CNET Editors' 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. Version 10 of iTunes brings a handful of enhancements to Apple's ubiquitous media software, though notably absent is a much-anticipated cloud music service follow-up to LaLa. By far the biggest change to the jukebox is the addition of a social functionality called Ping.
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 to 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.
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 iPhone. 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.
As mentioned, the major feature addition in version 10 is 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 (theoretically, anyway--this feature wasn't live at press time). Ping is also built into the iTunes app, allowing users to access it on-the-go. However, when we tested out the new tool, the app functionality wasn't live, and the page in general was in need of some serious fleshing out-there aren't many artist profiles to follow yet. Of course, that's to be expected with a social service that's so new.
Another new feature in iTunes 10 is the ability to rent TV shows a la carte--for 99 cents apiece. Call us cheap, but this seems hideously expensive, especially considering the fact that iTunes has often offered specials in the past when you could purchase shows for 99 cents rather than $1.99. Further, we'd be surprised if there's much interest in renting a 30-minute program (which are really more like 22 minutes in most cases) at that price. Even the studios aren't thrilled with the idea: only Fox and ABC have signed on for the initial launch.
On the plus side, the latest version of the jukebox does carry over all the great features from its predecessor. There's the iTunes LP media format, Home Sharing, Genius Mixes, and plentiful device-syncing options. As a throwback to a bygone era when people purchased and revered full-length albums, the iTunes LP format treats music fans to an immersive album experience, filled with liner notes, lyrics, interactive menus, and bonus videos. Like any album or single purchased using iTunes, the songs included with an iTunes LP are delivered as DRM-free AAC music files that can be transferred to any iPod, iPhone, or AAC-compatible device. All of the extra stuff included with an iTunes LP--the special menus, photos, videos, and interactive elements--are only available to view directly on your computer. In spite of its limitations, the iTunes LP format should find a home with music fans looking for a richer album experience from their favorite bands.
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.
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 adds 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.
Worth the download?
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. So yes, it's worth downloading--if for no other reason than to manage your devices and the content to go with it.
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 syncs all your media with your iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. And it's a store on your computer, iPod touch, iPhone, and Apple TV that has everything you need to be entertained. Anywhere. Anytime.
What's new in this version:
- An improved look and feel, including a new Column Browser for easily browsing your artists or albums, movies, TV shows, and more.
- iTunes Store has a brand new look, with improved navigation for quick and easy exploration.
- iTunes LP and iTunes Extras create unique experiences that feature exclusive interviews, videos, photos, and more -- available with select album and movie purchases on the iTunes Store.
- Home Sharing helps you manage your family's iTunes... See all new features
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All versions:
3.2 starsout of 209 votes
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Current version:
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"Does what it's supposed to do."
Version: Apple iTunes 10.5.3
Pros
Always there.
Cons
I don't know.
Summary
It's free.
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"Great features but with some terrible flaws"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.5.3
Pros
Allows you to manage an enormous audio library.
Allows you to get information on songs.Cons
1. No option to put pauses between tracks in playing (extremely annoying with classical music). To make it even worse, music bought from iTunes store sometimes cuts the pauses built into the CD version.
2. No convenient way to batch change names. And when you use another app to do this (such as A Better Finder Rename) iTunes refuses to recognize the changes, so you have worked in vain!
3. Not enough options in display (when editing the library): for instance, the "album" name is by "artist" and "date", which is fine in general, but it would be very useful to be able to choose NOT this link with artist and just have an alphabetical list of albums. The fact is that I often cannot get a complete view of my albums because different tracts have different artists.
4. No way to have two or more entirely different libraries. I have no wish to have my music together with spoken material. Playlists are useful but insufficient, especially with the 25,000 song iCloud limit.Summary
One thing more that pertains not to the app itself but which I wish to mention is the extraordinarily poor direction of the classic music section of iTunes store and iTunes database. One would think that whoever is in charge knows nothing about classical music. Info from the database systematically capitalizes foreign words both in performance indications and in phrases drawn from texts (Lieder, opera tracts), a sub-standard practice that is incomprehensible since you never find it on CD jackets and notes (everything is invariably printed correctly). I have spent literally dozens of hours correcting these annoying capitalized words. Of course this is still better than having to type in everything myself as in the old days, but it is truly mind-boggling why iTunes would CHOOSE to systematically write things in an incorrect way.
Something else I would recommend is to add a secondary artist rubric. It would be very useful to be able to have, say, Rubinstein, as the artist, with Krips and the Chicago Symphony as secondary artists. It is not practical to have all this info together in the artist rubric, because one might have Rubinstein in twenty concertos with different conductors, in which case it would be impossible to search Rubinstein on the iPod or iPhone and have a list of the concertos he plays, since instead of one artist, Rubinstein, you have twenty different names each composed of Rubinstein and various other names. It would thus be very useful to have Artist-1, Artist-2, Artist-3.
Problems like these become more serious as libraries get bigger. I have more than 30,000 tracks, and this only represents part of my present CD collection, not to mention all that I plan to purchase (probably several thousand a year). Also they concern mainly classical music, where more complex information is associated with each track, and one would like to have as much of this info immediately visible on the iPhone or iPod (and not hidden in the info page in iTunes).
It would also be helpful to have a manual that explains the subtleties of juggling various elements so as to get the maximum info on the iPhone screen. After searching for different solutions, I finally realized that the easiest way for me to listen to my iTunes music is through my iPhone connected to a speaker system such as B&W. In doing this, I realized my iTunes library was organized wrongly. In fact, to get the benefits of the iPhone (such as being able to play all the versions one has of a piece one after another for comparison), I had to completely change the database and invent a system that allows me to do what I want. This is far from self-evident, and it would save a lot of time for some people if they had some instructions and advice. Also let it be said that the iTunes database provides info that does not correspond in any way with my needs. The info from that database is not organized to optimize display on the iPhone, nor is it easy to change. I would be happy to share my system with iTunes or others interested.
Finally, it would be great if iTunes could incorporate additional editing capacities (some are now available through externally imported scripts that ought to be part of iTunes). The following, in particular, would be most helpful:
1° the capacity to change information by batch (for instance, choose a number of tracks and give them all a common name, such as " ii. Allegro non troppo. G Major": this is something I can't do even with the very useful search-and-replace script I have, which allows me only to change one name to another, but not replace different names with a single one.
2° The capacity to replace all the track names of a CD with those I have already given to another CD of the same piece. I have many performances of music I like, and I would like them all to have the same names (that I have spend a lot of time adjusting). So I would like a new acquisition to have exactly the same names. As it is, I have to copy and paste each title individually, which takes a lot of time especially if the piece contains, say, 24 tracks (e.g. Schubert's Winterreise). It would be great to replace all 24 track names with the 24 adjusted names that are in the versions of Winterreise already in iTune.
3° It would be useful to have for each rubric at least one optional secondary rubric: the "artist" rubric most of all, but also others such as "album". In fact, what is far more important than the actual album is the piece. Once imported into iTunes, it is of relatively little interest to know if a recording comes from this or that CD. Thus, if a CD contains a quartet by Schubert and one by Mozart, I list the two quartets as separate albums in iTunes. But it would be a bonus to be able to retain the information that the two comes from one CD. Ideally in this case, I would have as album: "Schubert Quartet 13" and as secondary-album "X quartet plays Schubert and Mozart". You might think that one could simply combine the two pieces of info, but doing that seriously complicates searching, be if you are looking for Schubert Quartet 13, suddenly you've got the Mozart quartet also on your screen. As a result, I eliminated all info regarding the original CD and just stuck with the essentials. But I no longer know which pieces are coupled on the CDs.
To summarize, the needs of classical music listeners are very different from those who listen to pop. Especially for large collections. It would be good if iTunes were to pay some serious attention to the different aspects problem. -
"Apple controls too much of your experience"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.5.3
Pros
It doesn't crash. It does a good job of batch editing mp3 header info. Good conversion, Access to lots of media. Lots of options and "user guidance"
Cons
iTunes will take over your machine, make unnecessary copies of audio you play, forces you into their store, iOS devices have confusing way of either syncing or pushing media. It is more confusing to manage your own media because it is tightly locked down.
Summary
For some passive computer and iOS users, iTunes makes the process of purchasing music from Apple easy. iTunes makes it easy to play your files (and copy them to the iTunes folder). Yes, they are in some ways, doing it right. But in other ways, they are making it so file management is out of your hands. I don't have a love hate relationship with iTunes. It just bugs me that you are forced into their store again and again and again.
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"I love my iTunes and my iPhone"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.5.2
Pros
Never had any trouble with it - it syncs my iPhone, it backs it up. It's cool!
Cons
None found.
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"Beware: Malware"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.5.1
Pros
Nothing at all
Cons
If you have an older computer, your music files might sound absolutely terrible if you have installed this, even if you are using another player
Summary
I won an Apple Ipad and plugged it in to my computer but nothing happens unless you have Itunes installed. After a previous bad experience with an earlier version of this malware I refused to have it on my main computer. Fortunately I had an old laptop, and installed Itunes on that and got the Ipad going. But the Itunes made all my music files sound distorted, even though I was playing them in media monkey. I soon identified the culprit and uninstalled all the Apple software on the machine. But it took two reboots before the sound returned to normal. The problem apparently affects computers with Pentium 3, Pentium M and some AMD processors.
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"Worse program ever"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.4.1
Pros
I am required to write more then 10 characters. So here they are....
There are no prosCons
Hard to use, stupid ways of doing things, esp sync function with iPhone and iPad.
Summary
Would give it minus 5 stars if I could. As a music player it's no better that Windows Media Player (which is awful), but for the ONLY program that can sync to the IOS products it could not be worse. They must I spent hours and hours thinking of how to make it really bad.
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"No support for itunes store"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.4.1
Pros
Better than previous versions
Cons
It would have been nice for Apple to continue support for iTunes store.
Summary
Decent media player for an old Mac.
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"iTunes 10.4 not ready for prime time"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.4
Pros
If it would run, I might have one.
Cons
can not sync with my iPhone 4, can not import from a CD, can not access the iTunes Store. There are probably more issues to be found later
Summary
Do not install this app without a backup.
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"Keeps going downhill"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.4
Pros
Plays common music types
Keeps music organized
Smart playlistsCons
Doesn't play all music files
Auto-complete in list view removed
Bloated
UglySummary
The latest version of iTunes is not an improvement. It took away a feature I actually use: auto-completion in list view. Apple need to restore this feature and give users the option of having it Preferences.
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"Works just fine!"
Version: Apple iTunes 10.3.1
Pros
Maybe a little faster than before!
Cons
Maybe just as before :-(!
Summary
No major upgrade!
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