So, Apple released a new version of iTunes (with Windows support, gift certificates, and a bunch of minor stuff) a half hour or so ago, along with an upgrade to the iPod’s firmware. I’m such a sucker, I’ve already downloaded and installed them.

This was actually a rather painful upgrade, by Apple standards. The iTunes update is over 9 MB, and the iPod update is over 16 MB. My powerbook crashed in the middle of the iPod update install (admittedly, I was burning a CD, copying 1 GB of data over the network, installing two programs, and trying to run 600 MB of apps on a 512 MB laptop, but it's still irritating). After I rebooted, everything re-installed correctly, but it took three tries before the iPod update program successfully found and upgraded my iPod.

The new "music quiz" game isn't all that hot (it plays clips of one of your tracks, and shows you 5 track names. The faster you pick the right track, the more points you get. Just hope you don't get a song with 5 seconds of dead space at the beginning.

I'm off to play with the new, improved music store. Apple is making an incredible push to own the online music market, partnering with Pepsi (100M track giveaway) and AOL (use your AOL ID to buy, no credit card required).