If you don’t want to watch the live-stream, you can download Apple’s official Podcast here. (iTunes Link)

I am going to shamelessly copy John Gruber’s format, and tell you how much you should wager on certain rumors regarding tomorrow’s media event.

Wager heavily upon:

• At bare minimum, the announcement of camera equipped iPods. I can almost guarantee the nano and touch will have cameras, I can only assume the iPod classic will too. The evidence for the former is overwhelming, while evidence for the latter is scarce. I also expect the iPod touch to receive the same processor and RAM upgrades the iPhone 3GS received in June. Lastly, I suspect the camera on the iPod touch will be able to capture video.
• Price drops – I’ve heard both major and/or minor price drops are a possibility. This is to maintain Apple’s sales volumes while the iPhone continues to eat away at the iPod market.

Wager minimally upon:

• iTunes with social media integration, such as Facebook and Twitter.
• Apple TV updates. Modest updates such as new software or larger hard drives.
• Pre-cut ringtones.
• iTunes “Cocktails” –  Albums packaged with interactive media such as iPhone apps.

Would wager agianst:

• Tablet announcement.
• Steve Jobs giving the keynote.
• Major Apple TV overhaul, such as built-in DVR or subscription services as recent rumors have suggested.
• Beatles announcement.
• Blu-Ray support in iTunes.

As a whole, I suspect tomorrow’s announcements will be pretty standard. Nothing ground breaking, just the next logical step in Apple’s media strategies.

Ringtone Selector in iTunes

Cnet is reporting that Apple now has acquired the rights to distribute “Pre-cut” ringtones through iTunes. They are rushing to have this feature implemented in iTunes by Wednesday’s “Rock and Roll” media event.

Owners of Apple’s iPhone have long had the ability to create custom-made ringtones for their devices. The new music snippets are mainly a convenience, as they make it possible for iPhone owners to obtain a pre-cut ringtone instead of having to create their own.

Apple will announce the ringtones on September 9, the day the company has scheduled a press event, if managers can get them ready in time to sell, the sources said. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

As you may remember, Apple brought custom ringtone making to iTunes in 2007. This feature allows you to select 30 second clips of select songs and create a ringtone out of it for $0.99.

I don’t buy this for several reasons. First off, Apple has more competition from rivals, such as Amazon MP3. Music labels flocked to iTunes competitors hoping to eat away at Apple’s power in media markets. So why would the music labels hand Apple more control over their content?

Also, Apple in 2007 made a big deal about users being able to select their own sections of the songs for ringtones. Granted they could be backpedaling(Apple TV Take 2), but Apple doesn’t do that very often.

Is that an iPhone with -gasp- a Beatles Album Cover on it?

This timing has lead to speculation that the Beatles collection may finally be coming to iTunes. There is no recent evidence that EMI, Apple Corps (The Beatles holding company), or Apple Inc, have reached an agreement, or that a deal is imminent.

These “Beatles on iTunes” rumors have intermittently reared their head ever since Apple launched the iTunes Music Store six years ago. After the long battle with Apple Corps over the use of the “Apple” trademark in the music industry finally ended in 2007, there have been many rumors of the Beatles catalog coming to iTunes.

In my opinion this is just a coincidence. Matter of fact, it is not known for sure when Apple plans to hold their media event.

The app organization feature would allow iTunes 9 users to visually organize the apps before they get transferred to their iPod Touches or iPhones. No more ‘wiggling’ and trying to move the apps from page-to-page on these devices. Besides being able to setup the home screen icons and general layout, the app organizaion feature may also include sorting by name, usage, etc. This concept video released on YouTube demos what the app organization feature could be like: iTunes 9 App Management Concept.

The iTunes 9 Blu-Ray support rumour would fit nicely with a recent report that Apple may include Blu-Ray into their new iMac models.

Last year Apple demoed iTunes 8 at their annual iTunes and iPod music event. With this year’s event quickly approaching in September, the timing for the release seems to fit.

Apple’s Premier ADC members along with WWDC attendees, have free access to session videos. That said, it appears that members of the Select ADC, free Online ADC and $99 Student Member programs for Mac OS X development, and the registered iPhone developers, have to pay.

This content isn’t cheap. Separately the Mac and iPhone sessions cost $299 each, if purchased together it costs $499. The steep prices are an obvious attempt by Apple to prevent these session releases from cheapening the WWDC experience. Apple wants you to go to the conference, but at $1595 for a full ticket and $1295 for early purchasers, this may be an economic impossibility. Besides, for the past two years WWDC has sold out, making attendance impossible for many.

After signing up to an ADC program and buying access through the site, Apple will send you an email to activate your sessions videos. Then you can head over to iTunes and download your content, and there is a lot of it. The Mac sessions weigh in at 13GB, and the iPhone sessions at 17GB.

Here are the release notes:

Tunes 8.2 now supports iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 3.0 Software Update. iTunes 8.2 also includes many accessibility improvements and bug fixes.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

The funny thing about this release is the fact that iPhone developers have been using iTunes 8.2 for some time now, as it was needed to install the 3.0 software on their devices.

As mentioned before Apple also released an update to Quicktime.

Here are the release notes:

QuickTime 7.6.2 includes changes that increase reliability, improve compatibility and enhance security. This release is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users.

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3520.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

The release of this iTunes update coincides with Apple’s upcoming WWDC event where the new iPhone is expected to be announced.

[Source]

With iTunes variable pricing being in place for only a week now, the affects are already noticeable. Some of the songs in top slots prior to the price hike, have now fallen in their rankings according to Billboard.

The iTunes Top 100 list had 40 different songs that jumped to the new price of $1.29, and only one day after the hike, some of those 40 songs fell on average of 5.3 places on the chart, while cheaper songs had a tendency to move up the chart.

Now, the only thing this confirms is what we already know. People don’t like price hikes, especially when only a day prior they could have bought the exact same thing cheaper. Will this affect long term sales and chart placement? I’m still going to stick to my guns and say, yes. Yes, it will affect long term sales. Then again, Apple and others, such as Amazon, may still have enough power to pull through this.

For people against this move, say, people like me, this past week has proven what we suggested would happen, falling sales due to jackass move by an inept, bureaucratic system that is losing power to the Juggernaut that is indie musicans, coupled with the power of the internet and services like iTunes.