iTunes 9.1 due soon with ebook support and auto bitrate conversion
It should come as no surprise that iTunes is very likely due for an update this weekend, thanks to the iPad launch. MacRumors has reported on the likely features of iTunes 9.1, with built-in support for ebooks being the most obvious addition to the increasingly misnamed iTunes. According to their source, the current "Audiobooks" entry in iTunes will be replaced with a "Books" section meant to encompass both audiobooks and ebooks. Content management for portables like the iPad and iPhone will also be changed in order to allow users to sync ebook content to their devices more easily.
Genius Mixes, the series of auto-generated playlists introduced in iTunes 9, will allow users to have a bit more control over them after the update. Currently the only functionality allowed in the Genius Mix interface is a simple play/pause over the album art; in iTunes 9.1, users will be able to rename mixes and rearrange them by drag-and-drop. You'll also be able to delete unwanted Genius Mixes, and any you decide to hold on to will be available as sources in iTunes DJ. Hopefully this means you'll be able to actually see what's in your Genius Mixes; the current interface is so irritatingly bare-bones that I almost never use it.
One more thing: iPod shuffle users have long had the ability to have iTunes auto-convert songs' bitrates to 128 kbps AAC in order to save space and fit more songs on the device, but this functionality hasn't been offered for other iPods or the iPhone. Reportedly, iTunes 9.1 will finally bring this optional feature to other iPods. Songs in your iTunes library on your Mac or PC will remain at their higher bitrate, but should you choose to do so, you can enable iTunes to convert these songs to a lower (but still quite listenable for most people) bitrate for your portable device. Many are wondering if the iTunes interface will allow you to select a bitrate other than 128 kbps AAC, but my bet is that if iTunes includes this feature at all, it'll be 128 kbps or nothing.
If history is anything to go by, iTunes 9.1.1 will probably come out a week or two later in order to fix the things that iTunes 9.1 is almost certain to break.