MiniPlayer
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Features of the new iTunes 11 MiniPlayer
As you start playing around with iTunes 11, don't forget that it ships with a completely updated MiniPlayer. Here's a quick guide to this great little tool. Moving to and from the MiniPlayer Look at the top-right corner of your iTunes browsing window. There you'll find the familiar full-screen toggle. Just to its left is a small rectangle-in-rectangle icon. Click this to transform the full iTunes window to the MiniPlayer version. Once minimized, you can return to the full-sized browser by clicking the small rectangle under the X at the top-left corner. Click "X" to close the browser without opening a new window. Prefer to use the keyboard? Apple offers not one, but two keyboard shortcuts: Command-Option-M toggles between full and minibrowser windows Command-Option-3 opens and closes the minibrowser without affecting the main screen Use the latter to open a new MiniPlayer without closing the main window. Album Art Click the album art to open the image in a separate window. The art offers full playback controls. Playback Controls Hover your mouse over the MiniPlayer to switch from the information view to playback controls. You'll find play/pause/track skip and AirPlay buttons. Click on the circled chevron for more playback options, including the ability to rate a song or add it to your Up Next list. Searching Click on the magnifying glass to access the MiniPlayer search options. Results appear in the same window, so you can easily click the song you want to hear next. Up Next iTunes' Up Next feature is also baked into the MiniPlayer. Click the list icon to the left of the search button. You'll see the next few tracks listed. Click the time icon to see what you've already listened to (handy for answering "what was that song?" questions). Click clear to empty that history or remove items from your upcoming queue. This allows you to finish playback after the current song finishes. The MiniPlayer's a great new window with a great set of features. Found something we missed? Drop a note in the comments and share!
Change the behavior of the iTunes zoom button in 9
For me, one of the most welcome new features of iTunes 9 was the restoration of sanity to the way that iTunes responded to the zoom button. I had long been irritated by the non-standard behavior iTunes had displayed, brazenly flaunting the accepted practice of how the zoom button worked by toggling the mini player on and off, instead of zooming the window like a well-behaved Mac app. Never once in all my years of using iTunes have I wanted to use the mini player. Whenever I tried to zoom the app and the mini player appeared, it would be quickly followed by muttering and grumbling. So you can imagine my joy and bliss at discovering that iTunes 9 finally validated what I had known all along. The zoom button was supposed to act a certain way, and if you want to do something different than the standard, then you ought to use the option/alt key. I celebrated this change. I called friends I had not spoken with in ages to tell them about it. I wrote a sonnet to the proper use of the zoom button. A party was planned. Ok, maybe not all of that, but I was pleased with the change. Then iTunes 9.0.1 came out and ruined everything. Yes, I said everything! No, you're the one who's overly emotionally attached to a relatively minor UI issue! Well, apparently I'm not the only only one. Over on Twitter @zadr and @siracusa reported that you could revert iTunes 9.0.1 to iTunes 9.0's behavior through a command in Terminal.app: defaults write com.apple.iTunes zoom-to-window -bool YES This tip was then "retweeted" about 50 times and ended up on MacOSXHints.com which is where I first saw it, moments before breaking out into song and dance. If you would prefer not to get into Terminal.app, you can get the 9.0 standard zoom behavior in 9.0.1 (and presumably later versions as well) by holding down the alt/option key when clicking the zoom button.
Dear Auntie TUAW: What happened to the mini player in iTunes 9?
Dear Auntie TUAW, With all the shiny goodness of iTunes 9 and a way to finally organise iPhone/iPod Touch apps without getting a friction burn on my thumb, I settled in for some music lovin'. Now I don't know how everyone else in the world likes their iTunes experience, but personally I'm quite fond of using the miniplayer. I love having it floating atop everything else for quick track skipping without having to resort to any kind of ghastly menu bar or dashboard trickery (I'm a purist maybe?). To my dismay the zoom button now... actually... zooms the iTunes window rather than presenting me with my favoured miniplayer. It's no great loss (considering the hot key is only shift+cmd+M) but I liked the simplicity of "The green one gives me small happy player." Love and kisses,Your Nephew James Dearest James, Auntie TUAW wanted me to answer for her; she's in the process of baking some cakes for the annual church social at Our Lady of Perpetual Motion, so she's a bit tied up right now.I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with the new functions of iTunes 9. I have hope! Apple didn't change the functionality too much. In fact, they made it more consistent with the rest of the operating system. The green "+" button now acts as a proper zoom button like every other app out there -- BUT -- if you hold the option key while pressing it you still get the mini player like the previous versions of iTunes. Sure, you can use the shift+command+M hot key if you'd like, but there's a still a mouse click solution that will hopefully help you and the rest of our readers out. With best regards,Cousin Josh
Meizu M6 Mini Player reaching 8GB soon
We know, hearing "soon" just adds salt to the wound, but it looks like Meizu is upping the internal capacity of its not-quite-on-Apple's-interrogation-list M6 Mini Player to 8GB. According to users at MeizuMe, it has already hit the e-market (at least in the pre-order stage) for those in China, while speculation insists that Americans should see the roomier rendition within a month or so. Aside from the increased capaciousness, everything else looks to be on par with the previous versions, and while the standard package is currently listed for 999CNY (around $130), the "Deluxe" kit purportedly throws in a few extra accessories for an additional 151CNY ($19.51). Of course, we fully expect these prices to be a bit higher once sitting on American shelves, but they should still remain fairly competitive compared to the bevy of other options in the 8GB range.[Via DAPReview]
Meizu thinks small, copies Apple again with Music Card
Sure, there've been props all around for Meizu's M6 Mini Player, but that still doesn't alleviate those concerns of iPod "homage." Now that we've spotted this upcoming "Music Card" nano foe, who's design was apparently inspired by a user submitted competition, it's pretty clear where Meizu is getting its design ideas, but we're not sure we'd have it any other way. With a shiny metal back, "reminiscent" of the original nano, along with that glossy plastic metal front and familiar screen size, the Apple references are hard to skip. Meizu mixes things up with its scroll strip and that little button on the bottom left, along with what we're assuming is expansive codec support and probably even video playback. Dimensions are familiar as well, at 6.9mm thick and 39mm wide, but enough about similarities: we're looking forward to a bit more info on this player to see just what Meizu has planned for us on price, availability and features.[Via dapreview]
Meizu working on a WinCE-powered MiniPlayer followup?
Chinese DAP manufacturer Meizu has seen quite a lot of interest in its M6 MiniPlayer -- so much so that it recently became available Stateside -- and now word on the street (and by street, we mean overseas internet forums) has the company poised to release an updated version. At this point details are still very sketchy -- all the more so because of the nature of machine translation -- but from what we can tell, the upcoming M8 will sport a 533MHz Samsung ARM processor, 2.6-inch VGA screen (compared to the M6's 2.4-inch QVGA display), and the latest Windows CE OS, but not, unfortunately, memory card support nor a user-replaceable battery. There's also no word yet on what capacities this model will come in, though we've heard rumors that Meizu is trying to break through the 4GB ceiling of the original MiniPlayer. That's all we've got for now, and please bear in mind, the pic you see above is simply one fan's fantasy and probably won't bear much of a resemblance to the final product.[Via Engadget Chinese]
