iTunes “is really starting to show its age. Its underpinnings are becoming increasingly creaky thanks to the weight of features, files and expectations being shovelled upon it – and its fast turning into bloatware of almost Redmond-like proportions,” TechRadar writes.
Here are 10 things we think Apple should do for iTunes 9:
1. Clean up the user interface
2. Bar the Genius
3. Better file handling
4. Better handling for multiple libraries
5. Better file tracking
6. Better database handling
7. Better codec support
8. Multi-room for the rest of us
9. A better, cheaper iTunes Store
10. iTunes Pro
Full article, explaining each of the 10 points above, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “‘spinaltap'” for the heads up.]
5. Better file tracking
On a Mac, iTunes never loses track of a file as long as it stays on the same volume, even if it’s moved or renamed.
Under Windows… well, you’re on your own. But you knew that already, right?
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looks like, as usual, all good ideas come from Cupertino, and not ‘entusiasts’…
@Reality Check:
“At the moment I have to walk from one room to another to change tracks. Much better if there was a remote for this.”
How many remotes do you own that work through walls? And again, there’s the free remote app on the app store that works terrifically anywhere on your Wi-fi network.
7. Better codec support
As far as I know, iTunes simply uses the codecs installed to QuickTime. It’s already extensible, so it’s not Apple’s job to actually provide every conceivable codec.
> 2. Bar the Genius
That’s a stupid “improvement.” If you don’t want to use it, it’s essentially invisible.
ping’s right, it does use quicktime’s codecs to play content. I installed DivX on my Mac, and then not only could QT play DivX/Xvid files, but so could iTunes and Front Row
@Jimithy
No, I meant if iTunes can run on a computer without having to actually install the software on the machine but run off of the ipod itself. Sorta like a bootable OS in a way. Or perhaps virtualized? I’ll let the programmers figure it out.
And no, I’m not talking about ipod touches or iphones that have the itunes store built in……obviously. Or at least I thought I was being obvious.
Just the regular ipods. Oh, and that large “chunk” of drm free songs won’t play on my PC at work……the one with the bigger speakers.
Bottomline is I want to be able to do what I want with my ipod without having to install itunes on my work PC.
Just like any other media player on the market. Whats the big deal? Just add a “iTunes light” on the regular ipods.
There is a number of people at work would like to impulse buy some songs but can’t because of the above stated problem. It would add more money to Apple’s bottomline if they could make this happen.
define “better” !
The Remote is now a £9 option on MacBooks… it’s NOT included by default anymore.
I found this out the other day when I ordered my brothers’ MacBook.
So tired of people complaining about companies trying to sell you something. This is in reference to his comment about Apple collecting your Genius playlist. You know, companies are not the government, they cannot just give you stuff for free and take no benefit. Apple is a business (surprise!) using built-in software to attempt to sell you things you might actually be interested in buying so that you don’t waste time wading through the other crap out there. It’s a shortcut. If you don’t like it, don’t buy! It’s simple! Why should they take it out?? To please this guy and maybe a few other purists? There is nothing wrong with a marketing ploy that saves me time!
I can’t figure this out. Is TechRadar asking for more features or is it asking for features to be removed?
@Viktor-it’s called show duplicates, under the files menu.
I don’t agree with those changes, but iTunes is getting a bit unwieldy. About the only thing it doesn’t do is word processing. I think it would be a good idea to break it up into two or three applications, but I’m not sure how to go about it.
@Olternaut:
Get back to work and stop wanting to “impulse buy” songs while you’re at work. Put your music on your iPod before you go to work. Doing what you’re saying would violate the policy anyway, as you’re _running_ outside software on the computer, which is what they’re trying to prevent. You would not be allowed to circumvent this by not installing it but only running it from an external drive (which is essentially what you’re saying).
I do understand your intent, but there are ways around what your “issue”… the rest of us have figured out how to deal with it, you should be able to as well. And again, get back to work!
Disclaimer: I’m not at work right now, I actually work when I’m at work.
iTunes rips and burns CDs and DVDs, it organizes and plays music and video, and it syncs the iPhone with itself, Address Book, iCal, and Mail.
Perhaps the sync part could be taken out and put into iSync. That will give iSync something to do, and it might simplify things a bit for the iTunes developers.
@ undawater
“If anyone has ever moved or consolidated their library from one drive to another, it is a nightmare”
1) I dragged and dropped the library music folder from my internal hard disc to the external hard disc icon on my desktop.
2) Once every movie, song, TV show and music video was transfered over to the new hard disc I deleted the original folder.
3) There is no step three. Every newly ripped Movie, Tune, et cetera that is imported to iTunes goes to the new location on the new Hard Drive. I had about 600 GB in the library and the whole process took just over 20 min.
You must be using Windows.
Anyway, the name “iTunes” doesn’t describe what it does. It even categorizes TV Shows and Movies as kinds of music. There definitely should be some housecleaning here.
@Viktor
You can already show duplicates…
Jimithy: – iTunes audio downloads are all at least CD quality.
come again?
*Correction*
I meant that the large “chunk” of DRM free songs that won’t play on my work pc are files that are DRM free.
Not everything on iTunes is DRM free.
Not the ones I’ve chosen anyway.
I’ve been doing a combination of buying from amazon .mp3s and also buying from iTunes and mixing them up for my collection. I want to be able to move most of my songs to another regular .mp3 player if I want to.
There are a few improvements I’d like to see in iTunes:
-ability to handle more than a single library
-ability to tie tracks together, without having to go use some other tool to actually take multiple tracks and save them as one
-ability to make more complex playlists. For example, I’d like to be able to set criteria such as ((genre = rock or genre = metal) and length > 3:00). Right now, the only way to do this is to create a bunch of “sub-playlists”.
-ability to set the “sort by” for multiple tracks at a time
-ability to share a library between multiple users on a computer. I know this can be done by setting aliases in the /User folder, but it would be nice if iTunes provided for a way to set an arbitrary library
The article was written on
http://www.homecinemachoice.com buy a guy named “TechRadar”
Other articles of note include
– CEATEC 08: Battle of the Booth Babes (Parts I & II)
– Hitachi joins the super-upscaling club
– Sony US picks fight with Samsung UK over the future of Blu-ray, but who’s right?
Yes I’m sure these guys are well adjusted and have their pulse on what the nuclear family really wants from iTunes.
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I’d like tabbed browsing in the iTunes Store. It’s a drag not being able to keep track of a podcast topic while tangenting off to look at a movie or music category. That “back” button ain’t much of an answer.
I also second that request for better file recognition. Once the file path is established it should offer to “fix” the rest of the tracks on it.
Oh, and speaking of Podcasts… it’d be nice to be able to link back to the Podcaster’s website from your local list. (without having to call it up on the store.)
@Chris
Please, save the work to the bone or to death crap for someone else. I’m not a robot.
Work my way around problem? Why should I even have to if the competition doesn’t have to? I guess using regular .mp3 players have “spoiled” me. Yeah, the hardware doesn’t compare to the design and ease of use of ipods. But it does have its merits.