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Apple Quietly Releases iTunes 4.8
trmptblwr writes "Apple has quietly released an iTunes update to version 4.8 for Mac OS X and Windows. Release notes say 'iTunes 4.8 includes new Music Store features and support for transferring contacts and calendars from your computer to your iPod (requires Mac OS X version 10.4 on your computer).' There also appears to be a some sort of new video functionality as you can now import QuickTime movies. I speculate that this has something to do with the 'new Music Store features.'"
QT is a framework, accessible from any program. I think the idea here is you can now store and play video from iTunes. It makes perfect sense. Audio jukebox -> video jukebox. Why not? The catch is video consists of large files you probably can't and don't keep around on the hard drive very long. This could be just for early adopters with gigabytes to spare.
But it could also foreshadow the rumored iTunes subscription service which must of necessity handle temporary audio files. Such a system could handle temporary VIDEO downloads just as easily - AKA, online rentals. Something the iTunes store could easily accomodate. This new feature may be to prepare for that release.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
And if the iPod itself supported [FLAC and OGG], I wonder how many more they'd sell to this crowd? (This crowd, by the way, being the ones who provide recommendations to the people who sign the checks to buy IT equipment for corporations worldwide.)
/. fantasy land!
The parent post doesn't even make sense in the Real World (tm). What corporate IT infrastructure is the target market for the iPod? And in that small subset of the global market, what group requires FLAC and OGG and can't "make due" with Apple Lossless, MP3 and AAC?
As to your question about "how many more would they sell?" All I can say is that Apple sells 90% of HD based players and 68% of Flash based players according the March numbers from IDC. If the 10% and 32% non-Apple players being purchased are being purchased because of their FLAC and OGG support, then we are living in some wierd ass
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Keep in mind Jobs bad mouths everything up until Apple releases a product that does it 'better'. Flash based music players, and the iPod Shuffle are a great example of this.
Apple is a corporation. Their only goal is to make profits. They don't see porting iTMS to Linux to be a good business move, the same way most game manufacturers don't see making games for either OS X or Linux to be a good business move.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
I use itunes to keep my ipod synced but it lacks some basic functionality that I keep expecting to see in these updates.
How about an option to rescan a directory? If I drop new music in my Music folder, I have to either import that directory manually into itunes or delete everything and reimport. Ideally, I could drop the whole folder on itunes and it would find the new items. Instead, it reimports all of them so I end up w/ duplicates in my library. WTF? Similarl issues show up if I update my tags.
Everything else I have used has a "rescan" function, why doesn't iTunes?
Approximately 10 seconds after some bright spark ports the Quicktime framework to Linux. Which is to say, never.
To spur "enterprise Linux," Big Bang, the distributed two-phase commit.
Why do you care, and why should I? I try to be sympathetic to all the format wars -- Real v. WMV v. QuickTime, OpenOffice v. MS Office, etc. -- and pick the side that is best for the community, but honestly on this one I just do NOT see a reason to give a crap. MP3 and M4A do everything I want. I have yet to see reasons compelling enough to justify caring about this battle.
Won't be long now. This follows the introduction of the new H.264 video codec in Quicktime 7. Apple has pretty much all the pieces in place to begin content sales to early adopters.
You didn't think those 30" cinema monitors were just for pr0n, did you? ;-)
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
While I agree with you in principle, in reality I find that it's pretty easy to re-encode any shorten, flac, or other format audio file into something iTunes will manage ( like, oh, I don't know, MP3 ). FLAC and SHN files are for archive use. MP3s sound fine at a high enough bitrate, and have the bonus that they work on all players.
I'm still wondering where you can get OGG files that you don't make yourself. Sorry, Seth, but something tells me that Apple has done the market research and decided that support for FLAC and OGG would confuse more people than it would make happy. Those of us who end up with FLAC or SHN files know how to convert them. If lossless is a big deal, we can use Apple's lossless...
Ultimately, the answer is that iTunes exists for the iPod, and you'll see these formats supported by iTunes just as soon as they're supported by the iPod. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
Don't underestimate the OS X/Apple hardware marketing that can be done with "consumer products" like the iPod. If you doubt me, go to ANY tech trade show - Citrix, Linux, VoIP, etc. Nearly every vendor is auctioning off an iPod. Gee, I wonder why?
Let me repeate, no IT manager in their right mind would base a Mac OS X vs. "Platform B" decision on wethere or not FLAC and OGG were supported on the iPod.
The logic that iPods are given away at trade shows as support of the assertion that FLAC/OGG support would sway these decision makers is illogical. iPods are given away because they are sought after consumer electronic devices, targeting a personal market. Do you think that the bouncy balls and T-shirts given away are to appeal to the corporate IT needs of the organization? Heck no! They are to appeal to the attendees! Show me the iPod givaway that includes some sort of business related use. They don't. iPods are music players given away because they bring crowd of people who want to win one for themselves or someone in their household!
As I said before, be logical, not emotional about this. FLAC and OGG support on the iPod does nothing to aid Apple's bottome line. It's like Panasonic supporting Betamax on their VCRs. It may be a format with some merits, but the masses have spoken, 90% of HD and 68% of flash players sold in March in the US wore the Apple logo. None of those played FLAC and OGG files and they continue to fly off the shelves!
The limited market for FLAC and OGG players does not concern Apple. Neither Apple nor any other manufacturer can build a player that appeals to 100% of the market, and Apple has no doubt considered and rejected FLAC/OGG support.
It isn't going to loose them any market share on consumer digital music player or with business hardware. Face it!
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.