Yesterday I started writing a post outlining my reasoning for proclaiming the iPod touch as the ideal e-book platform, and as I prepared to finish the piece last night I see the very smart Kassia Krozser at the Booksquare blog has beaten me to the punch with a post entitled Apple Saves the Publishing Industry.

So, go ahead and read her thoughts on the matter.  Go ahead, I won’t be offended – she’s right after all.

When will we stop trying to create a dedicated e-book reader and simply adopt our content to devices consumers already want and use?  This may be a real opportunity for content creators to build products for a “for real” device.  Granted, the storage is on the small side, but its a first generation product and that is sure to improve.

What do you think?  Can adoption of a product like the new iPod touch create a new content channel?

The sans-DRM music is higher quality (256 kbps AAC) and can be played music players other than ipod. There are no details as to if Apple will make connections to iTunes available to other MP3 players such as Zune or the Creative Zen. My bet is that they won’t, but Steve Jobs always surprises me.

Of course, the DRM free songs are priced at a 30% premium over the rusty-shackled, 99-cent versions, but how many times have we heard DRM opponents say “I would pay a premium for DRM-free music if it was available?” I say back it up with your dollars.

This should be interesting to watch. Will we see other music giants step forward to offer more DRM-free music, or will we just see higher quality files on P2P sites? Probably both.