I downloaded iTunes 8 and my first impressions are that it hasn't changed much except for the genius feature and the search interface with the cover art, but I actually don't like that feature very well. Maybe I'm just not used to it, but it feels more difficult to search for and play a group of songs.
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iTunes 8 Interface: First Impressions?
- Thread starter BoulderBum
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I've noticed that you cannot randomize your songs if you're under the new grid view. I really dislike that. Otherwise, not such a great upgrade. Disappointed.
I don't like that either, but otherwise, I really love the grid view.
It's convenient because now I can work on collecting more album images, lol.
Yeah the cover art search thing is pretty limiting, and yet again I will ignore the new visual enhancements to iTunes. They do keep mixing things up which I don't really care about, because in the end I always end up in List view again cause it really is the quickest way around. New Visualizer is neat.
Grid View didn't blow me away either. I already have Cover Flow, why do I need a Grid that shows me the same thing? Besides, List view has worked fine all this time.
Completely sucks other than helping me get album art for everything - which I wouldn't have to do if iTunes wasn't brain-dead.
iTunes 8
I like the new interface and I believe that iTunes is now quicker and less sluggish in general.
I like the new interface and I believe that iTunes is now quicker and less sluggish in general.
I would like to see gesture integration into the album grid view. Even though it is a small thing, its like second nature to use three-finger swipe to go back and forward. And when you go into an album or artist, it would be awesome if you three-finger swipe back and go back to all albums or artists. I dunno, it might be that I'm just lazy like that. But I find that the new grid view is more like surfing the web, and its just not the same without the gestures.
I wasn't expecting to like Grid View but it's actually really sleek and convenient.
I was in the Podcasts and I noticed a great addition: you can now have different settings for each podcast. It allows you to set the download and retention settings for each individual podcast instead of having a blanket setting for all the podcasts with only the ability to turn off and on auto-delete. This is SO helpful for me because some of my podcasts I keep forever and the other ones I delete after listening to them. Now it does it automatically, sooo convenient!
I was in the Podcasts and I noticed a great addition: you can now have different settings for each podcast. It allows you to set the download and retention settings for each individual podcast instead of having a blanket setting for all the podcasts with only the ability to turn off and on auto-delete. This is SO helpful for me because some of my podcasts I keep forever and the other ones I delete after listening to them. Now it does it automatically, sooo convenient!
I think it's pretty nice. It's gotten me motivated to properly tag all my songs with the right genres.
Ditto. And forget about using the fancy new visualizer. Looks like it's time to upgrade the RAM.
On the Mac. Browse your library with the new Grid view for an hour or so and take a look at the Activity Monitor. My iMac had 500 mb of real memory being used by iTunes.
Again, another reason why I never ever use any view other than list.
I liked the old Grid(middle view choice) which was list grouped by Album with art. That hasn't entirely gone away as you can still go into an Artist and maybe a Genre and see all the songs listed like that. But you can't see your whole library that way. I do like the new Grid view/iPhoto Event style scrolling. I like that you can see all your albums or artists and scroll over artists to see all the album art for that artist, as well as set which album you want as the default.
Music Videos really messes it up. They really need a separate source item for Music Videos like they do for Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, etc.
I personally really never use Cover Flow for Albums, with 8000+ songs on an Aluminum iMac 2.8Ghz with 4GB RAM it still takes a while to load artwork and if you scroll too fast you have to wait for it to catch up. Plus there are just tooooo many. Cover Flow is great for me for my 200 Movies. But I do also like the new grid view for Movies with the Genres (with Apple's Genre Artwork) and scrolling over it shows you all the movies. They really need some sort of Icon based grid for navigating to and selecting movies from on the Apple TV interface. I would love a grid of Genres that I could then select one to go to the list.
Music Videos really messes it up. They really need a separate source item for Music Videos like they do for Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, etc.
I personally really never use Cover Flow for Albums, with 8000+ songs on an Aluminum iMac 2.8Ghz with 4GB RAM it still takes a while to load artwork and if you scroll too fast you have to wait for it to catch up. Plus there are just tooooo many. Cover Flow is great for me for my 200 Movies. But I do also like the new grid view for Movies with the Genres (with Apple's Genre Artwork) and scrolling over it shows you all the movies. They really need some sort of Icon based grid for navigating to and selecting movies from on the Apple TV interface. I would love a grid of Genres that I could then select one to go to the list.
When you download TV shows in HD, you get an SD and and HD copy.
I wish that iTunes hid this from you so that you only see one copy in the library, and it automatically used the correct one.
Incidentally, I'd also like it to have this functionality with songs (the ability to have a ALAC and AAC version of the same song, but only "see" one of them in iTunes and have iTunes manage the metadata and ratings identically for the 2 copies.
Generally, a system where a "pc-quality" and "iPod-quality" version of the same media file are on the system, but made transparent by iTunes.
I really thought this was going to be a part of iTunes when I saw that HD downloads included an iPod version too :-(
I wish that iTunes hid this from you so that you only see one copy in the library, and it automatically used the correct one.
Incidentally, I'd also like it to have this functionality with songs (the ability to have a ALAC and AAC version of the same song, but only "see" one of them in iTunes and have iTunes manage the metadata and ratings identically for the 2 copies.
Generally, a system where a "pc-quality" and "iPod-quality" version of the same media file are on the system, but made transparent by iTunes.
I really thought this was going to be a part of iTunes when I saw that HD downloads included an iPod version too :-(
Very Good Point
Likewise - Podcasts can now be sorted in grid view by Category, but you cannot edit Podcast Categories like you can Genre and most everything else.
Seems to be like a better release of iTunes...not too buggy. Grid view is pretty nice, doesn't seem like it is too useful though. Genius features are great for rediscovering my library...finding songs I havent listened to in a long time but used to love. Visualizer runs great...pretty nice. Havent seen any lag/performance issues, but on my 2.4 MBP it better run good!
I never used the visualizer in iTunes. Probably never will since I listen to podcasts 80% of the time.
Well and the album cover view didn't blew me away. In fact I find it pretty annoying. I prefer list view or cover flow. I switch back to cover flow for "Music", "TV Shows" and "Podcasts".
I had no time to test the genius though.
Well and the album cover view didn't blew me away. In fact I find it pretty annoying. I prefer list view or cover flow. I switch back to cover flow for "Music", "TV Shows" and "Podcasts".
I had no time to test the genius though.
I like the new grid view. Coverflow is nice, but once the album finishes it goes to the next one, unless you narrow the albums using the search box. Now I can just pick an album to play, or an artist, or genre, by just clicking on the album cover. I find that very convenient. You could also do that using the browser mode in list view, but this is much nicer than going through a text list. iTunes 8 is also faster at displaying album art in coverflow. Previously, it had to load the art everytime I went to that view, and it did it slowly, but now it's instantaneous. And this is on a 1GHz G4 iBook. iTunes 8 gets my positive vote.
I like to be up-to-date and compatible, so I'm going to keep it, but definitely don't like it as much as I thought it'd be. I don't like the way Grid view works - if you search for an album, click in the album, and go back to the list of albums, you see ALL the albums again and your search is gone...
Ever since Coverflow was introduced, it has been my primary way to view my albums, and it shall stay like that.
And I DESPISE the forced links to the iTunes Store - give us back the option to turn them off!
The only thing that makes the upgrade worth it, it's the Genius feature. I'm having a lot of fun with the Genius feature, although I also looked at it with concern over privacy issues.
Ever since Coverflow was introduced, it has been my primary way to view my albums, and it shall stay like that.
And I DESPISE the forced links to the iTunes Store - give us back the option to turn them off!
The only thing that makes the upgrade worth it, it's the Genius feature. I'm having a lot of fun with the Genius feature, although I also looked at it with concern over privacy issues.
What do you mean? If I search for an album in grid view, click on the album and play a song, when I go back to see All Albums, my search is still active and it displays exactly the same albums. I can switch to any other view, list or coverflow, and the search is still active and the same.