iTunes 7

Mikuro

Crotchety UI Nitpicker
It's out, and the interface looks different. Let the whining...commence! ;)

Actually, so far I kind of like it, even though it looks less Mac-like than it used to.

iTunes 6 looked a little rough with its then-new "dark unified" window appearance. iTunes 7, unfortunately, looks even more rough. The controls seem too dark for the window, and the outlines are bold and sharp, which is very unusual in OS X. The controls look especially odd when the window is inactive.

I have no doubt this will be refined, though. After all, all of Apple's current interfaces looked like crap in their first iteration, but they all look pretty good now. But still, this seems like a step back in some ways, since the controls looked better against the background in iTunes 6 than they do in 7. It's a little confusing.

But again, it'll be refined. I'm really more pleased with this than I have been with any significant interface change in recent memory. :)

Another big (well, "big" appearance-wise) change is the appearance of the list at the left. The selection now has Aqua-ish highlighting, like the Tiger menu bar. Looks good. The same style is used in Party Shuffle to mark the active track, but I think their choice of color there is too dark, personally.



The biggest functional difference I've noticed is GAPLESS PLAYBACK! Finally! I haven't actually tested it yet, since it's still analyzing all my files. I don't see an option for this, so I guess it's simply on all the time. Good.

So, what are your thoughts?
 
WHile the gapless playback is a great thing, the interface looks like it needs more work now than ever. The scrollbars and the highlighting aren't consistent with the rest of the Finder (all gray as opposed to Aqua if your interface is using the Aqua color). I like the organization of the categories, but some sort of thin separater bar would have been nicer than a space. The space works with the OS X menus, but not when it's all gray.

I just recently updated and launched it, but I haven't used it extensively so that's all I have on the subject. :)

Oh, and the button that was at the top right is now at the bottom bar. Almost missed that one. :p
 
This looks like hell. The icon is disgusting in my dock and the interface reminds me of RealPlayer and something from Bill's closet shot together out of opposing cannons. The scroll bars are gaudy. The buttons are at the most un-aqua I've ever seen them. There are no seperators between catagories, nor are they collapsable. The blue gradients look like... Aero! :(

What was Apple thinking?

EDIT: Where the FAWK is my fracking equalizer?!
 
Yeah, they sure know how to move icons around and hide features in menus. ;)
 
The icon is disgusting in my dock ... EDIT: Where the FAWK is my fracking equalizer?!
How is the dock icon different other than changing the "music-note" from green to blue? I'm not challenging you; apparently I don't remember what my screen looked like five minutes ago.

There's an equalizer under View | Show Equalizer.
 
Under the menu item "Advanced" I have "Deauthorize Audible Account..." Does everyone have this? I don't remember opening an Audible account. I hope it doesn't charge a gazillion dollars monthly!
 
I have that menu item, and I remember having an Audible account, although I haven't used it in years. :) The equalizer was quite easy to find, wasn't it. Although I agree they should've kept the icon for it.
 
How is the dock icon different other than changing the "music-note" from green to blue? I'm not challenging you; apparently I don't remember what my screen looked like five minutes ago.

There's an equalizer under View | Show Equalizer.

The icon looks much different to me. Much different.

I found the equalizer, but it just seems so MS'ish to hide it like that.
 
The icon is a bit different, actually. It's sharper now and has more of a rainbow-glare effect. I don't have a full-size shot on hand, but I can use some screenshots to show my dock before and after. See attachment.

I'll say this much: it doesn't look nice in my Dock between QuickTime Player and BBEdit; too much blue! :eek:
 

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They changed the rainbow pattern on the CD for the iTunes 7 icon so it gives a different effect in the Dock.
 

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Oh great! Now look what you've done! I can't see my dock anymore without thinking - hey that bright iTunes icon sure is annoying? Thanks guys! ;)

Prior to OSX, did Mac used to have more visual consistency across apps? Mail, Safari, iTunes, etc. vary quite a bit. The thing that strikes me in iTunes is the scroll bars. What was wrong with Safari's blue ones?
 
If they didn't have such obvious lines between the different colours I think it'd be much better.* It's almost Windows-esque.
 
If they didn't have such obvious lines between the different colours I think it'd be much better.* It's almost Windows-esque.

Yea, I agree. The green-blue scroll bars just don't match anything, especially the metalic colours. I want some more consistency... I've already changed my iTunes icon back to the old green and less rainbow'd flavour.
 
I agree with the consistency issue. Seems as though they are cowering to the Windows users by de-mac-ifying it. The tabbed embedded interface for iPod preferences reminds me of Win Media Player.

The Cover Flow view is interesting. The fact that they have given it the same name as the original creator did makes me wonder if they payed him for the rights, rather than just doing their own version and screwing him over, which is good to see.

(btw, the original creator's site doesn't seem to be working at the moment...hmmmm)
 
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
 
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.
 
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... ;)
 
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