By Tom Foremski for Silicon Valley Watcher.com

This is what I expect Apple to announce today: a Video iPod with an iTunes library of music videos available for free. The music videos can be viewed and the music offered for sale. This fills the video library gap that Hollywood likely won't let Apple have, because it doesn't want Apple's DRM controlling two large markets.

Apple doesn't need a Hollywood for iTunes, a video store in the sky, stacked high with block buster movies. It wants to sell video iPods and the content will be provided by mostly music videos. And that's where Madona comes in...Jobs and she make a music video on stage, mashitup on a Mac, and its on the video iPod in seconds.

And that's just the beginning. The new content will come from you and me and the kids and the boss. You can mashup some video clips and images on a Mac no problem. Small digital movies and other image projects will be made by all of us, because they are not difficult, and are already being made by many people. The short videos are raw but they are fun--at least for you and your circle. Then there is TV content, and of course, content specifically made for the v-pod's 3 inch screen.

In early April Silicon Valley Watcher got the scoop on the key chip inside the video iPod, Alphamosaic from Broadcom. It is designed by British chip experts acquired by Broadcom. If you look at the specs of the chip, in the following story, you'll see what types of sophisticated devices it could be used to build.

Scoop! Brit chip designers score coup as Apple picks chips for next gen mobile multimedia device