users across the globe and will be available in both iTunes 8 and various iPod devices. As with Microsoft's Zune earlier today, the focus is clearly on music discovery.
Moving away from music, and following a barrage of iTunes statistics, Jobs announced HD TV shows will now be available to purchase from the iTunes store. High-definition shows will be charged at $2.99, whilst standard-definition shows remain at $1.99.
Not yet satisfied with the new additions, Jobs added that "old browsing wasn't efficient", and that iTunes 8 will introduce a selection of interface alterations - including a grid view that allows you to browse media via cover art.
That, however, was just about all on the iTunes front, so how about the new iPods?