Apple Working to Update and Simplify iTunes Store and App Store in 2012?

[CplBadboy]

I gotta feeling fall of this year will be a big year for iTunes/iPhone/iPod/ATV... bigger for the first time in a few years. Finally.

Think you may have a very valid point there. As much as I like iTunes and don't have too much of an issue as to the way it runs and organises. A nice cosmetic and optimisation would certainly be welcome! On top of that Ive just purchased a new ATV for the other half and would hate to see a new ATV early March as rumoured! We now have three of those little magic boxes and I would love to see the UI overhauled to show Apps. I watch a lot of TwitTV but cannot watch it natively on the ATV - only via Airplay! Roku XS is what i want the ATV to be. Dont really want to have to buy the other box!

 

[maconservative]

A vote for separating the iTunes Store from the iTunes app and leaving iTunes strictly as a media player and syncing app.

 

[jdguggs10]

Get the games out of the appstore and into the game center. That alone would make things easier.

 

[realmike15]

iTunes definitely needs some simplification. I'm sure most of us don't have difficulty navigating it's features, but to new customers and older generations I imagine it's a burden to figure out it's capabilities and limitations.

First thing they can do is consolidate iTunes DJ, Genius, Genius Mixes. There is no reason to have them as 3 separate items. Features of all three can easily be combined into one manageable interface. It just confuses new users who want to figure out what the difference is between them. The right click menu is equally bad, it's entirely too long making it difficult for new people to find the option they're looking for. It would be far easier to add 90% of the features in there as mouse hover options... Get Album Art is a perfect example of this.

Part of their appeal is simplicity, and iTunes feels bloated by comparison.

 

[monaarts]

And I introduce to you the new iTunes...

- 3 Apps and 1 Plugin that create the iTunes experience:
- iTunes for your purchase, apps, books, podcasts, etc
- Music for your music collection
- Movies for your movie library (also taking place of the QuickTimes application)
- Home Sharing (AirPlay) Plugin for streaming to other devices such as the AppleTV or iPad while having iTunes, Movies, and Music closed.

- Using the same simple design of the iPad application

- Quick access to other applications by clicking on buttons within any applications (for example, clicking Store opens the iTunes Store while keeping Music or Movies open)

- Better on system resources

- Homes Sharing (AirPlay) plugin runs on system to allow for sharing of library to other devices while having larger Music, Movies, and iTunes applications closed.


- Joe

 

[AforAndromeda]

Great News!

Being able to power search from Music, film, books etc would help..
AND how about bringing in old purchases of films, just like they did for Music.
I would LOVE that!

I am REALLY hoping that the redesign finds and removes of the usual 9006 and 50 network errors, and does not reinvent the wheel only to find incompatibilites.
I think its crazy that the Apple help instructions include removing security settings in order to enable downloading.


Ann

 

[Flitzy]

If you think iTunes is going to be rebranded, you're kidding yourself. Not only is it a major brand for Apple, it's also pretty much used to market nearly every show and artist around. No way you do anything to upset that.

I think separating the apps into Video, Music, etc would be a bad thing, too. iTunes is simple because everything you need is all right there. I don't want to go and open up four different apps just to go through my library.

Streamline, yes. Update, sure. But you're bonkers if you think rebranding the name or breaking it apart is a good idea.

Oh, and I would LOVE to see iTunes Genius brought back if you have iTunes Match enabled!

They need to create more categories, the ones they current have are too vague for the amount of apps they carry.

Maybe even add a "cart" option? I would love to queue up a few apps I want to buy by adding them to a cart?

I would love for the shopping cart feature to come back but, in the meantime, you should use the Wish List option for this. I use it to save a bunch of items that I'm considering for later and then I can go back to one place when I'm ready to buy. You still have to click the buy button multiple times, unfortunately, but it's a little easier then going back through the store.

 

[monaarts]

If you think iTunes is going to be rebranded, you're kidding yourself. Not only is it a major brand for Apple, it's also pretty much used to market nearly every show and artist around. No way you do anything to upset that.

I think separating the apps into Video, Music, etc would be a bad thing, too. iTunes is simple because everything you need is all right there. I don't want to go and open up four different apps just to go through my library.

Streamline, yes. Update, sure. But you're bonkers if you think rebranding the name or breaking it apart is a good idea.

Oh, and I would LOVE to see iTunes Genius brought back if you have iTunes Match enabled!

It isn't rebranding iTunes if they go with the strategy I gave in my post... Keep iTunes for the store front of everything and for the syncing of all the i-devices. Create an application for Movies, another for Music, and a plugin for Home Sharing (AirPlay) so people don't have to have the iTunes, Music, or Movies apps running to use their AppleTV. ;-)


- Joe

 

[kikuchiyo]

The problem with splitting up iTunes into a bunch of separate apps is that any time you want to sync your content, you would end up having to open up ten different apps.

That's why I said "with a separate app, like Sync, to sync all of those pieces with your phone."

 

[luke.mac1]

ITunes is a bit too fascist to me. Some major Iphone features like the video player can't even allow you to delete videos. that's heavy

You can delete from the iPhone video player... you just need to swipe across the file with your finger and press "delete".

 

[roadbloc]

Good. iTunes is a bloated mess.

 

[SBlue1]

lets wait and see

 

[NameUndecided]

Maybe it's that I would need to see a working demonstration of some of these "improvements" that a lot of you are suggesting, but I really don't see much of anything wrong with the way iTunes is now. The idea of dividing up parts of iTunes into new separate apps seems so needlessly complicated over the existing option of just selecting "Music" or "Movies" or "iTunes Store" in the column on the right all in one app.

Also, it's not that (in my own experience) iTunes runs too slow or drags down my 2009 model MacBook Pro. So I don't see how it's bulky in that regard either.

I wouldn't be disappointed to know that iTunes was getting a drastic redesign, and I can easily imagine being happy with whatever new design ends up being introduced. But this is going with the assumption that either the people at Apple know better than to turn one app that most or a lot of people leave open at most times on their Macs into four or five different apps -- or that this could be done in so much a less convoluted way than I'm currently imagining.

 

[ladymacintosh]

My number one thing I would like to see in the iTunes store is a wishlist or favorites feature so I can tag things I like as I'm looking. That way I can go back later and remember what I heard that I liked and pick it up.

 

[thelatinist]

iTunes itself is a bloated joke. When it was just music, it was fast, efficient and worked. Not it's like starting a damn steam engine. Take 5 minutes before it comes to life.

Um...iTunes opens in 4.5 seconds on a four year old white MacBook. And uses only 2-3% of my processor when browsing or playing music.

 

[testcard]

My number one thing I would like to see in the iTunes store is a wishlist or favorites feature so I can tag things I like as I'm looking. That way I can go back later and remember what I heard that I liked and pick it up.

Wish list for apps and music gets my vote. Works great on Amazon.

 

[monaarts]

My number one thing I would like to see in the iTunes store is a wishlist or favorites feature so I can tag things I like as I'm looking. That way I can go back later and remember what I heard that I liked and pick it up.

Your wish is my command....

Oh wait, it already exists.

 

[newagemac]

Think you may have a very valid point there. As much as I like iTunes and don't have too much of an issue as to the way it runs and organises. A nice cosmetic and optimisation would certainly be welcome! On top of that Ive just purchased a new ATV for the other half and would hate to see a new ATV early March as rumoured! We now have three of those little magic boxes and I would love to see the UI overhauled to show Apps. I watch a lot of TwitTV but cannot watch it natively on the ATV - only via Airplay! Roku XS is what i want the ATV to be. Dont really want to have to buy the other box!

Huh??? TwitTV and a whole lot of other free content like that are on the Apple TV natively. On the Apple TV menu, go to Internet > Podcasts and you'll find hundreds upon hundreds of free "channels" as Roku calls them. And yes you stream them directly from Apple's servers, you can subscribe to favorites, rearrange them, and the Apple TV keeps up with what you have and haven't watched yet as well. Pretty cool feature.

It's amazing how many people don't know about all the free content available on the Apple TV and built in. Apple doesn't really promote it because it's free but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it.

----------

Wish list for apps and music gets my vote. Works great on Amazon.

Wish list feature for apps and music has been available on iTunes for quite a while. You using an old version or something?

 

[AustinIllini]

A vote for separating the iTunes Store from the iTunes app and leaving iTunes strictly as a media player and syncing app.

iCloud Media, iCloud Apps

 

[G4DP]

Um...iTunes opens in 4.5 seconds on a four year old white MacBook. And uses only 2-3% of my processor when browsing or playing music.

Whoopi do for you. I can't tell you how happy I am for you.

I said it was bloated and slow, not a resource hog. iTunes - with the hint being in the name - should be about music only. Music collections and radio.

All of the iToy's should have a different app, that links to the original file library for syncing. If they can do it with something like Aperture, they can sure as hell do it for iToy's.

 

[NameUndecided]

Whoopi do for you. I can't tell you how happy I am for you.

I said it was bloated and slow, not a resource hog. iTunes - with the hint being in the name - should be about music only. Music collections and radio.

All of the iToy's should have a different app, that links to the original file library for syncing. If they can do it with something like Aperture, they can sure as hell do it for iToy's.

With that post paired with your signature, you seem awfully cynical about a brand and line of products that you obviously hold an interest in.

I'm not meaning to be an instigator. I just find it genuinely funny.

 

[emaja]

It's loaded with crap that most of us don't use, don't need and don't want. It's a resource hog; it uses far too much ram and too much of the CPU. Simply disabling all of the non-essentials in iTunes does *not* improve performance. iTunes eats up at least 50mb of RAM when it has no music in its library. Fill it with 10,000 mp3s (in my case) and it skyrockets to 200mb and thats with all the non-essentials disabled.

ZOMG! 200 whole MEGABYTES! Whatever will I do?

Seriously, if that is an issue...

Right now I am sitting at 350MB and a whopping .1% of CPU use with no noticeable impact on my system's performance. 21,000+ songs loaded too.

I agree that almost any program can be slimmed down and made better as far as the user experience goes, but iTunes is hardly a bloated beast of a program.

EDIT: Vox is a butt ugly, scattered interface. Never could use that crap on my computer.

 

[gatortpk]

Combine Apple IDs! Also, allow Finder to "see" iOS devices.

I wonder if an an option to combine multiple Apple IDs is part of the plan?

Oh, yes! One can dream! I have two identical ID's (one with and without the @suffix). It's really annoying to have to switch to update all my Apps. Thankfully, it's not an issue on the iPhone, but is within the iTunes store. Also, it would be nice to see all my purchases and updates in one place. I think this is a major place for confusion among many MobileMe and/or now iCloud users as well as the long time iTunes users.

I remember spending a lot of time trying to figure out what other people's IDs are (when I'm consulting or doing computer repair) and authorizing their computers because they aren't even aware of what IDs they've used in the past!

Also, it would be really nice if iOS devices could mount in the Finder too. Like the old Classic iPods did. I know Apple wants to control what goes in and out of the iOS devices with iTunes, but that area can still remain secure. Just let part of the iOS device work as an external flash drive.

Even better, perhaps Apple can craft some way to allow us to use the Finder to see and copy the data both ways on the iOS devices without going through iTunes (and iPhoto), and still control organization. I know Image Capture is alright for grabbing photos and video, but I'd rather use the Finder to get at all the data or media. The folders (like in iTunes Media) can still keep out "wrong" file types out of the particular folders, e.g. keep Pictures out of the Music folder, and Contacts out of the Videos folder, etc. And of course implore active virus scanning only during those transfers. (I don't want any anti-virus programs running all the time, and of course virtually any viruses out there won't harm iOS or Mac devices anyway, but it would still be a good preventative measure to avoid what happened to MS Windows with the Malware industry. I know Lion and Mountain Lion are already doing some more preventative security measures anyway.)

 

[CodeJingle]

On iOS there is the iTunes App and the App Store App. It makes sense they are separate but nonetheless I often get confused when browsing / purchasing Apps and non-App media in the same sitting. So if the revamp makes that iOS experience more seamless that would be great.

 

[G4DP]

With that post paired with your signature, you seem awfully cynical about a brand and line of products that you obviously hold an interest in.

I'm not meaning to be an instigator. I just find it genuinely funny.

I have zero interesting the iToys. I use my Mac as a tool and not much else. The wife has an iPod classic and that's it when it comes to Apples iCarp. I can see the benefits of them, but none of them would benefit me in my workflow.

It may sound a little cynical, I just iTunes would go back to what it was meant for - managing music. Not all the extra stuff Apple have just dumped on it because they have been too lazy to sort a decent software solution out.