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iTunes 4.2 and QuickTime 6.5

usr122122121 writes "iTunes 4.2 and QuickTime 6.5 were released today, available by Apple's Site and Software Update (respectively)."

67 of 467 comments (clear)

  1. The Comic Book Guy says... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ".. shortest news item, ever"

    1. Re:The Comic Book Guy says... by phildog · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey, is this available via Software Update as well? Sorry - couldn't resist pretending I didn't RTF'ing tiny article...

      --
      slashsearch.org - slashdot search. powered by google.
    2. Re:The Comic Book Guy says... by usr122122121 · · Score: 4, Informative
      ".. shortest news item, ever"
      Apparently Apple also thought the news item was too short... so they released Xcode 1.1, which is also available through Software Update (if you have the developer tools installed). Yet another update to add to the list :-)
      --

      -braxton
  2. Hmmm.... by JoeLinux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder...could they have fixed the hack that Mr. Johanson made? Even on the windows version?

    Just a thought...

    1. Re:Hmmm.... by JeffTL · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, actually, he didn't do anything except insert a loopback somewhere up in Quicktime...you could already do about the same thing with any audio capture utility, or for that matter a CD-RW drive.

    2. Re:Hmmm.... by line.at.infinity · · Score: 5, Informative

      > Which hack was that?

      QTFairUse.

    3. Re:Hmmm.... by Fnkmaster · · Score: 3, Informative
      First of all, it's not vaporware. Secondly, Soundstudio is a Mac OS X app (I believe, assuming we're thinking of the same Soundstudio here), and there aren't any apps I know of for Windows that will open a _protected_ m4p file and encode the stream to an MP3 directly.


      Third, as I mentioned in my QTFairUse guide above, you might find that unprotected AAC audio which you can easily get from QTFairUse is a nice way to listen to your iTunes Music Store songs using WinAmp or non-Apple AAC-capable hardware players, without any quality loss whatsoever. The myths that QTFairUse doesn't work or do anything just aren't true - it is a pain to use in its current form, but it works, and it is useful for some of us. And it's the only way I know of besides stream recording or burn-and-rip to go from M4P to MP3 on a Windows box.

  3. Quicktime 6.5 by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hm - hopefully this will fix the problem of "No One Lives Forever 2" not being able to function in Quicktime 6.4. Otherwise, I'm going to install Jaguar to my iPod and boot off that when I want some "Cate Archer" sneaking action.

    1. Re:Quicktime 6.5 by morcheeba · · Score: 3, Informative

      Right-on! I got to play that game for about a week before I had to install panther to play with xcode. I can't believe that the retail Apple store I bought it at has been selling a game for the last two months that won't work on an up-to-date system (I had to downgrade QT on jaguar) - Apple should have pulled it until macplay got it working (even if it was apple that broke quicktime). Good idea with the ipod - I hadn't thought of that, thanks.

    2. Re:Quicktime 6.5 by jpkunst · · Score: 5, Informative

      Quicktime 6.5 does not fix the No One Lives Forever 2 problem with QT 6.4. I just tried it.

      Back to rebooting in 10.2.8/QT 6.3 for Cate Archer action.

      JP

    3. Re:Quicktime 6.5 by Fred+IV · · Score: 5, Informative

      Otherwise, I'm going to install Jaguar to my iPod and boot off that when I want some "Cate Archer" sneaking action.

      You might consider checking with Apple first to see if it will screw up your warranty.

      iPodHacks warns that booting off your iPod might be considered "abuse" by Apple if you have problems later.

      FIV
  4. just wondering by Dreadlord · · Score: 3, Interesting

    any plans of a Linux version of iTunes? Since Mac OS X kernel is BSD, I guess porting to Linux wouldn't be that hard.

    --
    The IT section color scheme sucks.
    1. Re:just wondering by .com+b4+.storm · · Score: 5, Insightful

      any plans of a Linux version of iTunes? Since Mac OS X kernel is BSD, I guess porting to Linux wouldn't be that hard.

      This is kinda like saying it would not be hard to port Internet Explorer to DOS. There are a number of problems with porting iTunes to Linux, mainly:

      • iTunes relies heavily on QuickTime for playback and importing/encoding audio. Since QuickTime does not (officially) exist for Linux, this would be a big problem.
      • It would be a pain in the neck for Apple to support even just the major Linux distributions. Odds are they are not going to just release a source tarball for people to compile for their distro. Different kernel versions, libraries, etc. would complicate things a lot, especially with regards to burning CDs from inside iTunes.

      Granted, iTunes was successfully ported to an OS that has no real UNIX underpinnings in common with OS X (Windows), but the fact that QuickTime already existed in a mature state for that platform eased things a great deal I'm sure. It's not impossible, but there is little incentive for Apple to put the rather gargantuan effort required into porting iTunes Linux.

      --
      "Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
      -- Ryan Stiles
    2. Re:just wondering by zulux · · Score: 4, Insightful

      any plans of a Linux version of iTunes? Since Mac OS X kernel is BSD, I guess porting to Linux wouldn't be that hard.

      I kind of doubt it.

      They *could* do it - but probably won't for marketing reasons.

      Apple makes it's money selling Apple hardware - if in their eyes they think that there are a few Linux users that will buy an Apple just to have Quicktime, iTunes, iMovie etc - then they'll just refuse.

      Apple has to have a Windows version of Quicktime - othewise the movie studios woulden't bother trying to use Quicktime for Apple's 8% market share.

      Apple make itunes for Windows to expose Windows users to the iPod and to the Apple "expeience" - they're hoping to get some coverts. "This iTunes is pretty cool - I really would like a whole computer that behaves this nicley, instead of all this windows crap."

      --

      Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

    3. Re:just wondering by vruba · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The kernel (Mach, in Mac OS X's case) doesn't matter much to a media player. Obviously things like hardware support and i/o latency make a difference, but more or less any modern OS will support something that supports MP3 playing. It probably wasn't a matter of a quick recompile, but iTunes works fine on Windows, which has a completely different hardware and low-level software architecture.

      What makes the difference here is having a media architecture. iTunes floats on QuickTime, which Apple trusts to work really well with various audio codecs (and their DRM schemes). Besides that, it's (")just(") some GUI, network, security, and disc-burning code. QuickTime is the central issue here; Apple would not make iTunes for mpg123/ALSA/whatever.

      But if you're asking "Why haven't they ported QuickTime to Linux yet?", I agree. I suppose they might be thinking like this:

      1. We want to sell Macintoshes, and, if possible, software.
      2. Let's make a killer app so people will want to buy Macs, and call it QuickTime.
      3. But wait ... if we make it Mac-only, not even Mac users will want to use it, because it'll be outnumbered by whatever Microsoft comes up with the stamp it out.
      4. So let's port it, and make it a model citizen in the Windows envirnoment, so most everyone will be able to use it while associating it with Apple.
      5. Port to Linux? Why? We want these people to moan and whine about not being able to watch .mov trailers, and talk themselves into buying a tibook. Obviously they're already vulnerable to Unix. Mwahahahrahra!

      In other words, they have to port to Windows if they want it to survive at all. But they're the powerful ones in comparison to Linux, and they can just try to borg its users.

      Disclaimers: (1) this is pure speculation, (2) I use Mac OS X considerably more than Linux these days, and (3) I'm feeding a troll.

    4. Re:just wondering by shotfeel · · Score: 4, Informative

      Mmm, but iTunes is mainly used to buy music online, not to play music

      No, iTunes on the Mac has been the premier app for organizing and listening to music for waaaay longer than iTunes Music Store has existed. Still is.

    5. Re:just wondering by Nalgas+D.+Lemur · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Mmm, but iTunes is mainly used to buy music online, not to play music, QuickTime maybe used to preview music, but I think they can use Linux OSS or something similar, or just give the user the preview file to play using MPlayer or Xine, so I think QuickTime isn't that important in porting iTunes.

      If you're only speaking in terms of what it does that can't already be done well by something else in Linux, then yes, iTunes mainly is just for buying stuff from the iTMS. However, the way that's worded, it sounds more like a comment on what people who use iTunes use it for. People who use it, in my experience, do not use it primarily to buy things. It's been the primary MP3 player/organizer on the Mac for most people for years now (probably since SoundJam was discontinued), kind of like how everyone uses WinAmp on Windows, but with a less profoundly odd interface (which is a whole different story...don't get me started on using ZXCVB for play/stop/ff/rw/etc. or how unintuitive that is).

      If it were to be ported, I don't see Apple just porting the store and not the rest of the features iTunes has. From what I've seen, they seem to want to keep everything together in products like that, because the presentation and the total package are a vital part of their image.

      The point of iTunes isn't to buy music, it's to have a completely integrated music experience where everything is handled in a simple, streamlined way with a consistent interface. The only single missing feature from other software is the iTMS, but passing files between different apps in Linux to accomplish the same thing isn't the "Apple way". In iTunes, you can seamlessly buy songs from the iTMS, have them automatically added to your master playlist and your music folder, create a new playlist of songs (even automatically based on criteria you specify, if you want), then burn it to a CD and have it all synced to your iPod, with maybe a dozen mouse clicks, all in the same familiar interface, pretty much straight out of the box.

      So no, it probably wouldn't be that hard to just port the iTMS frontend itself and write something to handle the AAC files (with their minimal DRM...I'm sure there's plenty of stuff to play normal AAC files already), but that just isn't how Apple works. If you don't get the full experience of it, where's the incentive to go out and buy their products in the future? There won't be Linux iTunes unless they can use it to entice enough people to use OS X on Apple hardware to make the cost of porting the full app worth it.

    6. Re:just wondering by denzombie · · Score: 4, Funny
      Support Nightmare:

      Caller: iTunes segfaults when I execute it.

      Phone Agent: What distro are you using.

      Caller: Gentoo.

      PA: Oh, we only support RedHat 7.2

      Caller: Well can you tell me what the dependencies are. I'll just emerge them.

      PA: Ummmm. We only support Red Hat.

      Caller: What about Fedora? I've got a boxen running that.

      PA: Ok, ummm, is that a version of Red Hat?

      Caller: Grrrr. Never Mind

      and so on...

      --
      --- Evil robots don't kill people, Mad scientists kill people.
    7. Re:just wondering by molarmass192 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ummmm, Apple does *not* have an 8% market share. They may have back in 1997 but they now have 2.9% COE (client operating environment) market share to Linux's 2.8% as per IDC. Linux is expected to overtake Apple for the number 2 spot on the desktop early in 2004. To me that means Apple should refuse, now more than ever, to release Quicktime for Linux since that would only help Linux grab and extend it's lead. The good news for Apple is that Linux is only taking market rank from it, not market share, that's coming from the MS piece of the pie. All that market share crap aside, I still want a 17" PowerBook for x-mas!

      --

      Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
    8. Re:just wondering by scorpioX · · Score: 4, Informative

      1. Apple makes ~ 10-15 cents on each song (rumors are they are operating iTMS at a slight loss). I don't think you and a few of your friends buying some songs is enough incentive to port iTunes -- they'd need a few millon Linux users for that.

      2. The high-price of Apple machines is a myth that neeeds to die. You can get a Desktop G4 for around $900, and a laptop for a few hundred more. I think that is well within the financial reach of most people. On the other hand, if you want the top of the line dual G5, you have to be willing to pay for it. Just like you do with Dell, HP or any other PC vendor selling the latest and greatest hardware.

    9. Re:just wondering by josephpate · · Score: 3, Funny

      You hit the nail on the head. If linux is ever to succeed on the desktop, the distros will have to agree upon one common set of libraries and a common default window manager

      I agree. And that Window Manager should be BlackBox! What's that? You want KDE? And someone else wants Gnome? Ratpoison?

      ......

      We are so screwed.

  5. AOL integration, too by radicalskeptic · · Score: 5, Informative

    Now people with AOL can just use their screen name to buy songs on iTMS, and it'll be billed to their AOL account.
    ...
    Not that I would know personally now!! I read it on the website, I swear!

    --
    WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
  6. I'll use itunes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    when it plays ogg, runs on linux, is devoid of patents, is open source, is GPLed and can first post for me.

    1. Re:I'll use itunes by ejunek · · Score: 5, Informative

      In all seriousness, there seems to be some misconception that iTunes can't play ogg files. Well, I'm not sure about on the PC, but there is a plugin for the Mac that plays ogg files just fine.

    2. Re:I'll use itunes by RalphBNumbers · · Score: 4, Informative

      In all seriousness, there seems to be some misconception that windows-iTunes can't play ogg files. Well, I'm not sure about the parrent, but I know that there is an open source plugin for windows-Quicktime that plays ogg files just fine.

      --
      "The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
  7. Some more detailed information: by radicalskeptic · · Score: 5, Informative
    --
    WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
  8. So... by phreak03 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here are the "new" features.
    For itunes, you can now use your aol login, and aol
    wallet to pay for stuff.

    Quicktime now supports the 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards
    These standards are usefull for Third generation cell phones. They allow transfer of scalled video, sound, text, and just about anything as the yare track based formats.

    (anyone know if the itunes breaks the support for mytunes <www.cowpimp.com> the program that lets you download thru mytumes)**

    --
    come comment on the madness at http://slashdot.org/~phreak03/journal/
  9. and 10.3.2 by scrotch · · Score: 4, Informative


    A new Panther update - to 10.3.2 - is also available from SoftwareUpdate.

    hopefully I can finish downloading it before it gets apple-slashdotted...

  10. jTunes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a good java clone of iTunes complete with Rendezvous support.

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/jtunes4/

  11. Re:Changelog? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Here it is:

    * Change version number from 4.1 to 4.2
    * ????
    * Profit!!!

  12. Re:Also updated today.... by terminal.dk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Non-unix based ?

    Do you know what Mac OS X is ? It is a Window manager running on top of an open source OpenBSD dialect called Darwin. See www.opendarwin.org.

    If Mac OS X is not unix, neither are OpenBSD and Linux.

  13. well i guess its important.. by Suppafly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If we are going to keep up with every point release of apache, bsd, linux kernel, etc.. we might as well start keeping track of point release updates of quicktime and itunes as well..

  14. Re:Also updated today.... by TheViffer · · Score: 5, Informative

    >A non-unix based software program

    Ummm ....

    Non-Unix Operating system?

    --
    -- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
  15. Here's what's new in QT 6.5 by savetz · · Score: 4, Informative

    QuickTime 6.5 delivers a number of new features and important updates, including:
    - Creation and playback of mobile multimedia in the new 3GPP2 format.
    - Creation and playback of mobile multimedia in the popular AMC format.
    - Improved text track support.
    - Enhanced DV playback options.
    - Enhanced support for iMovie, iDVD, and Final Cut Pro.

  16. Re:QT: Linux client? by renelicious · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah this is really annoying to me. I mean I can remember sometime back when Steve Jobs said "We love open source". However now that its time to show it, where is Apple. They wouldn't even have to write a client, if they would just release a (closed source is fine) quicktime/iTunes ACC lib.

    I would run to a Windows box or Mac to buy songs as long as I could just play them on my Linux box, that's all I'm askin for.

    --
    "Luke, I am your node.parent();"
  17. Re:Also updated today.... by Tim+C · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Same reason every tiny (.z) point release of Linux is front page news here - because the Geek Collective has deemed it cool.

    Maybe it is, maybe it isn't - but it definitely isn't "stuff that matters".

  18. good job... by Stevyn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You've basically summed up why a lot of good commercial software doesn't exists for linux. Photoshop anyone? This isn't meant to be a troll, but he makes the point that companies want to release closed source software without jumping through hurdles. However, this is not an attack on Linux, but more so on the distros for not agreeing on standards. Make standards, then compete. This is why people hate internet explorer so much, it broke away from standards and tried to make the www a microsoft application.

    But I'm not trying to be negative, things are improving...

  19. Re:How come by daeley · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bzzzzt! So sorry!

    iChat
    iPhoto
    Final Cut
    Keynote
    DVD Studio
    Soundtrack
    WebObjects
    Streaming Server
    Broadcaster
    Remote Desktop
    AppleScript
    Panther

    Not to mention the hardware:

    AirPort Extreme
    iSight

    No problems with lowercase t -- in fact, I daresay the opposite is the case. :)

    --
    I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  20. Help for you by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, here's a hint - If you load iTunes and hit that button that looks liek a triangle on its side - you can now play your "worthless" AAC files!

    Man that must have been frustrating downloading all those songs and not knowing what to do next. Once you learn this "triangle trick" you might find you are able to play music on all sorts of things you couldn't before!! Those shiny discs at Target? They all have music on them as well as it turns out, once you slip them into that funny looking box in the middle of your car that until now has only emitted the tortured sounds of radio DJ's.

    No need to thank me for opening the wide world of music to you.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  21. Re:Changelog? by adamwright · · Score: 4, Informative

    What's new in iTunes 4.2

    iTunes 4.2 allows you to sign in and buy music from the iTunes Music Store using either your AOL or Apple Account, view the iTunes Music Store in a separate window, and includes a number of performance improvements.

    (And yes, that really was the extent of the changes listed in the help and readme after I downloaded it).

  22. Re:Fullscreen is a feature by OmniVector · · Score: 4, Informative

    i know. i hate apple! it's not like you can't find any free alternatives with fullscreen built in that even play more media formats by default.

    --
    - tristan
  23. Re:Fullscreen is a feature by clifyt · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Quicktime ***PLAYER*** won't allow it to play in fullscreen. Its a minor annoyance, one that doesn't bother anyone, and is designed to allow the much beleagered (did I get it right) and always on the verge of bankruptcy company to collect cash so Microsoft won't have to 'bail them out' again. I think I summed up all the generally Apple conspiracies :-)

    But, with a simple legal download, one that doesn't require a crack, one can get another media player that runs pretty much as yet another quicktime skin, and you can get fullscreen for free. I'm surprised your brother decided he had to break a licensing agreement to get this.

    I on the other hand, felt $29 was a steal for QTPro and picked it up without giving it a second thought.

  24. Re:Changelog? by hpavc · · Score: 5, Informative

    forget about AOL support ... you can group tracks now! awesome

    --
    members are seeing something, your seeing an ad
  25. Re:Fullscreen is a feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Or make a 7-line AppleScript

    on open fileName
    tell application "QuickTime Player"
    activate
    open fileName
    present movie 1
    end tell
    end open

    Drag a movie onto the script icon and it plays full screen.

    Idiot.

  26. what? by microcars · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...hit that button that looks liek(sic) a triangle on its side...

    ???

    What does a Triangle on its side look like anyways?

    I don't see a button that looks like this: -

    --
    I like microcars
  27. Breaking news from the math frontier... by jared_hanson · · Score: 5, Funny

    Scientists have figured out how to sucessfully reconstruct a circle given only two points.

    And some other, related headlines...

    Slashdot moderators continue to consume crack in mass quantities.

    The parent post is decidedly not funny.

    --
    -- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
  28. Update spree by krray · · Score: 3, Informative

    With the recent up to 10.1.3 the application load time has gotten even _faster_ (among other things :). Now these updates. It's usually FUN to update the Mac the see what's new.

    Throw in the Linux 2.6 kernel and it's going to be a fun Christmas.

    Isn't it ironical that at the same time I'm dreading the next Windows update that is always coming down the pike (being the sysadmin over seeing all such systems on the network :).

    At least Apple makes this SEEM fun. New in the iTunes application menu -- a link to:
    HotTips

  29. Re:Then prove it. by vorpal22 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Linux arguably has a larger installed base of desktop users than Apple

    Highly doubtful. And even if this *was* the case, due to the fact that Mac OS X comes with iTunes, the majority of Mac users also use iTunes. If a Linux version were to be released, there's no reason for us to believe, apart from possibly facilitating uploading to an iPod, that even a fraction of Linux users would choose iTunes.

    I hardly think it's the case that Apple "supports" Windows. I think it's more like Apple is trying to make its product (the iPod) available to as large an audience as possible in as convenient a fashion as they can manage, and seeing as the majority of computer users are Windows users, this seems like a sound marketing strategy to me.

    I've come to the conclusion that due to the diversity of Linux (which is one of its so called strengths), in terms of things like GUIs, DEs, distros, etc..., the lack of standardization makes it virtually impossible for a company to provide a product, along with support, for Linux users. There's just too many inconsistencies from one distro and desktop to the next. And I think it's likely that even if Apple did release a version of iTunes that relied on, say, Qt, then you'd hear griping from the GTK+ community as to why Apple didn't support GTK+.

    Personally, I'd highly recommend your next computer being a Mac running OS X. I'm typing this from my new PowerBook (which I've had for about a week now) and I'm loving it. I used to be a Linux advocate, but with the release of OS X, I'm not looking back (well, except for servers). My opinion is that Mac OS X is not without its faults, but it has far fewer faults than Linux or Windows... and it's just such a relief to play with applications that are usable and have been designed with the intention of being usable, unlike nightmares like the GIMP (powerful, but impossible for an amateur to accomplish the simplest tasks as I can attest to) or the KDE control panel (the most convoluted thing I've ever seen in my life).

  30. Re:Changelog? by mcc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Performance improvements are a serious thing, though. I seem to remember the main gripe when iTunes for Windows was first released was mediocre-at-best performance.

    How big are the performance improvements, has anyone gotten the chance to try this under windows?

  31. Re:Updates timing by HeghmoH · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Resist your fondness for shiny objects and don't install updates the instant they come out. Wait a few hours, or even days, then install. That way you can install them all at once.

    --
    Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
  32. Re:almost unrelated Quicktime question by mcc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    MPEG, and if you pay the 30 dollars for Quicktime Pro Quicktime should be able to export to MPEG from any format it plays for you, i'm pretty sure.

  33. Re:Changelog? by thatnerdguy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Look for Itunes-sidekick. It's a plugin for Itunes for Windows that adds, among other things, minimizing to the tray.

    --
    I saw the Sign, and it opened up my eyes
  34. Re:QT: Linux client? by mcc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple said they love open source. Not that they love linux. Apple is using materials from open source projects such as BSD and Konqueror, and they are contributing code back to those same projects. I don't see why this means they have an obligation to write some big complicated AAC library for UNIX when the UNIX OSes don't even seem to have a totally homogenous way to playback sound.

    I'd concentrate on seeing what you can do to get Wine to accept iTunes if you want to use iTunes Music Store in Linux.

    If you really want something native, MPlayer can play AAC already. All it needs to play iTMS purchases is to get past the DRM wrapper. The DRM wrapper on iTMS purchases is the technology sold by a company called "Fairplay". Perhaps you could try contacting Fairplay and asking if you could license their tech for playback in MPlayer? Or even better, you could perhaps just contact Apple directly and say you are interested in writing code to add iTMS playback support to MPlayer, and you would be willing to go under NDA and such... Wait, what's that you say? You don't have the time or linux programming knowledge to add FairPlay support to MPlayer? Well, apparently neither does Apple.

  35. Re:Changelog? by allgood2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple's Read Me's are always notably lacking information on specific changes, possible because parts of the read me display in the software update and installers. Anyway, Apple often releases specific details as part of its knowledge base.

    My quick review of changes in iTunes 4.2 on Mac OS X (sorry won't have access to a Win2k machine until next week), these are the immediate changes I notice:

    Hot Tips
    http://www.apple.com/itunes/hottips/
    Apple introduced hot tips on creating Smart Playlist, keyboard shortcuts, copy song, artist, and album urls from the iTunes Music Store, etc.

    Grouping
    Under song details, there is now a new ID3 tag called grouping. I'm not certain if this will allow for subcategories, or can be used for things such as Celebrity Playlist so songs from multiple albums can be grouped. I'll have to play with it. Also added to Smart Playlist queries.

    Artwork
    Added scaler to artwork, so images can be scaled up or down to fit album space area.

    Playlist from Selection
    For those who complained about queue-ing songs, I imagine this feature will come in handy, as well as for other purposes as well. Allows you to Command-Select (Click) on random songs in your library then create a playlist from them, immediately.

    Music Store in New Window
    Double-clicking will launch the music store in a new window (yeah).

    iTMS: Music Essentials
    Like Celebrity playlist, but collections of "iTunes Essential" music in categories I wouldn't have imagined, including Disco Ball Essentials and Coctail Party Kitsch--yet more ways to spend even more money.

    iTMS: AOL Sessions
    Added more music "exclusives" basically various performances by artist for AOL can now be purchased.

    iTMS: AOL Users
    Tons of direct access stuff for AOL users. Which, if they can do this for AOL, maybe they could do it for other venues, like artist who do live concert releases.

    iTMS: Artist Self-Released Albums (Return of the EP)
    This was there before, but some artist like Pearl Jam who are self published are and can now release stuff directly to the iTMS. I also noticed John Mayer's "As Is" is not attributed to Sony or any music label (which may indicate that it was also self-published). Ben Folds have also been doing a number of quick EPs, but they are all still published attributed to EPIC. It will be interesting to see if more artist start releasing EPs with 4-5 songs exclusively for iTMS or other music stores, and then have regular albums published every 1-2yrs.

    These were the things I noticed immediately. Now I need to go and play and see what else comes up.

  36. Re:Updates timing by redwoodtree · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Can't please all the people all the time. If they release a jumbo patch a bunch of people complain about why they couldn't have been broken up so they could pick and choose what they want to install.

    If they release it in pieces then everyone complains about having to install in chunks. People just love to gripe I guess it's human nature.

  37. Re:MP3 not AAC? by commodoresloat · · Score: 3, Funny
    Come on, lets try doing some homework before posting.

    You're joking right? Most people come here to avoid homework.

  38. Re:iTunes is the Devil by Fnkmaster · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Wait a second, as I understand it, iTunes Music Store also sells music from independent, non-RIAA labels, including some which give a substantially larger cut to the artists. I think iTunes has its flaws, but it's hardly fair to blame them for the fact that there is demand for music sold by RIAA-member labels. I agree the "system" of the RIAA sucks and is exploitative, but it's an exploitation the artists willingly buy into in exchange for access to radio station play, promotional dollars and the perks and advances you get with a big name record label.


    Blaming Apple for this system is crazy - it's a shitty system, but there's plenty of blame to go around. I'd rather buy music legally from good bands that put effort into making quality albums where I get my moneys worth, whether I buy online or at stores, and focus my effort on defeating the unconstitutional measures the entertainment industry has supported (the DMCA for example) to keep their monopoly and prevent me from using the music that I already legally bought.

  39. Re:iTunes is the Devil by rsmith-mac · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While I applaud DownHillBattle for their efforts, their efforts seem to be largely composed of swinging a big mase around, hoping they hit something they should, and hoping no one notices when they hit something they shouldn't. DHB is correct, for example, in that the iTMS is built on the RIAA's terms, and helps the RIAA a bit in that way, but they also make several arguable/incorrect statements about things such as AAC compression, and how Apple gets such a large share of the sale(remember, Apple isn't making any money on the iTMS, their share pays for the bandwidth, the CC transaction, and just barely supporting the store itself). Their "solution" isn't doing their cause much good either, asking Apple to list the artist's share of the sale(something not possible, Apple has agreements with the label, not the artist; the label gets to dicate the share and doesn't have to tell a soul), and encouraging users to instead using things like Poisioned(an OSS Kazaa client) to acquire their music instead.

    I can't fault DHB for trying, but I can fault them for not trying hard enough. The site seems built more on FUD than facts, and a little bit of something resembling backmail is there too(That could really change the industry. (and we promise we'll take down the iTunes iSbogus page)).

  40. Re:Still waiting... by mcwop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can't get it becuase the songs cost .99 cents U.S., which is $1.31598 Canadian as of today. Imgaine the nightmare of that marketing campaign.

    --

    "I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX

  41. Re:Quicktime sucks. Who cares? by derubergeek · · Score: 5, Informative
    Yeah - Quicktime is such a POS that MPEG-4 is based on it. Bunch of losers.

    Really - before you start ranting you should at least bother to learn something about the subject. You can write plugins for QT. There is technical documentation at Apple's Quicktime developer's site, and you can download both Windows & Mac SDKs. Also, check sourceforge for other QT Components.

    --
    Trust me. This is an inactive account. Regardless of what the /. bean counters might report.
  42. HD use ok by djupedal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What??? ....I mean...what a crock.

    The HD's in iPods are some of Toshiba's best laptop drives, and there's no way you can 'burn out the hard drive' by booting from it...sheez.

  43. Re:Fullscreen support? by scaryfish · · Score: 5, Informative
    No, you do not need to pay to get fullscreen. At least, not if you use a mac.

    Try the following AppleScript:

    tell application "QuickTime Player"
    activate
    set request to display dialog "Select a scaling, fool!" with icon note buttons {"normal", "double", "screen"} default button "screen"
    if button returned of request is "normal" then
    present movie 1 scale normal
    else if button returned of request is "double" then
    present movie 1 scale double
    else if button returned of request is "screen" then
    present movie 1 scale screen
    end if
    end tell
  44. Re:Quicktime sucks. Who cares? by green+pizza · · Score: 3, Informative

    Quicktime is a media wrapper with gobs of supported codecs and track types (it even supports a special text track for that MIDI karaoke fomat that never really took off). DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, and the OS X version of Shake are all very heavily QT-based. (As are iTunes, iMovie, iDVD, and even iPhoto).

    The "Quicktime Player" is just a free front-end demo sort of thing that doesn't want to die. Seeing how Apple has published all the specs for the QT framework, I'm amazed someone hasn't written a nicer player frontend.

    Most people only use QT for DV25/DVCPro25 and DV50/DVCPro50 video editing (and futher down the data path, MPEG2 for output). Be it at home from their MiniDV camera in iMovie and output to DVD via iDVD or a pro using Final Cut and DVD Studio.

    Soooo many of .mov files I ran across on the net use the worst possible codecs (maybe for better compatibility?) usually cinepak, which hasn't changed since Quicktime 1.0 in 1991. But then, that's not any worse than the people that output to AVI using something like the crusty old Indeo 1 codec... equal ass quality.

    I don't hate QT, it's part of what makes Macs and their applications a more sane world, but I do with QT had a few more codecs and wish there were some better frontends/players. (There were gobs of third-party/shareware/freeware QT player frontends back in the oldschool classic Mac OS days... but very few for OS X).

  45. Re:woah, cool, MOD PARENT UP by scaryfish · · Score: 3, Informative
    I should point out that the original script was by Mikey-San.

    I did make a few modifications, however.

  46. Toshiba 1.8" laptop drive specs (iPod too) by djupedal · · Score: 3, Informative

    1.8-inch HDD
    40.0 GB:
    MK4004GAH

    Lightweight, only 62 grams
    Low Power Consumption
    15ms Average Seek Time
    100MB/s Ultra DMA Transfer Rate
    300,000 MTTF Hours

    Sounds like a laptop drive to me...and a good one too! One that doesn't know the difference between audio, OS files, games or video...knock yourself out.

    Run it all you want, that's what the warranty/extended warranty is for. One year from Toshiba to Apple to you...more if you have Apple Care, CompUSA, etc.

  47. Re:Where is sort by path anf filename? by gerardrj · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yup. Your trying to fight iTunes instead of letting it work for and with you.

    Why would you have two instances of the same song on your machine unless they were from different albums, different encodings, or sample rates or such? iTunes just did you a favor, it found you some wasted hard drive space. Delete the duplicate(s) and move on.
    If they aren't exact duplicates then use the "View Options" to add the appropriate colums to the display so you can discerne the differences between the tracks.
    iTunes stores enough tag and other meta information that you should never have to sort files manually. Manual and smart playlists are tremendously powerful, especially when you can create smart playlists based on the contents of the "comments" box for each track. For example, I use terms like "male female group solo singing instrumental acoustic live remix" in the comments field. I have several smart playlists that sort on these, such as "live group rock"; this is powerful voodoo.

    To backup your comments and such, simply copy the "iTunes 4 Music Library" file. You can later restore it to the appropriate place and all will be well.

    Chances are that if you are going to "move my data on my machine to another location" that you would be moving the entire location of your "my documents" folder. iTunes would then look for its file(s) relative to that new location. If you DO just want to move the iTunes database, simply use a shortcut (alias to MAc users, symlink to BSD heads).

    Unless you are a geek who wants to tweak, there's little to no reason for iTunes to complicate matters by offering alternate locations for the database. The standard options allow for a centralized store of music, and each user to maintain their own ratings, comments, etc.

    The window maximize thing is annoying. It doesn't even work on the Mac like it's supposed to (hold Option, click the window zoom button). To make a maximized iTunes window you have to manually drag the window to size. Apple does occasionally break its own HIG documents, and this is one of those occasions.

    --
    Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
  48. Wow. This is interesting. Let's continue. by Paradox · · Score: 4, Insightful
    First, I'd like to say how refreshing it is to converse with someone who can actually think their argument through. Even if I don't agree with you, I still am going to tip my hat.

    [I am posting this Anonymously so I don't lose karma from the slashdot army of mactivists. Anyway, I am not the same AC who started this thread.]

    However, 10 points lost for giving a damn about slashdot karma. :P Anyways...

    All your article says is that it's hard to count linux users. Claiming it's uncertain does nothing for your argument, so I'll just move along. It's also important to note that not all linux users, even in the desktop realm, are going to be iTunes users. The linux world is very diverse, I think we can all agree.

    Keep in mind that unlike OS X, Linux can be run on old machines, new machines and everything in between (including old Macs). In addition, every Mac and Windows machine out there is a potential Linux machine. With the easy availability of low-to-no cost Linux distributions, it is nearly impossible to actually estimate the real number of desktops out there. Every estimate I have ever seen has always had the caveat that the real number is going to be a lot higher.

    Err, this kind of thinking is pretty standard, and it's also why Apple is doing quite well right now. Who gives a damn about the machines? I'll say it again, in bold: Who gives a damn what the machines can do? The answer is people like me, who are engineers.

    Most machines are potential linux machines. However, most users are not potential Linux users! This is important. A machine may be capable, but if a user isn't, then who cares?

    Apple sure doesn't. Apple has philosophy and style, but at the end of the day, they have a bank account that needs to be full enough to pay their engineers.

    Umm, we don't need QT for playing MP3's, we need it to play those trailers and movies that so many people thoughtlessly throw up on the web in that closed format. Luckily as with most things we have circumvented vendor idiocy using other means, but Apple's refusal still grates.

    Umm. Tell me, because I'm interested... How should Apple implement a consistent product on Linux. Remember, Apple's entire marketing strategy is based around the EXPERIENCE of use, and its consistency. These are important things.

    Should apple use SDL? Straight OpenGL? Make their own library? What GUI toolkit? GTK+? Motif? Should it be a KDE App? A Gnome App? Neither?

    Apple cannot make a consistant and reasonable player app in Linux. If they choose toolkits and run with it, they get nailed. If they make their own toolkits, they get nailed.

    This is not even mentioning the huge amount of porting they'd need to do.

    As for your complaints about movie trailers, I suggest you get over it. There is a small price to pay for freedom man. When I started using Linux, I couldn't even watch movies at all.

    What Apple is doing with Quicktime is no better or worse than what MS and Real are doing. They're trying to make money with a quality video/audio encoder and decoder. The end quality of the product isn't important, it's the intention that dictates the reasoning here.

    And how much money does Apple make with their free Windows Quicktime viewer again? You do recall that is what we are talking about here?

    They make money by spreading the quicktime decoder and convincing people to use it. Then professionals (you know, commercial use of software to make products) will buy the encoder software to publish their work.

    Do you remember how business works?

    Ok, then, why isn't there a QT player for FreeBSD?

    Umm. For the same reason there isn't a Linux one. I'm sorry, Apple has kicked back to the community in other areas. Areas that are arguably more important than a media player.

    --
    Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense