The release of iTunes 9 arrived with what appears to be with components at a stage of work in progress.
It leads me to believe that we may see iTunes X much sooner than we expect. Remember, iTunes 5 lasted just over a month before being upgraded to iTunes 6
Take the new "Update to iTunes Media Organization under "Organize Library". This was clearly a way to finally recognize that iTunes isn't just about music any more and that TV Shows, Movies, Podcasts and Audiobooks don't belong under a single "Music Library" folder.
The measure was only partially implemented because these new folders still reside under one called "iTunes Music" which in turn is under the user's "Music" folder. Sorting into different folders doesn't really do much for the end user since this feature is for users with managed libraries which is supposed to be transparent to the user.
The intent here seems to be to segregate different types of media into their own folders in preparation for something larger.
Currently, the problem of GB sized video files swamping a laptop's HDD hasn't been solved by this, yet it seems that with the new folder organization it can. With folders for each media type, the opportunity is there to select an external HDD as the location for the larger media types.
I think Apple is waiting to announce the availability of streaming video where your TV Shows and Movies are stored in the cloud and then streamed to any iTunes device (Mac, PC, iPhone, tv). Apple probably isn't ready to take this online as it's a huge undertaking, one that will tax their existing servers so they need to prepare for the resulting massive new demand in bandwidth (they mysteriously bought up huge server space recently).
Another glaring omission from iTunes 9 is Cocoa 64bit. Apple practically warned developers @ WWDC09 that Carbon will be phased out and the introduction of Snow Leopard begins the ticking of the clock. They asked developers to port their apps to Cocoa and even teased developers into not wanting to be that one app that's not Cocoa. Why would Apple release iTunes in Carbon right after Snow Leopard, an OS with all the major apps re-written in Cocoa?
They had their September event looming and a bunch of iPod nanos with cameras and new colours wasn't going to cut it on the excitement factor. iTunes 9 with a redesigned iTunes Store, iTunes LP and Movie Extras took the spotlight.
I think we'll see a new media event shortly focusing on an iTunes video cloud where the underlying work in progress will come to fruition in the launch of iTunes X, fully in Cocoa 64bit and leveraging the power of QuickTime X (which can play more formats, while iTunes still cannot). This focus on video could be the opportunity to launch a new tv that will take advantage of iTunes' new features -- Movie extras not being on tv is yet another shortfall hinting at an impending upgrade.
I expect iTunes X to arrive in less than 6 months, although that would be already too long considering what was left to do in iTunes 9.
It leads me to believe that we may see iTunes X much sooner than we expect. Remember, iTunes 5 lasted just over a month before being upgraded to iTunes 6
Take the new "Update to iTunes Media Organization under "Organize Library". This was clearly a way to finally recognize that iTunes isn't just about music any more and that TV Shows, Movies, Podcasts and Audiobooks don't belong under a single "Music Library" folder.
The measure was only partially implemented because these new folders still reside under one called "iTunes Music" which in turn is under the user's "Music" folder. Sorting into different folders doesn't really do much for the end user since this feature is for users with managed libraries which is supposed to be transparent to the user.
The intent here seems to be to segregate different types of media into their own folders in preparation for something larger.
Currently, the problem of GB sized video files swamping a laptop's HDD hasn't been solved by this, yet it seems that with the new folder organization it can. With folders for each media type, the opportunity is there to select an external HDD as the location for the larger media types.
I think Apple is waiting to announce the availability of streaming video where your TV Shows and Movies are stored in the cloud and then streamed to any iTunes device (Mac, PC, iPhone, tv). Apple probably isn't ready to take this online as it's a huge undertaking, one that will tax their existing servers so they need to prepare for the resulting massive new demand in bandwidth (they mysteriously bought up huge server space recently).
Another glaring omission from iTunes 9 is Cocoa 64bit. Apple practically warned developers @ WWDC09 that Carbon will be phased out and the introduction of Snow Leopard begins the ticking of the clock. They asked developers to port their apps to Cocoa and even teased developers into not wanting to be that one app that's not Cocoa. Why would Apple release iTunes in Carbon right after Snow Leopard, an OS with all the major apps re-written in Cocoa?
They had their September event looming and a bunch of iPod nanos with cameras and new colours wasn't going to cut it on the excitement factor. iTunes 9 with a redesigned iTunes Store, iTunes LP and Movie Extras took the spotlight.
I think we'll see a new media event shortly focusing on an iTunes video cloud where the underlying work in progress will come to fruition in the launch of iTunes X, fully in Cocoa 64bit and leveraging the power of QuickTime X (which can play more formats, while iTunes still cannot). This focus on video could be the opportunity to launch a new tv that will take advantage of iTunes' new features -- Movie extras not being on tv is yet another shortfall hinting at an impending upgrade.
I expect iTunes X to arrive in less than 6 months, although that would be already too long considering what was left to do in iTunes 9.
