Apple's press conferences are unlike anything else in the tech industry. Steve Jobs's natural showmanship and the groundbreaking nature of his product announcements create an atmosphere wherein the normally skeptical tech press is willing to clap, cheer, and even rise to its feet in approbation. Bill Gates must be so jealous.

As impressive as previous Apple press events have been, this one topped them all (granted, I've covered Apple since only the first iPod announcement in 2001). As you've probably heard by now, Jobs announced the iPod Photo, iTunes 4.7, and the iPod U2 Special Edition.

Before we get to the details on each of these products, let's skip to the fun stuff since Apple's known for spicing up its product announcements with much more than the staid PowerPoint presentations that other companies rely on. I arrived at the California Theater in San Jose at 9 a.m. and tracked down our photographer at the front of the line. An Apple rep announced that photographers were to report to a room to the side of the foyer where they would be let in early and be given a special spot.

Holding one of our photographer's camera bags, I tried to blend in with the shutterbugs as they lined up in the hallway to gain special access. Everything was going fine until one of the countless Apple reps walked over to my part of the line and said that if any of us were not photographers, we had to get out of the line because there wasn't much space. I didn't make a peep. Then he walked right over to me and said, "Eliot??" Busted! I apologized and headed out to the foyer with the rest of the scriveners.

As things turned out, my seat ended up being great--right up near the front, next to Walt Mossberg but nowhere near Tim Allen, who was mind-bogglingly spotted elsewhere in the audience (could he be a stockholder?).

Midtempo U2 music filled the hall, followed by the "Vertigo"/iPod ad you may have seen on television, and finally Steve Jobs, wearing what looked like sport sandals from outer space along with black socks. He rattled off the latest impressive stats surrounding Apple's digital music juggernaut:

• The first physical Apple store opens in London on November 20.
• iTunes Music Store has a 70 percent market share.
• Song sales grew steadily from 10.8 million in May to 17.7 million in October (a projected 64 percent growth).
• iTunes Music Store is now available in the entire EU, with Canada to follow in November.
• More than 85 million copies of iTunes have been downloaded.
• The iPod has a 65 percent share of the market for hard drive and flash players combined. (I believe his exact words were "including all the flash players given as gifts and never used.")
• The iPod has a 92 percent market share of hard drive players.

Citing the strong market for iPod cases, Jobs then unveiled a product that may or may not have been a joke: iPod socks, which would come in six colors for $29, ostensibly to protect iPods.

OK, now for the meat of the story: the new iPods. First, Jobs tackled the rumors of a video iPod, reasoning that portable video players such as the Creative Nomad Zen don't make any sense because they're too big and heavy and not enough people have video content on their computers. By way of demonstration, he showed a clip from Indiana Jones: "They're digging in the wrong place" (audio here).

On the other hand, he said, lots of people already have loads of digital images on their machines taken with their digicams and cell phones, and there aren't any copyright issues associated with looking at your own pictures. Then he announced the latest iPod: the iPod Photo.

Two bets: one win and one loss
Last month, I made a wager with readers of this column that the next iPod would be the iPod Home, a device for controlling iTunes playback from the living room. Obviously, I was wrong, although iPod product manager Danika Cleary told me that since the iPod Photo was designed to dock next to a TV set (more on that later), it was sort of a home device. Thanks, Danika, but I still think I lose and will, therefore, have to donate $5 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

I lost that one, but CNET executive editor David Carnoy and I had a gentleman's bet about video iPods, and I seem to have won that one; he thought there would probably be one, but I disagreed. Anyway, here's what you need to know about the new iPod Photo, which is already shipping.

Apple iPod Photo

• Its 60GB of memory can hold 25,000 photos (with no music).
• The color screen looks vivid and sharp and makes the calendar, games, and other screens more vibrant.
• It can display album art while songs are playing.
• You can match playlists to photo albums to create a musical slide show--without a computer.
• Photos transition with a line that moves from the right side of the screen to the left.
• You can output to a television using only the iPod and a special RCA cord that connects to the headphone jack; however, the cradle includes an S-Video output that produces higher quality, assuming your TV has S-Video.
• The photos will look sharp on your TV since they looked sharp on the massive projection screen behind Steve Jobs.
• You can import photo albums using a Mac (iPhoto) or PC (Adobe Photoshop Album or Elements).
• The iPod Photo appears to have a much faster processor than previous iPods, which enables you to use the scrollwheel to navigate through full-screen images remarkably quickly. With enough elbow grease, you could even use it to display a flip book.
• Apple claims a rechargeable battery life of 15 hours for music, 5 hours for images.
• The iPod Photo is only 1mm thicker than the fourth-generation iPod. Aside from the slight measurement differential and the photo capabilities, the two are identical.
• The 60GB version costs $600, and the 40GB version costs $500.

As for the iPod U2 Special Edition, it's the same as the 20GB fourth-generation iPod except for these variations:

• It has a black front, a red scrollwheel, and a black button in the middle.
• On the back are autographs by each member of the band.
• Inside the special-edition box, there is a poster and a coupon for $50 off the entire U2 catalog at the iTunes Music Store, which will include every previously released U2 track, the new album (an iTunes online exclusive), and 25 unreleased tracks that have been heard by only bootleg-savvy fans, for a total of more than 400 tracks.
• It goes on sale on November 23 for $349--the same day as U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb hits stores.

	Bono and the Edge rock a stripped-down version of "An Original in the Species" on the left side; plus, The Edge shows off the world's most beatific grin.

Following the product announcements, U2 (well, Bono and the Edge) played two acoustic songs, one of which was a world premiere entitled "An Original of the Species" that appeared to be about the iPod/P2P generation (sample lyric: "You are the first ones of your kind...You feel like no one before / You steal right under my door").

All in all, Tuesday was a triumph for Apple, and I have no doubt that even with the new iPod Photo's lofty price tag, it'll be a hit with consumers as every iPod before it has been, although its high cost and its niche appeal to photographers make it less of a one-size-fits-all option than its predecessors. As for the iPod Home, I assume we'll have to wait until next year for that.

What do you think: is $600 too much to pay for a 60GB iPod Photo? TalkBack to me below.