iTunes Windows - First Impressions

[Marlon_JBT]

iTunes

iTunes works perfectly on my family's Windows XP machine. CD Burning works, music sharing (streaming) works over my network, it installed correctly, but kept nagging me to restart.

The XP machine is a PIII 533MHz, with 192MB of RAM, 11MB is shared with video. It takes a long time to start up, but it works perfectly.

The scroll bars are tradition al windows style though, but looks just like the Aqua interface.

 

[GulGnu]

Re: Knowledge base articles?

Originally posted by xtekdiver
Sounds strangly familiar. Why is it Windows users have to have a library of knowledge base articles to help use anything? Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that they are getting the chance to use a great Apple app, but I really feel sorry for those poor souls that have to suffer with that OS. Maybe iTunes will help generate more interest in OS X from the Wintel crowd. They just don't know what they are missing.

There are knowledge base articles available for the Mac too. =P I know, I used em, and like most of apple's stuff, they are good - with videos and everything =)

 

[VicMacs]

happy future-switching!

don't wait out to buy a mac! now is a great time to get out of the winblows world!

i hope itunes finnally convinces all that a computer shouldnt be hard to use

 

[eric67]

Re: a little thin

Originally posted by iPC
The EU is to blame for the lack of iTMS for Europe. Got a nice mix of EU laws, country specific laws, and of course generic international trade laws.

yep, you should carefully read what I have written at the end of my post, I basically agree with you regarding the lack of iTMS in Europe being Europe's fault... different countries with different regulations...that's where is the problem

 

[JoeRadar]

Re: 40MB RAM

Originally posted by F/reW/re
yepp, iTunes uses 40MB RAM, thats alot!

I wonder if iTunes for Windows also includes a lot of Cocoa (WebKit?) and Quartz code?

Once upon a time developers could bring their apps to Windows because NeXT had ported the foundations (DPS and OpenStep) to it. I wonder if Apple followed a similar strategy for iTunes.

I also remember hearing how a lot of the Mac toolkit was ported to x86 to help bring Quicktime to Windows.

Probably just a conspiracy theory.

 

[SeaFox]

Re: Re: Files renamed

Originally posted by arn
There's a preference to change this behavior.

Try unchecking "Advanced->Keep iTunes Music Folder organized"

arn

Far easier thing: when iTunes asks if you want to import your songs into its library, say "no".

I find it a little annoying I now have two separate music libraries with iTunes' library within a library. I suppose I could just redefine the iTunes music folder as My "My Music" folder. But I'd like to keep purchased music separate from the other tracks, and I suppose keeping AAC and MP3 separate is good, but I haven't decided if I'll start ripping to AAC or keep using mp3.

Does anyone know where you submit bug reports? I have one that's a real problem for me.

 

[SeaFox]

Re: Re: euh...well wrong example, but you are right

Originally posted by gwangung
Um, no. Gates' philanthropic behavior is..well, philanthropic. By itself, his world health giving shows that [and we're talking billions of dollars here.....].

Take a look at the distribution of his gifts and grants...might be surprised by where they go...and how many of them are out there.

Actually, the large donations Bill Gates makes now are a recent development. For many years he donated only about $500,000 to charities (and this was a guy worth $38 billion). But people started to notice this and complain in the medis whever he did one of his big-show press events where he donated twenty-five or fifty grand to something.

 

[MasterMac]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Hmmm, iSmile

Originally posted by MorganX
The iRiver HP120 is one reason why. I suppose I understand why Apple doesn't want to support WMA. Not just from a music store perspective, but iTunes is the best Jukebox/Music Library Management/Audio CD Burning/Music ARchiving software/interface available.

By allowing it to work with WMA, iTunes would benefit all portable audio hardware and would not be a major marketing item for the iPod. If the HP120 could manage it's music with free iTunes, it would give iPod sales to PC owners a run for it's money which it may do anyway.

To be honest, if not for iTunes Windows, I'd probably switch. I planned on getting and HP120 for Christmas, but iTunes+iPod is just too good. I have to be loyal even in the absence of WMA playback.

As a matter of fact, if we can get 192k AAC, I think I'll support it in the face of WMA momentum. Pioneers new optical streaming receiver supports WMA 9 and is advertised as such, but the good news for Apple, in the small print it supports AAC streaming. Bad news, it's in small print. Course the think costs $4k and is only in Japan right now, but it is the wave of the future.

If not the ability to play WMA's, then at least give it the built in ability to convert to MP3 or AAC then

 

[Digidesign]

It's strange. I cannot for the life of me access the iTunes Store.

It keeps telling me that I do not have enough memory, and that the Music Store has an error, please check back later.

My PC specs are ok, so I don't think it's my PC? Any ideas?

specs:
---
P4 2.4Ghz 800MHz FSB
1GB DDR RAM
WinXP
????

 

[tutubibi]

My take on iTunes Windows

I installed iTunes on Athlon 600MHz, 384 MB Win2000 SP3.

Installation went without glitch.
Performance is acceptable, browsing and playing is fast.
GUI is great looking but responsivnes (resizing is very slow) is not great. The same problem is mentioned in OSNews review. My video card is ATI AIW 32 MB VRAM.

I found one problem so far. My CD burner refused to recognize any UDF CD-RW disks after iTunes installation. After some investigation, I tracked problem down to conflict between GEAR libraries that (I assume) iTunes installed and uses to access CDs and Nero InCD (packet writing utility). Stoping GEAR's gearrec service and rebooting solved the problem.
I will probably submit this issue to Apple so hopefully they will come out with some way of having GEAR and Nero coexist. Even without GEAR, iTunes works fine (gives message at statup that CD drivers are not enabled).

Another anoyance is automatic startup of iPodService. Why have this started for people without iPod or those who do not intend to use Windows/iPod?

 

[trose]

I just briefly played with it for 10 mins at work yesterday.

Seemed very nice, interface was not butchered to be Windows-like.

Only thing I found akward was the rendering/resizing was much slower on an Athlon 2100+ than my Dual 867 G4.

On a positive note- All the Windows users I have talked to have been completely won over! One guy said he wen't from being rather resentfull of the service, to buying $100 in music that night! Even those who were advocating hate for purchasing music just yesterday while I was explaining iTunes to them!

Looking VERY VERY good on that front. Glad to see PC users accepting iTunes as a great app and bypassing their Anti-Apple attitudes.

 

[SeaFox]

I miss not being able to resize from any window edge like most Windows apps. And I have trouble resizing the small-size player from the ultra-compact view to the compact with display view.

It just doesn't move unless I sit with the mouse button held down on the drag widget for a few seconds before I start dragging.

On the "oh, cool!" side I discovered by accident that when the player is in compact size and the window is still active the scroll wheel on my mouse acts as a volume dial. Very handy. And one thing I couldn't do on the Mac without buying a third party mouse.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Re: happy future-switching!

Originally posted by VicMacs
don't wait out to buy a mac! now is a great time to get out of the winblows world!

i hope itunes finnally convinces all that a computer shouldnt be hard to use

People like you guys are the reason there aren't more switchers. The sanctimonious crap that pours forth from some, repeat some, Mac users drivers people away simply because they don't want to be associated with the "If it ain't Mac its crap" crowd. Whenever I talk to people and tell them that I'm interested in getting a Apple PowerBook they roll their eyes. I almost always have to append. "Trust me I'm not a fanatic" This is how Mac users are seen and while I’ve been highly impressed with the even handedness of the users on MacRumors every so often this kinda crap rears its ugly head. Does it happen in the Windows world as well? DUH. And I slap people down for doing it there too.

Look people. Windows 9x sucked collimating in windows ME that blows and sucks at the same time creating this weird noise that sounds like Gates getting an enema. And you thought that was your CD drive going bad! I’ve actually dreamt that I broke a windows ME CD and had gone on a wild postal rampage at MS slashing the throats of the programmers of ME. (Long story involving ME at our office.) Suffice it to say I would never do that but it was one of the more satisfying dreams I’ve ever had.
Windows NT, 2K, and XP are stable once you’ve tweak the OS. 5 systems in my PC world:
1 server running 2K Adv server, Its NEVER crashed.
2 laptops running 2K and XP, Neither have ever crashed.
2 desktops (one work) one crashed but that was due to me dinking with the motherboard's speaker causing it to draw more power then the mobo could handle. The other running 2K and Linux has NEVER crashed.
Get over it and get over yourselves. Like it or not Windows is a legit platform now. The slogan for Windows 2000 and XP should be

“It just works*”


*After putting about 2 hours of tweaking into it.

Security is another matter. Patches are another matter. Adding a simple firewall, using NAV, using Mozilla Firebird, and using something other then MS Lookout takes care of 90% of these problems. Honestly I fear the day that someone decides that the Mac would be a juicy target for a virus and spreads it via e-mail. A virus is nothing more then a program. If one clicks on something and runs it, it doesn't matter if you are in Windows or on a Mac. A virus will run. And the number of overconfident Mac users out there. *shakes head* Could be bad.
For those this does not apply to *bows* Forgive the rant. It wasn't meant for you. This kinda immature crap just bugs me. I’ve dealt with this crap since day one on the net. N64 vs. PS vs. Dreamcast. Palm vs. Pocket PC. in each case it gets old FAST.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by trose
On a positive note- All the Windows users I have talked to have been completely won over! One guy said he wen't from being rather resentfull of the service, to buying $100 in music that night! Even those who were advocating hate for purchasing music just yesterday while I was explaining iTunes to them!

I'm sitting at $47 so far since last afternoon and eyeing several albums. Its a very addictive service.

PS- I’ve been handing mini CD’s with the software out to the users of the office. I’m at 56 to far.

 

[trose]

w00t the same guy who was anti-payfordownload and spent $100 just ran to the store and bought an iPod on his lunch break!

Go Apple!

 

[gwangung]

Re: Re: Re: euh...well wrong example, but you are right

Originally posted by SeaFox
Actually, the large donations Bill Gates makes now are a recent development. For many years he donated only about $500,000 to charities (and this was a guy worth $38 billion). But people started to notice this and complain in the medis whever he did one of his big-show press events where he donated twenty-five or fifty grand to something.

Well, if you mean since he got married (back in the early 90s). He gave $10M or so to the University of Washington in 1990 or 1991....

But it's really a myth that he only gave when people complained; in the 1980s, he was giving $50K and $100K...you gotta remember that this was pre-stock run up.

 

[MorganX]

Originally posted by trose

On a positive note- All the Windows users I have talked to have been completely won over! One guy said he wen't from being rather resentfull of the service, to buying $100 in music that night! Even those who were advocating hate for purchasing music just yesterday while I was explaining iTunes to them!

Out of curiosity, is he an iPod owner or purchasing for pc playback and cd burning?

 

[a_kim]

sound enhancer (again)

I posted earlier, but it's buried by now.

Has anybody noticed any sound differences between playing their files on their mac and on their PC? I'm streaming songs from my mac laptop to my work PC, and it sounds... not as good. I'm using the same speakers that I used to hook up to my powerbook.

Most notably, when I turn on sound enhancer, the vocals almost disappear. This doesn't happen on my powerbook.

Anyone confirm or deny this behavior on their PC? Maybe it's just my setup?

 

[MorganX]

Re: Re: Re: euh...well wrong example, but you are right

Originally posted by SeaFox
Actually, the large donations Bill Gates makes now are a recent development. For many years he donated only about $500,000 to charities (and this was a guy worth $38 billion). But people started to notice this and complain in the medis whever he did one of his big-show press events where he donated twenty-five or fifty grand to something.

Does it matter when it started? It accelerated when he got married and had a kid.

How much is Jobs and the Apple board and shareholders giving away? Or do you only hold the "richest" individual you can identify to a high standard of philanthropy.

The fact that they are still "filthy rich" means no rich people are giving as much as they could. We would do well to get them all to give as much as Gates has.

 

[Muigleb]

as a windows user i think itunes works great. on hindsite i might have turned off the option for itunes to reoranize my music before i added it but i can get over that. the big issue i had was that it took 1.5 hrs to add all my song into the play list only to crash when it got to some old .mpu files i had in my folder, but after waiting another 1.5 hrs i spend the rest of the night playing with it and it works just like that mac version as far as i can see.

can wait for iphoto to come to pc since i dont want to give up all my hardware.

 

[MasterMac]

Originally posted by Muigleb
can wait for iphoto to come to pc since i dont want to give up all my hardware.

I don't think iPhoto (or any other iApps) will be going to Windows sorry

 

[abdul]

Re: Re: Re: iTunes Windows - First Impressions

Originally posted by artmc
There also appears to be some reported issues with iTunes for Windows and Norton Internet Security 2003 for Windows. Several users (myself included) are getting a message: Not enough memory. Now this is only happening when I try to access iTMS. So no buying audio till this is 'fixed' or a good workaround appears. Well I just have to use the Tibook for this !
Closing Norton ISec 2003 fixes this, but of course this leaves your machine vulnerable.

iTunes works *GREAT* other than this. Not sluggish, and the radio stations seem great. It is a bit more responsive than my Tibook G4 667, but not a lot more responsive.

My desktop is an Athlon 1.2GHz, 320 Meg RAM, 400Gig HD space. (I need more RAM, I know !)

I haven't tried to burn a CD yet, probably try it tonight.

dont mean to be funny but that could easily be a virus. i know people who work for isps and they had this virus a month or two ago

 

[a_kim]

Re: sound enhancer (again)

Originally posted by a_kim
I posted earlier, but it's buried by now.

Has anybody noticed any sound differences between playing their files on their mac and on their PC? I'm streaming songs from my mac laptop to my work PC, and it sounds... not as good. I'm using the same speakers that I used to hook up to my powerbook.

Most notably, when I turn on sound enhancer, the vocals almost disappear. This doesn't happen on my powerbook.

Anyone confirm or deny this behavior on their PC? Maybe it's just my setup?

Heh. I'm answering my own question just in case somebody had the same problem.

In Windows, you have to go to the control panel for Quicktime and change the Sound Out setting. Mine was set at some funky settings, but I changed them, and now everything sounds fine.

 

[1macker1]

Re: Re: Re: Re: euh...well wrong example, but you are right

I agree,and would like to know how much is Jobs giving?

Originally posted by MorganX
Does it matter when it started? It accelerated when he got married and had a kid.

How much is Jobs and the Apple board and shareholders giving away? Or do you only hold the "richest" individual you can identify to a high standard of philanthropy.

The fact that they are still "filthy rich" means no rich people are giving as much as they could. We would do well to get them all to give as much as Gates has.

 

[waynerj]

Alarm

One feature of MusicMatch that I liked that seems to be missing from iTunes for Windows is the ability to set it to start playing a pre-selected playlist at a certain time so it can be used as a customized alarm to wake up with in the morning. I wonder if anyone has come up with a way to make this work...