Apple unwraps iTunes 5

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Comments

  • Reply 141 of 162
    maccrazymaccrazy Posts: 2,658member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    The search is broken.



    Sometimes it says you're searching all items but it's actually remembered that last search you did and is only searching the album titles or whatever you last clicked. You have to click off 'All' on something else and then back again on All.



    Just one of the many crappy badly done changes in iTunes 5.




    i think the search bar is worse than the old system any way but this is just plain annoying! As it happens it was a file with a .snd so wasn't in my library but was in my 'recently added' list - weird!
  • Reply 142 of 162
    hey all,

    i've found a problem



    before installing iTunes 5 i had about 7000 songs which was roughly 30 days of music.

    Now [with iTunes 5] i have same number of songs, but have over 300 (!!) days. Clearly this is wrong.



    While it's great for bragging, it's completely inaccurate. Anyone else have this problem?

    Thanks
  • Reply 143 of 162
    also i thought there were going to be 'Nestled' playlists, not just the ability to drop one into another.



    I've got over a dozen 'Best of' playlists [eg. -Best House, Best Abstract Hip Hop, -Best Jazz, etc). If i could nestle them all under one 'BEST OF' playlist it would tidy things up so much!
  • Reply 144 of 162
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    File -> New Folder.



    Drop them in.
  • Reply 145 of 162
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr. H

    Oh, and one last thing. iTunes now does VBR AAC encoding!



    I just noticed this myself!



    Anyone do any quality or compatibility comparisons with the VBR AAC files?
  • Reply 146 of 162
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Xool

    I just noticed this myself!



    Anyone do any quality or compatibility comparisons with the VBR AAC files?




    Not yet, but the lack of it has caused the results of tests on the enthusiast tech sites to rate AAC as the lowest quality encoding other than plain MP3.



    Maybe this will bring some respect. I hope they redo the tests.
  • Reply 147 of 162
    spiers69spiers69 Posts: 418member
    ok, i was wrong about Nestled playlists, they do exist and they're great.



    But has does anyone else's iTunes now say they've got 10 TIMES the amount of music they really do?



    (eg, mine says i have 487 days of music, instead of 48.7!!)



    my friend says it doesnt happen in his copy of iTunes 5



    also, why isnt the lyrics tab able to be searched? (or atleast have the option of turning it on/off)



    i've found that the lyrics tab is great for putting the tracklisting on DJ Mixes (that appear all as one huge file), except i cant search within them!



    perhaps they'll change this in 5.0.2?
  • Reply 148 of 162
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    That's just sick. The Windows version has round corners, the Apple version square corners!



    Uhh, the Mac version has round corners too. At least version 5.0.1 does.
  • Reply 149 of 162
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Xool

    Uhh, the Mac version has round corners too. At least version 5.0.1 does.



    If you count 3 pixels knocked out as round and no anti-aliasing, then yes, it's round too.



    The point is, it's not the same round corner as every other OSX window.
  • Reply 150 of 162
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Xool

    I just noticed this myself!



    Anyone do any quality or compatibility comparisons with the VBR AAC files?




    Yes.



    It's kind of a stupid thing anyway. AAC was already variable bit rate before they added the new VBR setting. It's just MORE variable now.



    In general I reckon it sounds better.
  • Reply 151 of 162
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by melgross

    Not yet, but the lack of it has caused the results of tests on the enthusiast tech sites to rate AAC as the lowest quality encoding other than plain MP3.



    Maybe this will bring some respect. I hope they redo the tests.




    I think you've been reading the wrong tests. WMA and ATRAC always come out lowest no matter which test I've read other than a couple of oddball tests where they're encoding at 64kbps - which is pointless really. Everything will sound bad.



    Picking the first test off of google...



    http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multifo...8/results.html



    Old style AAC comes 3rd behind OGG Vorbis aoTuV and Musepack (both codecs that have very little support beyond the geek fringe) followed by VBR LAME MP3 (which has come on leaps and bounds recently to challenge AAC) then WMA and ATRAC



    Since I don't encode as low as 128 and I don't know many people that do, it seems a bit of a pointless test though. I can tell the difference between 128 and 160 AAC and between 160AAC and 192MP3 and I'm sticking with 160 AAC.
  • Reply 152 of 162
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    The search is broken.



    Sometimes it says you're searching all items but it's actually remembered that last search you did and is only searching the album titles or whatever you last clicked. You have to click off 'All' on something else and then back again on All.



    Just one of the many crappy badly done changes in iTunes 5.




    Holy crap! Did they really ship something THAT broken?! Is it like that in Panther as well?
  • Reply 153 of 162
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    I think you've been reading the wrong tests. WMA and ATRAC always come out lowest no matter which test I've read other than a couple of oddball tests where they're encoding at 64kbps - which is pointless really. Everything will sound bad.



    Picking the first test off of google...



    http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multifo...8/results.html



    Old style AAC comes 3rd behind OGG Vorbis aoTuV and Musepack (both codecs that have very little support beyond the geek fringe) followed by VBR LAME MP3 (which has come on leaps and bounds recently to challenge AAC) then WMA and ATRAC



    Since I don't encode as low as 128 and I don't know many people that do, it seems a bit of a pointless test though. I can tell the difference between 128 and 160 AAC and between 160AAC and 192MP3 and I'm sticking with 160 AAC.




    When was Apple's AAC made with VBR. It's only been recent.



    If you are going to encode at high rates, say 256 and above, the difference is miniscule. But most encoding is done at 128, and the differences can be heard there.



    This test actually shows AAC as not being bad at all, but WMA VBR is still better:



    http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1560785,00.asp



    As we all know by this time, finding something specific on Google is not always easy. After searching through the first 28 pages for certain tests I saw last year, I gave up. so the only one I was looking for that I found is the one above. The other tests I'm seeing are simply too old to be relevent.



    Anyway, none of the codecs are satisfactory to me when listening on my main system, though they are fine on smaller less revealing ones.
  • Reply 154 of 162
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by melgross

    When was Apple's AAC made with VBR. It's only been recent.





    It was news to me. In a discussion on hydrogen audio someone was explaining what the difference was between AAC and the new VBR AAC.



    The bitrate isn't fixed in either form. It varies very slightly in normal AAC and more in Apple's new VBR format but not very much still. The LAME fans were pointing out that you could set the variation in the LAME encoder whereas Apple haven't let you do so. Some people are reporting large variations, others very little so I presume there's more to it than setting limits with AAC. Maybe Apple will add a slider to vary size/quality with VBR in a future release.
  • Reply 155 of 162
    maccrazymaccrazy Posts: 2,658member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    If you count 3 pixels knocked out as round and no anti-aliasing, then yes, it's round too.



    The point is, it's not the same round corner as every other OSX window.




    Round corners aren't big or clever - they look a little tacky to be honest - i think iTunes has the right amount of rounded edges.



    Incidentally the search problem with it remembering your previous search but displaying 'all' has been fixed.
  • Reply 156 of 162
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacCrazy

    Round corners aren't big or clever - they look a little tacky to be honest - i think iTunes has the right amount of rounded edges.





    If so, all the other windows therefore have the wrong rounded corners.



    Since they were there first, anti-alias properly and render drop shadows accordingly and iTunes5 doesn't, then regardless of which you prefer for iTunes, it's plainly iTunes that is wrong.



    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacCrazy

    Incidentally the search problem with it remembering your previous search but displaying 'all' has been fixed.



    I noticed. Podcasts still appear in playlists - horrible. borders still black, no drag bars between frames, ok/canel buttons in prefs...



    It's still a UI trainwreck.
  • Reply 157 of 162
    maccrazymaccrazy Posts: 2,658member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    If so, all the other windows therefore have the wrong rounded corners.



    Since they were there first, anti-alias properly and render drop shadows accordingly and iTunes5 doesn't, then regardless of which you prefer for iTunes, it's plainly iTunes that is wrong.





    Apple Mail looks different to everything else - is this wrong? Some UI differences are good for the eye but also means Apple can try out different ideas. Apple have done this in the past and then changed everything in the OS to suit (QuickTime used to be the tester).
  • Reply 158 of 162
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    If so, all the other windows therefore have the wrong rounded corners.



    Since they were there first, anti-alias properly and render drop shadows accordingly and iTunes5 doesn't, then regardless of which you prefer for iTunes, it's plainly iTunes that is wrong.




    Agreed, I can't understand why this has even happened...





    Quote:

    I noticed. Podcasts still appear in playlists - horrible. borders still black, no drag bars between frames, ok/canel buttons in prefs...



    It's still a UI trainwreck.




    Podcasts in playlists can be useful (i'm going back on my word I said previously - in this thread I believe) I have an 'Unplayed Podcasts' playlist and its nice to go for a ride and catch up on unheard podcasts. WHilst I agree there should be a default to stop podcasts being listed in music playlists.



    Also contrary to what I previously I have also warmed to the search bar as a means to navigate my library - Showing only videos, music, audiobooks etc... It's possibly not the best way, but it's not too bad.
  • Reply 159 of 162
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacCrazy

    Apple Mail looks different to everything else - is this wrong? Some UI differences are good for the eye but also means Apple can try out different ideas. Apple have done this in the past and then changed everything in the OS to suit (QuickTime used to be the tester).



    Yes. Apple Mail is wrong also.



    Horrible buttons. Blue pane which can't be changed or moved. status indicators that no longer indicate the progress of email being downloaded in any meaningful way. selection bars that ignore the system defined colours.



    Quicktime going to metal made sense when they were using metal to indicate a media type physical device replacement eg. a stereo, dvd player or other bit of consumer electronic kit. Metal windows behave differently too. It makes no sense at all to use metal on the finder. And now we have the itunes dark metal/plastic bastardisation.



    Apple are perfectly welcome to try out ideas but doing so by introducing ever changing UIs on the public instead of in their own labs (if they have any anymore) is an odd thing to do for the company that once prided itself on the consistency of it's interface.



    Windows XP is more consistent. Even some of the Linux desktops are more consistent.
  • Reply 160 of 162
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by danielctull

    Also contrary to what I previously I have also warmed to the search bar as a means to navigate my library - Showing only videos, music, audiobooks etc... It's possibly not the best way, but it's not too bad.



    It's a pity they missed off the ability to create a smart playlist from the search though. You can do it in Finder and Mail but not iTunes.
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