AppleInsider is again the source of new Snow Leopard tidbits, this time revealing that Apple's latest build has QuickTime Pro features open for use right from the get go.

Of course, Apple could have just unlocked the Pro side of QuickTime for testing. The features could, nevertheless, make their way into OS X 10.6 for free.

Some even speculate Apple may offer Snow Leopard itself as a free upgrade. Those people believe that, if Apple hasn't thrown in any new (visible) features, OS X 10.6 won't be worth coughing up the cash for a brand new operating system. Whether or not that will be the case remains to be seen. What Apple could be opening to the public for free is QuickTime Pro, the aforementioned source believes.

“Apple has distributed the QuickTime multimedia framework with a limited version of QuickTime Player for so long that the original reason for adding the optional Pro version has almost been lost to history,” reads an analysis over at AppleIndider. "The QuickTime Pro licensing system appears due to change. A person familiar with the latest distributions of Snow Leopard told MacRumors earlier this week that the software arrived with a version of Player that unlocks all QuickTime Pro's existing features by default,” the text reads.

As many of you know, QuickTime Pro unlocks features like advanced recording, sharing, saving and exporting video. A Pro license key costs $29.95.

However, should Apple be offering QuickTime Pro for free with the release of Snow Leopard, the upgrade to the new OS isn't likely to be free of charge.

The latest available version of QuickTime is 7.6. For both Leopard and Tiger users, QuickTime 7.6 includes changes that increase reliability, improve compatibility and enhance security, according to Apple. A detailed overview of the security content of QuickTime 7.6 reveals that the company has patched quite a number of holes, both on the Mac and Windows sides of the software.