iTunes 8: HD TV Shows, Grid View, Genius Playlists, NBC

[knightlie]

it seems like a lot of people were knocking the genius feature, but now that a lot of us have tried it, it seems to be getting good reviews. I really like it. It's a quick way to make a playlist.

I'm also real happy that NBC is back. To me, that's great news.

I haven't used the playlist yet, but I've already bought an album the Genius sidebar found for me. I like it because I'm not a great seeker-out of new music, but I can use this to find stuff I might like. And I like that it will get better over time as more people use it. I just need to get the music on my iPod. :mad:

[illegallydead]

One thing that is gone (or at lest I can't find): changing options for converting music, i.e. bitrate, format, etc. In other words, the burning and syncing tabs under "advanced" are gone...

[zedsdead]

One thing that is gone (or at lest I can't find): changing options for converting music, i.e. bitrate, format, etc. In other words, the burning and syncing tabs under "advanced" are gone...

It's now under the "General" Tab near the bottom, called "Import Settings."

[bommai]

I downloaded the free episode of Monk in HD. I noticed that it had both stereo and surround tracks in it. Since Steve Jobs proudly announced that these HD TV shows are playable on both AppleTV and the Mac, I thought the surround will work from within iTunes. No luck!! I have my iMac hooked up using optical cable and know that surround from DVDs work. However, the iTunes HD TV show does not. Sucks!!

[Trajectory]

So how does Genius fit in with Smart Playlists and Party Shuffle in iTunes? Seems they may both become obsolete once Genius takes off.

[eclipxe]

So how does Genius fit in with Smart Playlists and Party Shuffle in iTunes? Seems they may both become obsolete once Genius takes off.

Uh, how about no.

Genius is great for creating a similar themed playlist.

Party Shuffle is for creating a shuffle of songs from a source playlist (including Genius) - its like a radio station where you can view previous songs, see upcoming music (shuffled in real time) and change the weighting of the songs by rating.

Smart Playlists...if you think they have anything in common with Genius then you don't really "get it". I like to think of smart playlists as a simple programming environment for my music. I can dial in the exact conditions and parameters and build lists not just for listening but for maintenance (all songs with less than 2 plays and older than 2 years need to be listened to or deleted for example).

All very different beasts with their own nuances which make them very valuable for people that are obsessive about their music collections.

[pkoch1]

Uh, how about no.

Genius is great for creating a similar themed playlist.

Party Shuffle is for creating a shuffle of songs from a source playlist (including Genius) - its like a radio station where you can view previous songs, see upcoming music (shuffled in real time) and change the weighting of the songs by rating.

Smart Playlists...if you think they have anything in common with Genius then you don't really "get it". I like to think of smart playlists as a simple programming environment for my music. I can dial in the exact conditions and parameters and build lists not just for listening but for maintenance (all songs with less than 2 plays and older than 2 years need to be listened to or deleted for example).

All very different beasts with their own nuances which make them very valuable for people that are obsessive about their music collections.

Smart Playlist: Genre=ska (then make a party shuffle)
Genius Playlist: Song=a ska song

They both give me the same exact results for the most part. All the ska bands I have regardless of if they are in any way related to the band I chose. Genius works on genre, and seemingly not much else. That's just my impression.

[eclipxe]

Smart Playlist: Genre=ska (then make a party shuffle)
Genius Playlist: Song=a ska song

They both give me the same exact results for the most part. All the ska bands I have regardless of if they are in any way related to the band I chose. Genius works on genre, and seemingly not much else. That's just my impression.

It doesn't just work on Genre and Smart Playlists are much smarter than only giving you a single genre.

For example, I have a bunch of hip-hop - a lot of mainstream stuff and a lot of underground stuff. When I do a Genius on my mainstream stuff, I get other mainstream "radio" hits. When I Genius my underground stuff, I get other underground artists and recommendations. The genres in the tags are exactly the same. Genius is smarter than just looking at the genres, trust me.

[Awesome-o/]

Is it just me or is the scrolling MUCH faster in new itunes!? :)

[Mac OS X Ocelot]

Is it just me or is the scrolling MUCH faster in new itunes!? :)

List is the same for me, grid is slow and barely responsive. I need a new machine lol.

I noticed that the gapless playback option in the song info window is gone. Does that mean they all automatically have gapless playback? That's the way it should be; the old way was ridiculous.

[Loge]

I noticed that the gapless playback option in the song info window is gone. Does that mean they all automatically have gapless playback? That's the way it should be; the old way was ridiculous.

It's moved to the Options tab "part of gapless album". But I don't think it's needed most of the time.

[Bistroengine]

Has anyone discovered the cool shortcuts for Magnetosphere? If you press the M key it cycles through a number of various graphical treatments. The N key turns off the smoky background. The F key freezes all the objects. The L & K keys do something as well, it looks like it turns on 3D rotation. There might be more but these are the ones I've discovered so far.

[aafuss1]

Has anyone noticed several "Create" menu items in the Advanced menu?

Seems convenient-no more right clicking needed to convert songs/videos.

[cbeyond]

Finally, Apple has addresed the MESSY iPhone/iPod Touch Application file handling!

I notice the mobile application folder now has exactly the same number of files as I have mobile applications in iTunes. Previously iTunes simply added a new file with an extra digit added to the filename. So the mobile applications folder kept all files including legacy versions of the files.

iTunes also had a bad habit of getting the applications out of sync, so it would show an update was needed when one wasn't. This seems to have something to do with "missing" an update or filenames changing.

Finally Apple has added the version information to the filename...so no more confusion on which version is which! And Apple also now deletes each file's previous versions as the update is made.

Not mentioned a lot, but a good fix from Apple.

[pkoch1]

It doesn't just work on Genre and Smart Playlists are much smarter than only giving you a single genre.

For example, I have a bunch of hip-hop - a lot of mainstream stuff and a lot of underground stuff. When I do a Genius on my mainstream stuff, I get other mainstream "radio" hits. When I Genius my underground stuff, I get other underground artists and recommendations. The genres in the tags are exactly the same. Genius is smarter than just looking at the genres, trust me.

I sure hope so. I was just surprised when I made a playlist off of a track from the Finding Nemo soundtrack and I got tracks from the soundtracks of movies like Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Fight Club etc. Not just one track of each. There were about 3 Hedwig tracks, 2 from Fight Club and 1 from Napoleon Dynamite. Just seems completely unrelated other than Genre. Maybe they just have more information about different genres than the ones I have been trying.

[RockTheGlobe]

just learned about terminal to do this.

close itunes, go to applications - utilities - terminal. open it, select new command. copy and paste this:

defaults write com.apple.itunes show-genre-when-browsing -bool FALSE

then run command. open itunes and genre column is gone.

do the same with:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes invertStoreLinks -bool YES

to turn off itunes store arrow links

Ugh... this didn't work for me, I can't turn off the iTunes store arrow links. What am I doing wrong?

[bytethese]

So I just tried to download FlyCast in iTunes 8. I message came up stating that I can't purchase apps with Shopping Cart and that I must use 1-click. What's up with that? I've been downloading apps with no issues until I upgraded to 8. I don't want to enable 1-click, anyone else having this issue?

[applemumba]

Shuffle does not work in Grid View (new Album view, etc...) Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug with the new version! Would be nice to have shuffle!

[Mackilroy]

I sure hope so. I was just surprised when I made a playlist off of a track from the Finding Nemo soundtrack and I got tracks from the soundtracks of movies like Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Fight Club etc. Not just one track of each. There were about 3 Hedwig tracks, 2 from Fight Club and 1 from Napoleon Dynamite. Just seems completely unrelated other than Genre. Maybe they just have more information about different genres than the ones I have been trying.
I used Genius for the first time today and many of the songs listed are completely different genres.

[diamond.g]

Ugh... this didn't work for me, I can't turn off the iTunes store arrow links. What am I doing wrong?
defaults write com.apple.iTunes.invertStoreLinks -bool YES

Try that. There are not supposed to be spaces. I actually don't know if the dashed one works as shown. If the above doesn't work just google invert store links for the correct syntax.

[duncyboy]

Shuffle does not work in Grid View (new Album view, etc...) Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug with the new version! Would be nice to have shuffle!

I don't know if it is a bug or simply the way it works but you're right, you can't properly shuffle in Grid View- it's the only thing stopping me using it.

[MagnusVonMagnum]

This is a huge thread, so I apologize for not reading it all, but as I'm sure others have probably already mentioned, iTunes 8 has some notable bugs in it.

If you attempt to download multiple tv shows at the same time, using the 'simultaneous downloads allowed' option, iTunes 8 may very well freeze the entire computer or at least when using Mac OS X Tiger. I've read elsewhere of others having this problem as well. The problem goes away if you switch to NOT allow simultaneous downloads. This is a major bug, though that needs fixed, IMO.

Like others, I've attempted to download free HD tv shows. iTunes 8 will not download the HD versions if you have the "shopping cart" method selected for iTunes. I had it selected so I don't accidentally buy items from the iTunes store and so I can reconsider after I'm done shopping. iTunes will only download the standard definition programming with this method. There is no point in having a shopping cart option if it doesn't work right so this one needs fixing.

Once I switched to one-click shopping, iTunes 8 then proceeded to download the HD version, but I could also see that it was downloading a standard definition version as well. Personally, I think this should be a user option as some of us may not want the standard version taking up hard drive space and downloading time. But that's a minor quibble. The real problem is that iTunes 8 has a tendency to WRITE OVER or erase the HD version with the SD version that downloads afterwards. iTunes 8 then lists the HD version as missing its file. From what I've read elsewhere, this problem only occurs with SOME tv shows, but that's a nasty bug. The only way I could avoid that happening was to manually force the standard definition version to not download by selecting 'delete' from the "Edit" menu above while in the download area (right clicks do nothing in downloads).

I would really like to see an option for TV Show RENTALS at a lower price point as I have NO desire to keep or store television shows on my system. I typically watch a tv show once in a lifetime. They do not have the same 'repeat' value as music. I'm more likely to watch a movie more than once than a tv show, yet we have movie rental options, not but not tv rental options. $3 is out of line to watch a show ONCE, IMO, and yet the ability to rent a tv show I might have missed on cable would be invaluable, let alone the options you could have to ditch cable or satellite if you could rent cable tv shows. $1 seems reasonable to rent a tv show to me, maybe $1.50 for HD (I only really want HD, though).

AppleTV needs an update so it can order HD tv shows (and again preferably rentals). I mean it's called Apple *TV* which you would think means it's designed to watch tv shows. TV rentals for AppleTV ONLY even would be nice even. I use it to rent HD movies a lot. I never rent SD movies or buy tv shows with it. Apple could certainly get a lot more money from me if they'd rent HD tv shows to me for half the price of buying them. A subscription option would be even BETTER (i.e. $25 a month to watch unlimited HD tv shows or something like that; the same would be nice for movies as well and would be a nice alternative to Netflix at that point). ATV also badly needs a visualizer option as an alternative to photo slideshows while listening to music. That would be awesome on my 93" screen. The main thing that bugs me about the lack of an update so far is that Apple has been silent on if/when it will get an update. "Coming Soon" would be better than nothing.

It'd also be nice to know why certain movies are no longer available to rent. For example, Superbad is in the lists of Must-See HD rentals in AppleTV, but if you go to Superbad, it's only available for purchase in standard definition. There are no rentals period for it anymore either from AppleTV or iTunes so why is it shown under must-see HD rentals? It's absurd. I've read on some other sites that entire movies have disappeared from iTunes with no explanations given. What good is a rental service if they're losing movies instead of gaining them?

[PinkyMacGodess]

Is iTunes 8 worth downloading or should people wait for an update before doing it?

It sound like many of the changes are for the new Touch and don't really benefit non-new Touch users.

I'm finding that I'm being more choosy on what updates to install which is not unlike Microsoft updates. Just because it's an update from Microsoft doesn't mean that it's not going to come with 'issues' and more gray hair...

[61132]

I think iTunes 8 is an excellent upgrade. I have had no problems whatsoever with the program. I have had some trouble purchasing HD tv shows, they download, then delete themselves. iTunes support has been friendly and I eventually get them all downloaded. Between iTunes 8 and the new iPhone firmware, I'm happy, backups are fast, content is more organized, it's easier to find new music that I might not have ever found before.

[PinkyMacGodess]

Yeah, Magnus. Buying tv shows is kinda not worth it. I've only bought a few shows from 'normal' tv: The M*A*S*H finale and the 'Captain Collection' of Star Trek (although I did receive the complete Monty Python as a gift and have thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of). With the plethora of options for capturing video from tv, and the many channels that re-broadcast 'older' shows, spending money for old episodes doesn't make much sense.

Yet, it's been a HUGE money making venture for the studios and networks I'd imagine. Like they need the extra money for their lavish lifestyles...

[PinkyMacGodess]

I sure hope so. I was just surprised when I made a playlist off of a track from the Finding Nemo soundtrack and I got tracks from the soundtracks of movies like Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Fight Club etc. Not just one track of each. There were about 3 Hedwig tracks, 2 from Fight Club and 1 from Napoleon Dynamite. Just seems completely unrelated other than Genre. Maybe they just have more information about different genres than the ones I have been trying.

That would be quite a change if you are listening to Nemo and get something harder next. I began to understand the dislike some people have of the Shuffle in shuffle mode when I finished listening to a Brooks & Dunn track and went into Judas Priest's 'Hell Bent For Leather'... *SNAP* Wow, what a change. Granted, I put them both on the Shuffle. I guess I never thought about the possibilities of one following the other. :eek: :apple:

Other people just seem to have control issues and don't like the idea that a Shuffle can decide what they will listen to next... ;-)

[bobertoq]

I like the new visualizer and Genius! One thing I noticed about visualizer is it's not smooth or anti-anialised (spelled wrong, i know) but it's very awesome.

I wonder if we could ever get visualizer on the iPod? That would be cool. :D

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I like the new visualizer and Genius! One thing I noticed about visualizer is it's not smooth or anti-anialised (spelled wrong, i know) but it's very awesome.

I wonder if we could ever get visualizer on the iPod? That would be cool. :D

I wonder if the old visualizer was hardware accelerated at all. It was never really really smooth/fast on this 1.8 GHz PowerMac with an ATI 9800 Pro, but now it crawls in iTunes 8 while the new visualizer, which appears way more complicated visually moves as smooth as can be. It's a little repetitive, though. I tried out the latest WinAmp on my PC a while back and it comes with an awesome visualizer that changes what it does every 30 seconds or so, which can help keep your attention a lot longer. I tend to tune out the new Apple one after a minute or two because it just keeps doing the same thing over and over with very little interaction with the music. There are no adjustment settings for it that I can tell either. Options are greyed out on the new one.

[bobertoq]

I really like the visualizer, again. I think it should about anti-anialized (spelled it wrong...) or hardware accelerated or something. I noticed that it was so pixelated.

Also, just an idea, make it interactive! I have used a Winamp visualizer where I could press buttons and certain things would happen. It could reset the visualizer, overlay certain effects, etc. Speed it up, slow it down, change colors and other cool things. I would really like that myself :D I played with it for hours. (err... well about 30 minutes)

[smartalic34]

I really like the visualizer, again. I think it should about anti-anialized (spelled it wrong...) or hardware accelerated or something. I noticed that it was so pixelated.

Also, just an idea, make it interactive! I have used a Winamp visualizer where I could press buttons and certain things would happen. It could reset the visualizer, overlay certain effects, etc. Speed it up, slow it down, change colors and other cool things. I would really like that myself :D I played with it for hours. (err... well about 30 minutes)

it IS interactive! press ? while in the visualizer to see all of the controls and options!

[RockTheGlobe]

iTunes has started putting the track number of songs ripped off CDs at the front of the file name... anyone know how to turn that off? That option seems to have disappeared in the preferences.

[MartiNZ]

OMG another disappeared preference! Hadn't noticed that one.

A quick Googling reveals

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1706604&tstart=0

[RockTheGlobe]

OMG another disappeared preference! Hadn't noticed that one.

A quick Googling reveals

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1706604&tstart=0


Thanks, MartiNZ! Also found the command to turn off the iTunes Store arrows in that thread, which had been annoying the crap out of me.

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I just got a new JVC car stereo that can play iTunes encoded AAC files (not lossless though) from either a CD or a USB memory stick. I loaded up a 4GB Sony Micro drive and tried it out and so far I've found I've had no problems with any 256kbit encoded AAC music files from my CD collection or with MP3 files from various sources. However, when the player attempted to play a 256kbit iTunes Plus file that is supposedly DRM free ("Hey Now" by Crowded House), it stumbled big time. It started slowing down like a cassette player with a bad motor. It ONLY happens with that one track (which is the only music only track I've ever bought from the iTunes store and only because it was supposedly DRM free. I now have to wonder if the iTunes store doesn't have some kind of odd protection even on their iTunes Plus files. The same file plays fine in iTunes 8 and on my AppleTV and iPod Touch. One would assume Apple uses their own codecs to encode their iTunes Plus files so why would ones I made myself play fine and not one from their store?

[Mackilroy]

One would assume Apple uses their own codecs to encode their iTunes Plus files so why would ones I made myself play fine and not one from their store?
I've no clue why it doesn't work, but have you tried reencoding the file? (dumb to have to do that, yes, but it's merely a stopgap solution for now)

[Galley]

However, when the player attempted to play a 256kbit iTunes Plus file that is supposedly DRM free ("Hey Now" by Crowded House), it stumbled big time. It started slowing down like a cassette player with a bad motor. It ONLY happens with that one track (which is the only music only track I've ever bought from the iTunes store and only because it was supposedly DRM free. I now have to wonder if the iTunes store doesn't have some kind of odd protection even on their iTunes Plus files. The same file plays fine in iTunes 8 and on my AppleTV and iPod Touch. One would assume Apple uses their own codecs to encode their iTunes Plus files so why would ones I made myself play fine and not one from their store?

Apple does embed owner information in the file, but I don't see why the JVC would stumble on that.

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I've no clue why it doesn't work, but have you tried reencoding the file? (dumb to have to do that, yes, but it's merely a stopgap solution for now)

I'm planning on trying that next. But it sure doesn't encourage me to buy more songs from the iTunes store in the future, iTunes Plus or not. Maybe I'll use Amazon's new store.