Apple kills 40GB Apple TV, 160GB now $229

Apple has quietly removed the 40GB Apple TV from its online store, and dropped the price of the 160GB model to $229. The 40GB and 160GB models were previously priced at $229 and $329, respectively; recent reports had noted that the shipping time for the 40GB model was growing abnormally long, indicating a possible upcoming change. Interestingly, this pricing drop comes less than one week after Apple introduced its new iTunes LP enhanced album format, which an in-depth look reveals is formatted for 1280×720 displays, or to the exact dimensions of the 720p HD video format. Furthermore, a separate report found that the iTunes LP content files reference the HTML meta tags “hdtv-fullscreen” and “hdtv-cursor-off,” suggesting that the content was created with HDTV display in mind, and that the Apple TV may see an update that allows it to play iTunes LP content sometime in the near future.