PC Magazine's Audio and Video Lead Analyst, Tim Gideon, is commenting live from today's Apple press conference.

Greetings from Moscone Center West in sunny, hilly San Francisco! Today, Apple has invited me and hundreds of my closest friends to the announcement that everyone knows is going to be about a new iPod. The question is: what kind of iPod, Jobsy? Will it be the first Bluetooth or Wi-Fi-enabled iPod? Here are my total shot-in-the-dark predictions.

Prediction 1: It'll be a video iPod nano, just like the ones in the supposedly leaked pictures online a couple weeks ago. Apple purportedly told some sites to remove the photos, but--if that's true--it's not necessarily a validation of the photos' accuracy. Most folks would like to see a new iPod that looks and acts exactly like the iPhone, minus the phone functions. While that would be sweet, I imagine any product that could possibly undermine iPhone sales (such as a product that costs half as much with no phone bills attached) will not be released so soon after the late-June iPhone launch. Well, I hope I'm wrong--I'd much rather play with an iPhone-esque iPod. As for Bluetooth or Wi-Fi capabilties, who knows? But something tells me yes...

Prediction 2: There will be a "one more thing" from Jobs today. I think the event is scheduled to go for a little over an hour; that's a long time to talk about just one iPod. Could there be two? A video iPod nano and a sexy iPhoney iPod? Will more DRM-free iTunes Plus content be available soon? Will there be a new update to Apple TV, such as the ability to stream from, say, a new iPod? Perhaps a new iPhone feature announcement?

Prediction 3: Jobs will rock the black turtleneck (perfect weather for it today in San Fran--sunny, but with a cool, salty breeze).

Prediction 4: You will see a bunch of new iPod ads tomorrow night during the NFL season kickoff.

I'll start a-typin' once Steve-o takes the stage.

Live blog starts after the jump.

9:57 PST: OK, they just asked us to turn off electronics... Um, no. Let's see if they say something to me.

9:58: By the way, folks, I predict that Steve will NOT be wearing a turtleneck anymore...it warmed up.

10:00: Apple police are about to shut me down. After all, I'm typing on a Dell with the screen down, so I can't even see what I'm typing. Green Day is blasting through the speakers... feels like high school.

10:01: Lights dimming... Smattering of applause... Heeeeeeeeeeere's Stevie! BLACK TURTLENECK!

Lets start with iTunes. Facts and figures that will amaze us coming up. 6 hundred million copies of itunes have been distributed. Over 3 million songs; iTunes is #1 online music store. Really, Steve?

Now itunes has more than 6 milllon songs. #3 music retailer in us behind Walmart and Best Buy.

Isn't this fascinating folks? 125,000 podcasts are available (including Gearlog). 32% of 2006 music releases were only digital--no CD. New version of iTunes tonight!

People will be able to make their own ringtones, build it in iTunes from purchased songs, over half million songs to choose from.

$2.49 for other ringtones. iTunes? 99cents in addition to cost of song. woops, for $1.98 you get ringtone and song... sorry folks. Bell icons will appear next to eligible songs in itunes.

You can pick 30 second or less segments of the song by zeroing in on soundwave image... Heeeeere's a demo! Steve goes to his favorites.

He picks Aretha Franklin, Respect. Sweet. Assigning it to his wife's calls. So you can give different tones to different folks. Selecting a certain spot...

Whoa, Steve, thats a long ringtone. Let's make it just the chorus? So, with the press of a button after selecting the section you want. iTunes puts it in a ringtone folder. Whenever Steve's wife calls, he hears R-E-S-P...you get it.

Who wants a "plastic ono band" ringtone? Give peace a chance. Thats when NBC calls, he says. Laughter and applause.

You'll need the new iTunes, available tonight, then this feature will be available next week.

next? IPOD! Some stats: 110 million sales to date. I bought one, I admit. Sales are strongest during holidays. Duh.

So, here's an entire new line of iPod!!!!! New shuffle: new colors but same old look. Red shuffle now available to help donate global fund to fight AIDS in Africa 1 GB $80.

NEW NANO! Most popular player ever, he says... new update: Here comes the video iPod nano, folks! larger display will show video. Cover flow. Games...

more storage, full metal design, no plastic caps on top and bottom. He pulls his out--it's is EXACTLY the picture that was leaked.

New colors, super thin, product red version, 2.0"screen on new nano, 320 x 240 res, 204 ppi, highest pixel density ever o an ipod.

New user interface, main menu shows album artwork, cover flow, as promised; new now-playing screen. It's very skinny. Three games included: Vortex...

Now Steve's playing Vortex with full sound effects... Kinda violent, Steve-o! Other games? Sudoku from EA. Um, this is high tech Sudoku folks. My girlfriend will be thrilled.

Decent graphics for the games. More nano demo. Music menu; album artwork floats to the side of the old normal menu in a split screen setup. If you go into coverflow, it looks like ...coverflow. White background instead of black.

Now Playing screen now puts cover on an angle; video demo; tv shows...he selects Jon Stewart. "Gest place to get the news." Showing footage of the PC guy in Mac ads in a Daily Show interview... Video looks nice, but nothing incredibly different here.

Podcast demo: With video graphics, which you could make in the new Garageband. This is more of a "video" than a "podcast," but still, looks nice.

Scroll through thumbs--looks very nice. Slideshow seems pretty much the same as it has always been, except the music is, again, Green Day, which somehow makes this slideshow suck. But it looks very nice.

Battery life? 24 hrs audio, 5 hrs video. Applause. Storage? 2 versions, 4GB and 8GB. 4GB in only silver, 8GB in all colors.

4GB is $150 now, 8GB is $200. So, not much in the way of more storage; available in stores this weekend. Plus, tons of new accessories, including the Nike thing that is for exercise freaks.

New ad. Im sure this will run during NFL this weekend. Cat Power, folks! It's an adorable ad. I hope she made a lot of money off this. I went to see her play recently...one word: drunk! She seems sober in the ad...

Movin right along... New iPod "video"...? Time to give the new iPod a name: iPod Classic.

No more "gen 5 or 6." Full metal design, thinner but look the same as old iPod videos.

Classic starts with 80GB of storage. Battery audio 30 hrs; video 5 hrs. Same new interface with coverflow from new nano will be on the Classic.

Thin 160GB iPod! Wowzers!

Thinner than current 80 GB model. No touch screen, folks... unless he's holding out. Looks like a slightly more rounded version of current iPod video. 80GB will be $250, 160GB will be $350.

That's the new iPod line, folks--Classics available today. Oops, that's lowercase classic.

Summing up: new colors for shuffle, new video nano, "enhanced" iPod classic, new user interfaces--available online today.

Now which one will i leave with? Who knows? WE'RE NOT DONE YET!

New iPhone announcement...uh oh. I think he's about to say what we want to hear... a new iPod that looks like an iPhone?

YES! SWEET! Looks just like the iPhone, but it's an iPod! Awesome. iPod touch. This is why I came here, folks!

Looks the same, same size screen, thinner--8mm thin. Awesome. Steve says: one of the 7 wonders of the world. Multitouch interface...

music, videos. Doesn't look like any Internet tho. Scroll through menus just like on the iPhone. Landscape view, just like iPhone. Video menu is the same as iPhone. So, basically: it's an iPhone with music, video, photos...

No interweb, or does it? There's an icon for contacts...hmmm... Waiting for the demo slide to unlock same screen.

Music demo: scrolling thru menu...

Steve picks Beck. Slightly different selection buttons for songs. Easy to fwd and rewind, flip it on its side and you're in coverflow. Nothing new here--same as iPhone.

Video demo...

Steve selects "Wild Hogs." Hmm...why, Steve? Again, video looks just like iPhone. Awesome, looks like it has a clock and calculator. Photos looks the same.

So, it's exactly what we wanted: an iPhone with no phone. Lots of empty space on the screen for new icons. There's more: It has an antenna! WiFi! 802.11 b/g. Nice!

"We know what to do to make WiFi on iPods work." How, Steve? He talks about why WiFi sucks. You need passwords, Web pages that take forever to load. Hinting that Apple has figured out a better WIFi experience. Passwords suck... OK, we get it, Steve.

So: Add an application to iPod touch: Safari Web browser. So he thinks Safari is the solution to having to type in passwords for WiFi access. Hmm...? Still, this is awesome.

Full Google and Yahoo search built-in. So, the iPod touch has video, music, photo, internet with WiFi...and...YouTube, just like iPhone. Wow!

This is gonna blow every other player outta the water...but for what price? Safari and YouTube demos now; log onto NYTimes.com... loading a bit slowly, but not bad, just like on the iPhone...

Steve searches something in Google using touch keypad just like on iPhone. Loading Bob Dylan's website. Good call, Stevie. Fall tour dates announced! Now using a bookmark for Facebook app for iphone; works on iPod touch...

Now if HE is using WIFi, why am I using EBDO?

YouTube demo: watching video of bikers ramping into open water. Mindblowing!

Demo over...

Anything else we should know, SJ? Bottom of iPod touch: standard connector; worldwide product to ship everywhere--first for Apple...

Touchscreen product, according to Jobs. 22 hrs audio 5 hrs of video playback. 3.5 inch widescreen...

music, video, youtube, WiFi and Safari... anything else?

2 capacities: 8GB and 16GB; I assume Flash memory. 8GB $299...nice!

16GB: $399. Not bad!

Shipping this month--available in a few weeks.

Here's another ad, a rough version. Features Lost, Google, and a band i don't know. Applause... <>People love ads.

One more thing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Empty spot on the dock of iPod touch? Whats it for?

New app called "iTunes wifi music store." NICE. Obviously, you can now buy songs via WiFi.

Finally!

Demo: four buttons, Featured, Top Ten, search downloads, click on any button and you get a scroll menu. Just tap on graphic, confirm "buy now." Starts downloading...

Next time you dock to your PC, it syncs to your iTtunes library. Nice, Stevie! Search window means you can find anything in the store. Same prices...

Demo: searching featured menu. What's hot? John Lennon, apparently... he previews "Imagine." I've already heard it myself. Now he's buying "Imagine," after previewing it; downloading...

It takes a few seconds...finished. Go to download folder and it plays with album art. Wow, that was quick--giving him benefit of doubt that it was all live!

Steve's previewing another song in top 10s; he clicks Buy Now... you get the picture. He's searching for Dylan again; both Bob and Jakob came up. We're sticking with Bob. "Like a Rolling Stone" has been bought, downloaded, and is playing...

I'm digging the dylanshout outs

More: New iTunes WiFi music store in all 22 current iTunes countries; and it will be on the iPhone, so, good news for iPhone owners. Free software update later this month...will be first icon in last row. Nice!

ONE MORE THING. We've been working on this for 2 years... Partnership with... STARBUCKS? Huh?

Combine iPods with Starbucks coffee...when you get near a Starbucks, a fifth button will pop up on your iphone/iPod touch. Whatever song is playing in Starbucks will immediately show up as an icon to purchase...

Up to the last 10 songs they've played. Oh boy... So, you walk by a Starbucks...like the one backstage. in iTunes, Starbucks logo appears. You can preview and then buy it for 99 cents.

Or see what's recently been played, like Maroon 5 or Paul McCartney... It will sync with your library when you plug in at home, one latte later.

Howard Shultz, founder of Starbucks, in the hooooooouse...

HS: "I used to work for you when I was 15!" He's thrilled to be here and talk about Starbucks...ughhhhhhh. 14000stores in 42 countries... 50 million Starbucks customer a week. Average Starbucks customer: 18 times a month. (People: FOLGERS!)

7 news stores open every day... By 2020, there will be no land left on earth, only Starbucks. Get on with it, Shultz! Spit it out! He talks about relationship with music biz; did you know Starbucks has won a Grammy? I didn't...

He's not really saying anything new; just giving Steve a rest, i guess, and getting a little face time.

OK, now some facts: no login required; free access to iTunes WiFi store while at s-bucks; buy the song you're hearing... speceifc store recognition, so you'll never buy music playing in SoHo when you're inTimes Square...

Exclusive partnership with iTunes; aggressive rollout planned; won't happen overnight. About 58,000 WiFi-enabled stores; Oct 2: NYC and Seattle get it first. Nov: SF gets it next. XMas: no mas...

By 2009--ALL WiFi stores will have it...more jibberjabber about great companies, blah blah blah. HS: exits, stage right. SJ back on...

Summing up the holiday season lineup: shuffle, new colors; all new video nano; renewed iPod classic with tons of storage; new iPod touch and the iPhone, with its new updates...

MORE? More on the iPhone? Lower price! Clearly, 8GB has been the fave. So, today 8 GB will drop to $400. (I think that means they are discontinuing the 4GB? We'll see.)

So, sorry if you bought an 8GB for $600! Any rebates, SJ? Noooope. Looks like we can say bye bye to the 4GB iphone... And that's all, folks.

Now, I have to battle the hordes and meet with iPod reps. This is Tim Gideon signing out... Look for more news on these products from PCMag.com and Gearlog all day... Wait, there's more...

There's more: a concert, oh boy! Please don't be John Mayer... KT Tunstall is here; this is not news--Steve says she's"very hot." Ha! Here she is...

And here I go.