Tag Archives: apple

iTunes 10 (Windows) review – worth the upgrade

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It was announced yesterday that Apple would be releasing their newest version of iTunes in the early hours of this morning. And as if by magic, the Apple Software Updater today alerted me that a new version of the software was available. So I’ve downloaded it, given it a spin and here’s what I have to say.

If you’re just a casual user of iTunes, you probably won’t notice any huge difference except from the new design and interface. They’ve replaced the CD logo with a new logo of a music note. The general UI of the program has been changed quite considerably. I quite like it, but I think this new approach to listing my music library looks very untidy.

Thankfully, I use the album cover view to see my music, so that won’t affect me hugely.

The biggest new feature to the program is the new “Ping”. Essentially, it’s just a copy of last.fm with the ability to like, review and follow artists/songs that are of interest to you. You can then share this with other users that you happen to be following. The software will give you up to date information from the artists you are following.

Personally, I quite like the feature. I’ll find it very useful for “discovering” new music as Apple like to put it. However, I think it’s sad that Apple are so desperate for ideas that they have to go and copy a concept that already exists. I much prefer last.fm’s approach and I think Apple will have a job getting people to convert to their idea.

I happen to think performance has improved considerably with the new version. Even with a dual core 2.8ghz processor and Windows 7, iTunes 9 still seemed to be pretty sluggish. The new version appears to load up pretty quickly and navigating through the software seems to be much more speedy. Gone are the days when you have to wait several seconds for iTunes to respond to you clicking a menu option.

Other than that though, there isn’t really much the casual iTunes user will notice. The store hasn’t really changed much, except for “Ping” integration. The iPod management is almost identical to the old version, with exception to a tiny bit of new design.

Overall, I’d go grab it. It’ll probably be essential to upgrade soon anyway. You can get it from apple.com/itunes or from the Apple Software Updater.

What’s all the fuss about the iPad?

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It’s just a giant iPhone, isn’t it?

Ever since Apple announced the iPad, everyone’s been going on about it. Everyone seems to think it’s an amazing gadget that which has never been thought of.

But if you think about it – the technology that is in the iPad has been around for years. We’ve had touch screen computers for ages – and tablet PCs for even longer.

And on the topic of technology – what’s so amazing about it? For what will be the best part of £500 for a decent model, you get a 1Ghz processor for a start. 1Ghz? I’m sorry but we’ve been seeing 1Ghz processors since 2000 and you expect me to pay £500 for a device like that? OK, point taken – 1Ghz for a mobile device is pretty good – but its a pretty big thing so can’t Apple squeeze in any more power?

There are also many other factors that really put me off it. One of my biggest problems with it is that it can’t multitask. What the hell? Hasn’t Apple heard any of our prayers?!! iPhone users have, for months, been wanting the capability for Apple mobile devices to multitask and Apple still hasn’t solved the problem. I find it so annoying that I can’t do anything else when I’m listening to Spotify music on my iPod Touch.

In addition, I don’t understand the design of it. It supposedly has GPS, but I’m not going to carry a huge device round on my travels when I’m going on a hiking trip. In the same respect, I don’t think that UK road laws would allow me to have a huge device sitting on my windscreen mount (if I had a car).

So without going into too much detail – you won’t ever see me with an iPad. I just can’t make sense of it. I thought that in this day and age,  portability and size were key factors – but maybe I’m wrong.

I’ll be interested to know the UK prices, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be available until launch – which is due around March.

iTunes 9 Review – A definite improvement

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As most of you will already know, the Apple conference on the 9th of September brought a lot of news to iPod users. As well as the new iPod Nano and “new” iPod Touch (I can’t say it’s new, all they’ve done is made a bigger size), Apple also released the new iTunes 9. Sadly I wasn’t able to get it right away as I’m going through small problems with internet bandwidth, which also explains why I haven’t been able to post reviews on the new iPod Touch/iPhone firmware yet – don’t worry I will get round to it as soon as I get my unlimited bandwidth back which, as far as I know, should be next week.

Anyway, as for the new iTunes, I am surprised to say that I’m actually very impressed with the new release. The new features aren’t ground breaking, but the new performance upgrades have finally arrived.

The new iTunes packs new features such as Home Sharing, which allows you to share your music between other computers in your home, and a brand new redesigned iTunes Store. Both of which work very well. I haven’t checked out the Home Sharing yet but from what I’ve read online it looks very good. The new iTunes Store is certainly very tidy and works very efficiently and I much prefer it over the previous version.

But I’m happiest about the much smoother performance. The load-up time has improved dramatically and actually browsing through the application is much more speedy.

What used to be a misery is now much easier to use and much less time consuming. I still don’t think iTunes is brilliant, but the new version has definitely made syncing my iPod much less of a chore.

Well done Apple, this is a big improvement.

If you’d like to download the new version, open up iTunes and click Check for Updates in the Help menu. Otherwise, you can head over to apple.com and download a copy from there for free.

Spotify app launched on iPhone/iPod Touch App Store, at last!

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Just some quick news for any Spotify lovers:

The Spotify app has now arrived on the app store, so you can head straight over there and download it.

Bare in mind you’ll need to be a full premium user to be able to make any use of the app, which will cost you a tenner a month!

Oh and the other thing to bare in mind is that apparently it won’t play music in the background which is a bit of a newsense, so close the app and you’re music will stop playing. Hopefully that will be fixed in an update before too long.

Otherwise, go ahead and try it out. Sadly, I’m not a Spotify premium member (for now) so I won’t be able to review it, but if you’ve got any opinions on it feel free to throw in a comment!

Spotify for the iPod Touch/iPhone approved by Apple!

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Great news Spotify fans! The company has posted on their blog that Spotify for iPhone (or the iPod Touch) will become a reality.

The mentioned in the post that “the lovely people at Apple” had approved their software and that the app would soon be available on the app store.

It’s not all good though – as I may have mentioned already in previous posts – as the app will only be usable by premium members of Spotify, so free users won’t get the benefit of the app.

Still, I’m sure it will encourage plenty of people to upgrade to premium membership, which will be great for Spotify.

Thanks Apple, that’s the news we’ve all been waiting for! I can’t wait to see the Spotify app on the app store.