Following is a summary of the recent event entitled “Let’s Rock” from Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF; hosted by Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple.

The recent event titled ‘Let’s Rock’ has surprised many of us. While some were hoping for rumors like that of Kevin Rose to be true, with the no-longer-widescreen display, accelerometer and new shades of aluminum, some were hoping for Apple to improve the range, rather than take it back a generation. This, of course, is a matter of your own opinion. Let’s rock!

One of the first announcements was the arrival of iTunes v8. This introduces a new feature called the Genius playlist, which essentially brings it straight into competition from Last.fm. It uses collective intelligence gathered from all other iTunes clients to match your songs with more appropriate song choices from the iTunes database, as well as your own files. This can be created directly from the iPhone, iPod Touch or iTunes client.

The Classic saw the least change today, the 160GB and 80GB version being discontinued, both to be replaced with only slightly differing models of 120GB of storage. You may notice this is exactly the same price and storage as the previously announced Zune, which could make for some interesting assumptions.

With the iPod Nano, Apple have replaced the modern form factor with a new slightly more ergonomic (though less attractive, and far less iconic) form. By taking it back a whole generation Apple gains the ability to both integrate an accelerometer and a simplified UI on the thinner screen, while still shaving millimeters from the thickness. No capacity changes allow the following prices: 8GB for $229, 16GB for $299, and 32GB for $399

With the Touch, while keeping the display the same, they’ve given the case a refresh. The back is still aluminum, but it is contoured to keep in line with the iPod brand. A useful new feature is the Nike+ integration built in, rather than requiring a dongle-like device. While a very enthusiastic Phil Schiller demonstrated the upcoming iPod Touch apps, we stumbled across a few good ones, like Spore - said to be very similar to the PlayStation 3 version and Real Soccer ‘09 (shipping today). This appears to slowly be edging towards the position of Apple’s flagship iPod, dubbed ‘best’ portable gaming device by Steve Jobs himself. Happily the 2.1 software will be released for both iPod Touch and iPhone at no extra cost to those already running 2.0 (and obviously $9.95 for everybody else). The similar/same battery has been designed to last in excess of a day of music, though I’m guessing it’s less of a hardware change so much as improved software optimization.

It was by this point Jack Johnson came to perform. With the staggering $60m records sold via the iTunes platform, he’s the #1 selling male artist on the network. His exit marked the end of “Let’s Rock ‘08″.

What do you think? Did they cover what you were hoping for? Personally I was left with a feeling something along the lines of ‘Was that it!?’

Comment!