Mockup of new iTunes 8.0 interface published
With his iTunes 8.0 reports receiving support over the weekend, Kevin Rose has gone on to publish an interface mockup of the new media cataloging software now expected for release Tuesday.
According to the drawing (below), an area of the iTunes sidebar currently reserved for smart playlists will be replaced with Genius Playlists, while a new Genius sidebar on the right-hand side of the application will recommend music from the iTunes Store that a user doesn't already own.
The iTunes Genius is said to be activated or deactivated by an interface button near the bottom right-hand side of the application.
iTunes 8 will continue to offer users three distinct "views" of their music library, though instead of List, List with Artwork, and Cover Flow, version 8.0 will offer List, Grid, and Cover Flow. Grid view will display album covers in an aligned matrix and offer playback controls via mouse-over, according to the mockup.
A slider will reportedly control the size of the album artwork in the grid view, and users will be able to sort their music via Album, Artist, Genre, and Composer.
Rose also claims that Apple will employ a recently acquired third-party Magnetosphere plugin (below) as one its new iTunes visualizers.
\t\t\t\tMagnetosphere revisited (audio by Tosca) from flight404 on Vimeo.
According to the drawing (below), an area of the iTunes sidebar currently reserved for smart playlists will be replaced with Genius Playlists, while a new Genius sidebar on the right-hand side of the application will recommend music from the iTunes Store that a user doesn't already own.
The iTunes Genius is said to be activated or deactivated by an interface button near the bottom right-hand side of the application.
iTunes 8 will continue to offer users three distinct "views" of their music library, though instead of List, List with Artwork, and Cover Flow, version 8.0 will offer List, Grid, and Cover Flow. Grid view will display album covers in an aligned matrix and offer playback controls via mouse-over, according to the mockup.
A slider will reportedly control the size of the album artwork in the grid view, and users will be able to sort their music via Album, Artist, Genre, and Composer.
Rose also claims that Apple will employ a recently acquired third-party Magnetosphere plugin (below) as one its new iTunes visualizers.
\t\t\t\tMagnetosphere revisited (audio by Tosca) from flight404 on Vimeo.
Comments
The iTunes Store already has 2 sidebars so when you're in there it will be 4 all up!
So the Genius only recommends you the music you already own? What a bunch of shit.
...perhaps it will afford users of the new subscription service to see additional recommendations from the library, a la Pandora, which will actually be downloaded. Or perhaps recommendations will be streamed with an easy option to buy if you like them.
There are a lot of possibilities here and on the iPhone that could effectively eliminate the need for a Pandora-like app at home or on the road while promoting new sales, either through the subscription model or via existing purchase model.
In a completely unrelated story, MS announces that the Zune Software will offer Playlist Gurus in it's next update in 2012.
2 sidebars? P off.
That part kinda sucks. I was hoping for a massive update to make the app a little simpler, like what devs have to do with iPhone real estate. Between all my playlists for all the different media and all the different devices from old to new iPods, and iPhone or two, and Apple TV (then maybe other computers if they did it right), it would have been nice to maybe segment things a little more. Maybe have an iTunes app for audio, a video app, and a device app or something like that.
On the surface I know it sounds lame, but we already have multiple apps exposing data for all these devices and it's getting a lot more cluttered and confusing when you really sit down and develop good playlists/albums/etc. with 15,000 songs, a couple hundred movies, 25,000 photos, and lots of TV shows.
Move the "browse" button to the main toolbar!! And second, change it from that strange eye icon.
I have talked to several people who claim they don't like iTunes because it's hard to find music by a certain artist, a certain song, a certain album, etc. I tell them when you use the Browse feature, it's easy. "What's that?" is the most common reply. So, i tell them to click the "eye button" down in the lower right, which makes the iTunes interface infinitely more user friendly.
I have no idea why 1) Browse-mode isn't enabled by default (when you install itunes for the first time, it just gives you a big long list), 2) it looks like and eye (i "get it", conceptually, but surely they can create a better icon), and 3) why it's buried in the lower-right corner, where very few people look. It should be promoted in a prominent spot in the main toolbar!
People complain that the event is going to be boring, but one of the major reasons it might be is everyone breaking or bending their NDA's to tell everyone what to expect. What is it about tech journalists that they can't just shut the f**k up once in a while?
Kevin's info here in particular doesn't really add anything to the story, yet it threatens to take most of the enjoyment out of the announcement tomorrow. Would it have hurt him to sit on it for a day? No.
And the worst thing about it is that no one would have cared if he *did* wait. The only possible reason he has for doing this is click-whoring and personal aggrandisement. How sad.
Kind of 'meh' for a major update, isn't it? I assume the genius junk will make suggestions for songs in itms. Meh
...or at least that's what I keep telling myself. I'd be embarrassed as hell if I'd put all that junk up on the side of a building for a nano and some grid thingy.
Then again, if they can fix all these bugs running around the iPhone and return iTunes to something as elegant and simple as 5 years ago we might have something.
Time to get rid of some features...
I hope that isn't it for the new iTunes.
In a completely unrelated story, MS announces that the Zune Software will offer Playlist Gurus in it's next update in 2012.
According to c|net, Microsoft quietly released this feature late last week in a new "slim" Zune. It's just that no one (still) cares.
According to c|net, Microsoft quietly released this feature late last week in a new "slim" Zune. It's just that no one (still) cares.
And no one will care here if it's just a simple feature add without meat. Here's hoping there's a tie back to either a stream or subscription function - would personally like both.
People complain that the event is going to be boring, but one of the major reasons it might be is everyone breaking or bending their NDA's to tell everyone what to expect. What is it about tech journalists that they can't just shut the f**k up once in a while?
Maybe because its HIS JOB as a journalist to report the news. And part of a journalist's job is getting his site/publication/station/whatever more readers/viewers/whatever so that it makes more money. And one of the best ways to get that extra traffic is by breaking news stories BEFORE everyone else. Otherwise, it becomes OLD NEWS no one really cares about.
Kevin's info here in particular doesn't really add anything to the story, yet it threatens to take most of the enjoyment out of the announcement tomorrow. Would it have hurt him to sit on it for a day? No.
If it meant that much to you, why did you click on the link to read this story? Oh right, because you wanted to know about iTunes 8. I guess Kevin did his job pretty well then.
And the worst thing about it is that no one would have cared if he *did* wait. The only possible reason he has for doing this is click-whoring and personal aggrandisement. How sad.
Whoever writes his paychecks might have cared. He has a JOB to do simple as that. He's trying to make money just like anyone else with a job.
If you don't want the surprise ruined, don't click the link. It's not rocket science.
How about they implement this one interface change:
Move the "browse" button to the main toolbar!! And second, change it from that strange eye icon.
The browse button used to be on the main toolbar a few versions back. They moved it down below because it wasn't being used all that much, mainly by people familiar with it.
I think the search field is easier to use to find music by artist and album than browse is. I mainly use Browse when I'm searching a particular genre or TV series.
I think it's got to be bigger, or smarter (ie. more fun to use) than that. One of the biggest draws of iTunes has been how easy and fun it is to use. They have iTunes Live festivals, run contests (well, they used to), integrate seemlessly with 3rd-party gear, vehicles, etc.
I will be disabling the Genius bar if its sole purpose is to sell me more music.
So basically there's nothing interesting in the new iTunes 8.
This article is claiming that is the only new thing in iTunes 8. In 26 hours we'll find out.
How about they implement this one interface change:
Move the "browse" button to the main toolbar!! And second, change it from that strange eye icon.
I have talked to several people who claim they don't like iTunes because it's hard to find music by a certain artist, a certain song, a certain album, etc. I tell them when you use the Browse feature, it's easy. "What's that?" is the most common reply. So, i tell them to click the "eye button" down in the lower right, which makes the iTunes interface infinitely more user friendly.
I have no idea why 1) Browse-mode isn't enabled by default (when you install itunes for the first time, it just gives you a big long list), 2) it looks like and eye (i "get it", conceptually, but surely they can create a better icon), and 3) why it's buried in the lower-right corner, where very few people look. It should be promoted in a prominent spot in the main toolbar!
wow... even i never noticed it and ive been using a mac for abt 2 years now