Apple releases iTunes 12.7.4 with new Music Videos section

AppleInsider

Apple on Thursday issued a fresh version of iTunes with a new section for browsing and playing back music videos, bringing its desktop content repository up to speed with Apple Music for iOS.

The latest iTunes version 12.7.4 throws a spotlight on new, popular and exclusive music videos in a new section accessible from the Browse tab.

Similar to other Browse sections, music video selections are arranged as cards. Exclusive content, currently videos from A Tribe Called Quest and Beck, rate large cards at the top of the page, as do new playlists like "Today's Video Hits." Featured videos and a "Watch Now" sub category also appear in the top carousel.

Below the main highlights row is a section for new music videos. A dedicated video playlists bar is also included for browsing by genre, while users can manually add videos to their own playlists for back-to-back viewing.

iTunes now includes a new music video experience for Apple Music. Find what's new and popular in Muisc Videos with Browse, and play videos back-to-back with exclusive music video playlists.

The iTunes release comes on the heels of an update to Apple Music that delivered identical functionality to iOS device users. As with the iOS version, iTunes users looking to take advantage of the Music Videos section must be Apple Music subscribers.

iTunes version 12.7.4 is a free 223MB download from the Mac App Store.

fastasleep

I assume 12.6.3 is stuck in time? I think I'm going to kill it and move to Configurator for juggling apps and call it good.

bobolicious

Free to download, yet is killing 12.6.3 starting to look like facebook and google revenue models? Does Apple want to know which apps are on which devices every Apple owner uses...? Talk about needlessly increasing bandwidth consumption - I just say no... Does this echo some of the hardware deprecation too, like the quad core i7 minis that are selling for more than new ones when one can find one on eBay... To quote Oliver in Twist: 'Please sir may I have some... more...?'

edited March 2018

ascii

I am waiting for the version of iTunes that lets me stream 4K movies on my computer, similar to the Apple TV can do. But probably if/when it comes it will only work on Macs with a hardware H.265 decoder and some sort of DRM hardware, perhaps enabled by the embedded ARM CPU somehow.

fastasleep

bobolicious said:

Free to download, yet is killing 12.6.3 starting to look like facebook and google revenue models? Does Apple want to know which apps are on which devices every Apple owner uses...? Talk about needlessly increasing bandwidth consumption - I just say no... Does this echo some of the hardware deprecation too, like the quad core i7 minis that are selling for more than new ones when one can find one on eBay... To quote Oliver in Twist: 'Please sir may I have some... more...?'

How does iOS app management have anything to do with advertising revenue models or Mac mini?

You know you can update iTunes and then do app management with Configurator 2 instead? That's what I finally did, and it's fine. You can add .ipa files from your hard drive to a Blueprint, etc. You can rearrange your home screens with a tool that's miles better than the one in iTunes, which was the only reason I was clinging to 12.6.3 for a bit. Just upgraded iTunes and updated Configurator and will use it from now on instead.

Why are you so worried if they know which apps you have on your device? Pretty sure they know your app purchase history. If you're worried about black helicopters because you jailbroke your phone and sideloaded some app I'm pretty sure Apple doesn't give a fuck.

fastasleep

And speaking of Configurator 2, if anyone's curious I think they made some serious improvements to the home screen app layout editor — I remember the last version I tried being more or less as clunky as the iTunes app editor, but now it's pretty slick. Can select multiple apps and swipe to the last page of your apps quickly and drop stuff into an existing page or add a new one quickly, generally move stuff around much faster and more accurately than the iTunes editor ever allowed for, and MUCH easier than the last version of Configurator I tried. I *hated* the iTunes app layout editor and am really happy with the Configurator version now! 

And you can add apps from your hard drive and deploy Blueprints to all your devices or whatever weird stuff you're doing to manage your family's iOS stuff. 

Onward and upward with iTunes for me! Super stoked.

edited March 2018

viewfinder

I am too in that situation of being stuck for now with 12.6.3, although I'm using from time to time Configurator. The screen layout tool may be way better but more importantly on the apps front, I'm still searching for a page that shows my available updates. I can see all the ones installed through my account, I can install new ones from the Mac's drive but how do you GET the updated apps downloaded first ? C2 doesn't seem to take care of this part and the newer iTunes versions have abandoned the whole local managment of apps with the removal of the app store. All in all, C2 has a poor level of handling and is far less intuitive than iTunes, which itself is already on a very low level considering Apple's usual quest for "instruction-free" GUIs. Seems like the team(s) around every iPhone related tool have all immigrated from some obscure Microsoft labs. Apple is definitely not lucky with the zig zag course of iTunes, the way it stands today, even with Configurator on board, it's not pleasant anymore.

fastasleep

viewfinder said:

I am too in that situation of being stuck for now with 12.6.3, although I'm using from time to time Configurator. The screen layout tool may be way better but more importantly on the apps front, I'm still searching for a page that shows my available updates. I can see all the ones installed through my account, I can install new ones from the Mac's drive but how do you GET the updated apps downloaded first ? C2 doesn't seem to take care of this part and the newer iTunes versions have abandoned the whole local managment of apps with the removal of the app store. All in all, C2 has a poor level of handling and is far less intuitive than iTunes, which itself is already on a very low level considering Apple's usual quest for "instruction-free" GUIs. Seems like the team(s) around every iPhone related tool have all immigrated from some obscure Microsoft labs. Apple is definitely not lucky with the zig zag course of iTunes, the way it stands today, even with Configurator on board, it's not pleasant anymore.

Huh? There's an "Update" button front and center in the tool bar, you literally can't miss it. Or, if you want to see more info, double-click on your device to see all your details, go the Apps tab which shows you how many updates are available before updating, and app icons have "Update" flags on them to indicate which updates are available. You can select "All apps" or "Only some apps" and then uncheck the ones you don't want to update. I don't know how you could've missed any of this. It's all documented:

https://help.apple.com/configurator/mac/2.5/#/cad789a3f0bd

sophiajones

Music videos can be added to a music video playlist so you can watch multiple videos in a row.