Apple Planning Major Overhaul of iTunes to Emphasize iCloud and Sharing

[edwurtle]

That would only potentially help people who use iTunes, but never with anything except their PC.

Otherwise, dealing with my iPod and iPad is something I'm almost always going to want to do when I'm dealing with my podcasts and the like.

Huh? Was this a google translation?

 

[3282868]

I have not found anything that will allow this. All my devices use iCloud for contacts. If any contact gets deleted, it is gone for good. So to protect myself, I wrote a Automator script to export my contacts and save to a file each hour. Time Machine then backs the archive file up. That is not a very good solution though, imho.

"Time Machine" also backs up your contacts. If you open "Contacts", then click on the "Time Machine" icon you can open "Contacts" in "Time Machine" and restore individual or groups of contacts. No need to create an hourly backup with a script, it's redundant.

(this is true for Mail and other OS X apps, open the app first, then "Time Machine", it will open restore points for that opened app, this used to be the case for iPhoto as well but Apple changed that with version 9 which has been a MAJOR contention)

 

[URFloorMatt]

Are people really so vain that they are willing to quadruple their bandwidth use just to make their ugly faces clearer?

That would certainly be a reason against doing it, but the 720p iSight seems to be making its way across Apple's lineup. Didn't show up on the new iPad, but that's usually six months behind, rather than six months ahead, of the iPhone (LTE being the exception rather than the rule).

But there's been no rumor of it; that's just pure speculation on my part. Camera spec bumps are an annual thing, but the iSight hasn't been upgraded since the iPhone 4 now.

 

[Sedrick]

I'd be happy if:
It didn't take so long to load that I've double clicked the icon six times.
It didn't freeze up for 30 seconds every single time I click on anything.

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

Been ready for this since I switched to mac in 08.

----------

I'd be happy if:
It didn't take so long to load that I've double clicked the icon six times.
It didn't freeze up for 30 seconds every single time I click on anything.

Sounds like permission problems. How big is your library anyway?

 

[AidenShaw]

Yikes-then they've got to either duplicate a ton of code, actually making the whole mess MORE bloated, or you're just dealing with separate front ends.

Shared libraries would mean no duplication.

Separate front ends makes much more sense than the "kitchen sink" approach.

 

[wikus]

I hope they split iTunes into two; one fore media services and one for STRICTLY mp3 playback and nothing more. Theres no need to have a bloated heap of crap take up 200mb of ram for simple mp3 playback. Nearly every friend of mine who has a library that exceeds 200gb in size complains of slow performance and frequent crashes with iTunes.

 

[idunn]

Largely content, if . . .

Since I'm largely happy with iTunes as is, I tend to view any major "improvement" with a certain skepticism. Although sure there are many who will welcome various features wished for.

While not particularly concerned with sharing music, I would suggest a possible change or two. The addition of 1080p video in movies and television programs is most welcome. And even if Apple does not exactly control this, the suggestion they encourage their studio partners to release all the many older titles they have yet to in HD. There are many excellent movies, even decades old, which are still only offered in SD, even when many new releases—and sometimes of very questionable merit—are more routinely now offered immediately in either SD or HD. Good that they are, but how about everything else?

I've noticed some older titles that were formerly only offered in SD, at least now also the option to rent in HD. But that is milking the cow to utter exhaustion. Anyone who has paid attention has surely wised up to such schemes, and perhaps wait until the eventual desired release for purchase in 1080p.

Other than this? Oh, probably a few things. But most of all, please Apple do not tamper too much with what is basically a great media resource. As well, thank you for it.

 

[belltree]

why so narrow minded? iCloud works great and is friggin convenient!

Narrow minded? Wouldn't the opposite, making it mandatory, be (by definition) "narrow minded"? Users should have the option not to use any iCloud services if they so choose. You need to get off your "anything Apple does is great" fanboy cart lad.

 

[kumquat]

I have absolutely no interest in ever using cloud storage nor will I ever purchase a streaming music subscription.

Additionally, there is no need for a separate podcast app at all. All audio content (and all media content, for that matter) should be stored and accessible together.

I completely disagree that iTunes is bloated other than I'd be perfectly fine with them removing the store from the application and, if necessary, creating a new app just for buying overpriced crap. Their selection and pricing are ridiculous and horrible. Also, I'll argue that, even though I'm completely against even the existence of digital books, they do belong in "iTunes"/iMedia/iExperience/iIntake because they go hand in hand with audio books and can be filed under a Literature menu which can also include magazine subscriptions for those who use those.

Video:
- Movies
**** - Movie Extras
- TV Shows
- Music Videos
- Vlogs

Audio:
- Music
- Audio Books (optional)
- Radio
**** - Stations
**** - Podcasts/Radio Shows

Literature:
- Books
- Audio Books (optional)
- Magazines


What iTunes needs is a new name to cover all the media it can play, appropriate tags for movies, a built-in metatagger that actually works, a separate section for music videos and movie extras, the ability to show artwork for every tv episode instead of just by season without the user inputting bogus information, the ability to encode .VOB files and a built-in editor which can simply do the basics that Quicktime Pro can instead of the terrible Start play at xx:xx:xx etc.

If this new version requires iCloud usage for full functionality, I will completely move all my media to a 3rd party app.

And those of you getting the beachball of death when trying to use the app really need to check your permissions and possibly upgrade your ram and content locations; even my old PPC G5 running Tiger can use iTunes without a hitch and no problem on newer machines either even with 300 movies and 18,000 songs.

 

[brennt]

"Time Machine" also backs up your contacts. If you open "Contacts", then click on the "Time Machine" icon you can open "Contacts" in "Time Machine" and restore individual or groups of contacts. No need to create an hourly backup with a script, it's redundant.

(this is true for Mail and other OS X apps, open the app first, then "Time Machine", it will open restore points for that opened app, this used to be the case for iPhoto as well but Apple changed that with version 9 which has been a MAJOR contention)

I just tried this and you are absolutely correct! I've never tried opening up the address book then going into Time Machine. Even though my contacts are in iCloud, it was able to restore one of the ones I deleted as a test. This makes me feel way more at ease about iCloud. I can get rid of my script now Thanks for the info!

 

[3282868]

I just tried this and you are absolutely correct! I've never tried opening up the address book then going into Time Machine. Even though my contacts are in iCloud, it was able to restore one of the ones I deleted as a test. This makes me feel way more at ease about iCloud. I can get rid of my script now Thanks for the info!

Any time. Glad I could help.

 

[mofunk]

iTunes 1.0 was released on January 9, 2001

lol The "iTunes Store" was released in 2003. iTunes was released in 2001. They are two different things. I'm using iTunes 1.0 on my Mac and it still runs smooth No Store.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77634324@N00/2414376965

iTunes the media player was released in 2001. It doesn't not recognize iPods or any other device.


This whole thing sounds like MobileMe ?? with all the sharing.

 

[sennekuyl]

If iTunes were to be split into various app's, how would syncing devices work? As it stands, iTunes is acting as a conduit, a media hub, for devices. If it were to be broken down into separate music, video, applications (an iPhoto revamp would be nice), etc how would syncing all the media work? A revamped "iSync"?

Well, syncing is just copying files, so as long as they were in an expected location or had the correct tag/meta-info* the such factors are well and truly achievable.

It could be Apple could potentially do a synchronise/online store program, an audio-visual media & a textual document program (Please! There is no fundamental difference between a book & a 'periodical' except the faster publishing rate. Sure there is differences in how it is presented.) You could have a single database interface for the playlist & album information.

* I keep hoping someone will bring out a filesystem that does away with rigid hierarchy. It should be possible to extend ZFS to do it but I don't show any great aptitude for programming. In my wildest dreams it kinda functions like PersonalBrain.

 

[Wolfpup]

Shared libraries would mean no duplication.

But what's the advantage? They can do separate pieces of code NOW and pull them in as needed.

Separate front ends makes much more sense than the "kitchen sink" approach.

Why? Why should I have to launch a bunch of separate programs to do related tasks, and switch between them?

I hope they split iTunes into two; one fore media services and one for STRICTLY mp3 playback and nothing more.

Audio is media...what are you saying? Separate programs for audio and video? Why?

Theres no need to have a bloated heap of crap take up 200mb of ram for simple mp3 playback.

It doesn't use 200MB, it wouldn't really matter if it did, randomly taking out features isn't the only way to get a smaller memory footprint, and on what basis are you calling it "bloated" or "a heap of crap"?

Nearly every friend of mine who has a library that exceeds 200gb in size complains of slow performance and frequent crashes with iTunes.

At most I've probably got 30-40GB, and maybe something goes wrong if you go even bigger, but why do you suppose randomly pulling out features would improve things? If there's a problem with the program, fix the problem. Pulling the program apart doesn't fix the problem, it creates more work that takes away time they could be spending on fixing the problem, assuming there even is a problem.

Additionally, there is no need for a separate podcast app at all. All audio content (and all media content, for that matter) should be stored and accessible together.

Yep, and you know it occurred to me today too as I was searching for Chrome in the iTunes store how great it is having ALL iOS related stuff show up in one single view...it's neatly organized, but made me aware of podcasts on the subject, etc.

Do these people want a separate program to run audio books too?

If this new version requires iCloud usage for full functionality, I will completely move all my media to a 3rd party app.

Yeah, I'll see what it entails, but I have a lot of stuff I don't WANT on other people's computers, and I LOVE that iTunes lets you have control over a lot of this stuff on your own PC...that's been a big selling point and advantage over Windows Phone and Android.

And those of you getting the beachball of death when trying to use the app really need to check your permissions and possibly upgrade your ram and content locations; even my old PPC G5 running Tiger can use iTunes without a hitch and no problem on newer machines either even with 300 movies and 18,000 songs.

Yeah, iTunes runs just fine on a system I have with a 1GHz AMD c50 chip even, let alone something even vaguely modernish.

 

[3282868]

Well, syncing is just copying files, so as long as they were in an expected location or had the correct tag/meta-info* the such factors are well and truly achievable.

It could be Apple could potentially do a synchronise/online store program, an audio-visual media & a textual document program (Please! There is no fundamental difference between a book & a 'periodical' except the faster publishing rate. Sure there is differences in how it is presented.) You could have a single database interface for the playlist & album information.

* I keep hoping someone will bring out a filesystem that does away with rigid hierarchy. It should be possible to extend ZFS to do it but I don't show any great aptitude for programming. In my wildest dreams it kinda functions like PersonalBrain.

AMEN on the file system. I still have Leopard beta's with ZFS+ integration. A shame what became of it. Good points in all.

 

[unplugme71]

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4915?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Can't seem to do that with apps though