Good article by Brian but it could have been better. Judging from the title we know there should be some Point -Counter Point here. Sadly that doesn't exist.
I disagree. Audiophiles are an overrated lot. A small but vocal minority. MP3s are huge because they are convenient. Honestly a majority of consumers are happy with anything that gives them above radio quality. Seeing all these people hootin' and hollerin' about "lossy" audio is a riot. Consumers don't care.
iTunes 4.5 to me doesn't have a leading feature. It's a nice well rounded and solid upgrade. If you have WMA files you now have a way to import them into iTunes/iPod now. You have community development in iMixes. Much better than the blathering of people on a music messageboard. The overriding focus on music is evident with iMixes. Labeling functions. Thank you Apple! The export track info as a text file is useless. Now I can "easily" print track listings and labels to put in jewel cases. A godsend really. Wishlist...very slick functionality. Rather than have one default Wishlist you can create as many as you need. Drag the desired songs over and there you have it. Preview-Track info and "Buy" button all in your custom folder. Searching for songs now no longer cuts off your currently playing song another godsend for those that like to listen to their music whilst searching for new songs. The arrows are nice. Click on an artists name it takes you to the store for more tracks from the artist. Option Click it takes you to all the songs from that artist in your own library. Simple...effective....clever.
Another disagreement. Perhaps to those who were talking about outlandish features like Mixing and other DJ features this update wasn't innovative. I think otherwise. Apple solidified it's featureset and has focused on making music the central focus. Funny thing about requesting innovation. Those that oft do it never seem to have any worthwhile suggestions to post along with their statement. They are basically waiting for Apple to pull the proverbial Rabbit from the hat.
Quote:
I thought the biggest feature should be the new lossless importing format for CD importing. If this is what Apple claims it is, this should have been THE LEADING FEATURE. The rest of the features are miniscule in comparison
I disagree. Audiophiles are an overrated lot. A small but vocal minority. MP3s are huge because they are convenient. Honestly a majority of consumers are happy with anything that gives them above radio quality. Seeing all these people hootin' and hollerin' about "lossy" audio is a riot. Consumers don't care.
iTunes 4.5 to me doesn't have a leading feature. It's a nice well rounded and solid upgrade. If you have WMA files you now have a way to import them into iTunes/iPod now. You have community development in iMixes. Much better than the blathering of people on a music messageboard. The overriding focus on music is evident with iMixes. Labeling functions. Thank you Apple! The export track info as a text file is useless. Now I can "easily" print track listings and labels to put in jewel cases. A godsend really. Wishlist...very slick functionality. Rather than have one default Wishlist you can create as many as you need. Drag the desired songs over and there you have it. Preview-Track info and "Buy" button all in your custom folder. Searching for songs now no longer cuts off your currently playing song another godsend for those that like to listen to their music whilst searching for new songs. The arrows are nice. Click on an artists name it takes you to the store for more tracks from the artist. Option Click it takes you to all the songs from that artist in your own library. Simple...effective....clever.
Quote:
All in all, I think the new iTunes is a good progression, adding more features more integrating the iTMS into iTunes as an application, but I dont think its as innovative as we all hoped for a one year anniversary announcement.
Another disagreement. Perhaps to those who were talking about outlandish features like Mixing and other DJ features this update wasn't innovative. I think otherwise. Apple solidified it's featureset and has focused on making music the central focus. Funny thing about requesting innovation. Those that oft do it never seem to have any worthwhile suggestions to post along with their statement. They are basically waiting for Apple to pull the proverbial Rabbit from the hat.
