“Say what you will about Apple Computer, but there is an undeniable sense of quality to the products they create, whether it’s a sleek Macintosh computer, ultra-thin iPod portable media player, or elegant software like iMovie HD and Keynote. Apple’s products are almost always Spartan in their simplicity, even to the point of alienating some people by leaving out functionality that would crowd and overpower similar PC-based solutions,” Paul Thurrott writes for Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows.
Thurrott writes, “The company’s latest software, iTunes 7, is no different. It is both professional looking and functional, beautiful and rewarding. It is, dare I say so, the best software-based media jukebox I’ve ever used. And if you’re Microsoft, struggling to release Windows Media Player 11 (WMP11), iTunes 7 is a shot across the bow, a reminder that the hardware products and services that Apple wraps around iTunes are the best selling solutions in the market. Clearly, Apple intends to keep it that way.”
Thurrott writes, “iTunes 7 is a major upgrade to my favorite digital jukebox, and with this release, iTunes jumps firmly into Windows Media Player territory: No longer is iTunes a simple digital music player, as it was for the first several major versions. No, iTunes is now an all-in-one digital media management system and a front-end for synchronizing digital music, photos, videos, TV shows, and full-length movies, and podcasts and audio books, with an iPod. It is, quite suddenly, the real digital hub in many millions of people’s lives. And oh my, you’re going to really like this version.”
“I should note at this point that the Windows version of iTunes 7 has been plagued by a number of high profile bugs. Its new visual browsing features seem to tax the PC’s processor more than do previous versions. It takes up more RAM. It crashes occasionally. Given Apple’s behavior in the past, I think we can make a few assumptions here. First, the initial iTunes 7 release is really just a public beta. It will be updated several times in the days ahead. And all those problems people are reporting will begin to disappear,” Thurrott writes. “…I have little doubt, too, that the OS X version of iTunes is vastly superior to the version Windows users get. That shouldn’t surprise anyone.”
Thurrott covers various points in sections titled:
• General UI changes
• Categorized Source pane
• Automatic album art retrievable
• New view options
• Integrated iPod management
• Integrated download manager
• Gapless playback support
• iTunes Backup
• iTunes Store changes
“Apple’s iTunes 7 is the best version of iTunes yet and is, without question, the finest media player on any platform, even when you factor in the problems that are currently dogging the Windows version. That said, I can’t give iTunes a 5-star rating until Apple fixes these problems, because Windows users in particular will be screaming bloody murder–and rightfully so–that Apple would run roughshod over their systems in such a fashion. From a pure usability standpoint, however, iTunes 7 is the best there is, and Microsoft could learn a thing or two from the professional and clean user interface that Apple offers. Windows Media Player 11 may have indeed gotten there first with such things as categorized and visual browsing, but iTunes does them right. And of course, iTunes is 100 percent compatible with the finest portable media players on the planet. There are many reasons why I prefer iTunes over competing solutions, and with iTunes 7, the list has only gotten longer,” Thurrott writes.
Full comprehensive review here.
Related articles:
USA Today reviews new Apple iPod nanos, updated iPods, iTunes 7 (each earns 4 stars out of 4) – September 21, 2006
Apple Support docs address some iTunes 7 issues – September 20, 2006
Disney’s remarkable 1st week iTunes movies sales should have studios clambering aboard Apple train – September 20, 2006
Report: Apple iTunes 7 update coming soon – September 19, 2006
Disney sells 125,000 movie downloads via Apple’s iTunes Store in first week – September 19, 2006
PC Magazine review: iTunes 7 ‘Apple’s best effort yet’ (4 stars out of 5) – September 15, 2006
Apple’s iTunes 7 shows some glitches – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Apple ‘s iTunes+iPod+iTV model ‘the gold standard for the digital home of the future’ – September 12, 2006
What’s new in Apple’s iTunes 7 – September 12, 2006
Analyst Gartenberg: Apple ‘s iTunes+iPod+iTV ‘will be hard for other players to match’ – September 12, 2006
Apple debuts iTunes 7 – September 12, 2006
I am wondering if he has other applications on his computer that are crashing, too, and if he is blaming the software and not his computer configuration. His implication that the Mac version of iTunes is more stable than the Windows should be a sign that it is NOT the iTunes that is at fault.
Being that he reviews numerous types of applications and hardware, he may be taxing the limitations of Windows; thousands of unused drivers, bloated .bat files with ancient and unused lines of code, etc.
I have a friend that is a Windows programmer, and it totally amazes me on how much DAILY irrational behavior (and the time wasted fixing them) he tolerates with his computers. My personal level of tolerance, deviation from “norm” is based on a light bulb being rated as 99.9%. About once every 1000 days (3 yrs) the bulb will fail. I expect all things to be that way. With the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance, my cars (Honda) have been very close to that, and my Macs exceeded that level of reliability. To expect and to perform daily troubleshooting and repairs is insane.
I’m confused……
Thurrott hasn’t apologized!
Hi, I’m Paul Westmont.
My life used to suck because I used a Windows computer. It was especially bad when i browsed the inernet. I constantly got Pop-Unders and got so mad that sometimes I even swore in public.
But now I actually USE a Mac instead of just reading Mac blogs. When I found out I could block all pop-ups I got really happy.
Be like me. Be my friend. Get a Mac.
I don’t know what your complaining about. He’s right about the PC version-it’s buggy. I installed it and it takes 2 minuntes to launch each time. I never had an issue with previous versions.
gwm: “Hey. He reworked his site. Looks very good, too.”
Maybe he’s got a Mac and is using iWeb
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M.X.N.T.4.1
The magnifying glass icon in the search box (upper right of window) offers the search specificity you are looking for. Album, Artist, Composer, Song.. just like older versions.
“…Windows users in particular will be screaming bloody murder–and rightfully so–that Apple would run roughshod over their systems in such a fashion.”
Hey, what goes around, comes around. Right?
So now they should change the name?….
iTunes…I think “Tunes” is not the whole story any more, particularly now.
This part is very true. iTunes 7 looks more like WMP than iTunes 6… which isn’t a bad thing. With iTunes functionality and ease of use and some visuals from WMP… all is good. Lots of iTunes users (mostly Apple users) suffer from ipod vision. They’re not willing to look at other software because it won’t sync with their ipod anyway… :
“One gets the idea that Apple could feel Microsoft breathing down its virtual neck, because the new visualization options in iTunes 7 are straight out of the Windows Media Player 11 playbook (see my WMP11 review for details). In previous versions of iTunes, you basically had only one way of viewing your media library: As a flat list of text, straight out of dBASE III+ (Figure). What’s curious about this type of display is how unemotional and unexciting it is. Given the fact that the typical digital media library is full of music and video, the previous iTunes display was more than a little anachronistic.”
“Well, credit Microsoft (for once) for showing Apple the way. Beginning about this time last year, Microsoft started shipping prerelease versions of WMP11 that include highly visual display types, with wonderful album art views. I’m a huge fan of this approach and now we know Apple is too, since it completely ripped off WMP11 for iTunes.”
Spark: That’s not what I’m referring to. You used to be able to get a view up which would allow you to view only podcasts, only music, only videos or only booklets (I think) either within your library as a whole or an individual playlist. I mean the search bar that you could pop up in the same place as the browser – but smaller.
ahahaha. Yeah! And pretty soon he’ll probably be trying to parlay his half dozen be-kind-to-Apple postings into a full blown MacSuperSite. heh
Shsss, I actually love Apple products, but like everyone else in IT, make a living off of Microsoft
“the Windows version of iTunes 7… Its new visual browsing features seem to tax the PC’s processor more than do previous versions. It takes up more RAM. It crashes occasionally.”
Hey Paulie, maybe it ain’t the hardware, but the OS, stupid!
Apple does not intentionally make the Mac version of iTunes “vastly superior.” But you can only do so much when the app is running under Windows. And Apple can more easily test iTunes against the supported Mac configurations. It is far more difficult to test against the far more numerous Windows PC configurations.
Interesting observation… On Windows side, many users do not realize iTunes is a full-featured media management application. They think it’s just the storefront for the iTunes Store. They ask me how to rip their CDs; can a recommend an program to do that. I tell them to use iTunes. Then they act surprised to learn that iTunes can do that. Amazing…
Even when Thurrott is right, he’s wrong.
Forgive a slightly off topic excursion….
Over on Ars Technica, the PC gearheads assure me that developing under Windows is *vastly* superior to developing under Xcode. Better tools all ’round, they say, and seem to be able to prove it.
However when the rubber hits the road, on the Mac side we get beta releases such as OmniPlan, XTorrent, and OmniWeb (and full releases such as iTunes) that are absolutely superb ground breaking pleasures to use.
On the Windows side, they get iTunes with bugs. All PC programs that I use have either profound stupidities or outright bugs that just don’t go away version after version.
What am I missing? Or what are the PC gearheads missing?
His pro-MS bias comes through loud and clear. Just one example: he says he is amazed that Apple paid for Cover Flow, because Apple usually just steals cool ideas. But Apple has bought a lot of technologies it liked, including iTunes itself.