[Fuzzle]

I just got my iBook (700, combo, 640, 12.1) a month or so ago. I love it, but the one thing that bothers me is iTunes. It is the best mp3 player for the mac, don't get me wrong. But one thing that I would think make it incredibly more usuable would be a dropdown playlist in the compact mode. It would allow song selection without using the huge iTunes full mode.
Here's an example of what I mean:

Current iTunes


What I want would have an activation button opposite of the "Playing" indicator, and use a Cocoa dropdown Drawer (or pull up, because I know you can define it dynamically).



I think it's a good idea, and since the next version of iTunes should be Cocoa, due to the real "death" of OS9 after the new year, it'd be an incredible addition. It's one of the few things that really still alienates me from mp3 playing on my iBook.

[LeeG]

That's be great, I think iTunes4 will probably focus on new technologies (ie rendezvous, AAC support, etc), but interface improvements can still be made. I agree that it is annoying to open the whole iTunes window just to scroll through a playlist...

Lee

[Coxy]

Just because "OS 9 is dead" doesn't meant that Carbon is dead. There is nothing wrong with Carbon.

I'm sick of people automatically assuming that if something is Cocoa then it must be oh-so-much-better than a Carbon app.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Coxy:
Just because "OS 9 is dead" doesn't meant that Carbon is dead. There is nothing wrong with Carbon.

I'm sick of people automatically assuming that if something is Cocoa then it must be oh-so-much-better than a Carbon app.

Indeed; few things annoy me more than Cocoa-for-Cocoa's-sake zealots. Cocoa is good, even great, and something I would strongly recommend for new projects. But an existing Carbon codebase can be made every bit as good, if the developers are willing to put in the effort.

Not that it matters. Carbon and Cocoa are being merged (i.e. Cocoa will be implemented completely in Carbon), and we'll probably see this finished in the release after Panther (or maybe the release after that, at the latest). That should end the debates once and for all, since by then they'll be more or less the same thing.

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

Hmm, not so sure that a drawer like that would be all that useful.
However, I use iTunes in the following way: always full sized, and when I'm not actively using it, I just Hide it or close the window.
I also never use the visualiser.
YMMV