CNET Editors' review
Bottom line: Version 10.6 of iTunes brings a handful of enhancements to Apple's ubiquitous media software, and adds support for 1080p video.
Review:
As one of the most popular programs for managing music and video content on a personal computer, Apple's iTunes software has become an indispensable part of our digital life.
Interface
The look and layout of iTunes 10 is essentially identical to that of iTunes 9, with just a couple of noticeable differences. The first is that Apple has updated its logo for iTunes. Rather than the old-school music note-over-CD icon, you'll see a much more applike image. Still, the company hasn't figured out how to more broadly represent the jukebox's multimedia functionality: there's still just a music note.
There's also been a slight change to the source menu that runs as a column down the left side. The bright blue icons representing the various submenus have been changed to gray--an odd change in our eyes as it makes them stand out even less, which doesn't make a ton of sense for menu options. That said, they still offer quick access to your media library, the iTunes Store, Genius features, and playlists. Once a selection is chosen in the source menu, all the relevant content spills out into the large main window, where it can be organized and sorted using an arsenal of sophisticated, spreadsheet-like options or switched into a Cover Flow view that hearkens back to the days of flipping through record crates.
Once you're in the iTunes Store, navigation links now run horizontally across the top of the window and include drop-down menus to quickly drill down into specific sections, such as Jazz. Front page content is attractively arranged and allows you to launch music and video previews directly, without jumping in and out of specific album and video listings. There's also an option menu next to every purchase button, allowing you to copy the item's URL, add to your Wish List, gift the purchase, or share the link on Facebook or Twitter. We're happy to see that Apple kept all these great enhancements from version 9.
As the primary tool for managing content on iOS devices, iTunes continues to make it easy to find music, apps, podcasts, videos, and more using the navigation buttons across the top. In the iTunes App Store, for example, you can view Apple's New and Noteworthy apps, Hot apps of the moment, and Staff Picks if you're looking for app ideas. The iTunes App Store also offers a number of features in the right navigation like Games of the Week, Games starter kits, most popular lists, and other rotating links for more app discovery choices. Similarly, the Podcast, Books, and Video sections all have options for content discovery making it easy to browse for new content for your iOS devices.
New in iTunes 10
What started out as a basic jukebox program for ripping and burning CDs and transferring music to your iPod has evolved over the years into a multimedia behemoth capable of handling everything from HD-movie rentals to syncing appointments with your iOS device. In spite of all the bells and whistles that have been tacked on to iTunes over the years, at its core, iTunes still remains an excellent tool for managing your music and video collections.
One of the major feature additions from version 10 was Ping, a social music tool akin to Microsoft's Zune Social. Ping lets you select your favorite artists to follow, and then provides updated information on new music and concerts in your area (as well as a Twitter-like feed of comments from the artists). In addition, you can connect with your friends through iTunes by sending e-mail invites or by linking to your Facebook account. Ping is also built into the iTunes app, allowing users to access it on-the-go. Ping started off slow at release with only a few artists to follow, but after a few iTunes updates, Ping blossomed into full-fledged service. Ping still struggles to catch on, however, and is probably not as widely used as Apple might have hoped.
On the plus side, the recent versions of the jukebox do carry over all the great features from their predecessors. There's the iTunes LP media format, Home Sharing, Genius Mixes, and plentiful device-syncing options. The iTunes LP format treats music fans to a more immersive album experience, filled with liner notes, lyrics, interactive menus, and bonus videos. Though it seemed like a great idea when iTunes 10 first launched, relatively few artists currently have LP versions of their releases at the time of this update (iTunes 10.6).
On the video side, you can still expect to get the sort of bonus material and extras found on DVDs to many of the popular movies and TV shows available through iTunes. The format is called iTunes Extras, but just like iTunes LP, none of the added material or special menus can be transferred to an iPod or iPhone.
iTunes 10.6 adds the ability to play 1080p movies and TV shows from within the iTunes App Store. Apple says song matching has been improved, and iTunes has improved the way album artwork is handled, downloaded, and displayed. We haven't noticed any big differences in matching or album artwork management in our testing. The update also fixed an issue where songs were skipping when playing from iCloud.
Apple's Genius feature, added in iTunes 8, harnesses Apple's vast collection of iTunes song data to give you educated recommendations when it comes to what music or videos may interest you based on the media you already have. The same data can also be used to create instant 25-song Genius Playlists, built around any song in your library. In iTunes 9, Apple added another use for its Genius song recommendations called Genius Mixes. To minimize the amount of time it takes to launch iTunes and start listening to great music, Genius Mixes are automatic mixes of music from your library based around a common genre, such as Rock, Classical, Pop, or Jazz. The effect is similar to switching on a good radio station, surrendering song selection over to Apple's Genius technology, and trusting it not to mix your Zappa songs with Ella Fitzgerald.
iTunes also allows you to bless locally networked computers with Home Sharing privileges, allowing unrestricted access to their music, videos, podcasts, apps, and playlists, which can be copied between computers directly within iTunes. It's a great feature for families or any multicomputer household, and can even be set up to transfer any new iTunes store purchases between all of your computers automatically. Of course, content added to your library using means other than the iTunes Store (heaven forbid) is excluded from automatic updates, but can still be transferred manually through Home Sharing.
iTunes Match
Originating in version 10.5.1, iTunes Match lets you subscribe to match your current music library up with iTunes' vast music database and stores all your music in iCloud for $24.99 per year. Once subscribed, iTunes scans your library then matches up your songs with the iTunes database. Even if you have songs that aren't in the iTunes database, they will be uploaded to iCloud allowing you to download them on authorized desktop computers and your iOS devices. It's important to note, however, that Apple has implemented a hard cap of 25,000 songs for iTunes Match, so those with enormous music collections won't even be able to sign up for the service. Hopefully Apple will come up with a way to account for users with giant music collections (even if that means offering the capability to designate which songs should be matched), but it seems like a large oversight to not have some way for these users to sign up.
Updating iTunes is about as inevitable as death and taxes. Try and resist, and some iPod or iPhone update will come along and twist your arm into updating anyhow. And while Apple hasn't done much to lighten the load of the iTunes installation package (or the bundled QuickTime install that comes with it), it's hard to complain when the program is free and offers such an impressive range of features. If you're willing to spend $24.99 a year, the iTunes matching service might be worth the download to get all your music available via the cloud (as long as you have 25,000 songs or fewer). So yes, it's worth downloading--if for no other reason than to manage your devices and the content to go with it.
Apple iTunes - Manage your media library on Mac, iPhone, or iPod - Download Video Previews:Publisher's Description
From Apple:
iTunes is a free application for your Mac or PC. It organizes and plays your digital music and video on your computer. It keeps all your content in sync. And it's a store on your computer, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV that has everything you need to be entertained. Anywhere. Anytime.
What's new in this version:
- New MiniPlayer. MiniPlayer now includes a beautiful new view that showcases your album artwork. In addition, a progress bar is now built right into MiniPlayer.
- Improved Songs View. You can now enjoy your album artwork while in Songs view.
- Multi-Disc Albums. Albums with multiple discs now appear as a single album.
- This update also provides performance improvements when searching and sorting large iTunes libraries.
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All versions:
3.1 starsout of 222 votes
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Current version:
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My rating:
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"Dumbed down - not upgraded and improved"
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0.2
Pros
None for me on my iMac.
Cons
Dumbed down to the level and limitations of the iPad and other iOS devices. Too many features gone and no real enhancements to my "experience" on the iMac.
Summary
I have to agree. I have not updated to v11.x yet because of the bad reviews, but I checked it out at an Apple Store and hated it!!! Yes, most of the elegant and helpful features are gone. It's not like Apple to "change" their software with an update like Microsoft does all the time, but in this case they did just that. They changed it rather than improved it with additional features and functionality. I do not own an iPad nor do I "need" to (though they are nice), but do not dumb down the iMac desktops with the limitations of the iPad and other iOS devices. Apple should simply enhance the iMac with the additional functionality - not change it.
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"New version 11 is a disaster - DO NOT UPGRADE!"
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0.2
Pros
There are zero pros to iTunes 11.
Cons
It's riddled with bugs, options which were available in previous versions have been removed, user unfriendly. Don't believe me? Check out the numerous threads in the discussions forum on Apple's site. Steve Jobs is rolling in his grave over this version.
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"Very Sad. All of the elegance is gone."
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0.1
Pros
iCloud works better
Cons
It's a mess. Hard to navigate. I can't believe they think this is better than the previous version.
Summary
A huge downgrade. iTunes has lost all of the elegance of the previous versions! Mr. Cook, you should be ashamed of this product! Really, REALLY sad!
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"Reviews 10.6 When Referring to iTunes 11?"
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0.1
Pros
None. This is the wrong review for iTunes 11.
Cons
REVIEW IS FOR AN EARLIER VERSION OF THE PROGRAM!!!!!
Summary
This review is for an earlier version of iTunes than the version that is currently available, which is iTunes 11. This review is incorrect in every way about iTunes 11, though it is accurate for 10.6.
iTunes 11 is a downgrade in every way from previous versions of the program. Following Apple's desire to dumb down all Mac programs for iPad and iPhone users, they have stripped all the good that made iTunes 10.x a useful program. -
"iTunes 11 is hugely dumbed-down with many features gone"
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0.1
Pros
None that I saw in over a week of heavy use (I listen to music nearly constantly at both home and work).
Cons
-Cover Flow, the signature iTunes feature, is Gone!
-No multi-window support - can't open more than one play list for editing
-DJ feature gone
-No progress bar in mini-player mode
-No quick access volume control in mini-player mode
-Still a resource hogSummary
Apple has taken a workable piece of widely used and understood software that is central to their ecosystem and simply destroyed it by removing signature iTunes features, like Cover Flow. I can appreciate Apple wants to reduce the bloat in iTunes, but they shouldn't do it by slashing and burning signature features. That's what lazy programmers do instead of rewriting code to make it more efficient while supporting the same feature set people have come to expect and rely upon. Apple has removed what made iTunes special and set it apart from other music players. I love Apple and am a loyal user, and have also fully bought into the entire Apple ecosystem. But I have gone back to iTunes 10.7 on my Mac and that's where I'm going to stay. I will block any software upgrade on Apple TV or any other device that would make it incompatible with iTunes 10.7 until Apple makes things right again in iTunes.
And for all this loss of functionality, the funny thing is that iTunes 11 appears to be no less resource intensive than iTunes 10.7. My own monitoring with Activity Monitor on my Mac confirmed this for me personally, along with all the reports I have read about it being about the same resource burden as 10.7. So I really don't get what Apple is trying to accomplish in dumbing down iTunes. Maybe they are trying to make it more like the iPad version. While the iPad version is great for an iPad and makes sense there for simple playback, the iPad is a very different device from the Mac. That's why iPads and iPhones use a different OS altogether from Macs. The Mac OS is super robust and suitable for content creation and control, where the iPad OS is mainly suitable for content consumption (this by the way is a new and important point of difference between the Mac OS and Windows 8 - the latter trying to be like a tablet OS on all devices). My Mac and the software that runs on it is the center of my creative world, with unequaled power and sophistication. If Apple has in mind dumbing down this environment, they will cause great harm. I truly hope their recent treatment of iTunes is not a sign of things to come in the Mac OS. -
"dont upgrade, its a downgrade!!!"
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0.1
Pros
none that I can think of
Cons
this update is a major step backwards
Summary
beware of the cloud... make sure you have a backup of your purchases,,, if Apple delete the item from the store you will loose them too if you haven't got a backup
Updated on Dec 15, 2012 -
"Not an upgrade. A giant step backwards."
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0.1
Pros
Some moderately interesting ways of viewing genres and artists.
Cons
Cons? Where do I start? Start with Cover Flow, one of the prime selling points of the past few iterations of iTunes: it's gone. That's right,; what made iTunes elegant and an Apple original has been mysteriously gutted from iTunes. Apple says users weren't using it. One look at the Apple discussion boards reveals that a HUGE number of us used it and loved it. Without it, we're now left with a mostly clumsy interface that's no longer intuitive, is average at best and ugly at worst. While you might get over the loss of cover flow, trying to navigate through songs--and especially albums--is awkward and, in many cases, simply doesn't work. In the middle of a playlist, and iTunes jumps to the next song? The interface doesn't change. You have to (command-L), then click to see any change. It goes on and on like this. If this is a hint at what we can expect from the post-Steve Jobs Apple, then it bodes very poorly for Apple's future. A huge dumbing down of a once elegant interface.
Summary
A huge dumbing down of a once elegant interface. If this is a hint at what we can expect from the post-Steve Jobs Apple, then it bodes very poorly for Apple's future.
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"What a disaster"
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0
Pros
Long story short -- no pros here.
Cons
Too numerous to count. Cannot open a window for my playlist alongside of the window for my entire music list. This was a deal breaker for me. Too many little icons to click without much indication about what these do. Took me 3 days to downgrade to iTunes 10.7. So happy I had backed up to Time Machine one month ago so I could retrieve my old iTunes library.
Summary
I hate to give it even one star. Don't do it!
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"I. Tunes 11.0 is great."
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0
Pros
Faster
Better graphics
Easier to useCons
Problem downloading and installing required trip to Geius bar after several attempts. Download indicated successful installation but old version remained on my iMac. Kept getting error messages
Genious Bar had to reinstall OS. And then install update. Works fine now.Summary
Woth the effort to get it up and running. Much sleeker and intuitive.
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"Hated the old iTune, love this one!!"
Version: Apple iTunes 11.0
Pros
Design, sleek, fast, modern
Cons
None so far!
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