iTunes 8, Playlist Recommendations, Visualizations

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

With Apple's announcement (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/09/02/apple-event-confirmed-for-september-9th-lets-rock/) that the company will be holding a special media event on September 9th, we're reminded that Kevin Rose (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/25/apple-event-for-september-9th/) was the first source of the September 9th date.

Rose originally reported (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/22/new-ipod-nano-ipod-touch-itunes-8-0-blu-ray-in-10-6/) that we would see new iPod nanos and small cosmetic changes to the iPod Touch in September, but also revealed that iTunes 8 would arrive as a "big update" with new features. Later when he revealed the September 9th date (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/25/itunes-8-and-ipod-nanos-on-sept-9th/), he described a new music recommendation feature within iTunes 8, but gave few details. An anonymous tip has since suggested that this "genius playlist" feature would be able to generate a playlist based on the qualities of a selected song, giving a Pandora-like (http://www.pandora.com/) experience with your own music library. This, however, remains unconfirmed and is published for interest only.

Finally, Rose said yesterday (http://twitter.com/kevinrose/statuses/907054263) that iTunes 8.0 have new "trippy" visualizations with one described as "planet like objects wrapping around each other with stars/light streams".

Apple's media event takes place at 10am Pacific time on September 9th, and according to Cult of Mac, Apple has uncharacteristically told at least one journalist (http://cultofmac.com/apples-sept-9th-event-is-a-big-deal/2675) that the event is "a big deal and [he] should try to be there".

Article Link (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/09/03/itunes-8-playlist-recommendations-visualizations/)

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

Is anyone from MacRumors going to be there and is there going to be coverage?

[Kilamite]

I'll be chuffed if the visualisations come close to WinAmp's Milk Drop.

As for Playlist recommendations, I'm not really sure if I'd take advantage of that feature, unless it was pretty accurate. But then I'd have to go through and tag all of my music with genres, since most of it is still missing it.

[Tallest Skil]

Is anyone from MacRumors going to be there and is there going to be coverage?

Generally MacRumors doesn't get into the iPod keynote, but there will be coverage from other media sources.

[Clayne]

Big deal? Even iTunes 8.0 and iPod upgrades doesn't really exceed any other iPod event.

A big deal, to me, would be a sweet "one more thing". And I think ya'll know what I'm thinking, realistically or not.

[MacinJosh]

I wonder if there will be a change in the media library part of iTunes. I store every single Movie and TV Show in iTunes tagged and all. It works pretty good now but it could use a revamp.

Joshua.

[Cubert]

New visualizers!!! I hope Apple can eke out a few more FPS out of the standard visualizer for us with older hardware.

This genius playlist sounds a lot like a patent Apple applied for back in 2004 (I think) for a technology that can determine the genre of a song by its beats per minute.

[jackfrost123]

Who the f. is this guy Rose Arn? Is he the one who broadcasts from his grandmothers bedroom in front of a ladder? How come he's suddenly gained credibility when he's never gotten anything right before and doesn't seem to have any inside info from apple? What's his posision, is he employed? Are we supposed to get served whatever bozo spins in his sureal mind as a rumor?:mad:

[Craigy]

I wonder if there will be a change in the media library part of iTunes. I store every single Movie and TV Show in iTunes tagged and all. It works pretty good now but it could use a revamp.

Joshua.
Yes - I really hope they sort out categorisation for movies etc. I have my DVD collection and a couple of hundred family videos - accessing these from AppleTV is a real pain at the moment.

[Fidgetyrat]

I'm not a fan of the "minor cosmetic" changes to the touch. I think they need to bring the touch more in line with the iphone or they are biting their own foot. I think most people don't buy the touch because it shows album art, I think they buy it because they can't afford the iphone contract and want similar features without the phone (at least in my case).

[iCantwait]

can i remind that i have been predicting Sept 9th since June 2008?? (check my posts)
yep thats right... suck on that Kevin Rose

[MrCrowbar]

Who the f. is this guy Rose Arn? Is he the one who broadcasts from his grandmothers bedroom in front of a ladder? How come he's suddenly gained credibility when he's never gotten anything right before and doesn't seem to have any inside info from apple? What's his posision, is he employed? Are we supposed to get served whatever bozo spins in his sureal mind as a rumor?:mad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_rose

[elcid]

Who the f. is this guy Rose Arn? Is he the one who broadcasts from his grandmothers bedroom in front of a ladder? How come he's suddenly gained credibility when he's never gotten anything right before and doesn't seem to have any inside info from apple? What's his posision, is he employed? Are we supposed to get served whatever bozo spins in his sureal mind as a rumor?:mad:

you might say he is employed. He is the founder and CEO of digg. Next time try google before you rant on and on.

[jackfrost123]

can i remind that i have been predicting Sept 9th since June 2008?? (check my posts)
yep thats right... suck on that Kevin Rose

Rose didn't predict ****. A lot of people have been talking about the 9th.

[belovedmonster]

Who the f. is this guy Rose Arn? Is he the one who broadcasts from his grandmothers bedroom in front of a ladder? How come he's suddenly gained credibility when he's never gotten anything right before and doesn't seem to have any inside info from apple? What's his posision, is he employed? Are we supposed to get served whatever bozo spins in his sureal mind as a rumor?:mad:

A. He owns Digg, one of the most influential news sites on the interwebs.
B. He has come out with leaked information in the past which has proven true.
C. He seems to have been spot on this time, so far at least, so why not shut up and take an interest in what this guy says? :rolleyes:

[jackfrost123]

you might say he is employed. He is the founder and CEO of digg. Next time try google before you rant on and on.

Yeah, wow I am so impressed, every other bozo has got their internet co. going, wait till dot com bubble no. 2. He should have moved out of his grandmothers already and stopped in broadcasting in front of ladders.

Btw, what's that got to do with him getting just about 99% wrong and having no info on apple? See danny's articles at roughlydrafted to get an idead.

[SoGood]

Just frigging post up the fixes for iPhone 3G!!!

[xJulianx]

As for Playlist recommendations, I'm not really sure if I'd take advantage of that feature, unless it was pretty accurate. But then I'd have to go through and tag all of my music with genres, since most of it is still missing it.

Same here, I have Artists, Albums and Track Names all tagged up perfectly along with artwork but everything else is a complete mess and would take a very long time to sort out with an 8,000~ song library.

[jackfrost123]

A. He owns Digg, one of the most influential news sites on the interwebs.
B. He has come out with leaked information in the past which has proven true.
C. He seems to have been spot on this time, so far at least, so why not shut up and take an interest in what this guy says? :rolleyes:

Is that so? Ha,ha,ha...

See what a real apple authority Danny Dilger at roughly drafted has got to say about this bozo Rose and get a clue:
"Kevin Rose has been trying his hand at making broad sweeping generalizations about the next generation of iPods, but sorry, no digg. Most of his predictions are not even original, and those that are are so vague that they’re really just worthless"
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/08/24/whats-next-from-apple-new-ipods-sept-22-iphone-os-21-itunes-80/

[DavidLeblond]

iPod Hi-Fi 2! "A big ass speaker for your phone."

[BuddhaDog]

The big deal besides a new nano and a touch, is that iTunes 8's music will be DRM free! That's what Rocks :p

[Kilamite]

Same here, I have Artists, Albums and Track Names all tagged up perfectly along with artwork but everything else is a complete mess and would take a very long time to sort out with an 8,000~ song library.

Unless iTunes connects your Artist, Album and Track names together and gets the genre automatically. In fact, if it connected just Artist and Album together to get both the Album and Genre, that'd be a great help.

[Mackan]

Where are the notebooks...

[xJulianx]

No, ignorance is ratting on about some "bozo" when you have no real knowledge of their track record.

Rose's rumor track record: 3 right, 2 wrong, 1 part right.

Not "99% wrong" as you put it.

[Chupa Chupa]

Big deal? Even iTunes 8.0 and iPod upgrades doesn't really exceed any other iPod event.

A big deal, to me, would be a sweet "one more thing". And I think ya'll know what I'm thinking, realistically or not.


Yup. Unless iTunes 8 can fetch my morning paper and make a martini in the evening, it's not going to be a big deal. Cool maybe, but I can't think of anything that would make me jump out of my pants. Ditto w/ the iPods. Been there done, that.

Now if Steve says "one more thing," and a totally redesigned ultra-thin (but, of course not Air thin) MBP or MB pops out of a table THAT will be a big deal.

[netdog]

Yes - I really hope they sort out categorisation for movies etc. I have my DVD collection and a couple of hundred family videos - accessing these from AppleTV is a real pain at the moment.

I hope they allow the storage of video and music on different drives within the same "library". Forcing video to be on the same drive as music (assuming that you want to keep your libraries organized) seems dumb to me, and really inconvenient for those of us with very large music and video collections.

I'd like to see iTunes be able to read and store DVD images as well. All this conversion crap is really for the birds.

[xJulianx]

Unless iTunes connects your Artist, Album and Track names together and gets the genre automatically. In fact, if it connected just Artist and Album together to get both the Album and Genre, that'd be a great help.

Nice idea, that would be fantastic, very excited if iTunes manages to automatically tag librarys based on a few correct entries.

My only concern would be the amount of music I have that is rather unknown. I have at least a couple of thousand songs that aren't in the iTunes store for example.

[jackfrost123]

No, ignorance is ratting on about some "bozo" when you have no real knowledge of their track record.

Rose's rumor track record: 3 right, 2 wrong, 1 part right.

Not "99% wrong" as you put it.

But where's he right at? At what the concensus knows to be 95% true, pretty much everyone is right there...

See what a real apple authority Danny Dilger at roughly drafted has got to say about this bozo Rose and get a clue:

"Kevin Rose has been trying his hand at making broad sweeping generalizations about the next generation of iPods, but sorry, no digg. Most of his predictions are not even original, and those that are are so vague that they’re really just worthless"

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/0...-21-itunes-80/

[netdog]

No, ignorance is ratting on about some "bozo" when you have no real knowledge of their track record.

Rose's rumor track record: 3 right, 2 wrong, 1 part right.

Not "99% wrong" as you put it.

He looks to be basically right this time. The Nano photo that he broke early on seems to be the real McCoy. His predictions about a major iTunes revision looks to be on the money as well.

[capoeirista]

I too am a bit worried about smart playlists based on genre. I had to change loads of mine as they too often come up with 'Alternative & Punk' :rolleyes:

Also I never use visualisers, so that's not too interesting for me.

Anyway, only one way to find out...

[jackfrost123]

He looks to be basically right this time. The Nano photo that he broke early on seems to be the real McCoy. His predictions about a major iTunes revision looks to be on the money as well.

He didn't break the nano photo I am sorry. As for the itunes revision it was a no brainer, like I said read danny's article to see how the pattern with itunes goes and how a no brainer it is to predict it. If the guy doesnt have inside info, which he obviously does not, there's no point in picking the concesus on a few easy guesses and throwing in so much where he is dead wrong.

[xJulianx]

But where's he right at? At what the concensus knows to be 95% true, pretty much everyone is right there...

See what a real apple authority Danny Dilger at roughly drafted has got to say about this bozo Rose and get a clue:

"Kevin Rose has been trying his hand at making broad sweeping generalizations about the next generation of iPods, but sorry, no digg. Most of his predictions are not even original, and those that are are so vague that they’re really just worthless"

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/0...-21-itunes-80/

I am not interested in what other analysts have to say about each other, I am simply pointing out that your flaming of Kevin Rose isn't based on true fact.

His track record is not as abysmal as you claim it to be.


Right
- 3G iPhone with GPS
- 15" Intel MacBook, iPod FM receiver, iWork/iLife, New Remote etc..
- iPod Nano

Partly Right
- $200 iPhone pricing (but called it "low end")

Wrong
- Front sided camera of iPhone
- Dual battery, iPhone rumors

[pivo6]

.....blah blah blah

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/0...-21-itunes-80/


Your link doesn't work

[jackfrost123]

Your link doesn't work

sorry for that, just copied it from the previous page and cut it down:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/08/24/whats-next-from-apple-new-ipods-sept-22-iphone-os-21-itunes-80/

[Chupa Chupa]

I too am a bit worried about smart playlists based on genre. I had to change loads of mine as they too often come up with 'Alternative & Punk' :rolleyes:

Also I never use visualisers, so that's not too interesting for me.

Anyway, only one way to find out...


I think that is a CDDB limitation, not iTunes. It's stilly I know, but I think they use over-expansive labels so they don't end up with 1000s. Still not all alternative is punk so it is annoying.

[Casshan]

The new visualizer has gotta be Magnetosphere (http://www.barbariangroup.com/software/magnetosphere). That would explain why the authors pulled it so long ago.

[Silicon Jedi]

See what a real apple authority Danny Dilger at roughly drafted has got to say about this bozo Rose and get a clue:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/0...-21-itunes-80/

I like how this links to a page saying the new iPods are out 9/22. :rolleyes:

[bbplayer5]

Lets just hope apple doesnt block pwnage firmware with this update ;)

[Kilamite]

The new visualizer has gotta be Magnetosphere (http://www.barbariangroup.com/software/magnetosphere). That would explain why the authors pulled it so long ago.

While good, it isn't random enough.

If you are into visualisations, then check out Winamp's Milkdrop. Only downside is, you have to boot up Windows (Boot Camp to get the best fps). Wish they'd hurry up on the Mac version.

[Stuart in Oz]

Who the f. is this guy Rose Arn? Is he the one who broadcasts from his grandmothers bedroom in front of a ladder? How come he's suddenly gained credibility when he's never gotten anything right before and doesn't seem to have any inside info from apple? What's his posision, is he employed? Are we supposed to get served whatever bozo spins in his sureal mind as a rumor?:mad:

Yeah, wow I am so impressed, every other bozo has got their internet co. going, wait till dot com bubble no. 2. He should have moved out of his grandmothers already and stopped in broadcasting in front of ladders.

LOL - you are writing this for our amusement, right?

The big deal besides a new nano and a touch, is that iTunes 8's music will be DRM free! That's what Rocks :p

That could be it. I've been puzzling what could be so important and I can't think of anything really, but full DRM free iTunes could be the big bang. We know SJ has pushed for it right from day one, maybe he finally succeeded in getting through to the labels?

But on the other hand, way back at MacWorld Steve really made a point of saying that this year was going to see some really exceptional stuff. Just after he revealed the MacBook Air, he said something along the lines of "And we have a whole year to go - this is just the beginning.".

Yet so far, nothing really radical has come out. I'm not dissing the iPhone 3G or the upgraded iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pro's but none of them were really radically new. Everyone was predicting the features of the iPhone 3G in advance, the app store was open news, the speed bump upgrades to the computer hardware nothing out of the ordinary.

It's been quite a while since Steve gave us a real, game-changing surprise - probably since the original iPhone at MacWorld 2007.

Could this be the next big one?

EDIT - Well, maybe I overlooked the MacBook Air. :)

[Snollygoster]

What needs to be done is for iTunes to store the library in a database format and not an xml file. xml for large libraries has become WAY TOO SLOW to parse.

[JG271]

What needs to be done is for iTunes to store the library in a database format and not an xml file. xml for large libraries has become WAY TOO SLOW to parse.

Yes! My library is quite large and takes a long time to load, a faster system would be nice.
The new iTunes visualizer sounds good too!

[Stridder44]

How about fixing iTunes to not be a resource hog/steaming pile of @#$% on Windows?

[blybug]

I hope they allow the storage of video and music on different drives within the same "library". Forcing video to be on the same drive as music (assuming that you want to keep your libraries organized) seems dumb to me, and really inconvenient for those of us with very large music and video collections.

Try holding the option key when you drag a movie into iTunes. The copy will stay put on whatever hard drive you want, but still appear in your iTunes Movie Library.

I've got 300 movies on an external "Movies" drive, and 800 episodes of TV shows + 400 home movies on an external "TV Shows" drive, with only my music being auto-organized in the "iTunes Music" folder. All iTunes does with Movies is throw them all in one big folder anyhow, and TV Shows in a folder called "TV Shows" subfoldered by the show name...I can manage that myself on the externals. Everything shows up seamlessly within the iTunes Library, which is where I select and watch anyhow, and syncs to :apple:TV quite happily.

[xbjllb]

Who the f. is this guy Rose Arn? Is he the one who broadcasts from his grandmothers bedroom in front of a ladder? How come he's suddenly gained credibility when he's never gotten anything right before and doesn't seem to have any inside info from apple? What's his posision, is he employed? Are we supposed to get served whatever bozo spins in his sureal mind as a rumor?:mad:

Do you have a personal problem with this guy or what?

If not, please stop attacking him as if you do. He's more credible than you are, and this forum is about credible rumors.

:apple:

[Shasterball]

...according to Cult of Mac, Apple has uncharacteristically told at least one journalist (http://cultofmac.com/apples-sept-9th-event-is-a-big-deal/2675) that the event is "a big deal and [he] should try to be there".

As opposed to telling him, "eh, you don't need to cover our event. No biggie."

[Shasterball]

How about fixing iTunes to not be a resource hog/steaming pile of @#$% on Windows?

iTunes doesn't steam on my PC.

[Loge]

That could be it. I've been puzzling what could be so important and I can't think of anything really, but full DRM free iTunes could be the big bang. We know SJ has pushed for it right from day one, maybe he finally succeeded in getting through to the labels?


Some might say he only pushed for it when he started getting heat from European consumer groups concerned about iTunes music not being playable on other hardware, but hey, if it happens it WILL be a big deal. Hopefully with a low cost upgrade for previous purchases.


But on the other hand, way back at MacWorld Steve really made a point of saying that this year was going to see some really exceptional stuff. Just after he revealed the MacBook Air, he said something along the lines of "And we have a whole year to go - this is just the beginning.".

Yet so far, nothing really radical has come out.

Doesn't he say something like this every year? :p

[netdog]

He didn't break the nano photo I am sorry. As for the itunes revision it was a no brainer, like I said read danny's article to see how the pattern with itunes goes and how a no brainer it is to predict it. If the guy doesnt have inside info, which he obviously does not, there's no point in picking the concesus on a few easy guesses and throwing in so much where he is dead wrong.

If he didn't break the Nano photo then who did?

That photo of the new, longer, curved Nano was broken by him as far as all the subsequent reports of his predictions said. Where can you show me a photo that appeared before his prediction of what we now know is bound to be the new Nano?

Rose's photo was clearly the real thing, as evidenced by all the case pictures that have been published since.

[netdog]

Try holding the option key when you drag a movie into iTunes. The copy will stay put on whatever hard drive you want, but still appear in your iTunes Movie Library.

I've got 300 movies on an external "Movies" drive, and 800 episodes of TV shows + 400 home movies on an external "TV Shows" drive, with only my music being auto-organized in the "iTunes Music" folder. All iTunes does with Movies is throw them all in one big folder anyhow, and TV Shows in a folder called "TV Shows" subfoldered by the show name...I can manage that myself on the externals. Everything shows up seamlessly within the iTunes Library, which is where I select and watch anyhow, and syncs to :apple:TV quite happily.

Oh wow! Thank you blybug! That is a BIG help!

[Mudbone]

From everything I've read, it seems Steve will finally announce the much awaited Apple Jet Packs.

Sweeeet!

And snappy!!!

[onicon]

How about fixing iTunes to not be a resource hog/steaming pile of @#$% on Windows?
Thats easy, get a Mac ;)

Seriously, in my expirience iTunes runs fine on Windows, as long as Windows isn't ********* up. Reinstalling Windows helps. :p

[dutchy]

Always wondered why CBS bought Last.fm some time ago. Was Apple too late? Or was recommendation in the iTunes pipeline already?

[zeppiecr]

So curved nano's cleaned up touch's and a new screen saver? Wow this is brutal.

How about some Apple TV love....how about some ap's running on Apple TV

anything

how about an ap that run's XM radio that would let you tag songs to get off itunes?

[boer]

Apple has uncharacteristically told at least one journalist (http://cultofmac.com/apples-sept-9th-event-is-a-big-deal/2675) that the event is "a big deal and [he] should try to be there".

Wow, this is huge considering Apple prefers journalists out of their media events most of the time! :confused:

[Buschmaster]

Hm. I wonder if one of the new features on the iPod Touch is zipping music to each other via wifi like the Zune. I can't say that I would really use it but I can't figure out what features the iPod Touch could add and still even be worth updating.

[Dagless]

Phew, thank god that chap's in Time Out! Right...

I like the sound of the playlist recommendation feature, reminds me of an old OSX app I had that analysed music (took ages back on the PowerBook) and would get tempo data, and going off the songs "audioprint" could match similar songs going off a base song. I'm sure Roxio made it, but this was years back.
If Apple brings us something remotely as awesome as that I'll be happy. Especially since I've got 25gb of (compressed) music and only listen to a select few songs. :o

Visualisations? Am I the only person who doesn't ever use these?

[boxlight]

With iTunes 8, can I please have visualizations on AppleTV ... pleeease??!

[blybug]

Visualisations? Am I the only person who doesn't ever use these?
You and me both.

Chances are, if I'm listening to iTunes on my computer, I'm actually working on something on my computer, not sitting and staring at trippy visualizations.

I guess if you had iTunes running a big plasma at a party it would be pretty cool. So...why doesn't :apple:TV get this feature :confused::confused::confused:

[boer]

Hm. I wonder if one of the new features on the iPod Touch is zipping music to each other via wifi like the Zune.

"Zipping?" You must mean squirting (http://www.zunesphere.com/2006/11/22/squirting-with-the-zune/). No matter how you try to spin it, there will be no squirting on my iPod, ever. :D

[MacinJosh]

Try holding the option key when you drag a movie into iTunes. The copy will stay put on whatever hard drive you want, but still appear in your iTunes Movie Library.

I've got 300 movies on an external "Movies" drive, and 800 episodes of TV shows + 400 home movies on an external "TV Shows" drive, with only my music being auto-organized in the "iTunes Music" folder. All iTunes does with Movies is throw them all in one big folder anyhow, and TV Shows in a folder called "TV Shows" subfoldered by the show name...I can manage that myself on the externals. Everything shows up seamlessly within the iTunes Library, which is where I select and watch anyhow, and syncs to :apple:TV quite happily.

I've done something similar except my library is located on my file/media server. iTunes is on my iMac and all the files on the server. Works great.

[odinsride]

Visualisations? Am I the only person who doesn't ever use these?

I don't use visualizations either, and can't see what their purpose is unless you're throwing a party or something and put it on your big screen. I wish they would put effort into more meaningful things with the itunes update :(

[Mindflux]

I'll be chuffed if the visualisations come close to WinAmp's Milk Drop.

As for Playlist recommendations, I'm not really sure if I'd take advantage of that feature, unless it was pretty accurate. But then I'd have to go through and tag all of my music with genres, since most of it is still missing it.


Prepare to be 'chuffed'. :rolleyes:

[franzmueller]

Cool ...maybe Apple announces that they finally found a fix to my push calender .
:(

[crunchb3rry]

"A. He owns Digg, one of the most influential news sites on the interwebs."

Digg is @#*^ing garbage. An unnecessary extra mouse click to get to where you wanted to go in the first place. Basically a virtual toll booth.

[qualidad]

Although this will come as a surprise, the announcement next week will in fact be for a new iPhone.

I met up with a friend last week who had been working on a commercial for a new iPhone and although he couldn't tell me much (due to a confidentiality agreement he had signed) he did tell me that the product was not the latest 3G but another iPhone.

It may well be a pared down version or iPhone nano but he was adamant that it was a new phone made by Apple.

[Passante]

Who the f. is this guy Rose Arn? Is he the one who broadcasts from his grandmothers bedroom in front of a ladder? How come he's suddenly gained credibility when he's never gotten anything right before and doesn't seem to have any inside info from apple? What's his posision, is he employed? Are we supposed to get served whatever bozo spins in his sureal mind as a rumor?:mad:

Let's not forget Tech TV. He did a great show with Leo Laporte until the network screwed it up.

[iPie]

Yup. Unless iTunes 8 can fetch my morning paper and make a martini in the evening, it's not going to be a big deal. Cool maybe, but I can't think of anything that would make me jump out of my pants. Ditto w/ the iPods. Been there done, that.



I have to agree, how does a revision to iPods and iTunes become a ""a big deal and [he] should try to be there" event?

Not every event needs something radically new, but ""a big deal and [he] should try to be there" events certainly do.

I think that there must be the launch of something that people are going to want to buy, even those who have just benefited from a free iPod Touch.

An iPod Touch Nano (Phone?) with GPS and accessory mount for a cork-screw. That might compensate for the newspaper and martini.

[Riemann Zeta]

Great news about new psychedelic visualizers. I could use some new ones to trip with. Clearly, modern computers have enough graphical oomph to do something other than the standard visualizer from circa 2002.

I guess I'd also like to see a little more intelligence added to the shuffle function, such as better 'shuffle by genre' support. But AI playlist generation is just as good. And I also agree that a streaming XM radio plugin for iTunes would be a fantastic killer app (for those of us who like sat radio).

[gkarris]

What's an "iPod"?

**** runs ****

:D

[Carl Spackler]

The big deal besides a new nano and a touch, is that iTunes 8's music will be DRM free! That's what Rocks :p

If everything essentially became iTunes +, for the current price, it'd be a nice step forward and would indeed, rock. I'd adore Apple Lossless as an option, but I can't see that as a reality.

[zedsdead]

iTunes doesn't need more visualizations and playlist options so much as it needs the following:

(1) Much better Movie & TV Show management.

(2) All SD movies & Tv Shows encoded using the new anamorphic setting w/ 5.1 AC3 inclusion, subtitle tracks, and bonus material.

(3) HD rentals (and purchases if possible at this point) available through iTunes on the computer, not just the Apple TV.

(4) Music library available in Lossless which can be transcoded on the fly via a user customized setting (like 256 AAC) to the iPod/iPhone.

(5) Movie/TV Show rental subscription model.

(6) Video playlists that actually sync with the iPhone & Apple TV (pathetic that this is not included yet).

[RevK]

iTunes 8.0 would mean EVERYTHING to me if it became a Cocoa application!:D

[Buschmaster]

"Zipping?" You must mean squirting (http://www.zunesphere.com/2006/11/22/squirting-with-the-zune/). No matter how you try to spin it, there will be no squirting on my iPod, ever. :D
They really call it squirting? Gross.

I'm with you, I'm not squirting on my iPod, either. ;)

[Peace]

Let's not forget Tech TV. He did a great show with Leo Laporte until the network screwed it up.
You are correct and those guys know people at apple. Almost to the degree of being a mouthpeice for SJ.

iTunes 8.0 would mean EVERYTHING to me if it became a Cocoa application!:D

That's a big possibility.

Could also be apple is seeing a lowered interest in iPod announcements.

[chadder007]

Considering how craptastic the recent software updates have been for the iPhone, Leopard, Mobileme.....im not too keen on a major update to iTunes.

[fastbite]

I hope is MUCH more than "trippy" visualizations...

[kerryn]

This does not seem like much of a big deal to me.

What would spark my interest would be a "One more Thing..." introducing the iServe. The iServe being an upgraded Mac Mini that now acts as a whole house media server (with larger 1TB harddrive) with iTunes 8 integration so that music ripped/purchased through iTunes is stored centrally (irrespective of computer) so that you only need to store the files once, and in a high quality apple lossless format. The iServe could then stream music through iTunes 8 server to audio clients/aTV in a lossless format for at home. iTunes 8 on portables such as MB and MBP could sync to the iTunes8 server on iServe and keep a subset of music on the MB for mobile consumption/usage, or real-time compress to 196 (or whatever) AAC for storage space saving. iPhones and iPod Touch can also sync wirelessly needing no need to file up the computer. The iTunes 8 on iServe will also be smart enough to maintain only one central copy of your music (saving space) but maintain multiple libraries for different user accounts/needs.

Also if I am out on the road with my MB or in the office with the iMac I would want to know that all my ratings, playlist, music is all sync'd and available due to iTunes 8 on iServe keeping it all aligned.

Now that would spark my interest!

Also, can we rate tunes within the iTune mini view please?

[slackpacker]

How bout making it sync and backup at a resonable speed other than Sloth.

first before all the eyecandy.:mad:

[SPUY767]

New visualizers!!! I hope Apple can eke out a few more FPS out of the standard visualizer for us with older hardware.

This genius playlist sounds a lot like a patent Apple applied for back in 2004 (I think) for a technology that can determine the genre of a song by its beats per minute.

I for one am hoping that apple bought out magnetosphere and made it kick more ass.

[Wolfpup]

If *APPLE* is telling people it's a big deal, that's scary. :D (I mean in a good way of course!)

I just wish they'd do new Macbook Pros there that meet my needs, but I'm feeling like it's less and less possible. Well, a PDA-esque device from them would be awesome, preferably running OS X :D

Maybe a mini-tablet that could actually be used more or less like a PDA, and uses an Atom, and runs OS X so can run Office, etc.

[vandlism]

We're all thinking it, I'm just saying it. The Beatles. (http://mashable.com/2008/03/09/itunes-beatles-deal/)

[torid110]

This does not seem like much of a big deal to me.

What would spark my interest would be a "One more Thing..." introducing the iServe.

This would rock !!!

[Riemann Zeta]

(2) All SD movies & Tv Shows encoded using the new anamorphic setting w/ 5.1 AC3 inclusion, subtitle tracks, and bonus material.
Definitely agree that everything should be 16:9 (it just looks so much better than the ugly-ass 4:3 ratio), there is no way that Apple or anyone else is going to waste the 448 kbps for the AC3 codec. And why would every single TV show, movie and track come with "bonus material?" Moreover, what is bonus material? Those interviews with the assistant key-grip they have on DVDs?

[137489]

The more I look around at the nostalgic cars (mustang, challenger, charger) that are out; and the fact I was in JCPenny and seen that clothes that appeared to be from the 1960's and 1970's on the racks (cordaroy pants, sweater vests, some of the styles). I think that we are heading back to the 1960's and 1970's - so pull out your beads, put on your flowers and tye-died shirts, and trip out.

Everything goes in cycles.

But seriously - I do not use visualizations when listening to my music. Now what would be cool would be a way to export those visualizations to a quicktime, WMV, AIV, or FLV file (let me pick the format). I could sure have fun with that when making music videos.....

[Wolfpup]

We're all thinking it, I'm just saying it. The Beatles. (http://mashable.com/2008/03/09/itunes-beatles-deal/)

I wasn't thinking it. That would be incredibly lame if that's all it was. I would never "buy" (ie rent) anything from their store if it has DRM on it, and even if it dosen't I'd rather just buy a higher quality (and pre-backed up) CD. (Particularly with The Beatles...which I've actually never bought on CD, since apparently they wouldn't get any money from it...I only bought those new releases a few years back.)

Hopefully it's at least a nifty redesign for the iPod touch that fixes it's issues (what to me are big issues at least)...

[Chupa Chupa]

We're all thinking it, I'm just saying it. The Beatles. (http://mashable.com/2008/03/09/itunes-beatles-deal/)

Hey, it ain't 1968. That would NOT be a big deal. Apple would lose major cred if they told reporters THAT was a reason not to miss the event.

[NC MacGuy]

yawn... I've been buying a lot of music from Amazon and been pretty pleased. I don't really want iTunes reading my mind, either.:rolleyes:

Need some new computer stuff. Poor orphan mini.:mad:

[rtdunham]

...Apple has uncharacteristically told at least one journalist that the event is "a big deal and [he] should try to be there".

could be because it WILL have important announcements.

or could be because attendance is lagging as journalists learn these special events sometimes only announce incremental product improvements. In that case apple pr would also be needing to hawk people into the circus tent.

QUOTE: "How about some Apple TV love....how about some ap's running on Apple TV...anything"

How about just an adequate library of movies for rent?

Visualizations? meh...

My bet's on the nano phone.

[137489]

This does not seem like much of a big deal to me.

What would spark my interest would be a "One more Thing..." introducing the iServe. The iServe being an upgraded Mac Mini that now acts as a whole house media server (with larger 1GB harddrive) .....

Unless I mis-understood you - I think you meant a 1 terabyte drive. I have a small (30gb 5,000+) song library. I say small because I know people who have filled up an entire 500gb drive with just music. They hit all the peer-to-peers like limewire, bearshare, Kaazar (not sure those are around anymore) - plus the napster's, etc - not to mention making use of CD duplicators. Since my entire library of over 100 CD's bit the dust (scratches, cracks, music I do not listen to anymore, etc - I used to listen to them in my car a lot); my entire collection is on mp3 format now.

[Wolfpup]

could be because it WILL have important announcements.

or could be because attendance is lagging as journalists learn these special events sometimes only announce incremental product improvements. In that case apple pr would also be needing to hawk people into the circus tent.

That could be, but surely Apple would know not to do that. If they do that once, it's only going to hurt their credibility and make fewer people show up even for real announcements.

I suppose this will be their rental serivce thingee, which is probably a big deal, along with some slightly redone produts, but I sure hope it's stuff *I* care about too.

[137489]

We're all thinking it, I'm just saying it. The Beatles. (http://mashable.com/2008/03/09/itunes-beatles-deal/)

Boy I bet that will make Michael Jackson a lot richer. :rolleyes: Doesn't he still own all the rights to the Beatles music. I mean what where they thinking when they sold the rights, and now Paul McCartney has to pay royalties to Michael Jackson when he plays a Beatle's song.

Well, Michael needs the money to pay for the lawyers....:eek:

[tullys]

iTMS subscription based music service (okay four and an acronym!).

[Carl Spackler]

Hey, it ain't 1968. That would NOT be a big deal. Apple would lose major cred if they told reporters THAT was a reason not to miss the event.
Unless the supposed reporter they told was, like, totally into the Beatles.

[The Tall One]

I like the pandora idea, but I guess you would have to own a Jesus-load full of music that you purchased from the Apple store first, and it would need to be able to access new metadata with regards to genre specifics in order to function like pandora.

That aside, what I would like to see is better CD burning tools and a freakin' button, like in final cut, that goes through all of your media that has been
"unconnected" (meaning you moved your mp3s to another drive or something) and automatically search all drives and reconnect them.

Is this really that hard to program? I have been waiting for 5 years for this, ever since the first time I accidentally moved some mp3s to an external drive to save space. Something about going through 500 mp3s individually and reconnecting them manually seemed superfluous in the age of computers and internetwebcybernets.

[zedsdead]

Definitely agree that everything should be 16:9 (it just looks so much better than the ugly-ass 4:3 ratio), there is no way that Apple or anyone else is going to waste the 448 kbps for the AC3 codec. And why would every single TV show, movie and track come with "bonus material?" Moreover, what is bonus material? Those interviews with the assistant key-grip they have on DVDs?

Sorry, the sentence with Bonus Material was supposed to be separate. If the movie has bonus material, it should be included.

As far as widescreen goes, most new material on iTunes is widescreen, even TV Shows, but the TV shows do not use the Anamorphic Setting which is actually on par with DVD quality as opposed to the regular 640x480 widescreen iTunes setting.

AC3 is already included by Apple on the HD rentals, and Handbrake has proved it also works with SD movies. It doesn't add all that much space, and is well worth the addition.

[vandy1997]

Maybe the big deal is that they will finally be distributing a stable firmware version for the iPhone and that Mobile Me will finally be fixed and provide push services as described initially! Also, instead of adding visualizations to iTunes (which is also useless), they should fix it so that backups don't take 2 hours and so that it doesn't show up as a black screen at times on Windows systems - now those would be great improvements! That would be a big deal and great news. I could care less about a bigger iPod Nano - if they make it bigger, they should call it the iPod Mini again. At this time, Apple needs to focus on fixing major bugs before announcing useless features. I'm all for useful features, such as MMS, cut and paste, video recording, better camera app on the iPhone.

[dloomer]

Audio/video streaming to iPhone/iPod Touch from iTunes
SlingPlayer app finally announced
Apple starts paying more attention to AppleTV

.... and I'm sold.

[Peace]

Speaking of itunes 8. You know how the remote app let's you stream music to the Apple TV?. Wouldn't it be cool to do that with video too ?

Just sayin.

[kerryn]

Unless I mis-understood you - I think you meant a 1 terabyte drive.

Correct. Typo fixed.

Actually if there was anything ever like an iServe then having the capability of add multiple hard drives to increase the storage pool as needed and provide redundancy would be better still. Perhaps the ZFS file system, along with RAID-Z or unRAID would work? I don't know much about this stuff so I may be talking garbage here.

Anyway I'm still waiting for someone to come up with the perfect home server...

[zedsdead]

Correct. Typo fixed.

Actually if there was anything ever like an iServe then having the capability of add multiple hard drives to increase the storage pool as needed and provide redundancy would be better still. Perhaps the ZFS file system, along with RAID-Z or unRAID would work? I don't know much about this stuff so I may be talking garbage here.

Anyway I still waiting for someone to come up with the perfect home server...

Buy a Drobo. Very cool product. Doesn't stream to Apple devices, but it is looks awesome as far a hard drive media server goes (I think I am going to buy one soon).

http://www.drobo.com/Products/drobo.html

[Wolfpup]

Boy I bet that will make Michael Jackson a lot richer. :rolleyes: Doesn't he still own all the rights to the Beatles music. I mean what where they thinking when they sold the rights, and now Paul McCartney has to pay royalties to Michael Jackson when he plays a Beatle's song.

Well, Michael needs the money to pay for the lawyers....:eek:

That's why I haven't bought any of the Beatles' CDs. I would have liked to, but...I don't know, that how situation creeps me out.

[Crimsonpaw]

I know that some people see the "small cosmetic changes" to the touch as nothing, but keep in mind that for those things people are wanting, they only need small changes.

Speaker - iPhone has them on the bottom and are barely visible, very small cosmetic change.
GPS - All internal, no cosmetic change.
Bluetooth - All internal, no cosmetic change.
Camera - iPhone has a very small hole in the back, small cosmetic change.
Microphone - seriously, where the hell is it on the iPhone?!?! Small cosmetic change.

I'm not saying these will happen (in fact they most likely won't), but the truth is that the touch can have almost all of the features of the iPhone without much of a change.

Then again, the slight cosmetic change could just be a new plastic backing :confused:. Guess we'll find out in 6 days (longest 6 days of the year).

[nicdel]

A. He owns Digg, one of the most influential news sites on the interwebs.
B. He has come out with leaked information in the past which has proven true.
C. He seems to have been spot on this time, so far at least, so why not shut up and take an interest in what this guy says? :rolleyes:


So what?

"With Apple's announcement that the company will be holding a special media event on September 9th, we're reminded that Kevin Rose was the first source of the September 9th date."

Kevin Rose? couldn't give a dump. Seriously, even if Jobsy called Rose himself. I couldn't care any less.

"iTunes 8 would arrive as a "big update" with new features"

WOW. You sure this is from Kevin Rose and not Sherlock Holmes? jeez, thats pretty far out there! new features with a major update? just like every other major update, bringing new features to the board.

"Finally, Rose said yesterday that iTunes 8.0 have new "trippy" visualizations"

what one isn't trippy!!!! enough already. I'm off to kneel alter the alter of Kev.


The rumors and speculation i love but not geeks trying to project themselves in a different light buy recording their version of what WE on Macrumors do every day!

[Lumpydog]

Come on Apple - get rid of the tether. Let me proximity synch via wifi. If I'm in my house let my ipod automatically synch wirelessly over the network. Apple TV does it.....

[Wolfpup]

I know that some people see the "small cosmetic changes" to the touch as nothing, but keep in mind that for those things people are wanting, they only need small changes.

Speaker - iPhone has them on the bottom and are barely visible, very small cosmetic change.
GPS - All internal, no cosmetic change.
Bluetooth - All internal, no cosmetic change.
Camera - iPhone has a very small hole in the back, small cosmetic change.
Microphone - seriously, where the hell is it on the iPhone?!?! Small cosmetic change.

I'm not saying these will happen (in fact they most likely won't), but the truth is that the touch can have almost all of the features of the iPhone without much of a change.

Then again, the slight cosmetic change could just be a new plastic backing :confused:. Guess we'll find out in 6 days (longest 6 days of the year).

I'm thinking it's just going to be a redesign without any added (and much needed) features. That thing NEEDS some hardware buttons to at least control volume and play/pause. I'd absolutely love it if it got an internal speaker too, as I'd use that daily. But I'm not holding my breath :(

Right now out of their line up I'm not sure what I'd get. The Touch isn't really usable as a PDA replacement for me (at least certainly not yet), and I hate it's touch screen keyboard even if it had needed programs. And...it's not really usable as an iPod replacement for me either.

The CURRENT Nano is nifty, but 8GB isn't really enough for me. Which leaves the Classic, which is boring, and I really wanted to get away from having a hard drive, but it's hard to argue with 80GB on the "small" sized model. (I've got probably a GB of podcasts, 2+ GB of video, and then like having some of my favorite albums with me, even if I hardly ever listen to them).

[jacg]

I also hope it is Magnetosphere integration and improvement. I projected this on the ceiling during a disco and it was quite cool.

http://www.barbariangroup.com/software/magnetosphere

(you can't download it at the moment because... well who knows!)

PS Does anyone know a way of feeding audio from the internal microphone INTO itunes so that visualisers can be synced to audio from other sources? At a disco it isn't easy to run all the music from one machine. In fact if you want to cue up tracks etc you need to use a whole other Mac to project the visuals. I currently use G-Force Standalone but I'd like to use plug-ins like Magnetosphere as an alternative.

[Dagless]

Come on Apple - get rid of the tether. Let me proximity synch via wifi. If I'm in my house let my ipod automatically synch wirelessly over the network. Apple TV does it.....

Whilst maybe not for music I would love this for contacts, calender syncing and such. Without the need for MobileMe or whatever it's called.

[kavika411]

See what a real apple authority Danny Dilger at roughly drafted has got to say about this bozo Rose and get a clue...

Man, I loved that documentary about Danny Dilger. What was it called? Oh, that's right - Boogie Nights.

Regarding an 8.0 revamp, it's funny how many, if not most of us, are not particularly excited. I used to rush home to install an announced bug-fix version, such as from iTunes 6.0001 to 6.0002. I couldn't get enough. Now, I almost couldn't care less. I really, really like iTunes, but just don't see what is left to do with it. I would love for Apple to shove that back in my face on Tuesday.

My predictions (although not necessary original):

1. The Beatles - It is a certainty. (1) It will be announced at an event, as opposed to simply being released like a John Denver back catalogue. Therefore, you have to ask yourself - which event? Well, this one is titled "Let's Rock" and is no doubt the last one until MacWorld. (2) The timing is there - I believe the solo catalogues of each Beatle have now been released, in ascending order of popularity. The Beatles catalogue is now the obvious shoe to drop.

And you heard it hear first - well, at least I haven't heard it anywhere else - McCartney and Ringo will play at the end. The "one more thing" will be the release of the Beatles cataloge and McCartney/Ringo will close the show.

2. iTunes 8.0 - (1) Pandora-like stuff. (2) More consistency iTunes between categories (Music, Movies, Music Videos, etc.) on your iPod main menu, your iPhone/Touch Remote, your Apple TV, etc. Right now, they line up a little, but not completely. (3) Everything goes DRM-free. (4) A way to stream your iTunes catalogue to your iPhone/Touch, like you can do now (albeit not the best) with the free Simplify Media app.

3. Something music distribution-in-your-house oriented. Not sure what it would be. Sure, the Apple TV and Airport Express do a lot as is, but they still seem to be used - in terms of filling your house with music - by people with above-average computer skills. I can't help but think Apple wants to come out with something, or improve on something like the Apple TV/Airport Express, such that they get an iron lock on the home AV market. Perhaps an actual Apple tuner/amp for your stereo. Hmmm.

4. New Nano, as predicted by Kevin Rose, I mean by Danny Dilger, I mean Dirk Diggler.

5. Steve Jobs will announce his retirement, take a bow, and turn over Apple, Inc. to Kavika411.

6. Wi-Fi wireless synching for iPhone and iPod Touch.

[HobeSoundDarryl]

That's why I haven't bought any of the Beatles' CDs. I would have liked to, but...I don't know, that how situation creeps me out.

Michael doesn't own their recorded music, just song publishing rights. He is paid when he lets someone use their music, such as in a commercial or performance or new recordings (cover).

As to "what were they [beatles] thinking?" the story goes as I understand it that they formed a company "Northern Songs" that could go public. This allowed others to invest in the beatles music, which made them very rich (very much like forming a strong company and selling stock in that company). Obviously, if the Beatles retained the majority ownership of that company, the appeal that anyone could eventually own enough of Northern Songs to actually hold dominant rights to the songs would not maximize interest (investment) in the company, so they held less than 50%.

As the Beatles partnership was nearing its end, the rest of the investors (other than Beatles) were wanting to sell their shares. John & Paul and a few others were unified in trying to retain control, but then some stuff "got heavy" (as they might have said at the time) and John apparently said something like "***** the shareholders", which moved his allies (other than Paul) to join the other side. This led to a quick (majority) sale to a company wanting to buy majority ownership.

I believe that once they (the beatles) saw they had lost ownership of their own songs, they threw they shares in with the others and a company called ATV gained ownership.

In the early 1980's Michael Jackson & Paul teamed up on some recordings and Paul encouraged Michael to do what he (Paul) was doing- buying music publishing rights as an asset (Paul owns the music publishing rights to the songs of artists like Buddy Holly and many others). About the same time the Beatles catalogue was put on the market for a lot less than it would cost now. Micahel told Paul he was going to buy it before he did. Paul could have bought it if he wanted it. But (apparently) he wanted Yoko to go in with him and while negotiating that, Michael ended up with the Beatles publishing rights.

Now Sony owns at least half of those rights.

But, long story short, owning publishing rights does not mean that Michael owns their recordings. I don't even think he gets paid if they sell a CD (though he might get a small percentage as publisher).

Some of the above might not be exactly right, but I think it is pretty close to the story relevant to these comments.

Back on topic: Beatles on itunes would be a pretty big deal- especially if it was an exclusive for a few months.

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Not to freak everyone out, but what if the "must attend" news would be Steve's retirement or resignation for health reasons.

Hopefully not, but just putting it out there.

[Phillyzero]

I'd rather iTunes worked on shrinking size, but this is still nice news.

[robbieduncan]

iTunes 8.0 would mean EVERYTHING to me if it became a Cocoa application!:D

Why? What would change. I'm a Cocoa programmer in my spare time, but I hate to tell you there is no reason to assume anything would become better just because it was Cocoa.

[Chupa Chupa]

Unless the supposed reporter they told was, like, totally into the Beatles.

Any tech writer that pisses his pants at a Beatles on AAC isn't worthy of attending the event in the first place. If you like the Beatles they've been on CD for about 18 years now, and I do believe iTunes will convert them to AAC, MP3 and many other formats.

[ungraphic]

When will apple release a slimmed down version of iTunes, for, ya know.......TUNES? iTunes is bogged down with crap like support for iphones, ipods, itv, itms, etc. You may as well call it iMedia since iTunes alone is misleading. Not only that but it eats up ram at this point, and included all features i DONT need since i dont use or even want a crappy ipod.

With that said, does anyone know of any nice, light on system resources and simple mp3 player for OS X?

[ivladster]

I really hope iTunes 8 will look different. Im little bored of the User Interface. Where is the Leopard styled interface. I would love to see more of dragging, zooming, previewing, flow, animations. Its a music and video library after all.

[anthonyjr]

Finally, Rose said yesterday (http://twitter.com/kevinrose/statuses/907054263) that iTunes 8.0 have new "trippy" visualizations with one described as "planet like objects wrapping around each other with stars/light streams".

http://www.barbariangroup.com/portfolio/magnetosphere

Magnetosphere matches the description & was taken down over a year ago. Many consider it the best third party visualizer. The small team who created it have mentioned that there is big news on the horizon for the iTunes visualizer. Hopefully this thing sees this light of day again via Apple!

=]

[mault89]

Big deal? Even iTunes 8.0 and iPod upgrades doesn't really exceed any other iPod event.

A big deal, to me, would be a sweet "one more thing". And I think ya'll know what I'm thinking, realistically or not.

TABLET MAC!!!!!!!!!!! OH PLEASEEEEEE......:D:apple:

[mault89]

Not to freak everyone out, but what if the "must attend" news would be Steve's retirement or resignation for health reasons.

Hopefully not, but just putting it out there.

i doubt it...this is apple we are talking about, now if it was microsoft-then having you CEO retire just when the company is doing the best its ever done would make sense lol...


----------------

i asked this b4, noone answered...how does it usually take b4 new items are available for purchase after they are annouced? ANYONE KNOW?

[maestrocasa]

Pandora-like genius playlist would be awesome. But how will they do it? Pandora (music genome project) analyzed multiple variables of the songs to look for similarities. They have a fairly small set of music which has been analyzed.

iTunes would have to find a way to analyze a nearly infinite number of songs from everyone's libraries, and on the fly. Will it just be a BPM matchup, genre, or something else?

Anyone got any technical insight on how this might work?

[donbadman]

haven't had a chance to read through all the comments so appols if this has already been theorised but if they do subscription itunes I reckon you'll get a free ipod depending how long you sign up for. (not much different to signing an iphone contract except apple keep all the cash)

[donbadman]

When will apple release a slimmed down version of iTunes, for, ya know.......TUNES? iTunes is bogged down with crap like support for iphones, ipods, itv, itms, etc. You may as well call it iMedia since iTunes alone is misleading. Not only that but it eats up ram at this point, and included all features i DONT need since i dont use or even want a crappy ipod.

With that said, does anyone know of any nice, light on system resources and simple mp3 player for OS X?

Hear Hear I second this opinion, might just be my computer but my internet and multi tasking is mighty slow when itunes is open

[williedigital]

Pandora-like genius playlist would be awesome. But how will they do it? Pandora (music genome project) analyzed multiple variables of the songs to look for similarities. They have a fairly small set of music which has been analyzed.

iTunes would have to find a way to analyze a nearly infinite number of songs from everyone's libraries, and on the fly. Will it just be a BPM matchup, genre, or something else?

Anyone got any technical insight on how this might work?

I bet they already have much of this algorithm incorporated through the gapless check that is done when you add new files.

[chuckiej]

Buying/licensing the Music Genome Project would be a "genius" move!

[realfx]

Maybe they can fix the ipod not logging last skipped as well. it only works with in iTunes as of now

[Roessnakhan]

Buying/licensing the Music Genome Project would be a "genius" move!

I would love that.

[mrgreen4242]

Predictions:

Minor touch upgrades. Hoping for a BT module, personally, but basically they'll add some subset of the iPhone 3G features to the touch (and, no, not th 3G part for all the silly people who keep saying they should/would/could do that)
New nano in the announced form factor. 3:2 screen (or actually 2:3) to start a move towards all iPods having the same screen ratio. Accellerometer to detect orientation, and to add some of the featrures from the iPhone/topuch lines. Maybe some of the software from the App store could be available on the nano...
AppleTV and iPod touch to mate and have crazy bastard love child. Think giant touch/mini tablet, 7" screen with Front Row and a docking station that lives under your TV. Works with Apple remote when in the dock. 40gb HDD, all the touch features.
iTunes 8 with crazy visualizers, new smart playlist, and all you can eat rental plans. Movie/TV rental plan, too, that competes with Netflix. Maybe new ad supported, free to download TV shows... think Hulu.com amount of ads, flagged as unskippable chapters.
Classic is dropped with the addition of 64gb nanos.
Apple FM tuner/remote dohicky FINALLY compatible with touch/iPhone.

[dicklacara]

New visualizers!!! I hope Apple can eke out a few more FPS out of the standard visualizer for us with older hardware.

This genius playlist sounds a lot like a patent Apple applied for back in 2004 (I think) for a technology that can determine the genre of a song by its beats per minute.

Mmmm.... I wonder how well it will handle music played in a style different from the norm, for example:

Happy Days Are Here Again-- Sreisand, Guy Lombardo

Handyman-- Jimmy Jones, James Taylor

[Oh] Didn't He Ramble-- Jelly Roll Morton, Peggy Lee

Mamie's Blues-- Art Hodes, Butch Thompson, Dave Van Ronk

Dawes Melody/All In The Game-- Ray Sherman, Tommy Edwards, David Cedeño, Tommy Edwards

Clementine-- Rider In The Sky, Bobby Darrin

Many Opera's (Carmen Jones) and classical compositions with

--Everything by Louie Prima

[maestrocasa]

haven't had a chance to read through all the comments so appols if this has already been theorised but if they do subscription itunes I reckon you'll get a free ipod depending how long you sign up for. (not much different to signing an iphone contract except apple keep all the cash)

ooooo...

Hadn't thought of that. How long and how much would you subscribe for to get a free iPod Touch?

2 years at $20/month?... 4 years? by then the iPod is ancient
2 years at 30 or 40/month? that's just a couple cd's/month...

I'd be looking in the couch cushions for enough $$ to sign up if that happened!

[Carl Spackler]

Any tech writer that pisses his pants at a Beatles on AAC isn't worthy of attending the event in the first place. If you like the Beatles they've been on CD for about 18 years now, and I do believe iTunes will convert them to AAC, MP3 and many other formats.
it was a joke, like, totally and who said it was a tech writer, even so, he may be a contributing columnist for the Ringo Starr Daily Telegraph and World Report.

[circusbass]

I sure wish that iTunes 8 would allow for the managing of multiple libraries. At this point there are many people with more than 1 iPod in their home and this would be an easy way for these libraries to sync for their respective iPods. This would allow for multiple iPods to sync instead of manually managing their music.

[donbadman]

ooooo...

Hadn't thought of that. How long and how much would you subscribe for to get a free iPod Touch?

2 years at $20/month?... 4 years? by then the iPod is ancient
2 years at 30 or 40/month? that's just a couple cd's/month...

I'd be looking in the couch cushions for enough $$ to sign up if that happened!

Not sure but
1-3 months - free shuffle
3-6 months - free nano
6-12 months - free touch

[zeppiecr]

Not to freak everyone out, but what if the "must attend" news would be Steve's retirement or resignation for health reasons.

Hopefully not, but just putting it out there.

I wouldn't rule this out. I'm not trying to put fuel to the fire here but eventually aapl will have to announce some sort of plan.

[maestrocasa]

I sure wish that iTunes 8 would allow for the managing of multiple libraries. At this point there are many people with more than 1 iPod in their home and this would be an easy way for these libraries to sync for their respective iPods. This would allow for multiple iPods to sync instead of manually managing their music.

Multiple libraries, and easy support for externally stored libraries. My iTunes collection is a hog on my 160GB harddrive. It would be great to store those files on an external drive and iTunes auto-syncs it when in range (or when plugged in). Maybe my laptop could be more like an iPod: Manually updated and synced with an external media library.

that would be sweet!

[HeyUStFU]

An iTunes update, that possibly does what this APP does for free- http://www.potionfactory.com/tangerine/ Tangerine charge 25 bucks for this.....

[Snowcat001]

I smell a "one-more thing" :)

Please let it be macbook pro's!!!

[Roessnakhan]

An iTunes update, that possibly does what this APP does for free- http://www.potionfactory.com/tangerine/ Tangerine charge 25 bucks for this.....

Tangerine is fancy, but its really inaccurate.

[whooleytoo]

What I'd love to see - DRM free music.

What I'm afraid it'll be - subscription based service. (unless it was along the lines of eMusic).

[citi]

Multiple libraries, and easy support for externally stored libraries. My iTunes collection is a hog on my 160GB harddrive. It would be great to store those files on an external drive and iTunes auto-syncs it when in range (or when plugged in). Maybe my laptop could be more like an iPod: Manually updated and synced with an external media library.

that would be sweet!

You can already do this on the mac. I have a local itunes, and itunes stored on my NAS for the family and one on an external fw drive. Just hold the option button while you click itunes. Also if you just want files spread out across multiple drives, turn off auto import and it will remember where it was last played. From what I can see thought, it's only macs that are able to do mutliple libraries. It doesn't work for PC, at least I could never find the option when I used them.

[robbieduncan]

What I'd love to see - DRM free music.

The iTunes store already sells DRM free music. It's up to each label to say yes and so far only 1 major one has. This is nothing to do with Apple and everything to do with the record labels...

[bananas]

The big deal besides a new nano and a touch, is that iTunes 8's music will be DRM free! That's what Rocks :p

I wish you were right. That would ROCK
:cool:

[maestrocasa]

You can already do this on the mac. I have a local itunes, and itunes stored on my NAS for the family and one on an external fw drive. Just hold the option button while you click itunes. Also if you just want files spread out across multiple drives, turn off auto import and it will remember where it was last played. From what I can see thought, it's only macs that are able to do mutliple libraries. It doesn't work for PC, at least I could never find the option when I used them.

cool I'll try it. Is there a support document somewhere on how best to go about this? Can I just drag-and-drop my iTunes library onto a hard drive, or is there more?

[WBrasington]

I wouldn't rule this out.

Ok, I'll do it for you.
I'm ruling this out.

[anti-microsoft]

Classic is dropped with the addition of 64gb nanos.
Apple FM tuner/remote dohicky FINALLY compatible with touch/iPhone.


1. I think that the Classic will only be available in 160GB and priced at $249
2. Although I agree with you that FM Tuner/Remote compatibility will be available for the iPhone/iPod touch, I think apple are leaving FM Radio behind and would like everyone to move onto Podcasts.
3. I also think apple should add a "Podcast update/download" feature to the Wi-Fi equipped models. It would be amazing! Whenever a new Podcast is available, "PING!" it would pop up in the iTunes Wi-Fi music store and you could download it, just like updates from the App Store!
4. iPod Hi-Fi II would be awesome!

[stompy]

and according to Cult of Mac, Apple has uncharacteristically told at least one journalist (http://cultofmac.com/apples-sept-9th-event-is-a-big-deal/2675) that the event is "a big deal and [he] should try to be there".


As opposed to telling him, "eh, you don't need to cover our event. No biggie."

As opposed to sending an invite and leaving it at that. Notice the word uncharacteristically?
Now, whether this event lives up to everyone's expectations is another question entirely.

[digitalbiker]

I wouldn't rule this out. I'm not trying to put fuel to the fire here but eventually aapl will have to announce some sort of plan.

But if this were true. I doubt that Apple would belittle the announcement by sending out invites entitled "Let's Rock" with a dancing itunes guy on the cover.

If Steve were to step down, most likely it would be announced through a Wall Street Journal interview or at an annual board meeting.

You need to consider the context of the meeting when considering what might happen on the 9th.

[twoodcc]

well all this seems nice. not huge, but still looking forward to them. can't wait til next tuesday

[IT-Pro]

Kevin Rose once again has come forward with some new information regarding iTunes 8.

He says following on his weblog (http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2008/9/3/whats-new-in-itunes-8.html):

A new source comes forward w/this info: (this is consistent w/everything I've heard)iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don't already have.

With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.

It seems to me they've completely redesigned the interface of iTunes, because of that 'Genius sidebar', which would not fit into the current design in my opinion.

[zedsdead]

Kevin Rose once again has come forward with some new information regarding iTunes 8.

He says following on his weblog (http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2008/9/3/whats-new-in-itunes-8.html):



It seems to me they've completely redesigned the interface of iTunes, because of that 'Genius sidebar', which would not fit into the current design in my opinion.

TV Shows in HD. That would be awesome!

[zeppiecr]

But if this were true. I doubt that Apple would belittle the announcement by sending out invites entitled "Let's Rock" with a dancing itunes guy on the cover.

If Steve were to step down, most likely it would be announced through a Wall Street Journal interview or at an annual board meeting.

You need to consider the context of the meeting when considering what might happen on the 9th.

I view your comments as completely fair, thank you. I believe that you're right it wouldn't be announced at a "lets rock" event.

[msw123307]

I'd like to see easier ways to organize my music. Especially when it comes to changing titles, taking out unnecessary info in the artist category, doing batch changes. Finding album art for CD's that don't have an album title attached..I'd just like to see iTunes get smarter about organization.

[basesloaded190]

HD Tv shows is a step in the right direction, the more HD content the better itunes will be for me at least!

[conradzoo]

My wish and hopes for iTunes 8.0

1. One single European Store, with uniform prices.
2. All DRM Free of course.

[akira2501]

That service has been on the itunes page for quite some time now. When you sign in, they give you reco based upon past purchases. While not as intuitive as pandora, it has been there for a while.

[TEG]

My wish and hopes for iTunes 8.0

1. One single European Store, with uniform prices.
2. All DRM Free of course.

1) That's not going to happen, since different companies own the rights to different songs in different countries, prices being uniform would be smart.
2) DRM all comes down to the owner of the rights to the music.

TEG

[skeep5]

Very exciting about the new itunes features... especially when one's playlists and song collection starts to dull to the ears.

[fjguerra]

How about iTunes Music Store in more countries (i.e. Mexico)?

[QuarterSwede]

Personally I think iTunes 8 will be released with a new interface. Something along the lines of the iPhone/iPod Touch interface. It's a lot easier to use and looks freaking great. Coverflow's been in iTunes since before the iPhone was released and it still doesn't have the option to flip albums around in full screen mode to change songs and rate them.

As far as genius playlists goes if it only uses BPM then it's going to be crap. I have yet to use a BPM analyzer that actually works. Here's hoping that it works well.

[Roessnakhan]

People actually use Coverflow?

[Kilamite]

People actually use Coverflow?

Yes. I don't scroll through albums using it, but it makes the whole interface a lot nicer, and I generally like to see the album art from the album I'm playing. Who knows, there might be a pub quiz question asking who's album art it is and you'd know because you got it!

[QuarterSwede]

People actually use Coverflow?
I don't in iTunes because it's fairly useless but on the iPhone it's bloody brilliant.

I really can't wait for a Mac Tablet that uses multi-touch because after using the iPhone's multi-touch interface I really dislike mice and trackpads. It's just more natural to touch something and the interfaces are a lot more versatile.

[Roessnakhan]

I guess I could rephrase that. I could use it as a visualisation, I like seeing my albums fly by when I'm shuffling. On the iPhone I never use Coverflow (the turning to landscape flow). I do use the double tap album cover feature a lot though.

[BJWanlund]

Ya know, re-writing iTunes in Cocoa might actually reduce the filesize by A LOT on the Mac side, and maybe Apple has some wily Windows coders who are rewriting iTunes for Windows in Java for both Windows AND Linux. Ya never know.

But I'd certainly like to see an iTunes size reduction via the move to Cocoa, it'd give developers hope that they, too, can create Cocoa apps with smaller filesizes for all Mac users.

BJ

[.Chris]

I'm sure this has been said, but I'm thinking iTunes 8 will have the removal of the monochrome header that has been in iTunes from the start and add eirther an iphone style header or even a style that matches one of the other iLife apps. ilife 2009 will all have matching UI's to blend in with one another....

The rest of the iTunes UI will remain mostly the same just cosmetic updates. More Leopard like on mac, and on windows, may be more aero like? (I know keep dreaming)

[itickings]

1) That's not going to happen, since different companies own the rights to different songs in different countries, prices being uniform would be smart.

It is going to happen, one way or another. The EU bureaucrats will get the job done, just don't expect it to be over anytime soon.

A single european store isn't strictly necessary though, uniform pricing will do just fine as far as they are concerned.

[DN7335]

iTunes doesn't steam on my PC.

iTunes is a huge resource hog though. On my last pc, which was pretty fast, it would consume 100% cpu regularly just to download some podcasts. My current setup is a quad core, and I don't get the bog down like before, but still there is no way a music manager program should consume the resources that iTunes does.

[DN7335]

Ok how about these wish list items:


Being able to move the Artist column before the Title column
Being able to change the Video Type for mulitple selections

[.Chris]

another idea.

Quick Time and iTunes will merge (100%) in to one program. The name will still be iTunes, but it will also have all Quick Time features bulit in. I know It has Quick Time format built in now, but I'm talking about the entire Quick Time program being bulit in with out the need for additional resources. All Quick Time features will be added to iTunes. Quick Time viewer will be with in the current iTunes UI and can be accessed from an "Videos" tab. The removal of the Quick Time Movie Trailers as you can view and download them in the iTunes Store.

When you view a Quick Time file it will bring up a mini iTunes video player that will alow you to view the videos with out the need to open the entire iTunes program.

[Roessnakhan]

Merging QuickTime and iTunes would not be a good idea because not everyone likes using the other.

[ScootPatoot]

I briefly browsed through these posts so hopefully my ideas haven't been posted before, but here's what I'd like to see:

1 - Enable more metadata editing for movies.

2 - Have a seperate "Music Videos" tab like the do for Movies and TV Shows.

3 - I think I saw this mentioned but be able to sync video playlists with iPhone/:apple:TV.

4 - Stream songs/videos via 3G/Edge from home library (ie - Simplify).

I think theres more but I'm too tired to try and remember them...

[.Chris]

Merging QuickTime and iTunes would not be a good idea because not everyone likes using the other.

re read my post. There are key reasons to make it work.

I hate it when people just read a few words and they go off with out reading the rest.. :rolleyes:

[iMACTASTIC]

Im not to excited about a new nano or an Itouch. My phone does what I need. But What I am really hoping for is an Apple Buffet "All You Can Eat" at the Itunes store. I would love it they had a subscription service! Throw in an eggroll im there.

[Roessnakhan]

re read my post. There are key reasons to make it work.

I hate it when people just read a few words and they go off with out reading the rest.. :rolleyes:

I did read your entire post. It doesn't change the fact that some people just do not like the QuickTime format and don't want it on their computer, nor should they be forced to install it (even if its behind the scenes in iTunes) just because they have an iPod.

[.Chris]

Im not to excited about a new nano or an Itouch. My phone does what I need. But What I am really hoping for is an Apple Buffet "All You Can Eat" at the Itunes store. I would love it they had a subscription service! Throw in an eggroll im there.

iPod Touch & iTunes


I did read your entire post. It doesn't change the fact that some people just do not like the QuickTime format and don't want it on their computer, nor should they be forced to install it (even if its behind the scenes in iTunes) just because they have an iPod.

iTunes already has Quick Time formats. this will just add the entire program to iTunes but make it a lot smaller..

[Kilamite]

another idea.

Quick Time and iTunes will merge (100%) in to one program. The name will still be iTunes, but it will also have all Quick Time features bulit in. I know It has Quick Time format built in now, but I'm talking about the entire Quick Time program being bulit in with out the need for additional resources. All Quick Time features will be added to iTunes. Quick Time viewer will be with in the current iTunes UI and can be accessed from an "Videos" tab. The removal of the Quick Time Movie Trailers as you can view and download them in the iTunes Store.

When you view a Quick Time file it will bring up a mini iTunes video player that will alow you to view the videos with out the need to open the entire iTunes program.

No chance. QuickTime is used in other Pro App's like Final Cut Pro, and merging it into iTunes would be a recipe for disaster.

A mini iTunes video player without the need of opening the entire iTunes app? Basically keeping it as it is?

[iMACTASTIC]

Did you seriously take the time to edit my posting? Wow. I love Ipods.

[Loge]

Why? What would change. I'm a Cocoa programmer in my spare time, but I hate to tell you there is no reason to assume anything would become better just because it was Cocoa.

One thing would though - anchored selections with the cursor keys, to work like Mail does.

[Clayne]

Originally Posted by Clayne:
Big deal? Even iTunes 8.0 and iPod upgrades doesn't really exceed any other iPod event.

A big deal, to me, would be a sweet "one more thing". And I think ya'll know what I'm thinking, realistically or not.

TABLET MAC!!!!!!!!!!! OH PLEASEEEEEE......:D:apple:

Haha, woah. I was actually talking about the new MB/MBPs.

[/dev/toaster]

Finally ... I got burnt when they upgraded TV show quality last time. A few days before the announcement, I purchase Venture Bros season 1. The quality is terrible compared to current quality.

Needless to say, I have wanted to purchase Venture Bros season 3 but I am now going to hold off until they release it in higher quality. I only purchase a limit number of things off iTunes (Non-music) since the quality doesn't hold up very well at 61" 1080p.

I am really looking forward to the HD content.

[pooryou]

I really hope they improve the fundamentals of iTunes rather than grafting on more unnecessary features like this genius playlist thing.

The thing needs to be totally rewritten, and the rules for smart playlists need to be a lot more flexible.

[morespce54]

With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.

And what about syncin' my media with my iPod-Old-Style (5th generation)!!! ;)

[AlphaBob]

The only change I really care about for iTunes (other than obvious bug fixes like backup time) would be either an all-you-can-eat download or subscription service.

Several articles have been posted on this saying the subscription service is a sure-thing, but somehow I don't think we will be seeing it.

To this day I still keep Rhapsody service around for that reason. I'd rather give the money to Apple.

[happydude]

"big deal" had better be a "big deal" for apple to sound off like that!! tablet? subscription service doesn't seem "big deal" enough to warrant apple touting it. can't really think of much else they'd have on their burner than that. they have their expectations cut out for them!!

[Michael CM1]

Finally ... I got burnt when they upgraded TV show quality last time. A few days before the announcement, I purchase Venture Bros season 1. The quality is terrible compared to current quality.

Needless to say, I have wanted to purchase Venture Bros season 3 but I am now going to hold off until they release it in higher quality. I only purchase a limit number of things off iTunes (Non-music) since the quality doesn't hold up very well at 61" 1080p.

I am really looking forward to the HD content.

Just wait until all the providers start clamping your bandwidth. If TV Shows were to cost $2.99 in HD, that would probably start adding a lot of extra traffic. ISPs would put caps on even quicker than they're starting to (for "unlimited" service no less) and we'll be ba-da-ba-da-da...lovin' it.

If the HD TV shows thing is true, great. I probably won't buy them unless it's something that has no extra value from buying Blu-ray (like no extra features). DRM-protected videos still have the massive drawback of being a pain in the butt to play anywhere not using a computer or iPod. Kill DRM and then we can talk about video downloads going somewhere (not to mention Blu-ray Disc burner sales).

[ungraphic]

When will apple release a slimmed down version of iTunes, for, ya know.......TUNES? iTunes is bogged down with crap like support for iphones, ipods, itv, itms, etc. You may as well call it iMedia since iTunes alone is misleading. Not only that but it eats up ram at this point, and included all features i DONT need since i dont use or even want a crappy ipod.

With that said, does anyone know of any nice, light on system resources and simple mp3 player for OS X?

Hear Hear I second this opinion, might just be my computer but my internet and multi tasking is mighty slow when itunes is open

Yup, well my experience is fine but itunes either needs heavy tweaking or it needs to get rid of all the useless crap thats making it so bloated. Apple should just give us 'iTunes Light' for those of us who arent sheep with iphones or ipods.

[thrashmagazine]

What needs to be done is for iTunes to store the library in a database format and not an xml file. xml for large libraries has become WAY TOO SLOW to parse.

Right on about this. I have 2700+ full albums (I run a music review website (Free promotion time: Thrash Magazine, www.thrashmag.com)) and iTunes takes me over 2 minutes to load on a 4gig dual core machine. Its painful since my XML file is about 85meg...

My other wishes wants:
-SPEED Improvements #1
-Automatic download Lyric Support (like artwork)
-FLAC support (I would rip this way if it supported it)
-A Real Movie tool (not just the drag drop thing they have now)
-On the PC: The support to put the artwork in the folder of the actual music files if you want it (I hate that even if I pick a music folder I still have to have my artwork go to My Docs\My Music\Itunes\etc. in a TERRIBLY UNORGANIZED
-Different Video Location Support
-Better/More Formats for Movie Support as well as support to the PS3 (I hate Windows Media Player)

[ATimson]

What would spark my interest would be a "One more Thing..." introducing the iServe. The iServe being an upgraded Mac Mini that now acts as a whole house media server (with larger 1TB harddrive) with iTunes 8 integration so that music ripped/purchased through iTunes is stored centrally (irrespective of computer) so that you only need to store the files once, and in a high quality apple lossless format. The iServe could then stream music through iTunes 8 server to audio clients/aTV in a lossless format for at home.
If they did that... well, given that I just bought a 640 GB hard drive to turn my old tower into something very similar (especially once the next round of MacBook revisions comes around and I get myself one of those for my primary machine), I won't be too terribly surprised. That's just my luck!

[ATimson]

"iTunes 8 would arrive as a "big update" with new features"

WOW. You sure this is from Kevin Rose and not Sherlock Holmes? jeez, thats pretty far out there! new features with a major update? just like every other major update, bringing new features to the board.
You mean like iTunes 5 thru 7, whose only major feature was video support?

[blugel]

i miss when the music note on the icon used to change colors with every major release...please bring it back!!!

[iMacmatician]

It seems to me they've completely redesigned the interface of iTunes, because of that 'Genius sidebar', which would not fit into the current design in my opinion.With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; … and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.That's it. THAT'S IT.

I'm downloading iTunes 8 the moment it comes online. Redesign? About time, I think. I'd like to see cues from iPhoto and iMovie '08, as well as a Cocoa rewrite. Also, the media progress bar… get it out of the 1990's!! We've been done with black and white for a long time.

Personally I think iTunes 8 will be released with a new interface. Something along the lines of the iPhone/iPod Touch interface. It's a lot easier to use and looks freaking great.Totally agreed, if it's adapted for a mouse/keyboard interface. But I think the next GUI step may be the iMovie '08 dark grey theme.

What would spark my interest would be a "One more Thing..." introducing the iServe.
[snip cool details I totally agree with and have been thinking about]Something like that was hinted at (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/04/investors_grill_apples_jobs_over_successor_games_future_products.html) by Steve Jobs not long ago. We could see that soon, at or before MWSF 2009.

[essential]

Am I the only one who caught this, cause I haven't seen in mentioned in the thread:

With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.

Everyone keeps talking about the products which will be introduced at this event: a iPod Nano (which would be a 4th generation), and a new iPod Touch (which would be a 2nd generation).

No one is talking about the Classic, people in this thread have even said they think it might get discontinued. It's mentioned in the quote above that an these new features in iTunes 8 will work with your iPod Classic (2nd generation), along with the other two new products we are expecting to be announced, so why don't we expect a new Classic. The current one is the first generation, so I think there will be a new Classic on Sept 9th based on the quote above. It'll probably just have a new UI with a few new features, and probably the low end will be 120GB to compete with that new 120GB Zune which will be $249.

The Classic isn't going anywhere. I just wonder now if the 160GB will be the high end, or with that will go up as well.

[DN7335]

Yup, well my experience is fine but itunes either needs heavy tweaking or it needs to get rid of all the useless crap thats making it so bloated. Apple should just give us 'iTunes Light' for those of us who arent sheep with iphones or ipods.

If you don't need the iPhone/iPod support, try MediaMonkey. Its excellent as a music manager and player, way better than iTunes. Only runs on PC though. Also supports iPods prior to v2.x firmware for syncing music. No podcast or video support, but handles large music libraries perfectly.

[iMacmatician]

No one is talking about the Classic, people in this thread have even said they think it might get discontinued. It's mentioned in the quote above that an these new features in iTunes 8 will work with your iPod Classic (2nd generation), along with the other two new products we are expecting to be announced, so why don't we expect a new Classic. I assumed it'll be a price drop.

It'll probably just have a new UI with a few new features, and probably the low end will be 120GB to compete with that new 120GB Zune which will be $249.

The Classic isn't going anywhere. I just wonder now if the 160GB will be the high end, or with that will go up as well.There aren't any hard drives larger than 160 GB, from what I've heard. So we'll most likely see price drops and maybe a capacity bump on the low-end from 80 GB to 120 GB (same price).

And the iPod shuffle is not mentioned. Maybe that'll be just a color change like last year.

[DOUGHNUT]

i'm thinking, if Apple does in fact introduce a subscription service, it will tie in really nicely with the whole concept of Genius playlist. you have your music library, and you can use the Genius to search the entire iTunes Store for music that may interest you. you can download these songs and enjoy these songs on the go on the iPod. By rating and ranking what you like and don't like, the Genius will tailor fit your ultimate iTunes library. if you like what you're listening to, you can buy the music and keep it as your own. Wouldn't this be the ultimate killer app to get people to subscribe to iTunes, buy iPods etc?

[Kilamite]

The 9th can't come soon enough! I'm usually the kind of person who loves to watch the Keynote from Apple's website without any spoilers, but I don't know if I can contain myself if iTunes is going to receive such a face lift!

[kprf]

Hopefully iTunes 8 will allow us to watch videos :)

[Roessnakhan]

Hopefully iTunes 8 will allow us to watch videos :)

What?

[dogtanian]

What?

Video playback is hardly iTunes' best feature I must admit...

[/dev/toaster]

Just wait until all the providers start clamping your bandwidth. If TV Shows were to cost $2.99 in HD, that would probably start adding a lot of extra traffic. ISPs would put caps on even quicker than they're starting to (for "unlimited" service no less) and we'll be ba-da-ba-da-da...lovin' it.

If the HD TV shows thing is true, great. I probably won't buy them unless it's something that has no extra value from buying Blu-ray (like no extra features). DRM-protected videos still have the massive drawback of being a pain in the butt to play anywhere not using a computer or iPod. Kill DRM and then we can talk about video downloads going somewhere (not to mention Blu-ray Disc burner sales).

I am not worried about the bandwidth issue. Sure, I am using Comcast right now and they have limits in place (Well, soon they are). If I get even close to the limit, I will switch to Speakeasy in a heart beat. There are so many DSL providers out there that won't pull this crap.

If it _really_ became a problem I am still not worried because there is tons of free wifi around here.

DRM isn't going anywhere, the content owners won't allow it to be sold without. I have gotten used to it and I have plenty of devices that support it, so again no worry.

Very rare I would buy a Bluray of a TV show, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles is really the only one I would ever think about getting in HD.

Extra features are nice, but I only care about them on select movies. Movies I would buy in Bluray anyway. iTunes won't be able to beat Bluray in quality.

[pooryou]

I very much expect a new iPod Classic.

I think the people who say it will be discontinued are delusional.

Very much hoping that we also get larger HD space, or at least
a more reasonable way to manage what music goes on the iPod,
besides unchecking lots of music if you want all playlists to sync.

[Carl Spackler]

And what about syncin' my media with my iPod-Old-Style (5th generation)!!! ;)

Don't all the iPods past the 5th Gen. have a slightly fancier interface? I'm guessing, if this statement is correct, allows some form of the "grid view" only on certain iPods, which does not include the 5th Gen.

[CJM]

Don't know if this has been posted before, but I quote:

What's new in iTunes 8

iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don't already have.

With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.

Source (http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2008/9/3/whats-new-in-itunes-8.html)

[dogtanian]

I'm guessing grid view will look a little like this...

http://www.theyshoulddothat.com/images/iTunesBrowseArt.jpg

Hopefully it will fly a little faster, or 'snappier' if you will. Love the sound of playlist recommendations too, provided it works better than 'recommended for you' on iTunes which suggests crap or stuff I already own.

[puckhead193]

Wirelessly posted (my blackberry pearl: BlackBerry8130/4.3.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Nothing on new laptops

[Galley]

How about being able to browse by "Album Artist"? :)

[FreeState]

... With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.


Notice it does not say "buy" but download... subscription needed to get hi-def tv? That would be my guess.

[Michael CM1]

I very much expect a new iPod Classic.

I think the people who say it will be discontinued are delusional.

Very much hoping that we also get larger HD space, or at least
a more reasonable way to manage what music goes on the iPod,
besides unchecking lots of music if you want all playlists to sync.

I don't expect the Classic to be killed yet, but at some point I wouldn't be shocked if at least it was semi-killed and a HDD-based Touch was developed. More people to sell apps to and you get rid of the main drawback of the Touch/iPhone (storage space) although you add a little size to the device.

Your last paragraph is exactly why I see such a move happening. The click wheel had its day and I would never go back after using the touch interface of the iPhone. I like to shuffle songs a lot, and that was a pain to switch on and off on the 5th gen iPod. At this point next year, I would not be shocked if all iPods had touch screens (except the shuffle). It may be overkill for the Nano, but it makes doing everything much easier.

[AlexisV]

If you look at the blog post you'll see the 2nd generation iPod Classic is due to be launched.

[Marky_Mark]

Now if Steve says "one more thing," and a totally redesigned ultra-thin (but, of course not Air thin) MBP or MB pops out of a table THAT will be a big deal.

What'd impress me is, when the MB pops out the table, it does so with enough power to gracefully fly across the width of the stage into SJ's waiting hands with an arc that exactly matches the curve on its redesigned edge. Now that would impress me. :D

[Clayne]

What'd impress me is, when the MB pops out the table, it does so with enough power to gracefully fly across the width of the stage into SJ's waiting hands with an arc that exactly matches the curve on its redesigned edge. Now that would impress me. :D

And then we find out that it'll do the same exact thing for us, too, at home.

[pimentoLoaf]

"Trippy" new visualizations?

Should make podcast lectures from iTunes U lots more exciting to listen to! :p

[Marky_Mark]

And then we find out that it'll do the same exact thing for us, too, at home.

Even better. Forget 'impressed'. 'Blown away' would sum it up! :D

[BJWanlund]

I'm guessing grid view will look a little like this...

SNIP

Hopefully it will fly a little faster, or 'snappier' if you will. Love the sound of playlist recommendations too, provided it works better than 'recommended for you' on iTunes which suggests crap or stuff I already own.
Yeah, it should be a lot like that. Apple needs to really give us a halfway decent browse mode for iTunes! I don't EVER use "Album View" or "Coverflow" on my computer.

BJ

[rockosmodurnlif]

Based on what I've read, iTunes update = useless

[rhett7660]

Heck.. I know it won't happen... but..

iTunes 8

- Introduces DRM Free Music
- Folder watcher
- Able to synch multipal ipods/iphones across multipal machines without the limit of just 5... DRM free now!

I know it is a long shot, but hey a fella can dream can't he! :rolleyes:

[Roessnakhan]

Honestly, I think a folder watcher isn't a lot to ask for. It doesn't make sense why iTunes doesn't have one yet.

[IT-Pro]

iTunes Subscription Service is not going to happen next Tuesday. According to sources who've spoken to CNet (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10031812-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20) it is highly unlikely there will be some sort of announcement since Apple has still only agreements on digital downloads.

Also another music-related announcements seems unlikely according to the same sources. They claim nobody in music business knows anything about these kind of announcements.

So, iPods and iTunes and perhaps some one more thing, because Apple PR won't speak to well-known journalists that the event will be 'a big deal' to just announce new iPods and the expected iTunes 8.

Still, anything could happen, because Apple still is very unpredictable sometimes.

[BJWanlund]

Blech, it's AI. Grain of salt time, people.

I'll believe it when I see no iTunes subscription or content announcements next Tuesday.

BJ

[granex]

Seems like it is about time for an AppleTV hardware (and software) update as well. Might just have to get one -- but I'll wait for the next update.

[rowanmwilliams]

I would like to see a few things out of the iTunes update, some are a little far fetched but as many people before me have stated, a guy can dream cant he. So anyway this is what i would love to see in iTunes 8:

Genius: Not only will it match up songs in a playlist for me, or recommend new ones from the store, it will also add all the data to my songs, BPM, Album Name and Cover, Artists, Song Title, Track Number, Release Date, etc. This will be done in a shazam like function, iTunes will listen to my songs and fill in all the data from the store.

New Visualizations: These visualizations can also be viewed on the iPod, preferably the Touch or the iPhone and when there on these devices it would be nice to have a feature where i can "play" with them using my fingers and accelerometer.

Subscription Service: Where i pay X amount of dollars a month or year and can download as many songs as i like, and for those who do not want a subscription the songs they can then download are DRM free. Also this would include TV shows and Movies.

Just a few of the things i would like to see in the new iTunes. Some are pretty unrealistic or far fetched and im not holding my breath for them to happen, but it would be nice.

[macfan881]

Seems like it is about time for an AppleTV hardware (and software) update as well. Might just have to get one -- but I'll wait for the next update.

to all the the whiners beging for a new macbook upgrade this is a Music event

i see a Very slim chance of this hapening wait till october for new macbook upgrades

[iMacmatician]

to all the the whiners beging for a new macbook upgrade this is a Music event

i see a Very slim chance of this hapening wait till october for new macbook upgradesWe may have another event in October. We may also see the tablet at that event.

[Aznsensation45]

Who the f. is this guy Rose Arn? Is he the one who broadcasts from his grandmothers bedroom in front of a ladder? How come he's suddenly gained credibility when he's never gotten anything right before and doesn't seem to have any inside info from apple? What's his posision, is he employed? Are we supposed to get served whatever bozo spins in his sureal mind as a rumor?:mad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_rose


lol. don't you feel like an idiot now? :p

[iMacmatician]

New Visualizations: These visualizations can also be viewed on the iPod, preferably the Touch or the iPhone and when there on these devices it would be nice to have a feature where i can "play" with them using my fingers and accelerometer. That gives a new meaning to my solar system visualizer idea. :D

I'd even like to see an actual solar system/galaxy visualization. :DSomething like the Leopard intro, but controllable.

[kabunaru]

Something like the Leopard intro, but controllable.

Snow Leopard will have an Space GUI. :D

Any ways, iTunes 8 sounds exciting. I hope it is a free upgrade though. :o

[Aldaris]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

of course it would be a free upgrade- why would apple
Ale you pay to use a store they make money off of anyway.

[kabunaru]

[SIZE=1]

of course it would be a free upgrade- why would apple


The iTunes 8 update can be so radical, so new, so fresh that Apple might want to charge money. :D

[blybug]

Apple should just give us 'iTunes Light' for those of us who arent sheep with iphones or ipods.
I see remarks like this all over the forums...you know you can go into iTunes preferences and disable any Library component you don't want to see, leaving only Music, turn off the Store, turn off Sharing, turn off syncing with iPods & iPhones, turn off looking for :apple:TVs...and guess what...

You're left with a pretty bare-bones music player ala Soundjam 1997.

[Aldaris]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

true- but I think they'd rather have us iPod carrying sheep spend our money on music so they can keep us trapped in iTunes forever...

Jk- with iTunes the music giant it is I think it'll stay free- hell it's a great conversion tool.

[boxlight]

Please please please let me *rent* HD tv shows ($0.25 a show?) so I can finally tell Rogers to shove it. You can even include non-fast-forwardable commercials in the show if you want.

[Dwight Schrute]

Cool! HD TV shows will be awesome - now Apple just needs to get a deal with NBC again so I can resume downloading The Office!

[kramden88]

can i remind that i have been predicting Sept 9th since June 2008?? (check my posts)
yep thats right... suck on that Kevin Rose

in reference to your signature, i've been waiting all summer to buy an ipod touch so i can get the second gen. an ipod touch with 3g would be the biggest dream because i'm buying the touch for the internet (since i can't afford the iphone). gps would be nice but 3g would seriously give me a heart attack. the anticipation would make me unable to function until mine arrived in the mail.

[garylapointe]

Maybe the Genius recommendation is Pandora? Apple has the only phone where Pandora doesn't charge for the streaming, correct?

Gary
http://GarySaid.com/

[Aldaris]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

ouch no commercials please. I think a subscription tv show service with HD for AppleTV would be awesome. It would be a TiVo killer for sure. 19.00 month all the HD programming you want. Based on h.264 of course. As far as the subscription service goes for music our buddy Steve has always said "people want to own their music" I don't think we'll ever see that in iTunes, but who knows.

[teme]

Not very excited about the new iPods or iTunes. Of course it's interesting to see new iPods, but unless they release a new iPod Touch with large hard drive storage, I'm not going to buy anything. iTunes 8... it could be good, but I'm not that excited about the rumoured new features.

[nicdel]

Yes. I don't scroll through albums using it, but it makes the whole interface a lot nicer, and I generally like to see the album art from the album I'm playing. Who knows, there might be a pub quiz question asking who's album art it is and you'd know because you got it!

err yeah, just in case that comes up in a pub quiz... :(

[SchneiderMan]

oh, one more thing :D

[bartzilla]

iTunes 8.0 would mean EVERYTHING to me if it became a Cocoa application!:D

That's irrelevant from a "normal end user" point of view though isn't it, to the point where I'd be shocked if it gets a mention even if it does happen. To paraphrase someone else: iTunes + Cocoa = iTunes.

[bartzilla]

lol. don't you feel like an idiot now? :p

I'm not the orginal poster of that comment but I have to say that the wikipeida entry does nothing to persuade me that he isn't a nobody.

[walnuts]

This genius playlist sounds a lot like a patent Apple applied for back in 2004 (I think) for a technology that can determine the genre of a song by its beats per minute.

Same here, I have Artists, Albums and Track Names all tagged up perfectly along with artwork but everything else is a complete mess and would take a very long time to sort out with an 8,000~ song library.

As for Playlist recommendations, I'm not really sure if I'd take advantage of that feature, unless it was pretty accurate. But then I'd have to go through and tag all of my music with genres, since most of it is still missing it.

It would be really cool if this "genius" thing had some way of going through your music automatically, but is there (I think there is) a chance that this would only work for stuff purchased on itunes? That's how "just for you" works on the itms. It often recommends that I buy albums that I already have, even if gracenotes pulled up all of the album info perfectly already. That would be disappointing.

[aafuss1]

Genuis sounds more exciting than other kinds of music recommendation systems.

Some examples of other companies music reccomending systems:
Sony Ericcson has SensMe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SensMe]SensMe) on their phones that detects tempo and "mood" of tracks buyt then plots in a confusing axial map view :hope Apple's is better implemented,works for all your songs whether purchased on iTS or not and smarter in recognizing genres.

Samsung's Windows-only Emodio music software has a neat music mood analyser which works pretty well, and assigns a color to a track to differentiate between different music styles-it's implemented nicely and is fast.

Pandora would of be use to the United States.

Grid view dosn't interest, but HD TV show downloadsdo.

[iMat77]

iTunes 8 promises a lot of features, like HD TV shows. But I wonder if the promise made by Apple long long ago about making ANY video content available outside the US is going to be kept sometime...

I know it is not their fault, or at least I doubt they would give up the chance to earn more money willingly and deliberately, but it is becoming kind of annoying.

Countless forums in Europe explain how to get an iTunes US account and there is even a whole "industry" around gift cards from the US.
Why content providers deliberatly encourage piracy and tricks like these really escapes me :confused: .

I would PAY for the content, if I had the choice :cool: . But in order to PAY for said content it would have to be: HD, no ads and enjoyable on the many platforms I own.

Maybe I should give up hope that the old-minded people in charge of these strategic decisions will finally get it.
THEY are the ones currently encouraging piracy...

Sorry for the rant... But iTunes Store is so different "here" from "there where you are" that you cannot even imagine.

Maybe iTunes 8 will deliever... :) Ah. Dreaming again :o . Ok, I'll stop here and wake up.
Pooof
:(

[bartzilla]

iTunes 8 promises a lot of features, like HD TV shows. But I wonder if the promise made by Apple long long ago about making ANY video content available outside the US is going to be kept sometime...

I know it is not their fault, or at least I doubt they would give up the chance to earn more money willingly and deliberately, but it is becoming kind of annoying.

Countless forums in Europe explain how to get an iTunes US account and there is even a whole "industry" around gift cards from the US.
Why content providers deliberatly encourage piracy and tricks like these really escapes me :confused: .

I would PAY for the content, if I had the choice :cool: . But in order to PAY for said content it would have to be: HD, no ads and enjoyable on the many platforms I own.

Maybe I should give up hope that the old-minded people in charge of these strategic decisions will finally get it.
THEY are the ones currently encouraging piracy...

Sorry for the rant... But iTunes Store is so different "here" from "there where you are" that you cannot even imagine.

Maybe iTunes 8 will deliever... :) Ah. Dreaming again :o . Ok, I'll stop here and wake up.
Pooof
:(

I approve of this post. Those of us outside the US often get the shaft on these fancy new things. It's either late, or crippled, or extra-expensive for us. Or more often than not, several of the above.

[Peruchito]

i couldn't bother to read all 10 pages of comments. but i am wondering,

how about iTunes Server?

i am not sure if i am alone here, but we have 2 macs + 2 laptops + appletv + 2 iphones in our house. i am thinking most people have more than one computer, and an ipod/iphone. having an iTunes that acts more like a server than just the sharing that is allowed by the current iTunes would help me a lot. i could go on any of my macs and update the iTunes library, RIP a cd or purchase songs, and instead of locking it to that iTunes, i can push to the server library.
the ability to sync my iphone/ipods from any mac and still access my server library would be great too.

just throwing this idea out there. to me, that would be 'big deal' enough for a giant iTunes event. visuals and smart playlists are not.

[robbieduncan]

i couldn't bother to read all 10 pages of comments. but i am wondering,

how about iTunes Server?

i am not sure if i am alone here, but we have 2 macs + 2 laptops + appletv + 2 iphones in our house. i am thinking most people have more than one computer, and an ipod/iphone. having an iTunes that acts more like a server than just the sharing that is allowed by the current iTunes would help me a lot. i could go on any of my macs and update the iTunes library, RIP a cd or purchase songs, and instead of locking it to that iTunes, i can push to the server library.
the ability to sync my iphone/ipods from any mac and still access my server library would be great too.

just throwing this idea out there. to me, that would be 'big deal' enough for a giant iTunes event. visuals and smart playlists are not.

You are not alone. I'd love that: put an old machine in a cupboard with disks attached to act as the server. All the other machines connect to it. I can sync my iPhone/iPod on any machine instead of one.

You know what I'd actually pay for that :eek:

[Peruchito]

You are not alone. I'd love that: put an old machine in a cupboard with disks attached to act as the server. All the other machines connect to it. I can sync my iPhone/iPod on any machine instead of one.

You know what I'd actually pay for that :eek:

you know.i think i would too. it would be a time saver and a BIG convenience.

PS i love betty, i'd buy her, but live in canada.

[peterdevries]

iTunes 8... Great.. HD TV Shows... Magnificent..

Over here in Europe we are still waiting for normal TV shows and movies (except UK). :(

It's about time we get to share the fun. I want an Apple TV..

[Lesser Evets]

iTunes 8
Better App store
Safari 4.0
OSX 10.5.5

Nano
iPT
iPC

September 9th

Bring it.

[rhett7660]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peruchito
i couldn't bother to read all 10 pages of comments. but i am wondering,

how about iTunes Server?

i am not sure if i am alone here, but we have 2 macs + 2 laptops + appletv + 2 iphones in our house. i am thinking most people have more than one computer, and an ipod/iphone. having an iTunes that acts more like a server than just the sharing that is allowed by the current iTunes would help me a lot. i could go on any of my macs and update the iTunes library, RIP a cd or purchase songs, and instead of locking it to that iTunes, i can push to the server library.
the ability to sync my iphone/ipods from any mac and still access my server library would be great too.

just throwing this idea out there. to me, that would be 'big deal' enough for a giant iTunes event. visuals and smart playlists are not.

You are not alone. I'd love that: put an old machine in a cupboard with disks attached to act as the server. All the other machines connect to it. I can sync my iPhone/iPod on any machine instead of one.

You know what I'd actually pay for that
__________________

That would be freaking great. I would pay for that also.... I doubt we will see anything like this thou... I would love to be proved wrong of course.

[Kilamite]

That's irrelevant from a "normal end user" point of view though isn't it, to the point where I'd be shocked if it gets a mention even if it does happen. To paraphrase someone else: iTunes + Cocoa = iTunes.

If iTunes got re-wrote in Cocoa, then it would be a big thing (not big as in a stand alone reason for iTunes 8, but big as in a good step forward to making iTunes more efficient and slimmed down) and it would definitely get a mention.