Apple came out today and slammed the market with a number of big news items. I’m sure the arch-enemies in Redmond, WA are pretty pissed right now. Here is Apple’s hot news…

First up, there is a new iPod in town. This one is called the iPod Touch and it’s basically an iPhone without the phone. Very slick, but if I were going to be shelling out that kind of money, I’d probably go straight for the iPhone.

Speaking of money and the iPhone, Apple also announced a special “holiday price drop” for the iPhone. That $599 8G iPhone only cost $399 now. The smaller iPhone remains the same price “while supplies last”.

The iPod Nano got a hideous make over and a bigger screen. I’m sorry Apple, but this one was just dumb. Sleek and stylish > video support.

The iPod Shuffle is now sporting some new colors. I still don’t see much of a point in this version of the iPod, but hey, apparently some people like it.

Those of you with an iPhone or an iPod Touch can now browse for music and more via the iTunes Wi-Fi Store. I really don’t see this as that big of a deal, other than it’s “iTunes”. Hasn’t AT&T, Verizon, and others had a similar service for a while now?

Apple and Starbucks have also signed a deal that basically brings Wi-Fi iTunes to your favorite, expensive coffee shop. The cool thing about this is that iTunes will show you what’s currently playing at Starbucks.

Another new feature for you iPhone owners…. iTunes will now allow you to (for $0.99) create custom ring tones from any song in your library. You’ll be able to select a 30 second clip. I’m really surprised there isn’t a free service that offers this already.

The last thing from Apple today is the announcement of the new iPod Classic. This new one offers up to 160G of storage. Apple figures that it’ll store about 40,000 songs, and at about $0.99 per song, yeah that’s a hell of a lot. I pity the fool that fills that up with iTunes purchases.

The one thing I was hoping for, and it still hasn’t come is a monthly subscription to iTunes. If they really want me to use their service more, charge me $15.00 per month for unlimited downloads. I’ll have no need to purchase a physical CD again. Napster does it, why can’t Apple?