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iTunes 7.7 available now
Well, we weren't "wrong" yesterday, just off the mark by about 12 hours or so. As of approximately 3:15 a.m. EDT, iTunes 7.7 is now appearing in Software Update. This is the description from the download screen:Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home - a free download from the App Store.Thus far, I can't find any specific UI changes or option settings, so I'm assuming that the elusive "Applications" menu item will appear as soon as the App Store launches.We'll post more details as they become available. For now, I'm going back to bed in the hopes that my BlackBerry's blinking lights won't keep me up.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Update: In my partially-awake stupor I neglected to read the information about the new "Remote application" -- looks like this will be one of the first free Apple-published apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch, when the App Store launches on Friday!
iTunes Plus DRM-free, not free of annoying glitches
iTunes updates always seem to come with some growing pains, and yesterday's release of iTunes Plus and iTunes 7.2 doesn't look like it's any exception. We're hearing reports that the new iTunes Plus "Upgrade My Library" feature doesn't work as expected (when it works at all), that Plus downloads are incredibly slow and frequently time out, and that the preference to always see iTunes Plus tracks when they're available occasionally resets itself. On top of all that, the intrepid Apple sleuths over at TUAW have discovered that while iTunes Plus tracks might be DRM-free, they still contain your name and account information -- which seems like a fair piracy-prevention compromise to us, but has apparently rubbed a few people the wrong way. We're not sure if the various iTunes Plus problems are in iTunes 7.2 itself or just the result of pent-up demand for DRM-free EMI tracks overwhelming Apple's servers, but you can bet that Steve's minions are busy getting iTunes 7.2.1 ready as we speak.
TUAW How To: Use your iTunes library over AirPort Disk
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/software/How_To_Use_your_iTunes_library_over_AirPort_Disk'; Last September we showed you how to keep your iTunes library on an external hard drive. While doing the same thing over an AirPort Disk with Apple's new AirPort Extreme Base Station sounds like it should more or less be the same situation, there are a couple of new catches to be aware of. Never fear, though - we'll outline what you need to know to truly snip the wires on your iTunes library.First, in order to do this right, we recommend backing up your library before snipping any cables (we also don't recommend actually snipping any cables; they can be expensive to replace). If you haven't gotten into the backup habit yet, Scott's How to Back your music using iTunes 7 tutorial is a great place to start. Now, on with the show.
TUAW Tip: open two separate iTunes windows
This isn't the most advanced tip in the book, but I found the trick darn handy last night while performing some badly needed library cleanup. In iTunes, you can open a second window for almost any item in your sources list on the left - the iTunes Store, a playlist or - interestingly - even a folder of playlists. While your library items such as Music, Movies and TV Shows are unfortunately exempt from this convenience, you can simply double-click any of these items to open them in their own window, minus a source list of their own. This is great for having easy access to playing music in one window while you work in another, perhaps cleaning up files, like I was, shopping at the store, or building a new playlist.
Coverscout 2.3
Coverflow is a really great incentive to get album art for all your tracks in iTunes 7, but surely you don't want to do that manually. Sure, iTunes can download cover art from the iTunes Store, but what if some of your music isn't on the iTunes Store?Enter Coverscout, which was just bumped up to version 2.3. This little app searches several sources to find that album art that is just right. New in 2.3 are: Use an iSight to take a picture of a rare CD or album cover and Coverscout will convert it to album art for you Better searching iTunes 7 support Coverscout is a Universal Binary, and costs $19.95.
New Jersey begins taxing iTS downloads like CDs and armored cars
The state of New Jersey is suffering from a slight $4.5 billion debt problem. Macenstein is reporting that amidst a recent sales tax increase and a frantic session of checking the sofa for change, Governor Jon Corzine has expanded the list of items which can be taxed to include, amongst other things, iTunes Store purchases. This means that all iTS downloads will be taxed at the same recently raised 7% rate of other newly taxable items such as storage space, tanning, health club memberships and security alarms.Interestingly, Dr. Macenstein also reports that he'll be trying to work around the new charges by changing his virtual iTS address to another state. C'mon Dr. M, you need to pay up for your tanning and limousine luxuries just like everybody else.
iTunes song tagging redux
We reported a method for tagging iTunes tracks and creating on-the-fly playlists way back in January. However, it involved using Quicksilver and a couple of home-grown scripts, but we can dig it if some of y'all aren't down with a tool as broad-reaching as Quicksilver. Fortunately for the rest of you, a web designer and developer named Steven Campbell has written up a basic method for tagging iTunes tracks and creating playlists based on those tags. It more or less involves revealing the comments column in the song list for easy access, and using a simple system of comma-separated words to get your iTunes tagging on. This can work wonders for Smart Playlists, and Steven offers a few examples in his post.For those still interested in the aforementioned Quicksilver scripts and tools, the author has issued a bit of an upgrade and a new script since we first reported them. First of all, the scripts now live at their own domain name, TuneTag.com. The scripts still allow you to tag the song you're listening to on the fly and create on-the-fly playlists from those tags, but the author also added a new script that lets you select any number of tracks in iTunes and tag them all in one fell swoop. As a Quicksilver fan I'm already in love with the power of these scripts, but either method should work well for bringing the web 2.0 tagging craze to iTunes.
Newly resized iTS video content just a bad upsample?
It seems like not all larger iTunes Store videos are actually worth their new dimensions. Reader Paul did some investigating on the newly resized videos (i.e. - ones that were 320 x 240 before the new store, and are now 640 x 480), as a few seemed suspiciously like bad upsamples, rather than truly re-encoded masterpieces of H264 quality.Unfortunately, for this investigation Paul had to reveal he is an Anastacia fan, but that isn't important right now (just kiddin' with you Paul). Engadget has put together a good post with example screenshots (like the one above) of upsampled content that looks worse than its smaller predecessors. Some of the videos look great - like Paul's Anastacia examples, but others like Madonna's and Elton John's vids ultimately take the more jagged route.The thing I'm wondering is: who does the encoding? Apple, or the studios? This page at Apple's site for music labels interested in getting onto the store offers software called iTunes Producer to allow them to do the encoding, which makes me suspect this video upsampling issue could be the fault of the labels mistakenly assigning the video encoding and re-encoding work to some rookie intern.This is about all we know for now; Apple I'm sure is unavailable for comment, but check out Engadget's post for more screenshots and details of what's going on here.
Apple quietly releases iTunes 7.0.1
In typical Apple fashion, they've just updated their jukebox app with hardly a hint of the changes, other than that it "addresses stability and performance issues with Cover Flow, CD importing, iPod syncing, and more." We suppose there's only one way to find out if iTunes 7.0.1 actually manages to fix all those problems that cropped up in the initial release, but if it's any consolation, we managed to install our very own copy without frying our machine or experiencing any of those formerly reported problems of Cover Flow kicking puppies.[Thanks, Rob]
iTunes 7 tidbits: it now respects the Browse state
This is most likely at best a minor bonus on most iTunes users' lists - if it's on them at all - but I was pleasantly surprised to discover yesterday that iTunes 7 (pre-7.0.1) now respects the Browse state when switching between the Library and playlists or other sections of the software. If you're scratching your head as to what I'm talking about, let me give you an obnoxious user scenario from previous versions: Let's say you're viewing your music library, and you enable the Browse button so you can track down that exact Genre, Artist or Album you have a craving for. Then, you switch to a playlist to maybe edit it or check and see if the track you're grooving to is on it (yes, I know you can do that by other methods). Upon switching back to the main Library, iTunes has now blown away whatever Genre/Artist/Album selection you had made, disrupting your flow and forcing you to hunt it down again. If you don't use iTunes like this, feel free to move along at this point. But, if you're feeling my aggravating pain, I am happy to tell you that an iTunes engineer had you and I in mind my friend, as this behavior is now gone. iTunes 7 will respect your Browse state if you start hunting around in other playlists, Library sections or the store, maintaining that Genre, Artist or Album selection you made. Again, this is admittedly a tiny detail, but c'mon - we're talking about Apple, a company known for its attention to the smallest of details which often illicit the largest of "thank you's!" Enjoy.
Apple pushing the MiniStore with iTunes 7
This has been bothering me since I upgraded to iTunes 7, and I finally laid hands on a copy of v6 to confirm: in v7, Apple seems to be pushing the new MiniStore they introduced in v6.0.2, as in: they don't make turning it off nearly as obvious anymore. Maybe they didn't like the fact that they were subsequently forced into asking permission to run the store, because in v7, there is no 'click down here to toggle me on/off' button. iTunes 7 is pictured above, while a shot of v6's button is below.Yes, users can toggle this store under the View menu in iTunes 7, but the point is they removed the instructional piece, as well as any obvious, visible UI for toggling the store. A missing button might not be a big deal to the typical iTunes-familiar user, but there are plenty others out there who don't bother to go hunting for things like this when they get moved (remember what happened when Microsoft re-arranged the Start menu for Windows XP? Riots, mass panic and a severe shortage of duct tape), and they relegate themselves to complaining about how [insert explicative and optional insult] Apple is for doing this.C'mon Apple, we know you love your store (and we're pretty keen on it ourselves), but you don't need to pull UI tricks like this on your users. Besides, there's plenty of toolbar space down there for everybody; especially for a button that used to live there to begin with.
Bug-fixin' iTunes 7 upgrade on the way?
Most of the Apple fan base is busy chatting about the latest iPod releases, the possibility of laptop spec bumps, and the when-the-hell-is-it-coming-already iPhone, but not all is well and good in Macland, as certain folks have been experiencing all sorts of problems with the just-released iTunes 7. Issues range from broken podcasts to unrecognized hardware to crappy-sounding audio, and although some of the bugs have seen successfully troubleshooting from crafty consumers, everyone is still waiting on word from Cupertino as to how it's going to address the multitude of problems. Well for those of you who've been forced to listen to your old transistor radio for the last few days, AppleInsider has some potentially good news, claiming that people with "ties to Apple" say that the company is well aware of the many glitches (as well as the public outcry) and are "toiling feverishly" on an update -- as in, both Mac and Windows users can expect version 7.0.x ASAP. We bring you this news not only to buoy your spirits in these times of despair, but also as a heads up to certain individuals in the programming community; after all, since QTFairUse struck back so quickly at iTunes 7, don't think that Steve and friends aren't spending at least some of their time trying to break that annoying little piracy-enabling patch for good.
Borrow shared iTunes music with ourTunes
Streaming iTunes music over a network is good, but being able to actually pull down and borrow that music is great, and ourTunes is just the app for the job. Running on Mac and PC (I think it's java), ourTunes allows you to browse the library of anyone on your network who has sharing switched on in iTunes, then pull down songs that get your feet tappin'. I don't know if this works with the new iTunes 7, but I remember seeing this app a while ago, back when I used to work in an office on campus, and I'm genuinely surprised it hasn't received a calling card from Apple's C&D ninjas. Grab it while you can ladies and gents.
Macworld UK compiles iTunes 7 support docs
There have been a number of reports that people are having all kinds of issues with iTunes 7 (funny how this happens every time Apple updates iTunes. I would wager that iTunes is Apple's most used app, and I'm including OS X). Macworld UK has gathered up a number of links to Apple Knowledge base articles that lists bugs, and offer solutions.If you're experiencing any trouble with iTunes 7 you should check this out.I have updated iTunes on several Macs and have run into no problems, but your mileage may vary.
Strange new sidebar shortcuts in iTunes 7
A post at Mac OS X Hints lists some bizarre shortcuts that appear to be new in iTunes 7. The shortcuts apply to selecting the various content sections such as Music, Movies and the Store, but what's strange is that if you have any playlists which begin with the same letter as the shortcut, the playlist takes precedence. For example: the letter M (amongst others) can take you to your Movies section, but if you have a playlist titled "Mashups," the letter M will take you to the playlist, not the major content section.These shortcuts are very strange indeed, and it would be nice to have a more unified and universal list tucked away under a menu somewhere, so the shortcuts worked no matter what you were doing in iTunes, or what was selected. Still, if you're interested, check out Mac OS X Hint's list of shortcuts found so far.
iTunes 7 music purchases don't play on iTunes phones?
A reader linked us to an Apple Discussion thread where a number of users have listed problems with playing purchases from the iTS through iTunes 7 on their Motorola SLVR and ROKR iTunes phones. It seems these users can play regular music they ripped from CDs, as well as purchases made through iTunes 6 - just not songs bought through the new iTunes 7. The thread hasn't reached biblical lengths just yet, but there are enough comments on the thread that I felt it warranted a post at TUAW.One commenter posted a link to this Apple Support doc which offers instructions for when this same problems happens to an iPod, and some of the procedures can easily be adopted for an iTunes phone (such as restoring/erasing the phone and deauthorizing, then reauthorizing iTunes). However, some users have already commented that the doc's solutions aren't fixing the issue either.Are any readers experiencing the same hiccup? If you have any thoughts on what's going on, please share your thoughts in the comments and, if you're up to the task, drop the frustrated peeps over in Apple's Discussion thread a line too. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.Thanks Anthony
How To: keep your iTunes library on an external hard drive
For more helpful how-to guides, check out the TUAW Tips, iPhone 101 and Mac 101 topics. After discussing how my iTunes library is set up with a few readers in the comments on my First Impressions/2G iPod nano post, I figured this might be a handy tip for readers who find themselves running out of room to store an expanding iTunes library. My only machine is a MacBook Pro with a 120GB hard drive, but after installing ~ 40GB of the entire Final Cut Studio suite and other various software and projects, I don't have room for my ~ 35GB iTunes library. I decided to do some experimenting a couple weeks back with moving and keeping my library on an external hard drive. There are obvious initial disadvantages to this, but after some tinkering and getting comfortable with iTunes' baked-in library management genius, this can be a pretty useful setup for those who, like me, are cramped for space but aren't willing to trash those albums you're too embarrassed use in a Party Shuffle playlist. This setup also has the inherent, and obvious, advantage of keeping your library on an external hard drive, so it's more or less already backed up - though I, with my paranoid data habits, keep a backup of my library on a second hard drive, and I now also use Scott's iTunes 7 backup tip (instead of a previous Smart Playlist system) to burn my library to DVDs (the lesson from someone who knows: your data can never be too backed up - ever). Getting back on topic: read on for a walkthrough (from a very mobile notebook user) of how to move your iTunes library to an external hard drive. I'll include some tips on how iTunes is already one step ahead of this setup, as well as a few habits you might need to adopt when living la vida external-iTunes-library.
Solution for broken car interfaces with new iPod software
We don't know how wide-spread this problem is, but I figured if this frustrating complicatioin happened to one user, he probably isn't the only one: SecurityMonkey at the ITtoolbox Blogs posted a tragic story with a happy ending involving Apple's latest iPod software update and factory car interfaces. This dramatic tale of heart-wrenching loss and emotional reuniting with his iPod + car integration kit begins with the software update for is 5G iPod that iTunes 7 requires. Upon connecting his recently updated iPod to the factory Nissan adapter in his car, the display presented the 'No iPod' error message pictured above.Ultimately, SecurityMonkey was able to recover his factory iPod connectivity with the daring attempt of using the Restore function now built into iTunes 7. Granted it's a time-consuming process since it requires re-syncing all the music back onto an iPod (it also erases any data/files on the iPod, so back those up), but upon reuniting his refreshed iPod with his Nissan - their techno-sexy love was once again in full bloom.Again, this is the first report we've seen of issues like this, so we have no idea which iPod models this affects, or which decks and interfaces are experiencing these quirks. If any of y'all run into similar problems, give us the details in this post's comments, or submit a tip via our tips form.
iTunes 7 turning out to have major glitches
When we were deep inside Maestro Jobs' reality distortion field on Tuesday, all these new additions to iTunes 7 seemed like significant improvements over its previous version. But not quite 48 hours later, all is not quiet on the iTunes front. Specifically, users on Apple's web forums and our own tipsters are reporting that some new nanos aren't being recognized in Windows iTunes 7, music being played through iTunes 7 sounds "scratchy" at times, CoverFlow doesn't always entirely download properly, and there are allegations that iTunes 7 has become, slow, bloated, and a resource hog. Some of us here at Engadget who have installed iTunes 7 haven't noticed any bad playback or other slowdowns, but have been dissappointed that very few of the albums on our machines have successfully downloaded album art. Furthermore, The Sydney Morning Herald called iTunes 7 a "lemon" yesterday and went on to report that: "Both Mac and PC users appear to be affected by the glitches being reported, and numerous different threads on the Apple discussion forum have described a range of technical issues." Oh, and did we mention that many professionally produced podcasts -- including CNET's Buzz Oud Loud, Popular Mechanics, and our own -- are reportedly not working. If Apple doesn't do something about this pretty soon, people might start calling it iCan't -- as in: "I can't play my music anymore."[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Read - The Sydney Morning HeraldRead - Apple iTunes ForumsRead - Possible solution for nano issue in WindowsRead - Podcasts are brokenRead - Roku SoundBridge iTunes support broken (workaround here)
iTunes 7 patches QTFairUse 2.2, QTFairUse 2.3 patches iTunes 7
At some time around 10:22AM Pacific Time, by our estimations, Steve Jobs introduced to the world iTunes 7, Apple's latest and greatest hardware / software / service glue for their best-selling online media initiative. Everyone cheered its album art functions, enhanced video resolution, and movie downloads; a few of us, though, silently winced on behalf of QTFairUse / myFairTunes6 users everywhere, who'd been successfully stripping the DRM off their Apple FairPlay protected files for a few weeks now. Then, at 6:23PM PST, QTFairUse version 2.3 came out, which added (beta) iTunes 7 support. By our approximation that means it took Igor (no, not Iger) about 8 hours and 1 minute to crack the latest major iTunes update. Not bad, but we were hoping for something in the 4-6 hour range; it would seem to us the anti-DRM community is resting on its laurels. Don't make us crack the whip, guys![Thanks, Brian]
