There is a new update for iTunes, version 9, and for the iPhone iOS, version 3.1. There are a myriad of changes to how iTunes works with the iPhone and iTouch, many are fine tunings and some are conceptually substantial.
The iTunes store has a very new look, it is now much brighter and all items are arranged very differently from the past version. iTunes has been brought into the Mac OSX age of glass and brushed steel.
Some of the alterations are not simply interface and user experience alterations, some have real economic benefit to Apple’s bottom line. Case in point, Tell a Friend allows the user to quicky send an email to another user with message and link to music, some say ‘social’ others say ‘sales’.
Apple now treats the users network as a single purchase point, with Home Sharing the user can share their iTunes media library across their local network to multiple devices. Use ethernet or wireless to access from desktop, laptop or iPad, great for families and user convenience around the home.
Apple has also tried to improve the music experience itself.
the Shopping Cart becomes My Wish List, no longer a bookmark center for future personal purchases but a place that others can see for gift purchases, a significant change. Another feature named
Classical Music treated as one composition instead of a number of songs, finally! Syncing is now much more flexible and powerful, for more details: Apple’s iTunes A to Z.
My favorite feature, more than any other in this review is the ability to organize the iPhone app screens. In the past, when you connected your iPhone to your computer, the iTunes Applications tab was a bit of backwater, very little control and I have to say it seemed that the your settings were often ignored.
The user now has almost complete control over how apps are organized, activated and on what iPhone screens they are placed. On the left is a scrolling column of the purchased apps in which you can enable and disable each app for syncing to the iPhone. Familiar to the previous method, except that the user can sort by name, category and date. In case the user’s app collection is a monster, there is a Search field, handy to find that umpteenth app.
But the real fun and power is in the column on the left. Here you see a representation of each of the iPhone’s screen pages where you can arrange the apps on the screen. Yes, that is correct, you are arranging your iPhone apps in ITunes on your computer, no more puzzle like dance with the wiggly apps on your iPhone.
I have but one remaining complaint, I would like to delete the default Apple apps I do not like or have a better version: stocks and weather come to mind. Oh well, must leave something for later upgrades.
Originally published in the Swiss online newspaper, www.zitig.ch, reedited for WholeThinking.
