Apple "It's Showtime" Event Announcments

iTunes 7 with New Features and Movie Downloads
iTunes 7 delivers new features including new album and Cover Flow views of music, TV shows and movies, enabling users to quickly find titles in their library. In addition, the iTunes Store is now offering over 75 movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films, that customers can purchase and download to watch on their computers and iPods, and soon on their flat screen televisions with Apple’s upcoming iTV* player. Movies will become available on the iTunes Store the same day they are released on DVD, with new releases priced at $12.99 when pre-ordered and during their first week of availability, and $14.99 thereafter, and library titles available for just $9.99 every day. Videos purchased from the iTunes Store are downloaded in near-DVD quality at a resolution of 640x480, which is four times higher than before. Downloaded videos can be played on computers and iPods. iTunes 7 also includes new features to better organize and enjoy digital music and video, including expanded parental controls, an iTunes video playback window with on-screen controls, and the new Cover Flow view that lets you visually browse your entire video collection by cover artwork.

The iTunes Store now also offers downloads of popular video games for fifth generation iPods, including “Tetris,” “Mahjong” and “Mini Golf” from Electronic Arts Inc.; “Pac-Man” from Namco Networks America Inc.; “Cubis 2” from FreshGames, LLC; “Bejeweled” and “Zuma” from PopCap Games, Inc.; “Texas Hold’em” and “Vortex” developed by Apple, all available beginning today for $4.99 each.

Apple also announced exclusive content from the NFL network offering video downloads of highlights from individual NFL games the day after they are played. Football fans will be able to download highlights of each NFL regular season game for $1.99 per game or purchase a “Follow Your Team” Season Pass for $24.99 and have game clips from their favorite teams delivered automatically as they become available for viewing on a computer or iPod.

New iPod Nano
Pod® nano with a new aluminum body, an 24 hours of battery life and more than twice the music capacity for the same price as the previous generation. The new iPod nano is even smaller, thinner and lighter than before available in silver, pink, green, blue and black. The second generation iPod nano boasts a brighter, more vibrant display. New software features include Search and Quick Scroll, supports gapless playback and includes Apple’s patent pending Auto-Sync technology. Apple also announced new accessories designed for the second generation iPod nano, including lanyard headphones, an armband, a dock, and a new incredibly compact USB power adapter which at almost half the size of the previous USB power adapter is perfect for charging your iPod while traveling.

The new iPod nano models are now available worldwide through the Apple Store. The new 2GB iPod nano model in silver is available for $149 (US), the new 4GB models in silver, pink, green and blue are available for $199 (US), and the new 8GB model in black is available for $249 (US). All iPod nano models include redesigned earbud headphones providing superior comfort, fit and sound quality, and a USB 2.0 cable.

New iPod Shuffle
Nearly half the size of the original, the new iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce and features an all-new aluminum design and a built-in clip which makes it the most wearable iPod ever. The new iPod shuffle contains one gigabyte of flash memory which holds up to 240 songs. Users connect the new iPod shuffle to their Mac or PC with the included dock, and iTunes’ AutoFill feature automatically syncs the perfect number of songs from their music library.

The new iPod shuffle is expected to be available worldwide in October through for $79 (US). iPod shuffle includes earbud headphones and an iPod shuffle Dock.

Upgraded 5th Generation iPod
The new iPod features a 60 percent brighter and more vibrant 2.5-inch color display perfect for watching TV shows and now Hollywood movies. The new iPod features seamless integration with iTunes 7 and the iTunes Store which now includes over 75 Hollywood movies, 220 television shows and popular video games designed specifically for the fifth generation iPod. The new iPod is available in a 60GB model at the new low price of $249 and an 80GB model, which holds up to 20,000 songs or 100 hours of video, for $349.
The new iPod now features gapless playback, Search and Quick Scroll feature and Apple’s Auto-Sync technology automatically downloads digital music, podcasts, photos, audiobooks, movies, music videos and popular TV shows onto the iPod and keeps them up-to-date whenever the iPod is plugged into a Mac or Windows computer. Popular video games designed specifically for the fifth generation iPod include: “Bejeweled,” “Cubis 2,” “Mahjong,” “Mini Golf,” “Pac-Man,” “Tetris,” “Texas Hold’em,” “Vortex” and “Zuma,” and are available for purchase on the iTunes Store.

The 30GB model features up to 14 hours of battery life for music playback and up to three and a half hours of video playback, and the 80GB model features up to 20 hours of battery life for music playback and five and a half hours of video playback. The new iPod features brightness control allowing users to easily change the brightness. The new 60GB iPod model in white or black is available for $249 (US), and the new 80GB model in white or black is available for $349 (US). All iPod models include redesigned earbud headphones providing superior comfort, fit and sound quality, and a USB 2.0 cable

Apple has posted a QuickTime stream of the event: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/sep_2006/event/index.html