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iTunes 4.9 With Podcasting Support
eakthecat writes "Hot on the heels of the 4.8 release, Apple has released the next version of its popular iTunes jukebox software. Version 4.9 incorporates several new features, most notable of which is podcasting. The front page and iTunes webpages have not been updated yet, but you can get your greedy little hands on it or through the new podcasting link in the music store! !"
The iTunes Music Store has "Mac-dotted" themselves. After getting 49, I tried to download some podcasts but the store that can serve up hundreds of millions of tracks is a bit overwhelmed right now. Try again later.
In other news, Apple also modified its iPod line by removing the iPod Photo as a unique line:
20GB COLOR iPod $299
60GB color iPod $399
1GB Shuffle $129
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Is anyone else annoyed that their is no real Windows "updater" for iTunes, and each update basically requires iTunes to reinstall, sometimes clobbering my settings that tell Quicktime to stop bothering me?
I really wish that if Apple releases software for Windows that they actually put the work necessary into it to make it a good product. (Don't get me wrong, I still like iTunes, it just seems very unpolished in Windows).
Ouch!
Can someone explain why this is a waste of bandwidth and time? Wouldn't a major company with a massive userbase supporting podcasting actually help the genre?
Also, since (presumably) Rob hasn't actually *tried* the software, isn't judging it a little harsh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting
Podcasting is an audio distribution system based on RSS with enclosures. This allows anyone to setup their own audio show and easily distribute it to subscribers. One of the pioneers of Podcasting is Adam Curry http://www.curry.com/
They must envision an economic model for podcasting one day, similar to their iTunes store I'm guessing, it'll be interesting to see how this develops.
The Good:
;).
Rather nicely done. A good interface, the search function works, and the display is very iTunes-ish - to be honest, better than using iPodderX or NetNewsWire to import the songs, and you can add in custom feeds.
I like the ability to tell it "Keep the most recent X and dump the rest" - for news based Podcasts, I usually have to do that manually with listened ones. Now, once I listen to it, it will automatically be taken out. Sweet.
The Bad:
No built in support for turning MP3 to bookmarkable AAC's. I don't see any kind of support for video podcasts (such as Rocketboom, which is odd since iPodderX can export the videos to iTunes, perhaps in support for a (someday) future video iPod).
Otherwise, it's a nice addition, and it's going to be interesting to see where it goes. Kudos to Apple for getting it - now let's see how long it takes the Napster and Rhapsody folks to catch on
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
It feels way snappier than the last release.
Adam Curry (yes that guy from MTV) is the father of Podcasting and as such he gave the keynote speech at Gnomedex this past weekend. The full keynote is also one of his many podcasts.
(Ok, if you don't know a podcast is basically an audio file. The term originates from the idea of Broadcasting and the iPod. The idea is take your content with you and listen when you want. The CBC has some of their radio content available as a podcast. So the concept is catching on!)
This keynote is well worth the listen. It is motivational, and it is focused. Users demand content and they don't care how the delivery method works (ATOM, RSS, etc). For the rest of the speech, go over to Adam's site for a link to the audio file. Listen, enjoy, and think about what he has to say.
-Ghost
This is what i love about apple. They see the customers need and they execute simple as that.
Life is like a bag of chips you never know whats next
Speel
I'm also downloading a new iPod updater which is supposed to add Podcast support to "iPod with color display," "iPod with Click Wheel," and "iPod mini." Looks like the 3G series has reached its end-of-life as far as support goes.
For more information, click here.
I think, technically speaking, it's as good an implementation as you're likely to see for a while.
The only missed opportunity from my perspective is the lack of some peer-to-peer method of distribution of the podcasts. That would be awfully nice. As it is, if your podcast gets popular, you're going to have to contend with a hefty bandwidth fee, which leaves at least a vestige of the old-media power structure in place; those who have the bucks control the means of distribution. With a stripped-down BitTorrent or even a Gnutella-style "swarm" distribution model, your listeners could actually distribute your podcasts for you; truly listener-supported public radio.
Otherwise, good stuff. More nice work by the iTunes team.
~jeff
Perhaps more interesting.. there is also an ipod update available!
http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/
This means that your podcasts will FINALLY be organised on your ipod, and your ipod will treat it like an audio book: press pause, come back later and it remembers where you are!
News of his employment here
- Going to a category subsection of the podcast list on the iTunes Music Store results in a browser window that lists genres, yet clicking any genre goes back to music listings, without any way to return. Podcast genres are in fact listed under the "Artist" column, and podcast titles under "Album".
- There is now a subgenre column in the iTMS browser, which could be helpful if I could find any way to read or set the subgenres of music I already own.
- The "All" item sometimes disappears from the top of the Artist column, meaning that you have to change genre/subgenre in order to change artist.
- There are "[x>" icons beside some podcasts which aren't explained (though they could just be part of the feed name).
iPod/iTunes's strength is partly in its simplicity - it's a good app for many people's music archival and retrieval needs. Perhaps it's being pushed to do too much? Some of the recent additions such as photo browsing (which can't be anything but mediocre on a 2" screen) and the new podcasting facilities might be better suited to a different GUI rather than being shoehorned into the existing ones. I love the idea of Podcasting in iTunes, but it's different enough from album browsing to warrant a bit more GUI work.I felt the same way about MacOS X Tiger's slightly premature release - although it was quickly improved with updates, the "release as beta, fix afterwards" approach is one I'd come to expect more from one of Apple's chief competitors. I hope Apple don't continue down this path - their software has often been a comparative joy to use, and these annoyances reduce that enjoyment.
-- What goes up must come down. Ask any SysAdmin.
BadApple Plug-in for iTunes Podcasts
At some point, Apple is going to add explicit support for podcasts to iTunes. Podcasts are really only long, often dull sound files, the 21st century equivalent of talk radio on cassette. Still, it's a fad, and since iTunes lets you look you for streaming broadcasts, why not podcasts, too? At least, so think the anonymous folks behind BadFruit, an outfit that just released the BadApple iTunes plug-in, ironically for the Windows version of iTunes only. The plug-in adds another link, called Podcasts, to the main iTunes window. Click on the link and you get a list of podcast categories. Drill down to download specific podcasts in iTunes and use them as you would any other iTunes sound file. BadApple claims to be pre-emptive insurance against any potential limitations Apple may place on the podcasts it may offer in future versions of iTunes. CNET speculates that MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, who now has a new site called MP3Tunes.com, is the anonymous author of BadFruit.
BadFruit: http://www.badfruit.com/
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5754227.html
MP3Tunes.com: http://www.mp3tunes.com/
"Even for Slashdot, that was a very obscure reference!" - Anonymous Coward
>> Apple getting dumped by IBM is going to put a quick end to the iPod fad.
Put the drugs down and back away slowly....
We need line-item modding.
A "podcast" is a downloadable audio file of some whiny kid who thinks he's an authority on something and has a delusional idea that people care what he has to say--in audio form.
So its like Slashdot, but in stereo?
I HAVE CUBIC WISDOM THAT TRANSCENDS AND CONTRADICTS ONE DAY GODS
A workaround for now (on OS X):
- Set your importing preferences to AAC
- Install this Make Bookmarable Applescript
- Select the MP3, go to Advanced->Convert to AAC
- Select the newly-created AAC, run the Make Bookmarkable script on it
Finished, and you only need to do steps 1 and 2 the once, of course. I've been using this to convert BBC radio captures to bookmarkable AAC for a while (workflow: Tivo->MP3->bookmarkable AAC).would agree that making an AAC bookmarkable could do with being integrated into the main interface though.
Cheers,
Ian
Some of it is news. Some of it's music. Some of it's audiobooks. And yeah, some of it's just personal life and ranting. But don't limit your perspective to just those. It's basically whatever you want.
My own podcast narrates science fiction short stories. We also do some reviews and commentary, but I've made a solemn promise on it never, ever to simply tell you about my day.
ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
A better question is, "why should I care?"
I'll tell you why I care: after having a tivo for years now, I like my entertainment time shifted. The few things I listen to on the radio are mostly NPR broadcasts, and mostly on an inconvenient times for me. So I get the podcast versions of those. Done.
I don't listen to lame ass rants made by some kid in his mom's basement, and I'm guessing that few adults do. Podcasting has been going on a lot longer than you think. Take for example Audible. They've been doing it since way before it was trendy, and I've been downloading (and in the earlier days paying for) NPR content from them. Simply because it's convenient for me.
Do not fold, spindle or mutilate.
In case anyone was wondering, Apple have not changed the DAAP authentication with this new version of iTunes. So my various iTunes apps for linux, etc still work.
stuff
Here is something that I've been wondering: What are the legal guidelines for podcasting? I know the ones that are talk and original music are fine. But what about people who play their favorite song or remake of existing songs?
I listen to a couple of podcasts where people play their favorite songs and I was wondering if that is legal? I know this is offtopic but this one question have yet to find an answer too.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
People may be interested in my write-up on Badfruit's BadApple which I posted to LiveJournal here.
In short, this tool modifies your HOSTS file to point the iTunes Music Store link in iTunes to a local copy of IIS. That copy of IIS serves a python app which hosts a fake music store to offer Podcasts. This copy of IIS is open to the entire world (listening on *:80) running some rather untested software, and the redirection (via the HOSTS file) essentially 'breaks' iTunes Music Store functionality. This behavior (still) does not appear to be documented on BadFruit's site.
It also appears to have some hooks into mp3tunes.com, but I wasn't able to completely determine what. BadFruit may be selling music or collecting referrals, I'm not sure which.
In short, please use lots of caution before installing this software. It makes some rather drastic changes to one's machine, and these aren't documented on BadFruit's site.
I don't read blogs, and I don't intend to listen to any 'podcasts' either. Books are for reading, and iPod's are for music. As far as I can tell, the main disadvantage of these digital soapboxes is that you can't hurl tomatoes at the orator. These newfangled ideas are nothing but chicanery perpetrated by charlatans. In fact, the iPod is nothing more than a cassette player crossed with a cue ball.
music lover since 1969
My own painful example would be Leica and Swarovski optics. A Leica spotting scope that cost 800 USD three years ago is now $1300. Leica isn't paying dramatically more taxes today than they were then. I still can't buy their dang scopes, and I could have back then.
Anyone who's traveled in Europe or anywhere else could tell you that prices in different sectors of the economy can differ in ways that may or may not reflect the added costs you're talking about. Gas for private cars is much more expensive. Other stuff will be far cheaper than you'd find them in the US. And until the Euro there was tons of variation in those things from place to place. Soda in Paris, always expensive. Instanbul is cheap, but it's hard to say how cheap at a given moment because of Lira inflation.
The world is not reducible to doctrines.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
I'm just waiting for Apple to remove sharing and cd burning all together. If you think that isn't their long term goal your kidding yourself.
I think that rock hit your head. Apple has removed some features that most people don't use, and a few people (like you or I) miss.
But burning and sharing removed? Sorry, that's not going to happen because they are core features that Apple is promoting. Why would you buy an Apple laptop and a desktop if you couldn't share? Why would you use iTunes if you couldn't burn CD's? It makes no sense.
Basically Apple racheted down the iTunes features to those used in a home setup, and they are pretty much done it seems. Although I am also sad iTunes no longer lets me share with everyone in the office as well as it used to, I have to say that since there's no other choice at all that lets me share anything whatsoever I can't be too mad at them. Why not bitch that Windows Media Player has no sharing at all?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Podcasting can do that.
In its small way--like blogging and posting--podcasting is helping to unplug people from the central switchboard of corporate media.
No, it's not as if this is the Enlightenment, and you have a lot of Voltaires running about beaming great thoughts into mp3 files, and suddenly we'll throw off the tentacular church and state. Someone blabbing about his day through your expensive tiny white headphones does not a revolution make.
Doesn't matter. American society is like Terry Schiavo: if you want excitement and growth, brother, you've come to the wrong vegetable. That's why anything outside of the grey, soggy, monolithic blob that constitutes our majority media is welcome at this stage--just to show people that they don't need Big Daddy Fox or Mommy MSNBC.
Podcasting removes these baleful arbiters. It shortcircuits the money power's monopoly on the conversation. It says, "Who the fuck needs a doorknob like Brit Hume, anyway?"
The early signs are promising. With each download, podcasting happily extends the trend of declining audiences for corporate media. And that is a Good Thing. The less the great obedient horde lines up for more orders, the better.