Ok people...iTunes 8. What's it gonna have?
I'm going on record here and now by saying iTunes 8 is going to be a major new version. It may even be rewritten to the point of being considered a new platform. It could even be rebranded.
I'll expand my thoughts but here are some things I think will make it.
1. Server version- Frequently there are now multiple libraries and caches of music stored in silos in the typical home. It's time for Apple to have a robust solution for managing the media needs of a family or small group. The ability to centrally store data yet locally manage/manipulate the metadata is crucial to moving iTunes like apps into a more multi-user environment. Storage space is rapidly increasing in size and decreasing in cost but the management "costs" of storage will always rise unless one move to a more sophiscated method of storing and retrieving data.
2.New organizational structure - iTunes 7 does some weird things. I've downloaded video files that pop up in my music library. Some podcasts don't show up where the podscasts should go. iTunes 8 should not have these problems. The metadata encoded in the file should place each item in its proper place. Video/Movie files should not be in my music library. Stopping messing up my feng shui Apple.
3. Better editing tools (metadata editing) -I've often wondered why I cannot modify certain chunks of data in iTunes. I've imported songs before that have certain sort attributes that I'd love to edit such as "date added". Give me a Power Users option to fix what iTunes sometimes screwsup regardless of fault.
4. Realtime Apple Lossless to AAC encoding/syncing - I want to rip my CDs into Apple Lossless Encoding yet when I sync my iPod/iPhone I want to be able to choose on the fly compression. At home I want the most pristine quality I can get but on the road 256k AAC is more than enough. Computers are now fast enough to do this. Please make it happen so that I can rip to one codec and still keep flexibility for mobile product.
5. HD movie support-- A no brainer. I expect iT8 to be the version that brings forth HD 720p movies from iTunes from multiple studios.
6. Fix the damn radio feature- Why Apple hasn't created iTunes radio is beyond me or perhaps technology. Internet Radio(IR) needs to be looked at as a new medium. We need to generate a way to marry the quality of radio (diverse playlist, DJ etc) with the power of computing. There's no reason why I shouldn't have IR with embedded metadata that links me to iTunes tracks, podcasts or films. This is a revenue potential for Apple or anyone who can Enterprise. If I hear a song on IR in iTunes I should be able to click a button and go to that song on iTunes for purchase or subscribe to the podcast. The computer is NOT a Typewriter folks!!
7. Beef up the community of iTunes- come'on the rating system sucks. I don't want to read people blathering about music unless we share some commonality in music taste. A rating system based on a Reputation Management system will track other users who tend to like the same music and give priority to their views. This is more important to me. Cap the iMix limit. I don't want to wade through 90 track iMixes. Pick your favorite tunes up to 25 tracks please.
8. Parental Controls- Going along with central storage and metadata editing would be a security system that would allow the family admin (aka parent) to flag files that should not be accessable via some family members. Once a piece of media is flagged nc17 or whatever it immediately is hidden from the computers of those who are barred from nc17 media.
9. Lyric support- iT8 should be able to retrieve lyrics from an Apple iTunes server and import them into the proper song. This way if I forget the title of a song I can do a lyrics search and find the song.
10. Revolutionary Personal Media sharing- Apple should allow iT8 to become the conduit to enable personal sharing via broadcasting services through Wide Area Bonjour. iTunes would handle the connection This would allow you to literally publish or subscribe to end user content set up as a service on a personal computer. Think of Apple's answer to You Tube but better since audio would equally be supported. No money involved and Apple's bandwidth isn't used ..iT8 just manages the connection from end to end.
I'll expand my thoughts but here are some things I think will make it.
1. Server version- Frequently there are now multiple libraries and caches of music stored in silos in the typical home. It's time for Apple to have a robust solution for managing the media needs of a family or small group. The ability to centrally store data yet locally manage/manipulate the metadata is crucial to moving iTunes like apps into a more multi-user environment. Storage space is rapidly increasing in size and decreasing in cost but the management "costs" of storage will always rise unless one move to a more sophiscated method of storing and retrieving data.
2.New organizational structure - iTunes 7 does some weird things. I've downloaded video files that pop up in my music library. Some podcasts don't show up where the podscasts should go. iTunes 8 should not have these problems. The metadata encoded in the file should place each item in its proper place. Video/Movie files should not be in my music library. Stopping messing up my feng shui Apple.
3. Better editing tools (metadata editing) -I've often wondered why I cannot modify certain chunks of data in iTunes. I've imported songs before that have certain sort attributes that I'd love to edit such as "date added". Give me a Power Users option to fix what iTunes sometimes screwsup regardless of fault.
4. Realtime Apple Lossless to AAC encoding/syncing - I want to rip my CDs into Apple Lossless Encoding yet when I sync my iPod/iPhone I want to be able to choose on the fly compression. At home I want the most pristine quality I can get but on the road 256k AAC is more than enough. Computers are now fast enough to do this. Please make it happen so that I can rip to one codec and still keep flexibility for mobile product.
5. HD movie support-- A no brainer. I expect iT8 to be the version that brings forth HD 720p movies from iTunes from multiple studios.
6. Fix the damn radio feature- Why Apple hasn't created iTunes radio is beyond me or perhaps technology. Internet Radio(IR) needs to be looked at as a new medium. We need to generate a way to marry the quality of radio (diverse playlist, DJ etc) with the power of computing. There's no reason why I shouldn't have IR with embedded metadata that links me to iTunes tracks, podcasts or films. This is a revenue potential for Apple or anyone who can Enterprise. If I hear a song on IR in iTunes I should be able to click a button and go to that song on iTunes for purchase or subscribe to the podcast. The computer is NOT a Typewriter folks!!
7. Beef up the community of iTunes- come'on the rating system sucks. I don't want to read people blathering about music unless we share some commonality in music taste. A rating system based on a Reputation Management system will track other users who tend to like the same music and give priority to their views. This is more important to me. Cap the iMix limit. I don't want to wade through 90 track iMixes. Pick your favorite tunes up to 25 tracks please.
8. Parental Controls- Going along with central storage and metadata editing would be a security system that would allow the family admin (aka parent) to flag files that should not be accessable via some family members. Once a piece of media is flagged nc17 or whatever it immediately is hidden from the computers of those who are barred from nc17 media.
9. Lyric support- iT8 should be able to retrieve lyrics from an Apple iTunes server and import them into the proper song. This way if I forget the title of a song I can do a lyrics search and find the song.
10. Revolutionary Personal Media sharing- Apple should allow iT8 to become the conduit to enable personal sharing via broadcasting services through Wide Area Bonjour. iTunes would handle the connection This would allow you to literally publish or subscribe to end user content set up as a service on a personal computer. Think of Apple's answer to You Tube but better since audio would equally be supported. No money involved and Apple's bandwidth isn't used ..iT8 just manages the connection from end to end.
Comments
As it is however long it takes to change ID3 data you can't use iTunes for that amount of time.
1) Clean up the screen real estate - let me hide what I don't want in the playlist window. Mostly you can already but I would hide the Store, I rarely visit the store this way. Also the HEADINGS. I really don't need the heading to know what's LIBRARY, what's STORE, what's DEVICE, etc.
2) A "Sort As" function so I can keep 10,000 Maniacs (Ten Thousand Maniacs) in the Ts and my Lennox, Annie in the Ls.
3) Ability to create or add additional tag fields. Particularly I'd like an additional Year field to serve as year of purchase (as opposed to release), and perhaps some sortable tick-boxes for Live, Acoustic, Remix, Instrumental, Cover Version, etc.
4) Ditto on improving the Radio, sky's the limit.
5) Best encoder available.
I don't like the fact that iTunes thinks
Stephen Marley and
Stephen Marley featuring Mos Def
are two seperate artists. Let me define the featured artist and choose to hide or show this field.
2) A "Sort As" function so I can keep 10,000 Maniacs (Ten Thousand Maniacs) in the Ts and my Lennox, Annie in the Ls.
It already has this (right-click a single track > Get Info > Sorting tab). However, they need to make it where you can edit sorting fields for multiple tracks at once.
My guess is that iSync will be revived. It just doesn't make sense for iTunes to sync things like calendars and email accounts. One piece of evidence for this is that the iPhone only syncs playlists, it doesn't manually sync. It would be easy for iSync to bring up iTunes' playlists like the media browser in apps like iPhoto and iMovie.
I'd also like to see rental functions.
iTunes has become a behemoth: Syncing iPods and iPhones and AppleTV. Purchasing music and video and audiobooks and games and downloading podcasts. Playing and organizing all of the above. Even its name doesn't make sense.
My guess is that iSync will be revived. It just doesn't make sense for iTunes to sync things like calendars and email accounts. One piece of evidence for this is that the iPhone only syncs playlists, it doesn't manually sync. It would be easy for iSync to bring up iTunes' playlists like the media browser in apps like iPhoto and iMovie.
I agree. The best thing to do for iTunes is to rip a whole lot of stuff out of it.
It already has this (right-click a single track > Get Info > Sorting tab). However, they need to make it where you can edit sorting fields for multiple tracks at once.
Hmm, I don't see this but I haven't updated yet, is it part of 7.3.1?
I also wouldn't mind if iTunes ditched the video player, and instead just routed video through the Quicktime Player. The iTunes interface has gotten too cluttered. Plus, it's meaningless to watch video podcasts in the tiny preview window. I haven't spent enough time to figure out how to fix this, if there is even a way, but that's kind of the point. It's annoying. It shouldn't be this way to begin with. Maybe they can make it default for the windows version only, since windows users are lost and confused by simple interfaces.
Hmm, I don't see this but I haven't updated yet, is it part of 7.3.1?
I think that feature was added in either 7.2 or 7.3. If you have 7.2 or earlier, you probably have to update to see it.
It already has this (right-click a single track > Get Info > Sorting tab). However, they need to make it where you can edit sorting fields for multiple tracks at once.
The same is needed when editing video metadata. Show, Season, and Video Type only have to be entered once for a particular show, but, you have to edit each episode separately in iT7.
I think that feature was added in either 7.2 or 7.3. If you have 7.2 or earlier, you probably have to update to see it.
Sounds good... I'm waiting for the "7.3 ate my library" posts to go away before upgrading.
Soulbow, you lost your music files? That doesn't make sense. I've never heard of that happening.
Also the ability to put 1 track into 2 albums - like when a track is re-issued a few years later on a greatest hits cd.
a few editing tools to let you adjust the start / stop times - I know you can do this now but I'd like to be able to physically chop off the unwanted part altogether.
I'd like to be able to physically chop off the unwanted part altogether.
Edit the times as needed, then use the 'Convert Selection to AAC/MP3' Option on the 'Advanced' menu to create a new file.
Another small thing I'd love to see is a "featured artist" field.
I don't like the fact that iTunes thinks
Stephen Marley and
Stephen Marley featuring Mos Def
are two seperate artists. Let me define the featured artist and choose to hide or show this field.
That has irritated me to no end also. Great point.