Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Quietly Releases iTunes 4.8

Posted by timothy on from the they're-humming-john-cage dept.

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.'"

6 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Exansion... by kenthorvath · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe it will go something like music -> music videos -> movies? One can only hope...

  2. Any downgrades? by fname · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It seems that with every iTunes release, Apple quietly removes some useful feature to placate the RIAA. They eliminated internet streaming, disabled some plug-ins, restricted you to sharing songs with 5 computers a day, and so on. Any word yet about whether has removed any features this time?

  3. The Real Question by hawkbug · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The real question is, when will there be a Windows 64 compatible version? Since XP 64 is currently shipping from OEMs, and a lot of other companies currently have 64 bit drivers and apps either out or in development, I wonder when Apple will release iTunes for it. Everything in iTunes currently works under 32 emu mode, but to burn CDs, you would need 64 bit drivers. Burning CDs from iTunes is a huge, important feature, so it's not a minor thing.

  4. Re:Yeah, but will it play oggs? by PaxTech · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In this week's I, Cringely column there's some talk about an unused Ogg iTunes icon embedded in Tiger. Official Ogg support could be on the horizon..

    Looking at the unused iTunes icons that shipped with your new version of 10.4, you'll notice icons for currently-not-supported ogg vorbis and Windows Media Audio (wma), as well as several others including a variety of video formats, too.
    --
    All movements for social change begin as missions, evolve into businesses, and end up as rackets.
  5. Re:I wonder by Golias · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't want a swiss army knife

    I dunno.

    The iPod Photo didn't really rock my world, because I'm not much of a shutterbug... ... but the ability to watch downloaded Doctor Who episodes in the ice-fishing house or while waiting in line at the DMV sounds pretty sweet to me.

    It's not often that I disagree with the Almighty Jobs, but I think that the only thing really preventing video on hand-held MP3 players was that the technology was not quite ready to do it right just yet.

    IMHO, we are rapidly approaching the point where introducing an "iPod Movie" will be nearly as trivial as the extra $50 or so to create the iPod Photo was.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  6. iTunes vs QT Pro by Bulln-Bulln · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Funny, you need to buy QT Pro in order to play videos full screen, but OTOH Apple releases iTunes 4.8 with *fullscreen* video support for free.
    The same is true (since a long time) for audio encoding: Need QT Pro for the "Export" feature in QT, but the "Import" feature in iTunes is free.

    I like Apple, but IMHO the guy, who's responsible for the QT Player frontend (not the QT backend, which is cool), is quite stupid.

    What's next? iTunes 5.0 with video encoding support?