Well, as I’m sure you all know by now, Apple has announced a new “iPod Photo.” This handy little contraption comes in 40 and 60 gig versions with a color screen for viewing your photos. I’m not exactly sure who has 60 gigs of photos, considering that is bigger than the hard drive in my Powerbook, but I’m sure someone out there probably has 60 gigs of music. Crazy music freaks.

Besides featuring a “razor sharp LCD” screen, Apple has also managed to increase battery life to 15 hours for the new model. However, the downside of the new improvements are the slightly increased thickness and weight of the iPod. Not that I think you’re going to notice 0.06” or 0.2 ounces (compared to the previous 40 gig model), but hey, you might.

If you’re a big U2 fan or you just want to pay a premium for a black iPod, Apple is now offering the U2 Special Edition iPod, which sports a black case, red scroll wheel, and the band’s signatures on the back. It’s only available in a 20 gig model (guess you U2 fans don’t have much music?) and you’ll pay $349 instead of the normal $299. However, if are planning to buy “The Complete U2” from the iTunes music store anyway, then you’ll be happy to note the U2 Special Edition iPod comes with a $50 off coupon. Oh, and a special edition poster. Yippee.

Now for the most drool worthy news of the day. Tootsie Roll has finally, finally created an entire bag of Vanilla Tootsie Rolls. As everyone knows, vanilla was previously worth the extra effort of digging through a huge bag of mixed candy to find. Well, dig no more. Just run over to your favorite supermarket and pick up a bag of “limited edition” vanilla Tootsie Rolls. Mmmmm…

Ok, I seem to be having some difficulty typing this evening, so if you see typos, just ignore them. Must be the Project Management class; apparently if I go more than a few hours without using a computer I guess I forget how to type…

For those of you who use iTunes, version 4.5 is now available. It has several new features and now you can download a free single from an “emerging artist” every week. It seems like this update is made up of a bunch of small things that ellict a “that’s kinda cool” response, instead of a few “WOW” features. For example it’s kinda cool that you can watch movie trailers straight from iTunes (and of course buy the soundtracks and audiobooks). It’s also kinda cool that you can watch music videos. I’m not really a music video fan but I watched a couple and it was sorta nice, but not something I would really miss if it wasn’t available.

One new feature that is pretty useful is the improved printing options. Now you can print a list of your songs, or a list of all the albums you have. You can also print cd covers with actual album art (or a mosiac of all the covers for a mixed cd). I don’t really ever burn discs, but if I did, I think this is a really cool feature. I’m thinking about making a mix cd just to test it out. :)

All of the audiophiles out there will probably be happy with the new Apple Lossless Encoder, which promises full CD quality audio in about half the size an uncompressed audio file would require. This would also probably be a good option to back up CDs onto your computer without a loss in quality.

If you go to the iTunes site you can read about all of the other features I didn’t cover like: Radio Charts, iMix, Wish List, and now your library has links back to the music store as well.

Ok, I gave in. If you want to see some of the songs I listen to you can view my very own iMix list (you need iTunes).