Posts tagged with "itunes"

It’s Time To Change iTunes

Jason Snell makes the case for a new, better iTunes over at Macworld:

If Apple’s going to embrace the cloud wherever possible, it needs to change iTunes too. The program should be simpler. It might be better off being split into separate apps, one devoted to device syncing, one devoted to media playback. (And perhaps the iTunes Store could be broken out separately too? When Apple introduced the Mac App Store, it didn’t roll it into iTunes, but gave it its own app.)

In March 2010, a few days ahead of the original iPad’s release, I wrote:

iTunes is obsolete,and so is the concept to use iTunes as a centralized hub for music, videos, photos, settings, backups, calendars – basically, everything. Think about it: all the stuff you have on your iPhone was either created on the iPhone itself or synced via iTunes. You can’t transfer information from your computer to the iPhone without iTunes. And thus I think Apple has been very lazy in these past years, not willing to update iTunes or finding another solution for our needs.

To which I followed-up in September 2010 after the introduction of Ping:

iTunes is a bloat. Slow. Unresponsive. Clunky. A huge piece of software with thousands of features in it, a couple of online Stores and now a social network, too. A few times in the past I wrote that Apple needed to move this stuff out of iTunes, or at least re-imagine the whole purpose of the app. Many said that would happen with the 10 version. Not so fast. Apple doesn’t want to change iTunes. Thus, the feature creep. Not only they left the Stores, apps, books and sync options in iTunes – they thought that adding a completely new layer of social networking would be a good idea. Again, I’m not criticizing Ping: I’m talking about iTunes as an outdated container of features.

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with iTunes: in the age of iCloud, iTunes is a weirdly old-fashioned desktop software to organize media and manage devices in the same way we did 10 years ago. Only with more features and content types. iTunes is the epitome of old interfaces and interactions trying to hold onto the present.

iTunes works, but it doesn’t work simply. It’s not just complex, it’s complicated and not intuitive: I can’t tell you how many times I was asked by less tech savvy friends about backups, syncing apps, music playlists, video conversions, iOS folders, Address Book contacts, and even software updates. Jason makes some great points in his article – it’s time to simplify. People don’t “get” iTunes anymore. Is it a music app or a media manager? Or is it a device management tool? A Store? A social network? A horse? A radio?

iTunes tries to do so much while doing so little to help users understand its features and differentiate between computer content, cloud content, and device content. Worse, because iTunes is so full of preferences and dialogs, sometimes it’s not clear what it is trying to do, and this often leads to deleted apps, corrupted music libraries, and ever-downloading podcasts. It’s not that Apple hasn’t educated users over the years; but there’s just so much help documents and subtle UI refreshes can do once hundreds of features have users confused and frustrated.

More importantly, iCloud has shown that a better way to manage media and apps for Apple’s devices is possible. And that is, no management: songs and movies downloaded from the iTunes Store are stored in the cloud and they don’t have to be converted; apps are stored in your Purchases and they are downloaded instantly on all your configured devices. Third-party podcast apps that have implemented iCloud sync are infinitely better than podcast support in Apple’s apps. iCloud keeps your bookmarks, notes, contacts, and emails in sync. iTunes Match even keeps your entire music library in the cloud, available at any time. iCloud is the future of Apple’s ecosystem.

So why are we still using iTunes? This is the question we should be asking. And admittedly, the majority of us are doing so for the extra convenience of media on our desktop computers. iOS devices aren’t always connected to a WiFi network, and they are limited in storage. It’s more convenient to keep large libraries of songs, movies, TV Shows, apps, and books on a computer. At least for now.

Is a world without iTunes possible? Maybe, but not today. People still need to be able to keep all their apps locally, alongside their music and movie files. In an ideal world, everyone is buying music and movies from iTunes, but in the real world people use web browsers to download media, and they want iTunes for that. Not to mention the features that iTunes sports on the desktop, which still haven’t been brought back to iOS. The way forward, however, clearly brings us to iCloud: with time, people will get used to iCloud even more, and Apple will improve its infrastructure in terms of reliability and functionalities. The fact that Apple is drifting away from a centralized desktop hub to a persistent hub in the cloud is also confirmed by the direction Apple is taking with Mountain Lion: aside from general iOS resemblances, the Notes app will be coming to the desktop, syncing its content with iCloud, no need for iTunes. And if the “iTunes in the cloud” initiative is of any indication, perhaps iCloud will really become the fundamental backbone of media management and syncing in the future – because, in theory, it needs no management.

But until that day, the stopgap solution to manage and sync content locally needs to be better than iTunes. Maybe it’s about splitting iTunes into multiple apps that execute their functions clearly, naturally, and reliably. Maybe it’s about offering a dedicated App Store app outside of iTunes that lets you easily switch between iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps. iBooks for Mac might help in getting the books out of iTunes. Perhaps separating media playback from device management, while making everything easier to use would come in handy, too.

I hope that iCloud, as the company’s next big insight for the next decade, will help Apple provide a better solution for its users, so that in 10 years today’s iTunes will be a distant memory.

Apple Releases iTunes 10.6.1

A few minutes ago Apple released iTunes 10.6.1, adding a number of bug fixes that were reported in previous versions of the software (iTunes 10.6 was released on March 7). From the changelog:

  • Fixes several issues that may cause iTunes to unexpectedly quit while playing videos, changing artwork size in Grid view, and syncing photos to devices.
  • Addresses an issue where some iTunes interface elements are incorrectly described by VoiceOver and WindowEyes.
  • Fixes a problem where iTunes may become unresponsive while syncing iPod nano or iPod shuffle.
  • Resolves an ordering problem while browsing TV episodes in your iTunes library on Apple TV.

iTunes 10.6.1 is showing up now in Software Update, and should be available on Apple’s Downloads website shortly.

The Guardian: Apple Working On New Audio Format with “Adaptive Streaming”→

The Guardian: Apple Working On New Audio Format with “Adaptive Streaming”

According to The Guardian, Apple is working on a new audio format for iTunes to offer higher-quality content and what they call “adaptive streaming” for iOS devices.

The new format could mean that users can get “high-definition” audio by downloading to an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Alternatively, it could offer a streaming service – like that of Lala.com, the music streaming and online storage company, which Apple acquired late in 2009.

The new system would adjust itself to the bandwidth and storage available on the receiving device.

The Guardian doesn’t know whether this supposed new format would be offered alongside the recent Mastered for iTunes initiative, as an upgrade to iTunes Match, or if Apple is planning on launching a streaming service that would serve audio depending on a user’s available bandwidth. In fact, The Guardian reports it’s unclear whether a streaming service could be tied to iTunes Match in the future, and the publication even mentions “storage” – streaming services typically only use local storage for cache. Last, The Guardian says this new format could be unveiled at Apple’s upcoming iPad 3 event, rumored for March 7.

Here’s what we know: recently, artist Neil Young claimed Steve Jobs was in contact with him to brainstorm on some ideas for a higher-quality iTunes audio format, but nothing was completed at the time. Apple’s iTunes Match service, launched last year, was long rumored to be the company’s response to streaming services like Rdio and Spotify although, in the end, iTunes Match turned out to be based on online and local storage, rather than streaming.

Two more interesting points. Apple has this to say about Mastered for iTunes:

It’s our job to faithfully and accurately deliver your songs and albums to fans around the world exactly as you intend them to be heard. To achieve this transparency, you need tools and technologies from us to ensure delivery of the highest quality master recordings possible into our ecosystem. With over 250 million iOS devices capable of playing your music, there’s never been a better time than now for us to communicate, codify, and distribute updated information to you about the best tools and processes used to produce the millions of AAC files delivered daily to our mutual customers in over 50 countries around the world.

And, you may remember Apple patented a technology to offer some sort of music streaming service that also leveraged a device’s local storage for “snippets of music”.

The Guardian’s report is short on exact details of this new format, but “HD content” and “streaming” would sure play well with an iPad capable of offering higher speeds thanks to LTE.

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The Magic Money That Apple Made From Thin Air→

The Magic Money That Apple Made From Thin Air

Jeff Price of TuneCore is happy and a little surprised, finding out their first royalty payments from the new iTunes Match came in at $10,000. He writes in a blog post that “this is magic money that Apple made exist out of thin air for copyright holders”. The service has effectively monetized the existing behaviour of consumers, giving more money to artists and copyright holders whilst the consumer just continues to listen to their music, not doing anything “new”.

A person has a song on her computer hard drive.  She clicks on the song and plays it.  No one is getting paid.  The same person pays iTunes $25 for iMatch.  She now clicks on the same song and plays it through her iMatch service.  Copyright holders get paid. Same action, same song, one makes money for the copyright holder, and one does not. This is found money that the copyright holders would never have gotten otherwise.

It may not be a complete windfall as Jeff points out, but it has something - something that if iTunes Match didn’t exist, you wouldn’t get at all. Something is better than nothing.

The music industry needs innovation. Services like iMatch, Spotify, Simfy, Deezer and others are bringing that innovation—it will take some time to learn which are the ones consumers want.  But in the interim, seeing an additional $10,000+ appear out of the thin air for TuneCore Artists by people just listening to songs they already own is amazing!

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Sync Your iOS Device Wirelessly with AppleScript→

Sync Your iOS Device Wirelessly with AppleScript

Doug Adams shares a great AppleScript to initiate a wireless iTunes sync session, set up so that it runs automatically once a day:

A while back, I retired my iPhone 3G to the bedside table after buying an iPhone 4. I use the 3G pretty much as glorified clock radio-iPod Touch. I have a few radio apps on it and the Digital Clock app. I also have it set to sync and back up over Wi-Fi to my main iMac so I manually initiate a sync when I need to update Podcasts and apps and what have you.

This manual syncing has become tiresome. (I mean, if I used a traditional clock radio, I wouldn’t have to update its content manually, right?)

It’s simple enough to write an AppleScript to sync a connected iPhone but I want the script to run on a regular basis without me having to fire it. I like to listen to Podcasts in the evening so sometime during dinner would be a good time to update the 3G with any Podcasts that have arrived during the day. For this, I can create a launchd agent to fire the AppleScript that syncs the 3G in the background.

I had cron already set up (I followed this post), and I can confirm the script works really well (as you can see, I changed the script with “4S” for my device). Obviously, you can use this script without cron as well – it’ll simply sync with iTunes, but I guess it sort of defeats the purpose of this tutorial (unless you have a way to launch AppleScripts remotely). Doug also posted a similar script for automatically updating expired podcasts, which you can check out here.

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Apple Releases iTunes 10.5.3

Following iBooks 2.0, iBooks Author and iTunes U for iOS, Apple just released a new version of iTunes, 10.5.3. We’re downloading the update to get our hands on a proper changelog but it’s likely that this new version will simply bring support for textbooks and, perhaps, manual syncing of books created through iBooks Author.

Update: iTunes 10.5.3 does indeed enable textbook syncing to iPads.

iTunes 10.5.3 allows you to sync interactive iBooks textbooks to your iPad. These Multi-Touch textbooks are available for purchase from the iTunes Store on your Mac or from the iBookstore included with iBooks 2 on your iPad.

iBooks textbooks are created with iBooks Author — now available as a free download on the Mac App Store.

iTunes 10.5.3 should hit Software Update shortly; a direct download is available on Apple’s website here.

App Store Search Results Get “Quick Look” Previews

As first noticed by iSpazio [Google Translation], it appears Apple has introduced sometime earlier today a new “quick look” preview feature for App Store search results on iTunes. When searching for apps in the desktop application, in fact, users are now able to click on a small “i” button next to an app’s icon to get a modal preview with additional information about the app. The new preview window organizes Description, What’s New and Screenshots in multiple tabs, and separates iPhone screenshots from iPad screenshots when the app is universal, as with the example above.

You can try the new app preview system by starting a new search in iTunes (here’s a search for Instapaper).

Personally, I believe this minor addition greatly improves usability and app discovery in iTunes. Not only it makes app descriptions more readable (it’s easier to scan information and changelog with tabs), it also allows users to browse top charts and categories without having to go back and forth between the main results and a single app page (often losing view options like “sort by release date” in the refresh process). Recently, Apple also introduced a minor update to the iPad App Store that made swiping through apps more intuitive.

Apple Rolls Out New “Complete My Season” Feature, Improves “Complete My Album”

Over the past 24 hours Apple has introduced “Complete My Season” for iTunes TV shows and has improved its existing “Complete My Album” feature. The “Complete My Season” feature enables users who have purchased some episodes from a TV season to purchase the rest of the season using the “Season Pass” but at a reduced price that takes into account the already purchased episodes. It allows users to easily purchase all the episodes of a TV season with effectively one click and not having to worry about purchasing one of the episodes again, when you already own it.

However it appears as though the feature may be limited to those in the US iTunes Store - I checked on my TV purchases in the Australian Store and was unable to utilise this feature, similarly, it appears not to be enabled in the UK. If you live outside the US and do have access to this new iTunes feature, please let us know in the comments below.

The similar feature for music albums, “Complete My Album” (which has been available for a few years) also received a nice update today. Previously, this feature could only be used in the first 180 days since purchasing a song from an album. Today MacRumors notes that Apple has revised the support document about the feature, noting that there is no longer any reference to the 180 day limit (see below for current statement).

How long do I have to take advantage of Complete My Album?

When you buy individual songs from any qualifying album, you can complete the album at any time, as long as the album is available for sale on the iTunes Store.

[Via MacRumors (1) (2)]

iCloud Status In iTunes 10.5.1→

iCloud Status In iTunes 10.5.1

Jason Snell at Macworld has a good overview of the different iCloud status icons that you can find in iTunes 10.5.1, released earlier today with support for iTunes Match. In particular, iCloud has a “not eligible” status for songs that can’t be uploaded to iTunes Match:

Some iTunes-compatible file formats are not allowed in iCloud at all. Digital Booklets, podcasts, bookmarks to Internet radio streams, and the like are marked Not Eligible. A few people on Twitter are reporting that low-bit-rate MP3s (perhaps below 96 kbps) are also considered ineligible for use in iCloud, though we haven’t been able to confirm that.

In our overview of iTunes Match for Mac and iOS devices, Don took a look at the scanning process of iTunes libraries and the performances of iCloud music over WiFi and 3G. Understanding iCloud’s status icons might come in handy if you’re having initial issues with iTunes Match, which went live only a few hours ago.

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