Mac|Life itunes 8 RSS Feed

iTunes' New Visualizer Is Magnetic

Carol Pinchefsky — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:48:32 -0500

Click to embiggen

In an undisclosed agreement, Apple Inc. purchased the Barbarian Group’s visualizer, Magnetosphere, for iTunes 8. The Barbarian Group, an interactive marketing group, had developed Magnetosphere as a plug-in for iTunes.

Although the Eva McCloskey, the Barbarian Group’s PR director, would not comment, their website reads, “We’re insanely, ridiculously proud to say that Magnetosphere now lives in iTunes… The Barbarian Group no longer maintains, develops or owns Magnetosphere.”

After a minute of using Magnetosphere, you can see why Apple Inc. included it in their newest version of iTunes. In one song, binary stars orbit each other and are joined by constellations, black holes, and dancing lights. In another, fireworks and party streamers are happily competing for your attention. The original visualizer was a spinning wall of color interrupted by jagged wavy lines. Compared to the new visualizer, the original seems less engaging.

Magnetosphere was released in May 2007 and pulled from the Barbarian Group’s website some time in February 2008, leading to speculation that it had been purchased by Apple Inc.

Kill the iTunes 8 Arrow

Roberto Baldwin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:53:06 -0500

I hate, hate, hate, the arrows that appear next to tracks in iTunes. I'm sure someone, somewhere, finds them extremely helpful. I see them as a horrible mark on the clean UI of iTunes.

In iTunes 7 you could turn those annoying little guys off from within the preferences. With the release of iTunes 8, the arrow appears next to the song you're listening too and there isn't a way within the preferences to turn it off.

Thankfully, Rob Griffiths at Mac OS X Hints has posted a terminal tip to remove the horrid little guy. I tried the tip and it works perfectly. He even includes the Terminal command to bring the arrow back in case you go criminally insane.

Launch the Terminal and type in the information below:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes show-store-arrow-links -bool FALSE

To restore the arrows, check out the rest of the tip at Mac OS X Hints.

Apple Baits Us with Free HD TV Shows

Lisa Weddle — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:34:23 -0500

Apple thinks you should and to make it even more tempting by giving away episodes for free. Thanks to readers of The Unofficial Apple Weblog who noticed that of the sixteen shows available in HD format, iTunes is giving away the first episode of nine of them and an episode in the middle of the season of a tenth. They are:

He That Believeth in Me – Battlestar Galactica, Season 4

Fun Runs, Pts. 1 & 2 – The Office, Season 4

Lipstick Jungle: Pilot – Lipstick Jungle, Season 1

Four Months Later… - Heroes, Season 2

Pilot – In Plain Sight, Season 1

Mr. Monk Buys a House – Monk, Season 7

Ghosts – Psych, Season 3

Merit Badge: Pilot – Life, Season 1

Bad to the Drone – Eureka, Season 3

Secrets and Lies – 30 Rock, Season 2

Just enough to get you hooked, right? Along with the HD version is packed a version that you can take with you on your iPod. You might not want to start downloading these at the local coffee house, however. The download times for the HD versions will have you going through a Venti and then some!

Genius Makes Smart Playlists Even Smarter

Carol Pinchefsky — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:21:56 -0500

As the movie-based-on-the-book High Fidelity would tell you, there are rules to creating the perfect mix of music. The best bridge between jazz and country-western is Lyle Lovett. Johnny Cash goes surprisingly well with grunge. And you never, ever mix ABBA with the Sex Pistols.

You’ll soon hear if the newly available Genius music recommendation service makes or breaks these rules when you get your first earful after downloading iTunes 8. With a touch of a button on your iPod’s on-screen controls, Genius finds songs that “go great” with your choice of music, based on songs from your library.

During the Let’s Rock event today, Steve Jobs did not explain how the playlists would be collated. (Beats per minute? Year the song was released? Songs sung by musicians who have OD-ed?). But Apple’s PR explained these new playlists based on the music preferences of all of iTunes other users.

Including you.

According to Apple’s PR, “Information about your music library is anonymously sent to the iTunes Store, where it is combined with the anonymously-gathered knowledge from millions of other iTunes users and processed through Apple-developed algorithms.”

Turn Genius on, and it will gather the details of the songs you’ve purchased and upload them to the mother ship. Based on the history of other users, if you purchase Avril Lavigne, Apple can easily recommend Pink. Paranoid people, rest easy: Apple won’t be able to hold your purchase of Fergie’s “London Bridge” against you

These playlists can be created, modified, and saved with ease on both iTunes and your iPod. Genius also recommends songs not currently in your library, so you can buy them (for the usual $.99, natch) and perfect your new playlist.

Music recommendation services are not unique to Apple. Pandora radio has carved a niche for itself with recommendations. And online music store Amie Street blends recommendations with social networking. But these services don’t integrate recommendations with the iPod the way Apple does.

Playlists made just for you in one touch. This simple yet powerful feature is yet another reason why Apple Inc. continues to lead the world of digital music and others only follow.

For more information, see the iPod touch guided tour and Apple's Genius page.

iTunes 8 Released

Zack Stern — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:31:36 -0500

Apple has released iTunes 8, adding new interface features and introducing HD TV show downloads. HD TV content includes shows from former--and now reunited--BFF, NBC in addition to other companies. The 720p content can now be played on a computer in addition to an AppleTV. NBC programs include "The Office," "Monk," Battlestar Galactica," and "30 Rock." HD shows cost $2.99, while standard-definition shows remain $1.99 each.

iTunes 8 also adds more accessibility features, including VoiceOver spoken commands, plus a new cover-art browsing option for all media. Its "Genius" option matches songs, movies, and TV shows that go together, aligning similar styles. Those recommendations come from within your library or as new purchases through the music store.

iTunes 8 is a free download and now available.