Digital Home Thoughts: iLife '04 Retrospective

iTunes 4.7



Product Category: Software
Company: Apple
Price: Free download
System Requirements: (PC) Windows XP or 2000. Mac OSX.

Pros:

• Excellent user interface;
  
• Simple to use;
  
• Seamless iPod integration;
  
• Superb online music store;
  
• Free.

Cons:

• Somewhat sluggish performance at times;
  
• Doesn’t sync with third party music players;
  
• Does not support Microsoft’s WMA format (though some may see that as a Pro not a Con).

Summary:
Apple first introduced iTunes back in the Spring of 2000 as a media player for the Mac platform. Since then this simple little app has matured and grown into a pedigreed media platform all its own. Once designed to simply playback and organize a users music library, iTunes now serves as a interface for the popular iPod digital audio player as well as an online music store. Offering a world class user experience, iPod integration, easy to understand interface, and a treasure chest of downloadable music, iTunes delivers like no other jukebox software can; on any platform. Best of all it won’t cost you a single penny. Apple knows how to rock your world!

iTunes

Figure 1: iTunes interface

iTunes sets the standard for jukebox software design, featuring a brain dead simple user interface that makes organizing and managing your
music library a snap. Tracks are displayed in primary list view window with tabs along the top to segregate attributes such as Artist, Album, playback time, genre, or user rating. A browse button in the upper right hand corner toggles a navigator interface that allows you to drill down into your music library, identical to the iPod interface. A very simple and elegant solution.


Figure 2: Party Shuffle and Smart Playlists

Apple has added a number of new features in this release including an ingenious Party Shuffle mode that allows users to build a dynamic playlist that rearranges on the fly. This function is designed primarily for entertainment purposes, such as track mixing for DJs. You can even make a printout out of your playlist…or whole music library with the click of a mouse.

Smart Playlists is another neat feature, which is handy for creating multiple playlists based on “mood music” or other criteria defined by the user. You can compile mixes varying from genre to genre, or compilations based on artists. Whatever suits your tastes. A friend of mine who does some DJ work on the side uses Smart Playlists to create different genre mixes for his audiences. Each one is set for a different audience; dance, hip-hop, electronica, etc. And the whole event is controlled via two iBooks and one iPod.

In addition to being a handy dandy playlist maker, iTunes can even stream your music library to other playback devices, such a home stereo system. With a little help from AirPort Express that is. All it takes is a WiFi connection and a set of remote speakers.

Beyond its core set of added features, iTunes offers all the other common faire functions one comes to expect from media playback software, such as the ability to burn CDs at variable bitrates and audio formats. And while you’re doing that, you can sit back and watch all the pretty visual effects. It may seem trivial, but iTunes has some of the most elegant visuals I have ever seen. Patterns morph and blend in an orgy of color. Yes... I said ORGY! ;)

You can rip CDs and import audio tracks in several different formats, but are limited to AIFF, AAC, Apple Lossless, MP3, and WAV. Notice who is missing from that short list? Microsoft of course, there is no support for WMA. This is because Apple doesn’t want you purchasing music from one of those sleazy Windows Media based online music stores. Those cads!

iPod + iTunes = Bliss
Of course, iTunes has another purpose in this world besides playing that funky music. It serves as a conduit interface for syncing your music library with Apple’s line of iPod digital audio players. Just plug in your iPod, and in a few seconds your library and playlists are synced up and ready to go. iTunes also allows you to mount your iPod as external hard drive as well, which is a really nice feature. Think of it as a USB flash drive on steroids.

One downside is that iTunes raises a fuss about how and when the iPod is unmounted. If you prematurely disconnect the iPod, iTunes will be thrown into a panic attack. So be careful not to uplug your iPod if a message appears on the screen telling you not to disconnect.

Music Store


Figure 3: iTunes Music Store

By far the biggest addition this release of iTunes is integration with iTunes Music store, which in turn integrates with Apple’s highly popular iPod music player. With over 1 million tracks from all four major labels plus 600 independants, and a one-click purchase process, users can select tracks or whole albums using iTunes’s embedded browser interface. Just search for the track you’re looking for and double click on it hear a preview. If you decided to buy a track simply click the Buy Song button. That’s it! The song will immediately begin downloading.

There is however one gotcha. You have to be sure to backup your purchased tracks otherwise you could lose them in case of system failure. What’s even more frustrating is that if you’re setting up your Mac from scratch, iTunes will not import songs from your iPod as a backup device, which would be far more convenient.

I will say this for the online music store…it is incredibly addictive. It was never my intention to purchase downloadable music. Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer purchasing CDs and ripping tracks in a format and bitrate of my choosing. Still, over the past year I have downloaded as many as 30 tracks from iTunes, in genres that I don’t even listen to that often. That’s a success for Apple in itself. If they can lure more old farts like me away from CDs, they can convert anyone.

Conclusion
While iTunes is available for both Mac and PC, it’s really fined tuned for OSX. Go figure. The Windows version tends to run more slowly, annoyingly so at times..especially during initial load which seems to take forever. But this is a minor quibble. Beyond that, both versions are cosmetically identical twins. iTunes is, in my opinion, the best jukebox software for either platform, and worth the download price alone: Free! :)