iTunes 5 ideas
So i just had an idea about iTunes 5.
I think that apple is going to start merging it's media players to a single great app. Wouldn't it be logical that the next incarnation of iTunes be able to play video, as well? and if it can play videos, might as well throw in the ability to play DVDs and web streams, so you can throw DVD Player and Quicktime player out the window. Well, maybe this super iMedia app would be more of a "Pro-sumer" app, a la Final Cut Express.
This is my idea because i thing it could work really well, and because i have no more ideas as to what MORE apple could do with an simple music player. but then again, it is apple, so i wouldnt be supirised to be blown away by tottally new, unexpected, unforseeable features in iTunes 5.
What are your ideas for iTunes 5?
I think that apple is going to start merging it's media players to a single great app. Wouldn't it be logical that the next incarnation of iTunes be able to play video, as well? and if it can play videos, might as well throw in the ability to play DVDs and web streams, so you can throw DVD Player and Quicktime player out the window. Well, maybe this super iMedia app would be more of a "Pro-sumer" app, a la Final Cut Express.
This is my idea because i thing it could work really well, and because i have no more ideas as to what MORE apple could do with an simple music player. but then again, it is apple, so i wouldnt be supirised to be blown away by tottally new, unexpected, unforseeable features in iTunes 5.
What are your ideas for iTunes 5?
Comments
That is the worst idea I have ever heard.
okay, but care to explain why, oh wise one?
Originally posted by ShallowThroat
okay, but care to explain why, oh wise one?
Ok, what problem does it solve? How is DVD Player.app improved by integrating it with iTunes? What you want is for Apple to add layers of complexity to applications that currently serve their intended purposes very well. iTunes works so well because it provides a better interface for organizing and playing music. I have almost 6,000 songs on my computer, but I've only got a handful of videos. iTunes doesn't add anything to the current method of organizing and playing movies. None. As for DVDs I can only play one at a time and they're not stored on the computer, but in a nice little package. I go get the one I want to watch and put it in. How does iTunes make this better?
Like I said, this is the worst idea I have ever heard.
Do you even know what pro-sumer means?
This thinking by you, ShallowThroat, is quite the very opposite of Apple's current design.
Today, Apple creates specialized apps for specialized purposes. This philosophy extends far deeper into the system itself with frameworks and OO design as well. One of the best examples is the combination of Address Book, Mail, iCal, iChat, and iSync. Each app integrates to an extent with the others, but each is also suited for a specific job, reducing bloat and clutter.
Compare this to the Microsoft school of design where everything and the kitchen sink is bolted into one mammoth app. See Entourage or Outlook in contrast to Apple's example above. Netscape is guilty of this too with Communicator and the Mozilla suite, but the open source developers have finally gotten the sense to go the Apple way with separate apps (ala Firefox and Thunderbird).
Let iTunes play your music files.
Let DVD Player play your DVDs.
Let QuickTime play your video files.
Keep in mind that there are rumors of a major update to QuickTime soon. QuickTime Player may get some interface overhauling and do something like playlists, but I don't really have any real information about that and, honestly, I don't think the idea of playlists extends into QTP the same as it does iTunes.
I understand the modular approach to things, and yes, i agree that it works very well, but i also think that there are certain apps, namely quicktime, i itunes, and DVD player that would function really well if integrated.
Now HOW they would be integrated to make a successful app would be where the apple design philosophy of simplicity and elegance and all that comes into play. what i pictured when describing itunes 5 wasnt just a 'put in your dvd, itunes plays it' or 'open a movie file, itunes plays it' sort of thing, but a more advanced way of storing and organizing movies as opposed to just playing them.
imagine an itunes that could rip DVDs, allow you to archive them on your harddrive, set your own chapter marks (instead of "bookmarks" you could have "filmmarks"), etc. think about the convenience for laptop owners. saves travel space, battery life, etc. same with movie files. instead of just ploping what you have inta a folder and then finding it on your own, why no use itunes great storage/browse/find capabilities?
but thats just my idea, if you don't like it, thats fine. getting back on topic, feel free to suggest your own iTunes 5 ideas.
and "one more thing...":
Yes, i do know what "Pro-sumer" means HOM. For those of you who don't know, it's a product class that is targeted not at professionals, and not and consumers, but the group in-between. The "power users" or hobbyists, if you will.
HOM, just because your program design opinions differ from mine doesnt give you the right to be a condescending ass.
Originally posted by ShallowThroat
imagine an itunes that could rip DVDs
Ah, well, you can stop there. DVD ripping, for the most part, is illegal. Apple couldn't even consider this.
I just can't see your concept working right. The whole think harkens of Windows Media Player and I think we can all agree that it is an interface nightmare. I've yet to see an all-encompasing media player that does the job well and has an interface worthy of Apple's seal.
On top of that, I still don't see the integration as a necessity or even an added convenience. You can only play one DVD at a time. Most people don't have oodles of video files on their computer. If they do, they are part of other media projects and wouldn't do any good in an iTunes-like app. The completed projects themselves wouldn't fit either; how many people are going to be regularly queueing up a half-hour video they produced months ago?
Originally posted by ShallowThroat
imagine an itunes that could rip DVDs
Originally posted by Brad
Ah, well, you can stop there. DVD ripping, for the most part, is illegal. Apple couldn't even consider this.
I could be wrong, but as i understand it, it's cracking the DRM of DVDs thats illegal. Apple is in the good books of the RIAA, and the RIAA is fairly tight with the MPAA, so isnt it possible that a deal could be worked out? I'm not saying to rip the DVDs into open source XVID and let em fly all over p2p networks, but give apple the chance to make their own, DRM enabled format to rip movies into and keep the size down?
Hell, you could take this a step further and say that the next logical step for the iTMS is Movie "rentals". it lets you download and/or stream them whenever you want, and they expire after a certain period of time. now i know the bandwidth requirements would be off the charts, and there isnt even really a codec is suitable for this yet, but hey, a guy can dream.
When you watch video you don't need a playlist, for instance. You are also not likely to edit the tags attached to video, or grade your video clip collection.
That said, I think it would make a lot of sense if one and the same video player played video irrespective whether it's on DVD, your hard disk or getting streamed. Then when you have things like video and audio filters, or subtitling, you can use the same code and same settings and do not need to learn anything twice.
IMHO the best solution would be a GStreamer-type streaming and filter framework behind the "nice" frontends.. but then I am a techie..
Just a little time ago I watched Suspiria as DivX/whatever format. The file info was somehow screwed up so that the player (VideoLAN Client) showed it in a wrong aspect ratio. I found VLC had a filter onboard that I could use to set the ratio to whatever I wanted. Problem solved.
Originally posted by ShallowThroat
Hell, you could take this a step further and say that the next logical step for the iTMS is Movie "rentals". it lets you download and/or stream them whenever you want, and they expire after a certain period of time. now i know the bandwidth requirements would be off the charts, and there isnt even really a codec is suitable for this yet, but hey, a guy can dream.
God, I'm glad you don't run Apple.
And yes, I do get to be an arrogant asshole when you're a blistering idiot. You have yet to describe a single function that would be better served by integrating the apps together. So now rather than take it like a man and say, "Yup, sorry guys, I was wrong and you were right. Please lock this thread now." you cling to this idea that iTunes needs to be a video player and store. Why don't you suggest some features that would make iTunes' core function, you know playing ****ing music, better?
Originally posted by Brad
Ah, well, you can stop there. DVD ripping, for the most part, is illegal. Apple couldn't even consider this.
I think they very well could consider the sort of open architecture that allows this capability to be added easily by 3rd party software. See my comment about GStreamer.
Frankly, it's no skin off Apple's back if they make things like this easy. It just can't work out of the box. There are many many places where ripping or copying a DVD is legal. I know I'll consider ripping mine or making disc images when there is enough HD space I don't need to do a lossy recompression.
(edited)
I'm not clinging to any idea, i'm just throwing out ideas of what i think could make the whole program better. i do honestly think itunes is destined to became a video store? probably not. is it a possibility? sure, why not. you don't run apple (thank god (edited)
(edited)
Gon:
Yeah, i've found VLC to be great as well, since i've started using it as a replacement DVD Player because of the blockiness in 10.3.3's DVD Player.
It would be cool to see Quicktime Player and DVD Player merged, then you could have one app for video and one for audio. i could see that working quite well. You and brad make a good point for keeping A/V apart, so i guess i could live with that, but where does that leave itunes 5? It's got to have some big new feature of sorts, but what?
k sqaured's idea makes perfect sense, but i could see that being more in a 0.1 update, as it's not really a major deal.
so then, if video is not in iTunes' future, what is?
(edited at brad's request above)
Originally posted by ShallowThroat
but where does that leave itunes 5? It's got to have some big new feature of sorts, but what?
k sqaured's idea makes perfect sense, but i could see that being more in a 0.1 update, as it's not really a major deal.
so then, if video is not in iTunes' future, what is?
I think I heard it said somewhere that to be an artist, you need to have good technical prowess and inspiration. To be great, you need to know when to stop.
I'm saying, if iTunes is as good as you can make it for playing music, then you should let it be.
Personally, I think it could be quite a bit faster, and have a better "barebones" mode. I like WinAmp and its clone XMMS because they do the most basic things so well - just drag a bunch of songs in the playlist and start playing them, it's lightning fast, there's nothing complicated, things "just work".
Winamp, incidentally, was screwed by the urge to add more features. They sort of "reverted" development back to the older main version when they realized people don't want their MP3 player to play video and to browse the Web.
1) Revise the interface a little, so it fits in with the OS a little more.
2) Add 'sub-playlists', or folders you can stick playlists into
3) Perhaps custom fields in the Info window, stored locally rather than in the MP3's file data.
4) Slightly more robust Smart Playlist criteria
Originally posted by a_greer
dear god the drm...
what's the drm?
Originally posted by mattjohndrow
what's the drm?
DRM = Digital Rights Management.
You know... the stuff that locks media to specific computers, only allows a certain number of plays, deletes or permanently disables the file when it says you hit the view limit...