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PC Mag: iTunes 4.5 reviewed

updated 06:20 pm EDT, Tue May 18, 2004

iTunes 4.5 reviewed

PC Magazine has published a . "While iTunes is still a top-tier player and store, the improvements in 4.5 turn out to be less interesting in practice than they are on paper [...] iMix is less than thrilling so far. Looking at other people's song lists isn't all that fascinating, and there's no way to post comments on mixes; all you can do is rate them from one to five stars. [...] To be truly useful, Party Shuffle should offer more control over which artists, playlists, or genres should or shouldn't be included [...] iTunes finally delivers jewel-case printing with this release ... but here again, customization is lacking."

by MacNN Staff

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MacnTX
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2004

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05/18, 06:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
And...

And it's still superior to anything else available on Windows by a long shot, especially WMP 9, plus it's free...

mac freak
Mac Elite

Joined: Jun 2000

0

05/18, 06:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
PC Magazine

What, y'all expected a glowing review from PC Magazine? It's like expecting Xbox Monthly to include a positive review of Metroid Prime.

bashar
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Joined: Jan 2000

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05/18, 06:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
customization

PC freaks are obsessed with customizing everything, to the point of getting too technical and loosing functionality, they will never ever understand apple's philosophy... never mind for someone who doesnt get it

PookJP
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

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05/18, 06:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
Shhh....

Easy there, zealots. Some of these criticisms are actually worthwhile. For instance, the ability to post support for a star rating within iMix would be a nice feature. For me, I'm not inclined to rate the mixes because I can't make the critique constructive.

For PartyMix, I completely agree with this as well. If it's going to be truly worthwhile, I would like to have more control over specifically what is played. Otherwise, I'd just make a playlist and put it on "random", but the point of PartyMix is to save the time and effort of doing this.

I haven't printed a jewel case through iTunes, so I can't comment, but in my experience with graphics, the more options the better. The only qualifier on that options comment is they should retain a "simple" mode for novice users.

gunnar
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Feb 1999

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05/18, 06:59pm | report spam | close Reply |
plenty of features alredy

iTunes has plenty of features already. I don't want anymore at all. The only things I might want are already made by 3rd parties. I hate the feature bloat of Windows jukeboxes. There's room to grow on the store side. The obvious thing is to have the store learn and change to reflect your buying taste. Amazon does a good job of this. I'm sure this will happen soon because everyone wants comments, and more accurate ratings.

chrissyboy
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05/18, 07:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
Duh they like it

Read the review: "...enhance an already outstanding digital music package." They like it! Geddit? This is just macnn trying to get us all riled and upset - they seem to be doing this more and more.

legacyb4
Mac Elite

Joined: May 2001

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05/18, 07:40pm | report spam | close Reply |
Nested Playlists

If you include other playlists into a super playlist, party mix actually does become quite useful...

Deal
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Joined: Apr 2001

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05/18, 07:51pm | report spam | close Reply |
Whadya expect?

It's just a .x update to a music software! Don't they have anything better to write about???

Rincewind
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05/18, 08:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Shhh...

For PartyMix, I completely agree with this as well. If it's going to be truly worthwhile, I would like to have more control over specifically what is played. Otherwise, I'd just make a playlist and put it on "random", but the point of PartyMix is to save the time and effort of doing this.

Actually, you can completely control what plays in Party Mix. One of the parameters is the source playlist. Just make a playlist with what you want to mix and point Party Mix at it.

klinux
Senior User

Joined: Jul 2002

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05/18, 09:25pm | report spam | close Reply |
Yeah

Chill out. If PC Mag says it does not like the metal look watch zealots jump all over the source even though plenty of Mac users do not like the metal look either.

PowerMacMan

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05/18, 09:46pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
...

I actually tend to agree with PC Mag on this one. iTunes 4.5 was not really necessary, nor were most of it's features. But I'm not complaining that it was released because it is something that we didn't have that we now do.

brinj
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Joined: Sep 2001

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05/18, 11:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
Why all the bellyaching?

You don't expect shareware to be full featured, so why is it that a free program is expected to be completely full featured?

itunes is extremely robust for a no-cost, cross-platform program and it's extremely nice that Apple included a few bells in the to go with the new drm.

LouZer
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Joined: Nov 2000

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05/19, 12:02am | report spam | close Reply |
4.5

iMix isn't worthless. People were complaining about not being able to offer suggestions. Now you can. So, now its "I can't comment on my star ratings, so I'm not rating!". Looking at iMixes randomly isn't that great, but checking out iMixes linked from Albums you like, and you actually might find some music you never heard but might actually like.

I actually find the 'super' playlist feature to be a great addition. I had several playlists that had 8 or more conditions, and several that were almost identical and others that were merges of the conditions. Now, I just have several playlists and make others off of those.

The Party Mix is easy to set up with playlists and 'super' playlists. Basically, its another "well, its OK, but was want x, y, z, and if you give us that, then we'll complain that aa, ab, and ac are missing" scenario.

And 4.5 may not be 'necessary', but how many updates ever are necessary? h***, people still thing Word 5 was all you ever need.

PookJP
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

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05/19, 03:50am | report spam | close Reply |
Nested Playlists...

... Why don't we have those yet? I feel like those should have been added in version 2.

(Unless I'm TOTALLY missing something)

koolkid1976
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Joined: May 2003

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05/19, 08:06am | report spam | close Reply |
re: Shhh....

"Easy there, zealots. Some of these criticisms are actually worthwhile."

No criticism is worthwile, if your whole point is to criticize, and refuse to comment on points that you cannont criticize. The thing is, I haven't USED any of the features he criticized. I just love the Music Video section. I baught a song I never heard until I watched the music video.

My girlfriend heard a song on the radio she really liked. All the had to do was tell me one word in the song, and I went to the radio station play list and found it in seconds. I love to be able to watch Movie Previews as a break between listening to songs. And it's right there in the program. Did he comment on those features? No, because he couldn't find a way to critize them, they are just casually mentioned.

LouZer
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05/19, 08:37am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: nested playlists

What the h*** do you call 'nested playlists'? You can base playlists off of other playlists (in effect nesting them), but is this what you're talking about?

FMPHost
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Joined: May 2004

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05/19, 12:17pm | report spam | close Reply |
They do like the iPod

MacNN chose to comment on the Itunes review but did not mention that the iPod Mini got PC Mag's Editors Choice and was featured on the front cover of the mag (May 4 issue). "It should come as no surprise that the only company able to outdesign the original iPod is Apple itself... the Apple iPod Mimi carries a premium price tag but it's one well worth paying.... the only tough decision is picking a color... The Creative Nomad MuVo2 earns an honorable mention for its insane battery life (twice tat of the ipod Mini) and its excellent price....

Not bad coverage for an Apple product in PC Mag!

norville
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Joined: Jan 2001

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05/19, 04:50pm | report spam | close Reply |
Best New Feature

Everyone (including PC World) seems to have overlooked the most critical and fundamental new feature of iTunes 4.5. It now has an open COM-based API, so in effect the Windows version can now be scripted and automated via COM much like the Mac version can via AppleScript. This is absolutely huge.

This means that other Windows applications (like A/V editing programs, or WinAmp, or even Windows Media Player) can now integrate with iTunes and its features.

http://developer.apple.com/sdk/itunescomsdk.html

http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1084819754.html

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PC Mag: iTunes 4.5 reviewed

updated 06:20 pm EDT, Tue May 18, 2004

iTunes 4.5 reviewed

And...

PC Magazine

customization

Shhh....

plenty of features alredy

Duh they like it

Nested Playlists

Whadya expect?

Re: Shhh...

Yeah

...

Why all the bellyaching?

4.5

Nested Playlists...

re: Shhh....

Re: nested playlists

They do like the iPod

Best New Feature

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PC Mag: iTunes 4.5 reviewed

updated 06:20 pm EDT, Tue May 18, 2004

iTunes 4.5 reviewed

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And...

PC Magazine

customization

Shhh....

plenty of features alredy

Duh they like it

Nested Playlists

Whadya expect?

Re: Shhh...

Yeah

...

Why all the bellyaching?

4.5

Nested Playlists...

re: Shhh....

Re: nested playlists

They do like the iPod

Best New Feature

Login Here

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