Apple's Windows iTunes SDK

[kidA]

i've never understood the winamp craze either. it's a decent program and is good for some things like streaming, but it is by no means a full featured media player. it can't even keep a library of your files. you have to load a playlist every time or navigate to the song you want in win explorer. it would be nice to see AAC playable in other media players.

 

[SiliconAddict]

i've never understood the winamp craze either. it's a decent program and is good for some things like streaming, but it is by no means a full featured media player. it can't even keep a library of your files. you have to load a playlist every time or navigate to the song you want in win explorer. it would be nice to see AAC playable in other media players.

WinAmp V5 has all these features. You may be thinking of WA2

 

[Frobozz]

Good move

I think this is a good move. It will open up the file format on the PC and help adoption. If you ask me, it's a viral way of getting AAC to propegate faster than WMA.

I'd bet that even if people had the option of playing AAC through WinAMP that they'd stick with iTunes. A lot of people who use iTunes on the Windows love it for the "Mac-ness" of it.

 

[ingenious]

Really? I never understood why people like winamp so much...

-Nathaniel

i agree. i found the interface horrid.

 

[Porchland]

hopefully this will further the use of AAC as a format instead of WMA

I can't come up with another sensible reason to do it. There's always the risk of weakening the core brand -- iTunes -- but this could be a smart move.

 

[billyboy]

If this SDK is going to help Windows software writers integrate iTunes into their photo apps etc, then as a shareholder I am not happy!!!!!! Apple should be inducing people to use Apple software on shiny new Apple Macs, not give the world yet another taste of the Mac experience on a PC.

Maybe Apple really are pushing iPods more than they let on. I just priced up a dual G5 2.0GHz and a 23" screen, on offer - yikes, Apple wont be getting me to switch from my Powerbook for a few years yet.

 

[ryanw]

Really? I never understood why people like winamp so much...

-Nathaniel

There is one thing I like about Winamp vs iTunes. I am a sound engineer and I listen to lots of different mixes of songs and other band songs and things that I will listen to ONCE or a few times and then delete the files. When I use iTunes it puts the songs into my Library by default. I don't have iTunes COPY THE FILE into the library, but it still leaves an entry in the library for the song I listened to a few times, then deleted it. As far as AAC/PROTECTED FILES, I don't ever listen to those once and delete them, so that's a different issue, but still having the option to using a different player is nice.

 

[Foocha]

Tangental question

Does anyone know what Web rendering engine iTMS uses on Windows - is it IE, or has Apple used WebCore?

 

[Daringescape]

Has anyone seen OSX on windows?

I came across a link earlier showing a guy installing OSX on a windows machine - has anyone else seen this??? is it a joke?

 

[dopefiend]

I came across a link earlier showing a guy installing OSX on a windows machine - has anyone else seen this??? is it a joke?

Nope, no joke.

Its the beginning of a great emulator 😀

http://pearpc.sourceforge.net

 

[micvog]

I am actually surprised Apple is doing this, because they have been so stubborn in the past with their technologies. Maybe Apple has learned a lesson?

My guess is this was part of the deal with HP. HP needs some way to tie the iPod/iTMS into the "Home Media" PC variant of WinXP and this will allow that.

 

[Azmordean]

32MB of memory? Yeah... that's a lot bigger than WinAmp, but in this day-and-age of ridiculous memory of 1GB or more, you pointing out the 32MB usage seems a bit trite.

It falls into the "who cares" category.

Not really, not on a PC. Macs are memory hogs, so it is standard to have a mac with 1GB + of memory. This is not the case on the PC however. I happen to have 1GB in my PC (I use both PC and Mac), but I am the only person who does. Most of my friends, even the high tech CS guys, tend to have 512MB in their home machines. 512 is more than enough for most tasks on a PC. When you use 512, the diff between 32mb and 5mb, while not huge, can be worth caring about. Also, iTunes is fine on Windows for things like playing music while working - but if you want to play music while gaming or something like that you are going to want a lighter player, like WinAMP.

 

[Azmordean]

If this SDK is going to help Windows software writers integrate iTunes into their photo apps etc, then as a shareholder I am not happy!!!!!! Apple should be inducing people to use Apple software on shiny new Apple Macs, not give the world yet another taste of the Mac experience on a PC.

Maybe Apple really are pushing iPods more than they let on. I just priced up a dual G5 2.0GHz and a 23" screen, on offer - yikes, Apple wont be getting me to switch from my Powerbook for a few years yet.

You, as a shareholder, should be happy. Personally, I think the future of Apple may be as a software company, ala Microsoft. Do you know how many people out there would use and pay for products like OS X if they ran on PC hardware? The potential market is enormous. Mac hardware, however, will always be a niche market. It is too pricey, you cant build it yourself, and it is not customizable enough. I think slowly, Apple will begin to market more and more of the "Mac experience" for PCs. Then when the time is right, Apple could conceivably strike, and take a large share of the OS market. This might be risky for Apple - but if the company is to grow and not stay RIGHT WHERE IT IS, eventually this need to happen.

Note, I am not saying Mac hardware needs to go away, but I think the software by itself is good enough that in the future Apple will be primarily a software producer, and make Mac hardware on the side for those people who want a particularly nice machine.

 

[Azmordean]

I think it comes down to habit. I have PC-using friends who, prior to iTunes for Windows, would scoff at me using iTunes and its built-in mp3 database (and playlists, etc...). They would, by contrast, use Winamp to play mp3s, and the Windows filesystem to organize them. So when they were ready to listen to music, they would navigate to the music in the filesystem, and right click on it, and select "Add to Winamp" (or some such thing.)

Ugh. To each his or her own, I guess. Their jaws do drop when I type an artist, album or song title in the "search" field and instantly navigate to that entry, however...maybe we'll get some converts yet.

Well, I love iTunes too, but it does have some features I dont like.

1) I HATE how it organizes stuff on its own. Thus, I turn off the auto organization, and keep my own organization system (using the file system to organize as I see fit) and then just add the songs to the library.

2) You can't change how the silly thing names files. Is naming a music file in the format Artist - Song REALLY too much to ask? Is wanting the name of the freaking artist in the filename that uncommon of a desire that Apple shouldn't bother to support it?

3) You can't play anything without adding it to the library. When I download some cheesy joke mp3 file, that isnt music, I dont want it in my library. I want to play it once, and thats it. WinAMP does this. iTunes on the other hand INSISTS on adding EVERYTHING you ever play to your library, including IP addresses for streaming. The default action should be to just play something - adding to the library should be done more deliberately.

4) iTunes tuner service sucks, it doesn't come up with hardly any of the available internet radio stations out there. WinAMP does a much better job here.

 

[7on]

Well, I love iTunes too, but it does have some features I dont like.

1) I HATE how it organizes stuff on its own. Thus, I turn off the auto organization, and keep my own organization system (using the file system to organize as I see fit) and then just add the songs to the library.

2) You can't change how the silly thing names files. Is naming a music file in the format Artist - Song REALLY too much to ask? Is wanting the name of the freaking artist in the filename that uncommon of a desire that Apple shouldn't bother to support it?

3) You can't play anything without adding it to the library. When I download some cheesy joke mp3 file, that isnt music, I dont want it in my library. I want to play it once, and thats it. WinAMP does this. iTunes on the other hand INSISTS on adding EVERYTHING you ever play to your library, including IP addresses for streaming. The default action should be to just play something - adding to the library should be done more deliberately.

4) iTunes tuner service sucks, it doesn't come up with hardly any of the available internet radio stations out there. WinAMP does a much better job here.

Quicktime is the player and iTunes is the organizer. And to solve your problems with #1 and #2, just ignore the file directory. Whether it be Explore or Finder I've never went into m iTunes/iTunes Music folder ever. So the file naming is of no importance to me. When I want to use a file in an app other than itunes, I drag the song out of itunes and onto the desktop, rather than searching for it in the FInder.

 

[denm316]

Well, I love iTunes too, but it does have some features I dont like.

1) I HATE how it organizes stuff on its own. Thus, I turn off the auto organization, and keep my own organization system (using the file system to organize as I see fit) and then just add the songs to the library.

2) You can't change how the silly thing names files. Is naming a music file in the format Artist - Song REALLY too much to ask? Is wanting the name of the freaking artist in the filename that uncommon of a desire that Apple shouldn't bother to support it?

3) You can't play anything without adding it to the library. When I download some cheesy joke mp3 file, that isnt music, I dont want it in my library. I want to play it once, and thats it. WinAMP does this. iTunes on the other hand INSISTS on adding EVERYTHING you ever play to your library, including IP addresses for streaming. The default action should be to just play something - adding to the library should be done more deliberately.

4) iTunes tuner service sucks, it doesn't come up with hardly any of the available internet radio stations out there. WinAMP does a much better job here.

I totally agree here, I love iTunes, but as with any app it is not perfect and there will always be little things which you wish it did or did not do, I see this as a positive, before I switched about a year ago, I used WinAmp as a player and had all my *.mp3's organized in the File System(Singer - Song), there are still people that like this and that is what would make this a good idea for Apple.

I would also like this to enable the use of AAC files to Media Center PC's, In all honestly I would rather see Apple come out with it's own Media Center device, but I doubt that will happen.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Really? I never understood why people like winamp so much...

-Nathaniel

It was the one of the first and most popular mp3 players for Windows. It was popular for the interface and tiny footprint on the screen. And it was free.

 

[usarioclave]

Macs are ram hogs?

Macs are memory hogs, so it is standard to have a mac with 1GB + of memory. This is not the case on the PC however. I happen to have 1GB in my PC (I use both PC and Mac), but I am the only person who does. Most of my friends, even the high tech CS guys, tend to have 512MB in their home machines. 512 is more than enough for most tasks on a PC.

Wow, what planet are you from? Most of the good PC games require at least 768MB of -free- RAM as well as a pretty kick-ass video card.

512MB is more than enough for most Macs, too.

Funny, heavy PC users always have to find a negative about macs. Before they were too expensive. Now they're memory hogs. Next thing you know, they'll be saying Macs are more insecure than windows - oh wait!

 

[jholzner]

As they have now implemented a WMA to AAC converter, that seems a non-issue. Further, Apple has nothing to do with preventing other music stores from using AAC or FairPlay DRM. While the implementation of FairPlay may be proprietary, other music stores are free to license the technology and create their own implementation (which iTunes would then be unable to play, unless Apple paid for rights to access them).

Real wanted to use FairPlay but Apple said no. If it was so simple to liscense it why didn't Real just do it? I think Apple created FairPlay, or have exclusive rights to it...otherwise real would have jumped on the bandwagon.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Real wanted to use FairPlay but Apple said no. If it was so simple to liscense it why didn't Real just do it? I think Apple created FairPlay, or have exclusive rights to it...otherwise real would have jumped on the bandwagon.

That's simple. Real brought nothing to the table. Apple right now is the leader in Online Music. Their partnerships need to be with companies like HP to carry iTues. Fairplay needs to be extended to playback devices like El Gato Eyehome, Roku Soundbridge, Phatnoise Phatbox etc. Partnering with Real would simply add a competitor to the table to eat from Apples feast without bringing some food themselves.

 

[ThomasW]

OOO a shiny 10 bucks to the person who can get me to be able to play my iTunes AAC's through WinAmp!! 🙂 I sure do miss WinAmp!

Windows users are not just getting this ability with the new iTunes COM interface. Windows applications could always use Quicktime to play the FairPlay AACs, just like applications on Mac OS X. And by the way, half a year ago, I have written a plugin for Winamp that plays back the iTunes MusicStore AACs. You can download it here:

http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=137828

I'll tell you my email address so that you can send me $10 via paypal 😀

 

[YWN]

Checked the SDK out a little bit, not very experienced... but as far as I know is the SDK actually an COM interface to iTunes, just like applescript. So I doubt you could actually can do anything funneh with it standalone, since you still need to have iTunes actually open to use it... Have been able to get an VB app to work as an alarm clock, and currently trying to build it in VC++ (so that u don't need runtime files for VB). I Actually think this is a progress, I missed the ability to actually have an alarm clock for iTunes.

But, I haven't seen an command that was actually able to do something outside iTunes... So great stuff this. And euhm, yes it requires 4.5 to actually run!

If somebody is interested in getting one of the alarmclock programs, I got it in Perl, VB and VC++ (partially)... so pm me 😀

###Crap, ThomasW was just a lil faster as me 😀###

 

[nuckinfutz]

Wow, what planet are you from? Most of the good PC games require at least 768MB of -free- RAM as well as a pretty kick-ass video card.

512MB is more than enough for most Macs, too.

Funny, heavy PC users always have to find a negative about macs. Before they were too expensive. Now they're memory hogs. Next thing you know, they'll be saying Macs are more insecure than windows - oh wait!

LOL no doubt. Jahutch here's a nice quote that you should probably take to heart. " It is better to remain silent and be thought of as a fool rather than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"

 

[jayscheuerle]

I don't understand

Well, I love iTunes too, but it does have some features I dont like.

1) I HATE how it organizes stuff on its own. Thus, I turn off the auto organization, and keep my own organization system (using the file system to organize as I see fit) and then just add the songs to the library.

2) You can't change how the silly thing names files. Is naming a music file in the format Artist - Song REALLY too much to ask? Is wanting the name of the freaking artist in the filename that uncommon of a desire that Apple shouldn't bother to support it?

Why do you ever have to go into the iTunes library to see how it organizes or names your songs? You can drag and drop them out of iTunes. You can change how they're named in iTunes. I have 37 gigs of mp3s and have NEVER had to go into the iTunes library to deal with them.

Am I missing something or is this just a control issue?

 

[jayscheuerle]

Macs are memory hogs, so it is standard to have a mac with 1GB + of memory.

We have 9 production artists/designers here on Macs (down from a high of 12) and nobody has ever had a GB of memory. I think I have the most at 640MB, but I'm the only one running OSX.