[alphasubzero949]

Now that TV shows can be downloaded through iTMS, why does Apple even bother calling the app "iTunes" anymore? What's next? The ability to play movies?

It's bloated for a music app.

[- - e r i k - -]

We've had the ability to play movies since 4.8 and you complain now?

[CaptainHaddock]

This is a silly request, but can someone post a screenshot of the corners?

[alphasubzero949]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

We've had the ability to play movies since 4.8 and you complain now?

Duh, I know about movie files.

I'm talking about theatrical releases being sold through iTMS, not music videos or whatever other movie files we already have.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

This is a silly request, but can someone post a screenshot of the corners?

[lngtones]

The fact that they went from iTunes 5 to iTunes 6 so quickly obviously foreshadows the end for Apple. I mean, the color of the icon didn't change. They just don't have the quality they once had.

[Ulrich Kinbote]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

This is a silly request, but can someone post a screenshot of the corners?

[Busemann]

Originally Posted by alphasubzero949

Now that TV shows can be downloaded through iTMS, why does Apple even bother calling the app "iTunes" anymore? What's next? The ability to play movies?

It's bloated for a music app.

Obviously because of the brand name.

[siMac]

I'd like to be able to browse my music like the browse by artist on the iTMS, ie. a list of artists on the right with all their albums (including covers) on the left, like this:



Either that or an album cover view similar to the icon view in the Videos pane, complete with pretty black background and reflections.

List based browsing is so old hat - nobody wants to scroll through a list of 8000+ songs, or 800+ albums if you're using the so-called 'Browse' function. I expect better from Apple. CoverFlow is fantastic, but I'd love to see it or something similar integrated into iTunes, as a plugin or otherwise. Imagine, you click the browse button and the library window blacks out to present you with this, in all its animated glory:



Now that's what I call browsing.

I would submit this as feedback, but seeing as we can't submit actual iTunes feedback on the iTunes feedback page anymore...

Ho hum.

[jasong]

Originally Posted by alphasubzero949

Now that TV shows can be downloaded through iTMS, why does Apple even bother calling the app "iTunes" anymore? What's next? The ability to play movies?

It's bloated for a music app.

Right, because the update from 5 to 6 was a whopping 615K and adding the video support made music impossible to work with. BLOAT! BLOAT I TELL YOU!!!

[jasong]

Now, why does iTunes copy movies from your Movies folder to your Music folder? I can understand this (sort of) if it is a music video, but regular movies?

[siMac]

Originally Posted by siMac

Now that's what I call browsing.

[bitter cynicism]

Or maybe they could make a beautiful remote controlled full screen interface with this feature, then only make it available to people who bought their iMacs a few days after me...

[/bitter cynicism]

[Horsepoo!!!]

Originally Posted by jasong

Right, because the update from 5 to 6 was a whopping 615K and adding the video support made music impossible to work with. BLOAT! BLOAT I TELL YOU!!!

Tell us when you're done being sarcastic.

alphasubzero has a point. iTunes and the iPod used to be about music...now it's not entirely clear what it's about.

My guess is that iTunes wouldn't be the mess it is now if it wasn't available for Windows. Apple would have made separated the music player from the video player. But since iTunes was a Carbon app and essential to the iPod's success, this was the best candidate for a port. So it was ported. Apple is now using the iPods to drive iTunes and the iTMS. Because iTunes (and QT) are the only apps that have been ported and are already wildly popular when it comes to music and movie trailer downloads, Apple decided it would use the iTMS brand name to market QuickTime 7 and H.264 video.

Apple wants iTunes to look the same on Mac and PC...and, therefore, Mac users have to suffer through the fact that video in iTunes is just a hack job to get the PC folks onto video downloading.

I agree with alphasubzero...iTunes is a beast now. It handles music well but now it also plays podcasts, reads PDFs (booklets), plays video...but the interface hasn't changed at all, it's still geared towards music organization.

iTunes doesn't play video particularly well (compared to QuickTime Player and other video players, it's slow as ****), it doesn't read PDFs particularly well, and it doesn't play podcasts particularly well.

It's hard to take iTunes seriously now...look at the categories:

-Library
-Podcasts
-Videos

Where's 'Music'?

If you're going to have a Podcasts and Videos category, you gotta have a 'Music' category...one may think that Library would be the 'Music' category, but one would be wrong. Library is 'Music', 'Podcasts' and 'Videos' combined (and probably booklets).

Then there's the Visualizer visual effects...this feature made sense when iTunes was just about music, but why is it still a prominent feature found in the iTunes window now that iTunes plays podcasts and video?

iTunes can read audio CDs...why doesn't it read DVDs too? I mean, ****, if it wants to handle video, why not go all the way and play DVDs?

edit: I know you can use the search bar to filter by Music, Video or Podcasts while in Library...it's still odd that a 'Music' category doesn't exist in the sidebar when the other categories exist.

What was once a top-notch GUI for music browsing, is now a convoluted mess. The app doesn't feel simple to use anymore.

[Horsepoo!!!]

Originally Posted by jasong

Now, why does iTunes copy movies from your Movies folder to your Music folder? I can understand this (sort of) if it is a music video, but regular movies?

iTunes can now be considered a PC app. There's nothing Mac about it. You see this kind of ******** on the Windows side. iTunes has a strict way of organizing files that doesn't make sense anymore (especially on Tiger).

If Apple was serious about giving Mac users the ultimate experience, they'd split the codebase. The PC folks can have what's available to them now, bloat and everything that is wrong with iTunes...but the Mac folks should get a clean music app that uses Spotlight to find music (no matter where it is on the HD) and a video app that uses Spotlight to find video. Or at the very least, rewrite iTunes to make it something that handles music and video equally well.

[CaptainHaddock]

Thanks for the screenshots.

I agree, iTunes seems to suffer a bit thanks to its dual Windows-OS X nature. The clumsy preference panel with its Cancel/OK buttons is another example.

[kman42]

Do you get the song when you buy a music video? I mean, obviously you do if you watch the video, but do you also get just the song so that you can transfer it to an older iPod?

kman

[kman42]

One other question about videos. Can you share them on a local network like you can with music? Do they show up in Shared Music playlists?

I'm just curious if you plugged a new iMac G5 (or a future Mac mini) into your TV if you could watch videos that are stored on your PowerMac in another room.

Also, did Apple change the network rules for Shared Music in iTunes 6? Yesterday, I had only 3 people in my list, which is the way it has been ever since I can remember, but today I have over 40! Did Apple make it so it scans across subnets again? As I recall, when this feature first became available it scanned across subnets and then they started limiting it to just the local subnet. Any ideas? Maybe a bunch of people here just decided to start sharing their music over night.

kman

[Fusion]

Originally Posted by kman42

Do you get the song when you buy a music video? I mean, obviously you do if you watch the video, but do you also get just the song so that you can transfer it to an older iPod?

kman

yes

[Krypton]

This release fixes the problem whereby it would keep your Podcasts indefinitely even if you wanted to 'keep the last 2 episodes'.

[JLL]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!!

Tell us when you're done being sarcastic.

alphasubzero has a point. iTunes and the iPod used to be about music...now it's not entirely clear what it's about.

Actually, the name iPod implies a container - music was just the beginning.

[swamibooba]

Originally Posted by rjenkinson

is it just me or did they make the corners slightly rounder?

-r.

It sure looks like it! Those jagged edges really bothered me.

[teney7]

What type of filter would you create to keep video files out of a smart playlist?

[alphasubzero949]

Originally Posted by teney7

What type of filter would you create to keep video files out of a smart playlist?

Assign music videos a grouping and then use a rule to exclude that group. Worked for me.

[alphasubzero949]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!!

alphasubzero has a point. iTunes and the iPod used to be about music...now it's not entirely clear what it's about.

[snip]


It's hard to take iTunes seriously now...look at the categories:

-Library
-Podcasts
-Videos

Where's 'Music'?

Thank you for getting my point. Before iTMS, iTunes was all about the music. At first iTMS integrated nicely with the app, but now it has become bloated in a sense that the app tries to accomplish too many things: As a music player, music video player, TV show player, and Podcast player. Now we're missing theatrical releases.

Maybe while we're at it, Apple should take a cue from MS and integrate Address Book, iCal, and Mail.app all into one app as well.

An app should do one thing and do it well. Since the porting of iTunes to Windows, Apple has lost that focus.

In the music department, iTunes does it well. Except for exporting XMLs of your library, where it still forgets which playlists belong in what folders.

Playing music videos? Try setting up a playlist and have each video play through full screen. Nope. VLC does that job well. Then there's the quality of those iTMS-purchased videos at full screen. But that's for another discussion.

Try to change the "tags" of the music videos. It will work for the library entries, but will not alter the video files themselves. Sorry, you'll need QuickTime Pro for that one. Speaking of QuickTime, what's the point of having the player if iTunes is going to use itself to play the movies? Matter of fact, why pay $30 to get full screen functionality in QT Pro when you can use iTunes? Doesn't it occur to Apple that something is not right?

And since when TV shows are considered "Tunes?"

Either Apple needs to scrap the names of iTunes and iTMS, change "Music" to "Media," or use either existing or new apps to handle the non-music content.

PS. iTunes 6 is more like 5.0.2, even if it was a 615K "upgrade."

[leethomson]

Either Apple needs to scrap the names of iTunes and iTMS, change "Music" to "Media," or use either existing or new apps to handle the non-music content.

I think this is exactly what Front Row is about. In time, you'll see iTunes and the Quicktime Player phased out, and iTunes split into separate movie and music management apps, using Front Row as the front end to play them. Since Front Row already pulls trailers stright from the web, expect it to eventually gain a "Store" module for purchases and downloads.

I also would not be surprised if Front Row and Dashboard merge at some point.

[jasong]

Originally Posted by teney7

What type of filter would you create to keep video files out of a smart playlist?

In the Smart Playlist rules, add Kind Is Not Quicktime Movie File

[kman42]

Originally Posted by leethomson

I think this is exactly what Front Row is about. In time, you'll see iTunes and the Quicktime Player phased out, and iTunes split into separate movie and music management apps, using Front Row as the front end to play them. Since Front Row already pulls trailers stright from the web, expect it to eventually gain a "Store" module for purchases and downloads.

I also would not be surprised if Front Row and Dashboard merge at some point.

I think you are correct that Front Row will become the main entry into playing media, but I doubt that iTuens and the QTPlayer will be phased out or that iTunes will split. iTunes is THE media management app. Period. That's the way Apple sees it and they only want one app to do it. I actually think they have done a pretty good job of it, although there are a few goofy things as mentioned above that I think they will work out with each new version. Front Room is great for 'just watching', but QTPlayer still has lots of features that make it useful for working with video.

I also think you are correct that Front Room may gain an interface to the iTMS once they add a new Airport Express that pipes Front Room to your TV and has a remote. Then you can buy media right from your living room.

kman

[radii_22]

I think that there are three very strange things here :

1. iTunes 5 was there for two months, while iTunes 4 for two years (almost). I would prefer to name iTunes 6, iTunes 5.5.

2. It seems that something impossible happened : Apple heard its costumers and changed something in its GUI : aliased corners and no glossy state frame. I hope they follow that, and for the next update of OS (kill brushed metal, improve the "plastic" theme, apply it to the Finder and Safari -and maybe other apps-, and the iLife kind of apps receive a smooth metal appearance like the iTunes 6 one.)

3. Third and most bizarre thing : iTunes does video?? I'm not an english native speaker, but I believe that a "tune" refers to music when a "movie" or "video" refers to motion pictures...

[teney7]

In response to "Change kind to 'is not Quicktime Video File'"...

This eliminates only the non-iTunes music video files.