iTunes 4.9 NOW AVAILABLE!

[aswitcher]

Whats with this new iPod updater...

"iPod software update 2005-06-26 delivers iPod Software 1.2 for iPod with color display, iPod mini Software 1.4 for iPod mini and iPod Software 3.1 for iPod with Click Wheel
Integration with iTunes 4.9 for downloading and listening to podcasts"

 

[iMeowbot]

I do get the Podcast playlist, but all of my episodes from multiple podcasts are jumbled up in one disorganised playlist. Not very pleased with how Apple handled this. Why didn't all iPod models get the update with the CORRECT podcasting support? If it's a more technical hurdle for 3Gs, hopefully they'll find a way over it soon.

Fortunately it's still possible to drill down by artist/album, so it's livable for now.

I tried a work-around by attempting to set up smart playlists for each podcast, but the smart playlists can't even find the podcasts in the podcast section. If I manually move the episodes to the main library (by dragging from the podcast list to the library icon), then I can utilize the the smart playlists. But how convenient is that?

This seems to almost work, there does seem to be a bug. I managed to get one podcast working with smart playlists, but only one. Now I need to figure out exactly why that one worked

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Warnings?

Just updated and synced my iPod mini. And now when I look at the music on the iPod (through iTunes) I get some warnings (!) on a couple of my playlists (see attachment). If I ctrl/right-click I get an option to reset warnings. Does anybody know where those warnings came from (are they new to 4.9 or has they been there a while?) and more important: Where can I find out WHY the warnings are there? What is wrong with those playlists?

 

[Westside guy]

A poster on the jhymn forum reports that there are no problems with iTunes 4.9 and "scrubbed" (de-drm'ed) files. He did not test whether jhymn can still retrieve keys from Apple's keyserver.

BTW the (iods) atom mentioned earlier actually is required to be part of the AAC format. It has nothing to do with drm. If you do a google search, you'll see the general consensus was that while they initially thought that was the problem (regarding when iTunes 4.7.1 broke jhymn), it turned out to be a red herring.

NOTE: I am not advocating the removal of Apple's DRM wrapper. I'm just posting this information as an FYI.

 

[rt_brained]

do you really think that the podcasting interface on iTunes will be enough to encourage people to want to listen to podcasts, want to obtain them through iTunes, and want to buy an iPod to listen to them...? i think Apple is banking on a lot, here, if its putting all of its eggs in this basket, at least for this iTunes/iPod refresh.

The iTunes Podcasting interface will encourage many Podcast listeners to browse, search for and subscribe to Podcasts. The growing popularity of Podcasting itself will encourage more people to buy iPods.

I would hardly describe this, the latest iTunes/iPod refresh, a case of Apple putting all of its eggs in one basket. Remember, Podcasting was developed for use with the iPod, not the reverse.

The new iTunes Podcast interface is merely Apple's reaction to the growing popularity of Podcasting. Making iTunes the central distribution point for Podcasts is a benefit to the iPod/iTunes experience and the logical next step delivering Podcasting from fringe technology to everyday use. How Podcasting fares among consumers over the long term is anyone's guess—but any increase in iPod sales that results is merely gravy for Apple, as Podcasting wasn't even a blip on the initial iPod roadmap.

 

[acedickson]

All my audio in the same place now. So far I like it.

 

[JonHimself]

can't wait for the howard stern podcast

Hey you never know... if there's a deal with Sirius in the works it wouldn't be too far fetched. Although I'm sure that Howie would want to make some money off it... perhaps a Sirius subscription-based Podcast so you can catch your favorite Sirius programs any-time... Tivo-esque satellite radio? Wow... thats combining way too many things into one.. haha

 

[CubaTBird]

can't rate podcasts from within the ipod.. hmm

 

[crawdad62]

I agree you should be able to load Podcasts onto the iPod Shuffles, but I don't understand where you got this idea.

I'm not sure I understand you either You mean you don't understand why I'm having trouble with Podcasts and a Shuffle (which I think is just a no-go at the moment) or that I think Shuffles are made for Podcasting?

If you're talking about the latter I mean that most people are going to listen to a Podcast and get rid of it. You're probably not going to be listening to a tech. program a year from now like you would music. It'd be too much out of date. So you're really not going to be that interested in playlists, genre, etc. Listen to it and be done with it. Where as most people have iPod filled with stuff they keep. Shuffles are more or less (IMHO) listen and refill.

 

[rt_brained]

The Podcast page background page is fugly.
A bad violet, yikes.

For the record, Steve Jobs said they considered a number of backgrounds, including "A tan-colored repeating graphic wallpaper pattern, resembling the back of a playing card", but went with solid purple instead.

 

[feakbeak]

I'm not sure I understand you either You mean you don't understand why I'm having trouble with Podcasts and a Shuffle (which I think is just a no-go at the moment) or that I think Shuffles are made for Podcasting?

If you're talking about the latter I mean that most people are going to listen to a Podcast and get rid of it. You're probably not going to be listening to a tech. program a year from now like you would music. It'd be too much out of date. So you're really not going to be that interested in playlists, genre, etc. Listen to it and be done with it. Where as most people have iPod filled with stuff they keep. Shuffles are more or less (IMHO) listen and refill.

I was referring to your comment that the Shuffle was made for Podcasting. I was interpreting you comment literally and didn't understand it since while Podcasting was around when the Shuffle was launched it wasn't created specifically for Podcasting at all.

With your most recent post I now understand that you meant the typical usage of the iPod Shuffle fits the nature of how most people will listen to Podcasts - as you said, listen and refill. Thanks for clarifying - I was confused.

 

[50548]

Sorry, is it just me or you are also receiving that strange "your computer is not authorized to play blablabla.."?

I downloaded today an Inside Mac Radio podcast, tried to play it and got the msg above...what gives?

 

[M@netic]

question

how do you use iTunes to subscribe to a podcast not on the directory?

 

[polyesterlester]

ODEO

This is going to totally kill Odeo. But, so far, Odeo kind of sucks anyway. It seems like NOTHING is up to date.

 

[TrenchMouth]

Not sure about you guys, but I am eating podcasts up. lol

Engadget, MacCast, 2600, and Wired (when ever they get around to updating) are all on my list.

Anyone want to recommend a good morning show? I could use some political humor.

I have a 3G iPod and while it may not have the functionality of the newer models, I dont mind simply using the Podcast section in Genre section...easy enough for me.

 

[manu chao]

I wonder why the U2 iPod is thinner (0.57") than the regular 20G iPod (0.63"). Typo in the specs page?

Must be, either it is really 0.57'' thick but then will last only 12h or it is 0.63" thick and lasts 15h, with the latter being more likely.

 

[agentkow]

Sorry, is it just me or you are also receiving that strange "your computer is not authorized to play blablabla.."?

I downloaded today an Inside Mac Radio podcast, tried to play it and got the msg above...what gives?

I got this message too when trying to update my iPod with the New Music Tuesday podcast, and thought maybe it was just because I'm in Canada and it was an U.S. iTMS podcast, although I was on the Canadian store (it had the CBC and ehMac podcasts there too)...

Maybe just some first day glitch?

 

[Porchland]

Hmmmmm.....

I just got an error message copying a playlist to my 3G iPod 15 GB that a video clip could not be copied to "this iPod." Hmmmm.....

 

[gorkonapple]

I agree you should be able to load Podcasts onto the iPod Shuffles, but I don't understand where you got this idea.

I haven't tried loading Podcasts onto my Shuffle yet. I'm sure there is a way to do it but it may be inconvenient.

ONLY way that I figured out how to load podcasts to my shuffle was dragging it to the shuffle icon. One simple way they can fix this....give us the ability to incorporate podcasts into our smart playlists.

 

[yellow5]

When I try and download some podcasts it gives me an error and won't download.

For example, the Al Franken podcast won't download.

And even wierder, the Inside Mac podcast only the most recent one won't work, but all the rest do?

Any ideas?

 

[feakbeak]

ONLY way that I figured out how to load podcasts to my shuffle was dragging it to the shuffle icon. One simple way they can fix this....give us the ability to incorporate podcasts into our smart playlists.

You can: "Genre is Podcast". I've checked and some of my downloaded Podcasts have the genre set properly, but my Smart Playlist with that condition remains empty. Looks like iTunes 4.9 needs a little bit of refinement.

 

[Squozen]

Unfortunately, iTunes 4.9 isn't as feature-rich as I prefer. One of the main features I appreciate in iPodderX is the ability to convert podcasts to bookmarkable AAC. 4.9 does not appear to have that feature. Also, I've yet to see a Torrent-distributed podcast (such as TWiT) download properly. iPX also handles these.

I've sent feedback about this, and you should too.

 

[Poff]

I'm not sure I understand you either You mean you don't understand why I'm having trouble with Podcasts and a Shuffle (which I think is just a no-go at the moment) or that I think Shuffles are made for Podcasting?

If you're talking about the latter I mean that most people are going to listen to a Podcast and get rid of it. You're probably not going to be listening to a tech. program a year from now like you would music. It'd be too much out of date. So you're really not going to be that interested in playlists, genre, etc. Listen to it and be done with it. Where as most people have iPod filled with stuff they keep. Shuffles are more or less (IMHO) listen and refill.

So it's not just me, huh..? I can't understand why they blocked the shuffles.. I'll send them some feedback, and I hope a lot of others will. This is the only thing that may make them change their minds..

 

[Squozen]

OK, I'm totally whining here, but it would be nice if the podcast features distinguished among multiple iPods, i.e., I wish podcasting could tell the difference between my iPod and my wife's iPod mini. If it can, I'm not seeing it.

Should work fine if you use two user accounts like you're expected to. The iPod is an extension of the user account library, and the software expects that the user would want to listen to ALL their music on ALL their iPods. If you can't do that for whatever reason, fall back to separate playlists.

 

[Squozen]

The 3rd Generation iPod remains at 2.3, which is a shame. I can use podcasts, but they're lumped together with my music. Doesn't really help.

A resync should fix that. It did for my 3G.