The Apple TV received an upgrade today with the news that the 3.0 software upgrade is being released for the platform. The biggest thing that most people will notice in the upgrade is the fact that the graphics user interface, or GUI, has been redesigned and overhauled for ease of use.

From the outside it seems that the 3.0 update tightens the integration with the iTunes platform. New features include access to iTunes Extras, iTunes LP, Genius mix support and Internet Radio support. Of course, a lot of the main draw of the Apple TV platform is movies, and Apple claims to offer a catalog of over 8,000 titles from iTunes with 2,000 that are available in HD format. In addition, Apple has a catalog of over 50,000 TV episodes, 10,000 music videos and an estimated 11+ million songs.

While the 3.0 software upgrade for the Apple TV is available as a free download now, only the 160GB model still exists for purchase and it is priced at $230. It is still rumored that the release of the 3.0 software update is a first step prior to the upcoming release of a new Apple TV model that is expected next year. The new model is said to offer some additional features, a larger hard drive and perhaps casual gaming support. Also, as part of the 3.0 software update for Apple TV, Apple also released 9.0.2 of iTunes.