Apple launches iTunes 8, NBC comes back, TV shows at $1.99, Genius in the house
By Joshua Fruhlinger 
posted Sep 9th 2008 12:05PM
posted Sep 9th 2008 12:05PM
Just in time for couch season, Apple has busted out iTunes 8 with a slew of new features, like the Genius sidebar. Also, NBC is back on board with its lineup of TV shows. According to Jobs, "The Office is coming back, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, 30 Rock... and they're coming back in HD." HD versions of shows will run you $2.99 while SD versions run a reasonable $1.99 (when compared to, say, a full month's cable access). Meanwhile, "Genius" is a new feature that Apple says will change the way you browse your media. "Old browsing wasn't efficient," said Jobs. "in iTunes 8 you can look by album cover, and this new bar at the top let's you look at anything graphically in little tiles." Basically, Genius is a contextual iTunes store recommendation tool that will, in essence, make it easier for you to spend money. It also makes custom playlists on the fly based on your habits, and shares them (anonymously, they promise) with other users. So what's missing so far? None of the rumored subscription services, for one, and any mention of new hardware or iPhone functions, like, say disk mode. We'll keep wishing. Apple says it is making iTunes 8 available immediately (which, to them, may mean "some time later"), so let the download races begin!
Update: We've got a gallery of iTunes 8 -- check it out below.
iTunes 8, hmmz... That's actually something worth getting a bit excited about.
You @$$ kisser...
...BTW I was referring to you avatar.
I'm sticking with iTunes 7.7 for a while.
Have you forgotten all the problems that happened to iTunes when version 7.0 was released??
I don't need a "genius" to patronise what i listen to!
New Nano looks ok though.
Itunes 8 available for download now
https://swdlp.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SoftwareDownloadApp.woa/wa/getProductData?localang=en_us&grp_code=itunes&returnURL=http://www.apple.com/itunes/download&isMiniiFrameReq=N
Is anyone else having the problem being unable to remove the arrows on songs that send you to the iTunes Music Store entry for the selected and playing items?
I cannot find a way to turn that off
Just to let ya know. the Apple store has been updated new iPods and all.
And iTunes 8 is up.
@ Nick
Yep. Looks like they removed the option to hide the links. The help file still tells you how to do it but the option is no where to be found. So this update we get two giant steps toward iTunes becoming a giant in your face marketing tool for the store... I guess in Apple's defense, you can at least hide the genius sidebar. But seriously, is it a genius for the user or for Apple's marketing and sales teams? I lean toward the latter.
iTunes 8 Help File:
To hide links to the iTunes Store:
Choose iTunes > Preferences.
Click General.
Deselect "Show links to the iTunes Store."
There is a way to remove the arrows which link to the iTunes store.
Go into Edit/Preferences, then under the Parental Control tab, check "Disable iTunes store".
Dumb move, Apple. By changing iTunes to have annoying links to the store all over the screen, you're encouraging us to make it so we NEVER go to the iTunes store ever again.
$1.99 isn't reasonable. I can get these shows free elsewhere with less hassle.
Agreed, you might as well just buy a season set on DVD and rip the episodes from there. In many cases, it would be cheaper.
If I was having friends over and we decided we wanted to see some random episode of some show, $2 is a pittance compared to the effort of finding and waiting for the torrent.
But I agree, if you're watching every episode on it, or trying to build an archive, $2 per episode is steeper than just buying and ripping the DVDs, or obtaining them via alternate methods.
I agree how is $2 an episode reasonable compared to having 24/7 new content with cable for like $50 a month
I don't know about "less hassle".
- Free Bittorrent? Bittorrent is a hassle for those people who don't have a dedicated media server or HTPC configured for the task.
- Free OTA? Unless you want to schedule your life around the network's arbitrary broadcast schedule, you need a TiVo/PVR/DVD-Recorder etc and program it *before* the show airs (and how do you know if a new show is worth recording and watching until after it has aired and people start talking about it?).
Either way, it's not as convenient nor immediate as iTunes.
@ Evan,
"how do you know if a new show is worth recording and watching until after it has aired and people start talking about it?"
Wow, talk about living your life as a sheeple. You can't even decide what you want to watch on TV, that you need someone else to watch it first and then tell you to watch it?
I like free HD, OTA tuner and media center. No DRM to cut through to move the video to any device you want. Or for SD content just hook up to a VCR or cable box through S-Vid, either way its cheaper.
If you can stand the limited commercial interruption (in my experience, usually under a minute or a minute and a half per 22-26 minute episode), many of these shows can be found for free with services like hulu, which ARE less hassle.
The big 4 all have their shows for free on their websites.
@UnixSystemsEngineer
Fuck man it is a REAL HASSLE...i mean i have to type in a website, search and download.
screw that, its just too difficult!
Instead i will pay to watch the show, with worse quality and i cant burn to a dvd or do anything with it.
I cant understand how you can defend paying for the show:S
ITunes 8... good start..... MORE
LAME.. where's the subscription plans?
Really? Will it let me copy mp3's from my device to my hard drive?
"Apple says it is making iTunes 8 available immediately"... must not mean NOW.... still 7 @ apple
iTunes 8 isnt available via the Apple Software updater yet.
$2 tv shows on itunes are OMG BIG NEWS now? Isn't that what they always were?
actually, it's the return of NBC content, and the launch of HD TV shows for $2.99.
Browse is the new search.
still no new iTunes! immediately sure does take a LONG time!
Well, nothing is updated yet. Wait till Apple store returns and i think the new 8.0 will be out.
itunes.com/versions isn't updated either. yet !
The Apple store was never down.
Down as in they are updating it.
I'd like to see iTunes 8 be the first of the speculated "lean" apps where they won't take up so much memory, and run more efficiently.
I want my 12 inch MacBook Pro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The iTunes store has been down all day, no new releases are on there today... just waiting on iTunes 8...
another yawn
"iTunes 8 with a slew of new features, like the Genius sidebar"
What slew of new features? I dont see any new features other than genius sidebar
More bloat, slower loading times, more niche products that rely solely on iTunes to sync everything ever (did I mention it runs even slower now?)
The TV shows have always been $1.99. What is the big deal here?
Still waiting..
New releases are available if you manually search for them, but software update and the Apple site are still showing 7.7 is the latest. Also no NBC content available yet...
so is genius just apples integration of the music genome project into itunes ?
Now give me an HDMI attachment for my iPhone and I may actually download HD content.
you can get a component video cable attachment... and i bet you can't tell the difference between that and hdmi
It has been released on d/l page!!!!
If you try to download iTunes 7 it will now give you 8... at least for Windows...
Direct Link: http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/content.info.apple.com/iTunes8/061-4746.20080909.Detnz/iTunes8Setup.exe
its here http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Got it! It's indexing all my album art for Genius right now! :)
All installed. It's indexing my library and sending it to Genius right now! :)
I realize that this is a bit trollish, but i couldn't help but notice:
http://img66.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zunesoftnt9.jpg
Let's 30 Rock!
I can confirm that Genius works with mp3s as well as iTunes purchased music.
I wonder if I can upgrade my SD TV shows that I already purchased to HD for just 1$. It would be lame to have to buy everything over again.
Anyone know the answer to this?
I really like the iphone/ipod touch interface but seriously WTF is with the memory usage on Windows? 176K?
Have you guys never heard of screen caps? whats with the lame camera pictures of the computer screen?
Are you dense? They're taking pictures because the computer is being projected.
@PK Really? Projected? So why is it that I can make out the camera and hands in this image? http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/09/itunes803.jpg
It may very well be on a computer at the event (which would keep them from being able to do screen caps), but this is definitely NOT being projected.
itunes 8, with more update popups!
Here is the bottom line: NBC's SEASON suffered last year. That is at least partly attributed to not being on iTunes. And while profits for Studios from iTunes are not CURRENTLY anything that warrants a second glance, fast forward a few years when 50 million or more Americans have iPhones or iPod touches... This landscape is changing fast, and NBC knows it.
Let's recap last year, shall we? Jeff Zucker made a complete IDIOT of himself when he threatened (unfortunately for NBC, very publicly) to remove all NBC content from iTunes by the end of the year. Apple, instead of cowering in dismay, did Mr. Zucker one better: They immediately and unceremoniously removed all NBC content post haste (Early Sept. 07).
Here is the word on the street: Apple made the decision to completely ban NBC content from the iTunes store for a period of exactly one year. That is why even though Apple and NBC appeared to "make nice" in January, you haven't seen NBC content back on iTunes until now (Early Sept. 08).
Apple approached this issue in this way in order to send a message to the other networks that might be contemplating doing the same. "You're free to leave whenever you want, but chose wisely, because it isn't so easy to come back once you decide you want back on the gravy train."
Apple's financial reports never registered even the slightest blip from a missing NBC over the last 12 months. In fact, their growth has been unprecedented and their profits have been Apple's largest in history.
NBC made a massive miscalculation. End of story.
WTF... iTunes is using 977MB of memory?!? Version 7.7 used about 30. Anybody know how to downgrade? I'm an OS X user btw...
I have gotten sick of Itunes because its evolved into a bloated resource hog.
I used to buy the occasional iTUNE Track but now that there are so much better codecs and competing services than the ones available on Apple's service...throw in I no longer own an iPOD (GO ARCHOS!)....I've definitely been set free to have whatever codec or format I desire in my Audio and Video Files....
Also...having been to the APPLE store many times....I've determined that their continued use of the word GENIUS means "moron".
how do you set the settings for burning CDs or importing music into iTunes?!?! It lost that functionality in the ADVANCED tab. WTH!!!!
jk. found it :(
burning CDs in general has gone out the window. For example i'm limited in what i can burn. Meaning unless the song was already in mp3 format you ARE NOT ABLE TO BURN SONGS THAT CAME FROM A CD/ALBUM (except for istore/downloaded songs). Like i just bought a Matisyahu CD and wanted to burn 4 or 5 songs plus a few others from other CDs, into audio format. itunes 8.0 said
"sorry only licensed and mp3 formats can be burned into CD format"
How nice. I did it by accident on my mom's new iMAC. Had i done it on my Powerbook i would have been F#@$!
Be warned
NBC - Do you need some salt to go on that CROW?
NBC is back. With HD TV shows. They made a boo boo and now wants to play again. So the Zune Marketplace and all their other silly initiatives didn't do so well now did it? The revenue generated by the Zune marketplace was probably pathetic. LOL
I tried downloading the shows NBC is offering for free. They go to my cart but say UNAVAILABLE. Come on...
Its about time they have a genius playlist!!
im satrting to use the genious thingy and it is taking quite a while to "get information from my library" (80ish gigs)
Its also been using 1.2 GB of my memory in the process (presumably because of the genious)
Oh great, and even bulkier iTunes. Just what I needed!
With regards to the iTunes store arrow links - I wrote a (Mac only) App to disable them. You can grab it off my website, it's free and everything :-) http://www.lawrencedudley.co.uk/my-tunes/
Still no folder monitoring in iTunes, how can they justify the version change for music suggestions and a grid view that was in media player 11 beta but pulled for some unknown reason?
Long time Mac user here. When my iMac dies I'm going to a PC and Ubuntu. iTunes 8 is either the most cynical app Mac has ever created or the most rushed.
I don't need my computer to be subservient to my phone or my dmp. This app is the most Microsoft-evil, not giving a hoot for the customer app ever created (outside of Microsoft of course)
The look of the app has been destroyed. In a draconian move your files must now be named in the "proper" fashion to make it easier to spam you with the old genius bar. No more letting iTunes manage your library the way you wanted it managed.
Adios Apple
i cant get the genius thing to work!
its always saying an error occured when i put in my aol screen name and password.
help?