On my last flight, which was also to New York, my iPod kept me pretty occupied. But my flight was much, much shorter than yours.
On the way there, the flight was packed. Every seat filled and it was cramped, which sucked (plus I was directly across from the crapper) but on the way back, there were open seats. One happened to be next to me so I had a bit of room to spread out. Middle of the plane, window seat. Couldn't have been better.