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Apple Planning Major Overhaul of iTunes to Emphasize iCloud and Sharing

I have to agree with the others regarding Spotify's subscription-based model. It's more cost effective for me to pay a flat fee to access X million songs than to buy each song off iTunes for $1.29 each.

My fingers are crossed for an Apple subscription based model with iTunes.
 
Oh boy

This sounds like a great idea. It's take something that is all in one place, simplified and well organized, then split it into 10 different things and make it more complicated. Sounds like a greeeeaaat idea. :rolleyes:
 
rorschach said:
I mean, jeez, we're still forced to tag movies using "Artist" and "Album" fields. :rolleyes
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You're example shows a TV Show. You can use the Video tab and label it by Show, Season Number, and Episode Number as you wish. The episode title can go under Name in the Info tab.
 
While I believe that Apple might be working on revamping iTunes I do NOT believe that Bloomberg has any reliable info on it.

first off, Apple isn't about to diminish sales potential by letting folks share music across users. UNLESS it's a one time listen idea.

Seconds, splitting the app a la Podcasts on iOS is NOT the way Apple would likely go. More like splitting the store from the player and the player from the syncing. at least on Macs.

For the store they would do one of three possibles
1. split it into a new app a la the Mac App Store
2. Merge it into the app for the Mac App Store
3. go web with it (and perhaps the Mac App Store)

I think the first is the most likely at least at this point

For the player they would basically just go back to the original iTunes style. They might add some plug ins (or at least the ability for us to add them) to handle other file types. on the whole iCloud front I think that that might be an iTunes Match ish merged list where you can see your purchased but not on that computer movies, tv shows etc with a direct download button rather than having to go to the store, to the purchased area etc. They would hopefully also give you a merging of shared libraries or at least the ability to see them on the same list.
They might also merge DVD player into this Media Player app. And of course making playlists etc would remain in that app

On the syncing and importing front. I see them having your CDs, iPhones etc appear as a desktop icon. you click it and there you see your sync screens, your import etc. You can do what you need to do without even having iTunes or iPhoto open. At the same time this also means that you could share over to your Apple TV etc without having iTunes open. And if you make changes like rate something or make a playlist they sync back to the computer and load up the next time you open iTunes.

I think we could also see some changes in offerings in the store in terms of when tv shows etc are released, upgrading back seasons and older movies to 1080p (and hopefully adding some audio and subtitle tracks to tv and movies), getting the rest of the studios 'in the cloud' and better way late than never, getting LP and Extras to work under iOS.

Bloomberg's source also blew it by saying a generic later this year. by tradition all iTunes overhauls go with the iPod/iphone event in the fall. Expected to be mid to late Sept
 
MattInOz said:
Sure it does some stuff in the background to keep things up to date, (or sharing with other devices and apps).
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That's what iTunes is to me. It's the app that syncs my content with my other devices and sends the video, music to my Apple TV.
I usually buy content from my iPhone or my Apple TV, and not from within my Mac's iTunes Store.
Obviously if you spend more time in front of your Mac than with your different devices your experience will vary, but it seems to me that with the personal computer slowly moving away from being the center (the "hub") of the digital life, content purchases are bound to happen more frequently on your other devices.

It seems to me that Apple should relaunch iSync as the app that would sync your iOS devices and take out of iTunes all that's not necessary.

Steve Jobs himself used to say (or quote) that good design is when you can’t take away anything else, and clearly this concept hasn't been applied to iTunes for a long, long time.
 
pheenix11 said:
How about iTunes Match for Movies and let me store all 2TB of my movies that I already ripped from Blu Ray & DVD in the Cloud?
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IF they did it and it would be a hard call on that if, expect it to cost you another $100. The studios are tight as hell. no way would they let it be rolled into the current match or go for something as cheap as $25 a year.
 
marcusj0015 said:
There's almost a decade of crazy marketing and brand awareness surrounding the "iTunes" name, Apple won't just throw that all away.
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iTunes predates the iPod, which was released on October 23rd, 2001 (my birthday!). So more than a decade of brand awareness. That said, change can sometimes be necessary. "Apple" is the key brand that Apple is pushing.
 
haruhiko said:
I need to have a dedicated "Apple" folder on my iPad, and it's almost full now:-

iPad's Apple folder: Messages, Youtube, Music, Videos, Photo Booth, iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand, Reminders, Find Friends, Cards, Trailers, Contacts, iTunes, Camera, FaceTime, Podcasts...:eek:
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Having an "Apple" folder on an iPad makes as much sense as having a corner in your bookshelf reserved for Warner Bros movies, or a "Sony Music" CD shelf.
 
kiljoy616 said:
That fine if you can remove them but to have to create a folder just to put all the useless icons that people don't use or want to use. iOS need to have a way of deleting obsolete apps. :mad:
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No kidding! Who actually still uses Compass!? I mean yeah it was cool when they added the compass sensor to the 3GS a few years ago, but come on, we should be able to remove that and other apps from our phones! Same with Newsstand, Stocks, etc.
 
They need a stand alone bloat free simple music player called iTunes, then something new that can handle the apps and movies.
 
Good Timing

I will be glad to see a revamped iTunes. I don't feel that the iTunes experience is very "Apple" feeling. It needs to be more concise and integrated. It has improved over past updates, but with iOS6 coming out, this would be the perfect time to roll out the "perfect" iOS. Also, iTunes Match, while much much better in iOS6, could still be improved. I would love to be able to sync my iPod Classic and Shuffle (even though they are clearly not iOS devices) with my iTunes that is on the Cloud. Seeing that my MacBook Air is only the 64GB version, and I don't always want to be hooked to my external drive, I feel that being able to sync iTunes Match items on those devices would be a great benefit to myself and probably a lot of people.
 
I personally can't wait. The interface needs a refresh. Hopefully the cloud/matching services are improved, too.
 
L-U-R-C-H said:
No kidding! Who actually still uses Compass!? I mean yeah it was cool when they added the compass sensor to the 3GS a few years ago, but come on, we should be able to remove that and other apps from our phones! Same with Newsstand, Stocks, etc.
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Ugh, I HATE newsstand. I have it on its very own, unused, wasted home screen so I don't have to see it and mistake it for iBooks.
 
Hopefully they dont just cock it up by makign it even more bloated, in combination with making it worthless to anyone outside of the USA, aka cloud garbage.
 
I'm okay with the mac version of iTunes as is. The iPad music app, however, I would PAY to go back to the old one. This is awful.
 
I have one request - bring back large album art!

With the push towards high dpi and retina displays, they really better bring this back. I've been sticking to iTunes 9.2 because I refuse to ugglify my music library; and don't use iTunes for anything other than music.
 
About time it was put on a serious diet, once a trim fit piece of software has hit serious bloated proportions!!!!!
 
PlaceofDis said:
for the love of all things i hope they do split it up finally. i don't know why i am managing books in a music app or my mobile applications in a music app. and ffs make an OS X iBooks app so we can read our books on our Macs too. no reason not to since the displays are being retnified there too.
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Absolutely! 100%!!! If I want to listen to a podcast, why on earth should I use a program that is packed full of buttons and menus that have NOTHING to do with podcasts? It makes doing every function much worse. iTunes is an okay jack of all trades, but a master of none.

There is NO good reason for wholly separate activities to all be crammed into a single piece of software. If I want to listen to an MP3, why on earth should I have to hunt through menus and/or icons that perform functions for renting movies and syncing phone apps? It makes no sense and it makes the software worse at every single job it's in charge of.

The apps for entirely separate uses should be allowed to flourish in its own separate application. But at the same time the separate apps will naturally be functionally interoperable so that they work with each other seamlessly on the few occasions when it's required.

For example, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are all separate apps because they're all mainly separate activities. This allows the apps to excel at the job they're designed to accomplish. Yet when you need the apps work with each other they do it super easily. This is exactly what makes sense for the entirely unrelated jobs that are currently all crammed into itunes.
 
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