iTunes 8, Playlist Recommendations, Visualizations [Update: HD TV Shows?]

With Apple's announcement that the company will be holding a special media event on September 9th, we're reminded that Kevin Rose was the first source of the September 9th date.

Rose originally reported that we would see new iPod nanos and small cosmetic changes to the iPod Touch in September, but also revealed that iTunes 8 would arrive as a "big update" with new features. Later when he revealed the September 9th date, he described a new music recommendation feature within iTunes 8, but gave few details. An anonymous tip has since suggested that this "genius playlist" feature would be able to generate a playlist based on the qualities of a selected song, giving a Pandora-like experience with your own music library. This, however, remains unconfirmed and is published for interest only.

Finally, Rose said yesterday that iTunes 8.0 have new "trippy" visualizations with one described as "planet like objects wrapping around each other with stars/light streams".

Apple's media event takes place at 10am Pacific time on September 9th, and according to Cult of Mac, Apple has uncharacteristically told at least one journalist that the event is "a big deal and [he] should try to be there".

Update: A new blog post claims this is "what's new" in iTunes 8:

iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don't already have.

With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.