Claims renew iTunes 8 expectations, slate iPhone 2.1 for event

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
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.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 98
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    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.
  • Reply 2 of 98
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    I predict a Paste feature available immediately. Also a Copy feature, demoed for release "by the holidays."
  • Reply 3 of 98
    guestguest Posts: 112member
    Also, 10.5.5 is near completion. I wish for some bigger multimedia related changes with iTunes8 (is it too annoying to mention Blu-Ray here?).

    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?
  • Reply 4 of 98
    Dear Apple,



    Regarding the iPhone update:



    Instead of more new features, how about more consistent, day-in-day-out stability?



    Thanks...
  • Reply 5 of 98
    I wouldn't really consider these features "surprises". A surprise would be a new Apple TV or something.
  • Reply 6 of 98
    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.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galley View Post


    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.



  • Reply 7 of 98
    Tethering maybe and I reckon they will enable itunes downloading on Edge & 3G.
  • Reply 8 of 98
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdkennedy1 View Post


    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.
  • Reply 9 of 98
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Actually, I'd like the remote play/pause/skip funcitonality (from the eaebuds clicker or from car controls) have the option to NOT bring up the iPod app. Those means of remote control are great for not having to look at the touchscreen while it's in your car or pocket. But they make you exit the app you're in.



    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...



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    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.
  • Reply 10 of 98
    I think Copy will come with 2.1 and Paste will come with 2.2.
  • Reply 11 of 98
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    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.
  • Reply 12 of 98
    I am looking forward to upgrading my iPod touch to something with more capacity, and the "genius" playlist function sounds killer since I don't have the time to create new playlists often--and I have a ton of music so I forget great singles--so accordingly, I get bored with the music on my iPhones.



    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.
  • Reply 13 of 98
    wingswings Posts: 261member
    ... are missed call reminder beeps.



    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.
  • Reply 14 of 98
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    I Just hope that those already affected by the loss of 3rd-party apps with 2.0 will not have to do a factory restore to recover when going to 2.1. In other words, I hope 2.1 doesn't merely prevent whatever corruption is involved from happening in future, but retroactively cleans up corruption (or whatever the change may be) that has developed.
  • Reply 15 of 98
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galley View Post


    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.
  • Reply 16 of 98
    I'll take some wifi sync for my touch please.
  • Reply 17 of 98
    I find it pathetic how Apple would rather suprise everyone with features rather than test their products out completely before releasing it.



    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.
  • Reply 18 of 98
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by walshbj View Post


    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.
  • Reply 19 of 98
    I wish they'd just fix the bug that causes Safari to crash if the network drops out and then comes back up, rather than piling on more feature crap, with bugs of their own.
  • Reply 20 of 98
    It seems a logical step that the 2.1 update to the iPhone OS integrates some new features. It could be music oriented features (like a new version of the iPod application), support for an iPod remote (and FM), support for Nike+ device, usb mass storage support or more generally anything that brigde the gap between the classic iPod and the iPod touch (there is still some things that a classic iPod can do and that a iPod touch cannot).



    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.
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