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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.'"
And maybe they're planning on releasing it soon?
Maybe it will go something like music -> music videos -> movies? One can only hope...
Does Apple usually delay putting updates into software update or was slashdot just amazingly fast getting this news story published?
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
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?
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.
That encoder was in the last release of iTunes. It isn't new.
Vonal Declosion
You know, for a company that has gained A LOT of support and respect from the /. type, they really ought to spend the 59 seconds necessary to have iTunes support FLAC and OGG. Seriously, you know how many people they'd make happy?
And if the iPod itself supported those codecs, 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.)
It plays the video in the album artwork display. Do you have it hidden?
Vonal Declosion
All movements for social change begin as missions, evolve into businesses, and end up as rackets.
from 2 seconds ago, posted to the OSX Security Bulletins Mailing list:
7 98
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
APPLE-SA-2005-05-09 iTunes 4.8
iTunes 4.8 is now available and, among other enhancements, delivers
the following security improvement:
CVE-ID: CAN-2005-1248
Impact: A buffer overflow in iTunes could cause a denial of service
and lead to execution of arbitrary code
Description: The MPEG4 file parsing code in iTunes versions prior to
4.8 contains a buffer overflow vulnerability. Parsing a
maliciously-crafted MPEG4 file could cause iTunes to terminate or
potentially execute arbitrary code. iTunes 4.8 addresses this issue
by improving the validation checks used when loading MPEG4 files.
Credit to Mark Litchfield of NGS Software for reporting this issue.
iTunes 4.8 is freely available at
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later,
Microsoft Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows 2000
For Mac OS X:
The download file is named: "iTunes4.8.dmg"
Its SHA-1 digest is: 5a86f278f9f83192a7789ad123d5d62f67a6a316
For Windows 2000 or XP:
The download file is named: "iTunesSetup.exe"
Its SHA-1 digest is: 12582d193b27991c8f069331ab12d107c569bde2
Information will also be posted to the Apple Product Security
web site:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61
This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,
and details are available at:
http://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/
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Version: PGP 8.1
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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.
in the iTunes preferences (under advanced), you can also set it to play the movies in the album viewer spot, in a new window, or fullscreen... Regardless of your choice, you can always click on the new "open in full screen" button on the bottom left corner.
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.
The icons were there about a year and a half ago. I wouldn't count on actual ogg support being "on the horizon", as it hasn't materialized in that time.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
That icon's been present in the last few releases of iTunes. It seems to have devolved into a running gag at this point. During the OS 9 era, iTunes included icons for MODs, S3Ms, and other "sound module/track" formats.
The rationale once seemed to be that since iTunes is playing files via QuickTime, iTunes could potentially play OGG or WMA files via a new codec component provided by a third party. Apple used to encourage developers to create codecs and make them available for distribution via QuickTime Update. There has been some effort at making an OGG codec, and the the first verison of WMA (then called NetPlay, IIRC) used QuickTime hooks for the Mac version of the player.
However, Apple hasn't done much with QuickTime Update and it appears to be going the way of QuickTime TV. (Does anybody out there use stuff like Axel, On2, or ZyGoVideo?) It seems there is no market or widespread enough interest in third-party enhancements to QuickTime...
Those who complain about affect & effect on
Nah... if they were going to start selling movies, we'd be hearing rumors that Apple is buying up some big movie studio, followed by speculation that it's a plot by Jobs to get Pixar a good distribution deal, hundreds of Slashdotters screaming about how Apple will die if it branches out and becomes a media company, followed by disappointment when people find out they're actually just going to be selling movies online.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
Be read to buy more hard drive space, though. ;-)
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.
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.
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?
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.
Let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time I was upgrading iTunes from 4.5 to 4.6. While the upgrade was running, there was a knock at the door. I went to open the door, and who was there, but Steve Jobs! Steve said "Mr. BigLig? Mr Rufus T. BigLig?" "That's me Steve", I replied. And then he kicked me in the nuts.
Well, not exactly. But I did have an "iTunes Music Library file unknown error (-50)" every time I used iTunes from then on. Tried everything - see here for details. It hit about 0.01% of users, and the fix was basically "suffer in agony until 4.7".
And now 4.8 is out, and like a fool, I'm downloading it as I type.
And that, Best Beloved, is how Steve got his Reality Distortion Field.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
I appreciate that - and I appreciated your point. Wow - someone mod this up - Slashdotters uniting after a minor flamefest!