[LEMONS]


4.28.2004

iTunes 4.5 Update

Apple updated iTunes to version 4.5 today, and added several nifty new features. Some observations on a few of them:

*The Party Shuffle feature seemed a little weird to me at first. I mean, I can already shuffle any playlist, right? But when I saw it, the utility of it hit me immediately: you can reorder the shuffle, eliminate crap before it hits the speaker, and generally have all the ease of automatic shuffling with the benefits of creating a playlist. Screenshot.

*I like the ability to publish playlists, if for no other reason than I'm a big nerd. It would be nice if Apple gave users a cut of the purchases made through a list (ar at least store credits at the iTMS) But when I tried publishing a playlist, I found that it would only ten of the twenty-six tracks I had on there. I have no idea if there is a numeric limit, or if this is for some other reason such as unavailability. Several of the songs I had set up for the playlist (screenshot) didn't make the cut, although most were available for sale on iTMS. I put in a few, such as the Kleptones song, that I knew wouldn't be in the store just to see how it would handle it. It ignored them. Here's the playlist I created. Be sure to give me a great rating. Or not. Either way.

*I'm psyched about the new jewel case insert printing. I like how easily it can add CD album art to a Jewel Case, this is a great feature for those of us who buy and burn a lot of songs from the iTMS, and then have to leave everything in non-descript, or ugly handwritten cases. I wish you could use your own images, though. Screenshot.

*Browsing the radio charts on the iTMS would be a lot better if they had a category for college radio. Browsing by geographic location, however, is really cool. If depressing.

*Apple Lossless Encoder? No thank you. I prefer FLAC.


- l i n k -

-###-