ILife 06

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Anyone else excited about this? Seems no one cares about this. I want to see what they're going to do.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    In iLife 04 they really showcased Garage Band. In iLife 05, they really did a lot to iPhoto. This time, they either create a whole brand new application or they are going to really revamp one of their current apps.



    Personally, I am looking forward to iWork 06.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    esxxiesxxi Posts: 75member
    iTunes might even hit -- gasp -- 5.0! I agree with MPMoriarty in that I'm more excited for iWork '06.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    kim kap solkim kap sol Posts: 2,987member
    I'm scared of what iTunes 5 might look like. Apple will have to re-evaluate what they really want that app to do because, right now, it's a mess.



    It plays and stores music (normal), it plays and stores PodCasts (borderline...these things aren't strictly 'tunes'), it plays and stores videos (these things aren't tunes at all), and it synchs music *and* photos (wtf?) to your iPod (and soon your iTunes phone.)



    The interface has become exponentially more complex (during 4.x dot releases and will probably keep getting more complex as Apple adds superfluous features.)



    The complexity is fueled in part by the fact that iTunes is a cross-platform app...and because the Windows folks don't get iSync or iPhoto. But this is no excuse to make the iTunes experience on Mac such a shitty one.



    iTunes for Mac needs to be rewritten. It needs to focus on music and music alone (and Podcasts I guess :/ ).



    A new app needs to be written to handle video/movies (instead of shoehorning this ability into iTunes).



    iPhoto should handle the photo synching to the iPod.



    The new video/movie app should be like iTunes in the sense that movies should be rippable and categorizable all within the same interface...the two main rip options should be raw (the VIDEO_TS folder uncompressed wrapped up in a container file that can handle metadata) and H.264 comrpession.



    The things that are preventing this app from happening though are these: Steve Jobs, copy-protection on DVDs, upcoming copy-protection on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVDs, HD storage space, and time it takes to rip and encode a DVD.



    Because DVD and movies in general get some kind of preferential treatement by Steve and the movie industry when it comes to copy-protections, I suspect we won't see the DVD ripping feature any time soon....buuut, that doesn't excuse Apple for shoehorning video into iTunes.



    There should still be a video app for people that want to create a library of homemade DV stuff, or H.264 content that should eventually become popular. So it should be like iTunes minus the ripping capabilities.



    Streaming H.264 content on the net should be as easy as choosing streaming radio content in iTunes. Downloading H.264 music videos should be possible through this new app just like it's possible through iTunes to download music from the iTMS. Adding homemade digital video to this app should be as easy as adding music to iTunes.



    I'm scared Apple will lose the codec war because they just aren't aggressive enough. They release H.264 with QuickTime 7. Everyone with 10.3 and 10.4 have access to H.264 content, yet Apple has only posted a few movie trailers with that format. It's time Apple push this codec by releasing an app that makes use of it.



    Download movie trailers from it, download music videos from it, get access to H.264 streams on the net, organize and browse your DV stuff. And one day, when the time is right, download movies from the Apple Movie Store and rip movies from your DVD collection.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    As overloaded as iTunes has become, it makes sense as the "iPod Application". Its the one cross-platform app that manages all things iPod. If it weren't for the mindshare of the iTunes brand, the app could be split or renamed. But since everyone thinks iPod and iTunes, iTunes will likely remain overloaded.



    I think the name "iTunes Video Store" has been mentioned before, and fits in with the integrated concept. In fact I'd expect more and more products to get some iTunes tie in. AirTunes is a feature of the AirPort Express base station. When all the video features are added, how will it be branded? If Apple releases the rumored projector, is it too some iTunes or iPod spin off?
  • Reply 5 of 6
    kim kap solkim kap sol Posts: 2,987member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Xool

    As overloaded as iTunes has become, it makes sense as the "iPod Application". Its the one cross-platform app that manages all things iPod. If it weren't for the mindshare of the iTunes brand, the app could be split or renamed. But since everyone thinks iPod and iTunes, iTunes will likely remain overloaded.



    I think the name "iTunes Video Store" has been mentioned before, and fits in with the integrated concept. In fact I'd expect more and more products to get some iTunes tie in. AirTunes is a feature of the AirPort Express base station. When all the video features are added, how will it be branded? If Apple releases the rumored projector, is it too some iTunes or iPod spin off?




    Well then it would for sure have to be rebranded. And the app's interface would have to radically change. Right now it's a music player with video and podcasting (and photo synching) tacked on. The app would have to be rewritten as a 'media' player...but then I picture Windows Media Player and shudder.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    Apple has inadvertently painted themselves into a corner with the popularity of the iPod and the iTunes Music Store. Currently, audiobooks, music, and podcasts can be downloaded from iTMS and music videos can be viewed while in iTMS. When iPods with video capabilities are for sale then music videos will also be sold, and eventually movies.



    With this in mind, Apple needs to rethink the iTMS/iTunes/iLife suite. Some suggestions are:



    1 - Rename iTunes Music Store to iTunes Media Store.



    2 - Content downloaded from iTMS should not be put into one folder (i.e. iTunes Music), but go into the folder of the type it is. For example:



    music - /iTunes/iTunes Music

    music videos - /iTunes/iTunes Music Videos

    audiobooks - /iTunes/iTunes Audiobooks

    podcasts - /iTunes/iTunes Podcasts

    movies - /iTunes/iTunes Movies



    Note: 'iTunes Library' and 'iTunes Library.xml' stay where they are now. QuickTime content from iPhoto and iMovie and iDVD projects will go into iTunes Movies. The content will not be copied to the folder, but an alias will be used instead.



    3 - iTunes will get a new Library menu that acts similar to iPhoto's library. When Library is selected you can scroll through everything, but you can expand it to see the sub libraries (i.e. music, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, movies) to narrow your choices.



    4 - Include a new iLife app called iMediaPlayer that will act as a front-end to the other iLife apps. Content cannot be imported, edited, deleted, or burned, but it can be played/streamed and transfered to an iPod.
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