This morning, during his monthly keynote address, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced a slew of new iPods--including a touch-screen version--for the upcoming holiday season.

Jobs first announced the launch of iPhone ringtones available in iTunes for $0.99 starting tonight.

He then announced new colors for the iPod Shuffle (which will remain at 1GB). He unveiled the redesigned iPod Nano, which features a new color (red) and video playback. The Nano will hold the same amount of data (4GB and 8GB), but will be cheaper ($149 and $199 respectively). The current iPod Video is being re-branded as the iPod Classic and will now be available in 80GB ($250) and 160GB ($350).

And now for the exciting news... The new iPod Touch is exactly like the iPhone--just without the phone features (and email, as far as I can tell). It is shaped just like an iPhone and features the exact same glass touch-screen. It does not have a speaker and does not have some of the icon widgets that the iPhone does, but it does have Wi-Fi and the Safari web browser. No integrated email client (like AOL Mail, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, etc.) was mentioned, but you would still be able to access your webmail through the Safari browser. The iPod Touch comes in two sizes: 8GB ($299) and 16GB ($399).

Jobs unveiled a new icon for the iPod Touch (which will also be added to Apple iPhones)--the iTunes Store widget. Now, you'll be able to browse the iTunes store remotely and download any songs you want to the iPod Touch or iPhone. These songs will then sync with your computer when re-connected.

There will also be some integration with Starbucks coffee houses, so when you're in or near a Starbucks, a special button will appear in iTunes that will allow you to download the song that's playing in the store. Not a huge deal, but a nice to have.

Finally, the biggest news to me was the fact that Apple will be discontinuing the 4GB iPhone and will just have the 8GB iPhone. The 8GB one (which I paid $599 for back in June) will now be sold for $399 effective immediately. Yikes!

So, being an early adopter has cost me $200. Was it worth it?

Hmm... Yes.

Because I *heart* my iPhone!!!