Ringtones come to iTunes

A "Ringtones" tab is coming in the next version of iTunes (to be available tonight)–a surprise to many, though hackers have been expecting the feature since before the iPhone’s release. Users will be able to make their own 30-second ringtones out of 500,000 different songs available on the iTunes Store. If you already have the song, you can pay $.0.99 to turn it into a ringtone. Otherwise, you can pay $1.98 for both the song and ringtone.

iPod Shuffle

Steve Jobs opened up today’s event by announcing that the company will replace the entire iPod lineup and kicked things off with the new Shuffle. Same $79 price point, same capacities, new colors. Not too much to see here, though we were right about the PRODUCT (RED) Shuffle, natch.  

iPod Nano

As expected, Apple has officially announced the rather ugly iPod Nano "Fatty". This little guy sports a bigger display, video playback, Cover Flow and a "full metal design". It measures 2 inches diagonally, with a 320×240 screen–the same resolution as the existing high-end iPods. According to Apple, these little guys boast 24 hours of music playback and 5 hours of video. They’ll ship with three games onboard–$149 for 4GB and $199 for 8GB. Available this weekend in black, silver, blue, green, and (PRODUCT) RED.

iPod Classic

That’s right folks, the full-size iPod will now be known as the iPod Classic–and from the looks of it, not much has changed other than the full-metal body and the UI. The iPod Classic will be available in two models: an 80GB and a ginormous 160GB.

The 80GB model is capable of 25 hours of music and 5 hours of video, is thinner than the old 30GB iPod and will retail for $249. The 160GB beast does 40 hours of music and 7 hours of video, will be thinner than the old 80GB model and will retail for $349. Both models will be available today in silver and black.

iPod Touch 

Looks like there’s a new iPod in town–the heavily-rumored, touchscreen-sporting iPod Touch. The form factor looks almost identical to the iPhone and it boasts WiFi, Cover Flow, Multitouch, Calendar, Contacts, Clock, Calculator, Safari and Youtube, a customizable dock and a very iPhone-like UI. 22 hours of music playback and 5 hours of video playback. Two models: 8GB of built-in flash storage for $299 and 16GB for $399. Available worldwide in "a few weeks".  

iTunes over WiFi

Here’s one more thing that we’ve been expecting today–the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. Accessible from the iPod Touch and iPhone, the WiFi store has the same selection and pricing as its desktop brother and allows you to preview songs in the same manner. Download a song directly to your iPod and you can listen to it right away–sync your iPod with your Mac or PC when you get home and the songs you purchased over-the-air will automatically download to your hard drive.

Apple teams up with Starbucks

Starbucks has been trying to break into the music retailing game for a while now, so it makes sense that they’ve partnered up with the king of the hill in the digital music sales. Walk into any Starbucks and a special Starbucks icon will pop up on your iPod or iPhone. You’ll then be able to browse the last 10 songs played in the store and purchase them over-the-air from iTunes. You’ll also get free access to the iTunes Store over the in-store WiFi, though I’d assume you can’t use the WiFi  for anything else. They’ll be rolling the service out in most U.S. metropolitan areas by the end of this year, with all Starbucks locations slated to get it by 2009.

iPhone price drop!

The final announcement at the event was, unsurprisingly, the announcement that garnered the most applause. Apple is discontinuing the 4GB iPhone model and is dropping the price of the 8GB iPhone to $399–that’s a $200 price cut. "We want to put iPhones in a lot of stockings," Jobs quipped.