iTunes 8: HD TV Shows, Grid View, Genius Playlists, NBC

[PinkyMacGodess]

*snap*

I sure hope so. I was just surprised when I made a playlist off of a track from the Finding Nemo soundtrack and I got tracks from the soundtracks of movies like Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Fight Club etc. Not just one track of each. There were about 3 Hedwig tracks, 2 from Fight Club and 1 from Napoleon Dynamite. Just seems completely unrelated other than Genre. Maybe they just have more information about different genres than the ones I have been trying.

That would be quite a change if you are listening to Nemo and get something harder next. I began to understand the dislike some people have of the Shuffle in shuffle mode when I finished listening to a Brooks & Dunn track and went into Judas Priest's 'Hell Bent For Leather'... *SNAP* Wow, what a change. Granted, I put them both on the Shuffle. I guess I never thought about the possibilities of one following the other.

Other people just seem to have control issues and don't like the idea that a Shuffle can decide what they will listen to next... ;-)

 

[bobertoq]

I like the new visualizer and Genius! One thing I noticed about visualizer is it's not smooth or anti-anialised (spelled wrong, i know) but it's very awesome.

I wonder if we could ever get visualizer on the iPod? That would be cool.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I like the new visualizer and Genius! One thing I noticed about visualizer is it's not smooth or anti-anialised (spelled wrong, i know) but it's very awesome.

I wonder if we could ever get visualizer on the iPod? That would be cool.

I wonder if the old visualizer was hardware accelerated at all. It was never really really smooth/fast on this 1.8 GHz PowerMac with an ATI 9800 Pro, but now it crawls in iTunes 8 while the new visualizer, which appears way more complicated visually moves as smooth as can be. It's a little repetitive, though. I tried out the latest WinAmp on my PC a while back and it comes with an awesome visualizer that changes what it does every 30 seconds or so, which can help keep your attention a lot longer. I tend to tune out the new Apple one after a minute or two because it just keeps doing the same thing over and over with very little interaction with the music. There are no adjustment settings for it that I can tell either. Options are greyed out on the new one.

 

[bobertoq]

I really like the visualizer, again. I think it should about anti-anialized (spelled it wrong...) or hardware accelerated or something. I noticed that it was so pixelated.

Also, just an idea, make it interactive! I have used a Winamp visualizer where I could press buttons and certain things would happen. It could reset the visualizer, overlay certain effects, etc. Speed it up, slow it down, change colors and other cool things. I would really like that myself I played with it for hours. (err... well about 30 minutes)

 

[smartalic34]

I really like the visualizer, again. I think it should about anti-anialized (spelled it wrong...) or hardware accelerated or something. I noticed that it was so pixelated.

Also, just an idea, make it interactive! I have used a Winamp visualizer where I could press buttons and certain things would happen. It could reset the visualizer, overlay certain effects, etc. Speed it up, slow it down, change colors and other cool things. I would really like that myself I played with it for hours. (err... well about 30 minutes)

it IS interactive! press ? while in the visualizer to see all of the controls and options!

 

[RockTheGlobe]

iTunes has started putting the track number of songs ripped off CDs at the front of the file name... anyone know how to turn that off? That option seems to have disappeared in the preferences.

 

[MartiNZ]

OMG another disappeared preference! Hadn't noticed that one.

A quick Googling reveals

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1706604&tstart=0

 

[RockTheGlobe]

OMG another disappeared preference! Hadn't noticed that one.

A quick Googling reveals

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1706604&tstart=0

Thanks, MartiNZ! Also found the command to turn off the iTunes Store arrows in that thread, which had been annoying the crap out of me.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I just got a new JVC car stereo that can play iTunes encoded AAC files (not lossless though) from either a CD or a USB memory stick. I loaded up a 4GB Sony Micro drive and tried it out and so far I've found I've had no problems with any 256kbit encoded AAC music files from my CD collection or with MP3 files from various sources. However, when the player attempted to play a 256kbit iTunes Plus file that is supposedly DRM free ("Hey Now" by Crowded House), it stumbled big time. It started slowing down like a cassette player with a bad motor. It ONLY happens with that one track (which is the only music only track I've ever bought from the iTunes store and only because it was supposedly DRM free. I now have to wonder if the iTunes store doesn't have some kind of odd protection even on their iTunes Plus files. The same file plays fine in iTunes 8 and on my AppleTV and iPod Touch. One would assume Apple uses their own codecs to encode their iTunes Plus files so why would ones I made myself play fine and not one from their store?

 

[Mackilroy]

One would assume Apple uses their own codecs to encode their iTunes Plus files so why would ones I made myself play fine and not one from their store?

I've no clue why it doesn't work, but have you tried reencoding the file? (dumb to have to do that, yes, but it's merely a stopgap solution for now)

 

[Galley]

However, when the player attempted to play a 256kbit iTunes Plus file that is supposedly DRM free ("Hey Now" by Crowded House), it stumbled big time. It started slowing down like a cassette player with a bad motor. It ONLY happens with that one track (which is the only music only track I've ever bought from the iTunes store and only because it was supposedly DRM free. I now have to wonder if the iTunes store doesn't have some kind of odd protection even on their iTunes Plus files. The same file plays fine in iTunes 8 and on my AppleTV and iPod Touch. One would assume Apple uses their own codecs to encode their iTunes Plus files so why would ones I made myself play fine and not one from their store?

Apple does embed owner information in the file, but I don't see why the JVC would stumble on that.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I've no clue why it doesn't work, but have you tried reencoding the file? (dumb to have to do that, yes, but it's merely a stopgap solution for now)

I'm planning on trying that next. But it sure doesn't encourage me to buy more songs from the iTunes store in the future, iTunes Plus or not. Maybe I'll use Amazon's new store.