Claims renew iTunes 8 expectations, slate iPhone 2.1 for event
Despite some expectations to the contrary, iTunes 8 is now allegedly a lock for Apple's "Let's Rock" special event and may come with new iPhone firmware that packs surprises of its own.
Ars Technica recants its previous doubts and now says its beliefs that iTunes 8 would miss the September 9th Apple gathering were "unwarranted."
Moreover, it also says that much of Kevin Rose's predicted feature set is also true. The earlier leak pointed to a Genius auto-playlist feature as well as support for a second-generation iPod classic and the expected iPod nano and touch upgrades.
The revised outlook also has the surprise news that Apple may not only announce its known iPhone 2.1 firmware update but release it at the event itself. At a minimum, the software is known to sport the background push notification feature for third-party apps as well as directional GPS that could lead to more advanced navigation.
As a further surprise, Apple could additionally include more features than what it has revealed ahead of time, Ars says. Similar to Apple's frequent practice of keeping larger feature updates out of Mac OS X beta builds to avoid spoiling major introductions, the alleged sources say the company has deliberately stripped out important features from iPhone 2.1 betas seeded to developers to save them for a higher-profile debut.
What these new features may be is still very much unknown, although Apple in an unusual move had removed push notification in one of its last developer betas. The company is said to sometimes remove features or to halt build seeds outright to focus on internal development.
Ars has been historically reliable regarding iTunes-related leaks.
Ars Technica recants its previous doubts and now says its beliefs that iTunes 8 would miss the September 9th Apple gathering were "unwarranted."
Moreover, it also says that much of Kevin Rose's predicted feature set is also true. The earlier leak pointed to a Genius auto-playlist feature as well as support for a second-generation iPod classic and the expected iPod nano and touch upgrades.
The revised outlook also has the surprise news that Apple may not only announce its known iPhone 2.1 firmware update but release it at the event itself. At a minimum, the software is known to sport the background push notification feature for third-party apps as well as directional GPS that could lead to more advanced navigation.
As a further surprise, Apple could additionally include more features than what it has revealed ahead of time, Ars says. Similar to Apple's frequent practice of keeping larger feature updates out of Mac OS X beta builds to avoid spoiling major introductions, the alleged sources say the company has deliberately stripped out important features from iPhone 2.1 betas seeded to developers to save them for a higher-profile debut.
What these new features may be is still very much unknown, although Apple in an unusual move had removed push notification in one of its last developer betas. The company is said to sometimes remove features or to halt build seeds outright to focus on internal development.
Ars has been historically reliable regarding iTunes-related leaks.
Comments
Would it be completely off to expect a music rental similar to what they do with movies, e.g. rent an album for a month and then buy the PLUS version somewhat cheaper or dump it?
Regarding the iPhone update:
Instead of more new features, how about more consistent, day-in-day-out stability?
Thanks...
My other most wanted feature is video playlists. People have been asking for this for 3 years.
My most-wanted feature in iTunes 8 is the ability to transcode tracks on the fly for any iPod, not just the shuffle. 6GB of lossless files is only about 15 albums.
This has been my most-wanted feature too since the iPod Nano was released. I really don't understand why it's still not there. I could fit so much more music on my iPhone.
My other most wanted feature is video playlists. People have been asking for this for 3 years.
The feature came out when the 512MB "gumpack" Shuffle was released. It made sense then. Having iTunes convert up to 32GB of audio to play at 128Mbps AAC from whatever bitrate and codec you are using seems a bit much.
If your liTunes library is Apple Lossless then storage space shouldn't be an issue for you or you wouldn't be saving your audio in such a space consuming format. iTunes makes it easy to convert your audio to whatever format and bitrate you desire. Set it in Preferences and then right click on the audio to change it.
I want the Maps app up full-time while driving, so it doesn't go away when I skip tracks with my Griffin iTrip Autopilot.
While we're on the subject of minor features...
If your liTunes library is Apple Lossless then storage space shouldn't be an issue for you or you wouldn't be saving your audio in such a space consuming format. iTunes makes it easy to convert your audio to whatever format and bitrate you desire. Set it in Preferences and then right click on the audio to change it.
I think the point is that some people want to have pure lossless quality at home and for their "master library," while using compression on the go for the sake of having more music.
They want BOTH formats for different uses--as can be done with the Shuffle in a very nice automatic way.
Makes sense to me.
The feature came out when the 512MB "gumpack" Shuffle was released. It made sense then. Having iTunes convert up to 32GB of audio to play at 128Mbps AAC from whatever bitrate and codec you are using seems a bit much.
If your liTunes library is Apple Lossless then storage space shouldn't be an issue for you or you wouldn't be saving your audio in such a space consuming format. iTunes makes it easy to convert your audio to whatever format and bitrate you desire. Set it in Preferences and then right click on the audio to change it.
I don't want to deal with two copies of everything.
But honestly, after the new iPhone, Leopard, mobileme, etc., all I really, really want is Steve to get on Stage and say they're finally releasing updates which just ACTUALLY WORK.
Apple's habit of shipping beta software and hardware is getting utterly pathetic.
And options to turn it on or off, set the beep type, the snooze time, and include this for for email and SMS too. Am I asking too much? Why should I have to ask my phone if it has any messages for me if I'm away when a call comes in? It's a smart phone damnit, so it should act like one.
I don't want to deal with two copies of everything.
But you are if you want iTunes to convert your audio for a 160GB iPod classic, 32GB Touch, etc. You don't have to deal with the copy in your library, but you'll have to deal with the conversion process of potentially thousands of songs. I'm not saying I don't agree with your stance, but Apple worka to make this easiest for the majority, not the technically inclined minority. If they haven't done it yet when capacity keeping growing then I don't think they will do it now.
I can picture it now, new feature in iPhone 2.1 breaks something in alot of users computers, apple ignores the issue for a month, then abruptly posts iPhone 2.1.1 which attempts to fix the issue which would have been found if they just tested it with their developers rather than keep it underwraps.
Another Apple Class Action Lawsuit on the way? I think so.
Apple has some great products, but they need to make the products stable for EVERYONE not just some people who have perfect configurations. Apple is totally getting too big for itself and doesnt know how to handle it.
It's ashame.
I'll take some wifi sync for my touch please.
I have no interest in this except for using the iPod as a data storage device. I have MM for the important syncing, but having my iPod media syncing to my iPod/iPhone wirelessly in the same wireless LAN seems pointless. It's slower than using the USB cable and it uses power and doesn't charge the device.
What I'd like is a scalable data partition that I can format as FAT32 that can be used as node a t friend's house for copying files.
iPhone OS 2.0 has bring a lot of new features except on the iPod application front, maybe it's the time of the year for a change in this direction...
A version of the iPod touch with more memory can replace the old classic...
The 2.1 OS release is known for it's new support for directionnal GPS. An exploitation of these new capabilities could be integrated to the Maps application (a directionnal map, podmaps, etc...)
I sure they will show that they are still investing a lot in the touch iPod line.