iTunes 7

[Captain Code]

Apparently they bought the idea from the guy that wrote it.

[scruffy]

Well, nearly every iTunes or iPod update so far has involved a reduction in our capabilities (grumble DRM grumble user-hostile mumble grumble).

I'd wait a while to see what Apple's taking away from us this time

[symphonix]

I'll be backing up my library files and iTunes 6 before this update - there's too many things that are making me hesitant. Thats pretty unusual as I normally just trust Apple 100% on updates.

I really want to test it and see if Uno will apply the unified theme on the new version, and I'll put in the old iTunes icon as well. If Uno fails to patch iTunes neatly, then I'll be holding off for a while.

[fryke]

Originally Posted by Captain Code

If they didn't have such obvious lines between the different colours I think it'd be much better.* It's almost Windows-esque.

Aaah... Where's the explanation for the "*"? I'm neurotic, I know, but I always look entire pages through for explanations where there's an asterisk*!!

*Asterisks point to a small print explanation, usually. If there's an asterisk in text and _no_ explanation at the bottom, I feel missing-linked...

[MorganNiemand]

iTunes 7 crashed on my Windows comp. and feels pretty sluggish. All of my tag data was changed back from what I had it in iTunes 6 and I now have duplicates of almost every song, including those bought from the iTunes store. I'm not sure if this is an isolated thing or if this is widespread, but it's worth noting. I'm sure it'll be worked out, but right now it feels a bit like a beta. Also, I kinda like the blue music note instead of the green.

[Captain Code]

Originally Posted by fryke

Aaah... Where's the explanation for the "*"? I'm neurotic, I know, but I always look entire pages through for explanations where there's an asterisk*!!

*Asterisks point to a small print explanation, usually. If there's an asterisk in text and _no_ explanation at the bottom, I feel missing-linked...

LOL, actually it seems to be a bug in Safari 3.0 when I put 2 spaces after a period it puts an asterisk in place of one of them. I'm going back to Tiger full time now so I shouldn't have any more asterisks

[Mikuro]

It seems like as iTunes is extended to manage all media instead of just music, it's going the same way QuickTime Player went 5-8 years ago (I forget exactly). Back when QuickTime 4 came out, Apple created brushed metal, which was completely non-standard and unprecedented. The entire QuickTime Player interface was a hacky and out of place.

That was in OS 8, though. In OS X, non-standard interfaces are not only precedented, they're pretty much the norm. See Dashboard. And iTunes 5-6.

Again, it looks like Apple wants to make their multimedia center look like a physical multimedia center instead of a regular program. Brushed metal doesn't cut it anymore, since they've bastardized it to the degree where it's used for web browsers, calculators, and just about everything under the sun. The non-standard interface has become standard, so they're making a NEW non-standard interface.

And the new non-standard interface will probably become standard in time, too.

My reaction to iTunes 7 is unusual. My first impression was good, but the more I use it, the less I like it. I really do hate inconsistency. But I guess I've become desensitized to it when it comes to iTunes. I think only iTunes 4 used a completely standard appearance (and even if was slightly different, due to its Carbon nature).



Also, I see iTunes 7 as being a step towards Leopard and Apple's new design philosophy. Apple has been dropping conventional interfaces gradually for years, and Leopard seems to take that one step further with bizarre, high-animation interfaces like Time Machine. iTunes 7 seems to be in line with that philosophy, along with Front Row. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, really, but I do think there's some level of consistency in the move, and I appreciate that.

[mindbend]

I'll chime in just to temper the negative vibe.

I find the icon change irrelevant and minor and have no idea why people are so obsessed with it.

The overall look of iTunes is also only minorly revised and basically looks and works as it always has, which its a good thing.

Cover Flow is wonderful eye candy, nice touch.

It's all good to me, but then I don't use iTunes much (or in any kind of advanced way) so I'm not into the subtleties.