Did You Know That iTunes Plays Music?
In case you didn’t read the title I shall repeat the question: Did you know that iTunes plays music? Yeah, it came as a surprise to me too. In between managing my podcasts, watching movie trailer, buying TV shows (and movies and games) and syncing/activating my iPhone, all through iTunes I lost track of the fact that iTunes plays music too. You may have to search your memory for a time when this wasn’t the case, but I assure you that when it first came out iTunes was all about, well, playing tunes. Now, iTunes is some gargantuan hub that sits at the center of Apple’s multimedia strategy. How did we get to this point?
Well, for starters, we got here one small step at a time. Because while iTunes started off as a single application to handle a single purpose, for the past several years more and more features have been bolted onto it. And so, it has been continually expanding the breadth and depth of what it does. So how did Apple, a company known for making simple, easy to use software, end up with this hulking beast of an application? I should clarify, I do like iTunes. . . sorta. I do like using it to listen to music. And purchasing songs from the ITMS isn’t too bad (thought definitely could be better). But after that things get a little ungainly.
Managing audio/video podcasts is handled decently enough too, I suppose. But I think it is when we get beyond those simple bounds that I start to have a problem. For instance, why am I managing my video collection from a piece of software originally designed to play music? I find it to be both a tedious and clunky task at best. Likewise, why am I trying to manage games (that I can’t even play in iTunes) for my iPod in this application? And if all this wasn’t bad enough, now the iPhone comes along and guess what? Yep, all of its syncing/activation will be going through iTunes!
Ok Apple I’m begging you, please stop.
Please stop bolting more crap onto iTunes, it can’t handle anything else.
If you make iTunes any larger it will start to look like its own operating system. Have things really gotten this desperate that we’re taking a page from the Microsoft playbook? Seriously, I think your customers will be able to figure things out if you break up some of this stuff in to a couple different apps. Please stop with the “lets see how much we can make iTunes do” mentality as it is hurting your customers.
Really guys, if you are going to do it, do it now, while there is still time. Don’t release a TV, media center and game console that all syncs with iTunes before realizing that things may be getting out of hand. Why not just do us all a favor and start thinking of a way out of this mess sooner rather than later?
But it’s just a suggestion.
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Apple may be doing this more for Windows folks than Mac users. Mac users don’t mind multiple Apple apps on our computers, but Apple may think that Windows users won’t want to have a lot of Apple exe’s floating around, so they make it easier for them by putting everything into one app.
I think that the interface for iTunes needs to be updated. What may be helpful is still have iTunes contain all these various capabilities and functionality, but when it comes to starting the application, perhaps having a splash screen that allows you to navigate to the functionality you want. Something similar to an iPhone pannel. You are presented with 4 choices (e.g., Music, Movies, TV, Podcasts, or something similar). When you click one, a new window opens that specifically addresses this section. This allows you to navigate the multiple apps independently, yet keep them integrated for iPhone/iPod syncing, etc.
Just my thought. I haven’t thought carefully about the execution of it, however.
dkat:
Apple should consider their own users above those over in the Windows camp. If helping Windows users is Apple’s main motivation, I believe it to be misguided. Splitting iTunes for both Mac and Windows users would have several positive effects. It would return iTunes to a more graceful, more Mac-like experience. Apple has shown that it wants to slowly introduce Windows users to the Mac experience with projects like Safari for Windows. Splitting iTunes into several apps would only further prepare Windows users for the way things are on a Mac. Finally, why do you think that Windows users seeing Apple exe’s all over their hard drive would be a bad thing? It seems to me it would make Windows users more apt to get a Mac once they realized how many Apple apps are in their everyday workflow.
mikecol:
I think Apple has shown for years that it takes longtime Mac users for granted, and assumes they will stay with Mac no matter what happens. Its main interest now is getting Windows users to switch to Mac, and to get everyone to buy things like iPhones and iPods. I think for longtime Windows users, and the IT folks who support their computers, having Apple software on their PCs is kind of like what many Mac users feel about running Microsoft software: it just doesn’t feel right, somehow. So Apple wants to keep things as tidy as possible for PC users who want to use iTunes, and hardware that requires iTunes. Just a thought.
Frankly, I find nothing to complain about iTunes. I have over 10,000 songs and many movies, TV programs, and podcasts. It just works fine. Have never had any problems. Can’t imagine how it could be improved.
Perhaps someone could spell out how to improve iTunes and why these changes are needed?
For instance, why am I managing my video collection from a piece of software originally designed to play music?
Bingo! Since I’m more of a movie person than a song person, and since iTunes is pretty much it in terms of syncing movies to my iPod on my Mac, then I’m stuck shoe-horning my movie info like the Director, the Screenwriter, and Title into the iTunes info categories: Name, Artist, Album Artist, etc. Huh?
Talk about bolted-on. James is exactly right. If you’re going to make a big deal out of being able to organize Movies, TV shows, and songs, then DO IT RIGHT. iTunes is clearly built around songs and has not accommodated movies or anything else to anything beyond a joke.
so they make it easier for them by putting everything into one app.
If Apple is so concerned about multiple executables, then they should do something about the fact that iTunes requires THREE different exe files just by itself.
Perhaps someone could spell out how to improve iTunes and why these changes are needed?
Movies and podcasts should just launch Quicktime, not run in the iTunes environment. On a dual screen setup, if I run Quicktime in full screen mode, it only fills one screen. In iTunes, it blacks out BOTH monitors. WTF?
Movies and podcasts need their own separate labeling and organization systems. The Info boxes for movies still only let you input Name, ARTIST, ALBUM, and ALBUM ARTIST. Yeah, that makes sense for a movie. And Disc and Track Numbers come in very handy as well.
Ditto audiobooks, btw. TV shows are somewhat better, with episodes, etc.
Also, you should be able to customize those Info labels.
I’d also like to be able to easily separate my video podcasts from my audio podcasts.
If you make iTunes any larger it will start to look like its own operating system.
I think all of you may be missing the point and James mentions it as a complaint, completely missing Apple’s iTunes strategy.
iTunes IS the new media OS.
Stay with me here.
Yes… some of iTunes features are somewhat bolt-on and I think over time Apple will begin to address those issues, but in the short term, they want one app to manage everything that hits your iPod, AppTV and iPhone.
This is actually a good strategy. One of Windows’ main weaknesses is that it is not well integrated—different apps don’t always work well together and you have to have a different sync application for every single device you own—making data sharing and management difficult, if not downright onerous. This is a BAD thing, not a good one.
One of Apple’s main strengths is that its apps do integrate well with one another. iTunes is the conduit through which Apple is introducing this concept to Windows users. The idea that all your peripheral devices can seamlessly integrate and share data with one another is a GOOD thing. I touched upon this very point in another thread.
I believe that as iTunes continues to develop, it will become more like a Front Row-type app. All your media and peripherals will still be controlled through a single point of entry, but they will divide the different media types from each other a little better. The interfaces for each media type will still be similar, but will account for the differences (ie - no sorting a movie by “artist”... each will get its own meta-data types).
However, iTunes (possibly renamed) will continue to be a single application—the new media OS. This is not a bad thing.