iTunes 11 to Include Improved iCloud Integration and iOS 6 Support

[MacRumors]

9to5Mac claims to have some early details about Apple's next version of iTunes. iTunes 11 has been internally seeded and is said to include under-the-hood changes and early support for iOS 6, which has not yet been announced.




The main focus seems to be on iCloud:

iTunes 11 includes an increased presence of iCloud integration. Perhaps the biggest testament to this is a dedicated iCloud settings panel within iTunes. This panel is a centralized, always accessible spot for users to control iCloud related features while in iTunes. These features include iTunes Match, iTunes in the Cloud, iCloud iOS device backups and more.

An increased focus around iCloud makes sense as Apple's Tim Cook has said that he doesn't view iCloud as short term product, but instead a long term strategy for the next 10 years. When asked about it at the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference, he responded:

I view iCloud not as something with a year or two product life -- it's a strategy for the next decade or more. It's truly profound.

Article Link: iTunes 11 to Include Improved iCloud Integration and iOS 6 Support

[Sky Blue]

really going out there on a limb...

[MultiMediaWill]

Does this mean an imminent iPhone 5?

[stevemiller]

because doing more things is what itunes needs to do.

edit: i re-read and noticed they primarily listed the music functions of icloud, so i guess those additions do make sense. i still wish they could move some of the more esoteric idevice functionality out of itunes though. like folding ios app management on your computer into the mac appstore software.

[shurcooL]

Seems like a natural evolution direction.

A good question is whether they'll be removing any of the 5+ year old broken legacy stuff from iTunes.

[besweeeet]

iOS 6 support in iTunes 11? Who would've guessed?

[slrandall]

Eh ... I was really hoping for an overhaul (and SIMPLIFICATION) of iTunes.

[Diode]

Ugh. Still stupid my Mac has to be on to stream movies from iTunes.

Please allow home sharing from NAS's. That would solve a lot of people's problems.

[Sam Yikin]

Now that there are two ways to manage iOS devices - iCloud and iTunes- it will be very interesting to see how they evolve together. I'd argue that iCloud is going to take precedence, given that it's a centerpiece of Apple's long term strategy. I wonder if syncing/backing up/etc features will eventually dropped from iTunes, so it will only be used to sync non-iTunes Store media (though I'm sure that there'll always be some way to back up iOS devices to your computer, given iCloud's limited storage space).

Speaking of iOS 6, I really really hope that C3's map software is integrated somehow.

[timlopez]

I've got some even MORE inside information. The next major release after v11 will include, wait for it, iOS 7 support. It will also be required for the latest revision iPhone to be released (no, not the next one - the one after).

Please don't say I told you - I need to be anonymous.

[Sam Yikin]

Originally Posted by shurcooL

Seems like a natural evolution direction.

A good question is whether they'll be removing any of the 5+ year old broken legacy stuff from iTunes.

iTunes does have a lot of bloat, but I do think it's very cool that you can plug in a first gen iPod and it will still work just fine.

[haruhiko]

iTunes is one of the worst thing Apple has ever done.

The learning curve is super steep to most of the people, and many of them are scared away from using iPhone (i.e. jumped to the Android camp) solely because of iTunes.

Edit: It's interesting that people downgrade my post just because I said something bad about iTunes. Even myself as an experienced Mac and iPhone user find it difficult, or at least not friendly for users. A lot of the not so tech savvy friend of mine don't sync their iPhone or don't even know what syncing is and what are the benefits. Luckily, after iOS 5, we can actually ditch iTunes and still can use our iOS devices.

[MaxGravy]

Originally Posted by Sam Yikin

iTunes does have a lot of bloat, but I do think it's very cool that you can plug in a first gen iPod and it will still work just fine.

That's great for the 6 people who still use a 1st gen.

[L-U-R-C-H]

My question is why is it still called iTunes? I'm pretty sure it does much more than just music at this point. It should be called like iHub or something haha

[east85]

All this cloud business may be just enough for me to finally upgrade my iPhone when the 5 comes around. iTunes cloud integration would be a seller for me.

[Awfisch]

One feature that I really want to be integrated into iTunes is the ability to play a song on my mac, pause it, move to my iPad, and resume the song. Available on all iOS devices. That would be so useful!

[ebiggz]

Where's some real iOS 6 rumors? Been dying for these. They should start cropping up soon if they plan annouce it again at WWDC right?

[Gemütlichkeit]

Originally Posted by slrandall

Eh ... I was really hoping for an overhaul (and SIMPLIFICATION) of iTunes.

Agreed, they really need to retool the application. It's gotta be their oldest, most used app out there.

[wikus]

Originally Posted by Applesavvy

Where's some real iOS 6 rumors? Been dying for these. They should start cropping up soon if they plan annouce it again at WWDC right?

Where's some real Mac Computer rumors? Been dying for these.

Seriously, all the news and releases with iOS is overwhelming, its getting tiresome and actual mac computer users have been getting shafted since the iPod took off.

[ethan028]

Originally Posted by Awfisch

One feature that I really want to be integrated into iTunes is the ability to play a song on my mac, pause it, move to my iPad, and resume the song. Available on all iOS devices. That would be so useful!

That would be an aaaaamaazzing feature! I also want the feature to log into iCloud.com on a browser and play my iTunes Match or iTunes library.

[Twinsbb17]

I have two main gripes with iTunes, more specifically iTunes Match.

1. Before Match, I had all of my album artwork correctly tagged. I signed up for Match and now some of the artwork is gone or is mismatched for the same album. It's a real big let down.

2. Some of the songs that I downloaded from the iTunes servers at 256kbps were the edited versions of songs that I originally had in explicit versions. Blink 182 and Eminem were the most prominent examples of it.

[starbird]

Originally Posted by haruhiko

iTunes is one of the worst thing Apple has ever done.

The learning curve is super steep to most of the people, and many of them are scared away from using iPhone (i.e. jumped to the Android camp) solely because of iTunes.

Can you connect me to one person that got scared off an iPhone and got and Android phone because iTunes scared them off? That might be one of the most far fetched statements I've heard in a while. Have you used any of the three products you are comparing/contrasting?

[MattInOz]

Originally Posted by timlopez

I've got some even MORE inside information. The next major release after v11 will include, wait for it, iOS 7 support. It will also be required for the latest revision iPhone to be released (no, not the next one - the one after).

Please don't say I told you - I need to be anonymous.

For the love of god Nooooo......
What we want is a rumor that says iTunes is no more.
Replace by a nice new tight Music app and some other standalone media apps.

[TheSuperSteve]

Originally Posted by haruhiko

iTunes is one of the worst thing Apple has ever done.

The learning curve is super steep to most of the people, and many of them are scared away from using iPhone (i.e. jumped to the Android camp) solely because of iTunes.

I don't necessarily have any issues with iTunes. I use it everyday and see no problems with it.

I do however agree that it should be more simple and intuitive. My parent's feel it is too complicated and would rather use their Android devices because adding content to them is as easy as plugging it in to a PC and dragging and dropping. Not so much with iTunes.

[wikus]

Originally Posted by L-U-R-C-H

My question is why is it still called iTunes? I'm pretty sure it does much more than just music at this point. It should be called like iHub or something haha

I agree 110%.

They should rename iTunes to something else. Ideally, there would be a simplified version of iTunes, for those of us who don't care about iPod, iPad, iPhone support, or movie playback, app store crap, etc.

Theres a lot of people that want a really simple application that is JUST for the organization and playback of their music library without all the bloat that the current iTunes suffers from.

The only real alternative to iTunes is Enqueue (and its still a little buggy);