The Hardware bit is arguable, due to the inferior GPU in the PS3 and the superior but extremely inefficient CPU.
HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray...Blu-Ray is currently winning, however it's not like the storage capacity in BR is needed at this point. BR has single-layer 25GB discs, with 50GB double-layer discs. DVD has 9GB single-layer discs, 25GB double layer discs, and 51 GB triple-layer discs (I don't know if they play on 360 though, just thought I'd add that.)
The online: You're not forced to pay for Xbox Live. There's something called Microsoft Silver, and it's a bit strange you didn't talk about the online gaming portion of XBL/PSN very much. You can do all the things you listed + a bit more on XBL than on PSN, for free other than play games online, which you need Gold for. The money goes to improve the online in games, and help update the console and other things, along with developing games (if you pay for gold).
The games selection on 360 is currently better, and looks to stay that way for quite some time. The PS3 is losing exclusives, while the 360 is gaining them along with multiplats. Currently multiplats look better on the 360 (of course not counting those games with extra development time, which would just be an ignorant comparison). Some big exclusives that could help PS3 sales are MGS4 and FFXIII, but they won't come out until '08, and therefore are giving the 360 another years time to get consumers. As for '07, the 360 has it covered with Mass Effect, Bioshock, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Halo 3, Infinite Undiscovery (TBA ATM), and several others not to mention the 360 multiplats such as DIRT, The Darkness, Two Worlds, Mercenaries 2, etc.
My Conclusion: At this point the PS3 is no more than a glorified Blu-Ray player. Decent games are rare, and at this point many of the best games on PS3 are multiplat. In the future, PS3 may become a console focused moreso on games than on extra features. I can see good games coming out for it, but a large portion of it's better exclusives have been lost to the 360, which may lead consumers to choose it over the PS3.
Time will tell, and I guess you'll have to do more waiting. :D
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