iTunes Moves Toward Domination

[Jason Tate]

According to Hits (http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/rumormill.cgi), "Some believe there’s a very real possibility that iTunes may in the not-too-distant future be posting the biggest numbers of any retail account, online or terrestrial."

If you haven't downloaded iTunes 7 (http://www.itunes.com) yet, what are you waiting for?

[twenty_below]

damn. i wish i had created itune$.

[Utrguitar]

Itunes+7=Amazing

[Drew Beringer]

iTunes 7 is so neat. I know I know, people are gonna say "blah blah winamp blah blah download skins blah blah wmp blah blah" lol

[C480RG]

im just waiting for the number to get to 2 billion.... so maybe out of the strike of luck i dl the 2 billionth song, and win a shit load of apple products like that kid in illi did. lucky bastard.

[crazytoledo]

iTunes is a horrendous media player. The only positive thing about it is it's better than Windows Media Player and a neccesity for iPod users. But I'll stick with Winamp for playing my music. iTunes seriously is clunky and extremly laggy and horrible.

[jfb392]

Don't download 7 until there's a bug fix.
There's mass reports of random crashes, glitchy audio, etc.

[Jason Tate]

iTunes is a horrendous media player. The only positive thing about it is it's better than Windows Media Player and a neccesity for iPod users. But I'll stick with Winamp for playing my music. iTunes seriously is clunky and extremly laggy and horrible.

False, on all accounts (minus personal preference).

Don't download 7 until there's a bug fix.
There's mass reports of random crashes, glitchy audio, etc.

Haven't had a single problem.

[jfb392]

False, on all accounts (minus personal preference).



Haven't had a single problem.Me either, but I've talked to some who have.
Here's an article (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2063).

[The Coalition]

Don't download 7 until there's a bug fix.
There's mass reports of random crashes, glitchy audio, etc.

If you call one of the most flawless software releases (with a heap of additions, might I add) buggy, I guess you are right.

I freak out over it still, I have 3 different libraries set up so my transition from Work library to Home library to Laptop HD library is flawless. That on it's own is one of the most amazing features (and least talked about).

I seriously debated not using any program on my Mac but iTunes 7 after I downloaded it. I shortly there after realised this would not be good for my bank account.

[RicKy085]

yeah i have the weirdest problems. when i'm listening to music on iTunes 7 and i'm on AIM, the sound from the IMs messes up the music playing on iTunes and then iTunes music gets realllly staticy, like an old cd that skips continuously......until i close iTunes and open it again.

and for some reason, when i try to get to iTunes through the recent programs used list, it tries to install it. not a big problem but still.


oh and my friend now has about 100 copies of every song on her iTunes after downloading the new one. but i'm not sure about that, she could just be retarded.

[Jason Tate]

If you call one of the most flawless software releases (with a heap of additions, might I add) buggy, I guess you are right.

I freak out over it still, I have 3 different libraries set up so my transition from Work library to Home library to Laptop HD library is flawless. That on it's own is one of the most amazing features (and least talked about).

I seriously debated not using any program on my Mac but iTunes 7 after I downloaded it. I shortly there after realised this would not be good for my bank account.
Hahhahhahahhaahhha.

I love you.

[whatchokesbegin]

False, on all accounts (minus personal preference).



Haven't had a single problem.

I can't believe people actually use this as an argument.

Just because you haven't had a problem, that doesn't mean lots of people haven't. It certainly doesn't mean it's not full of bugs, because it is and that has been proven. You're just lucky that you haven't experienced them. I've had nothing but problems with it and my computer is a beast.

[Jason Tate]

yeah i have the weirdest problems. when i'm listening to music on iTunes 7 and i'm on AIM, the sound from the IMs messes up the music playing on iTunes and then iTunes music gets realllly staticy, like an old cd that skips continuously......until i close iTunes and open it again.

and for some reason, when i try to get to iTunes through the recent programs used list, it tries to install it. not a big problem but still.
Well, turn that annoying AIM sound off then - it still gives me the "fingernails on a chalkboard" feeling when I hear ANY aim sound.

[jfb392]

yeah i have the weirdest problems. when i'm listening to music on iTunes 7 and i'm on AIM, the sound from the IMs messes up the music playing on iTunes and then iTunes music gets realllly staticy, like an old cd that skips continuously......until i close iTunes and open it again.

and for some reason, when i try to get to iTunes through the recent programs used list, it tries to install it. not a big problem but still.That's because you have to use direct sound, I lost the article though.

[jfb392]

If you call one of the most flawless software releases (with a heap of additions, might I add) buggy, I guess you are right.

I freak out over it still, I have 3 different libraries set up so my transition from Work library to Home library to Laptop HD library is flawless. That on it's own is one of the most amazing features (and least talked about).

I seriously debated not using any program on my Mac but iTunes 7 after I downloaded it. I shortly there after realised this would not be good for my bank account.Yeah, but not everyone has a Mac.
You're one of the lucky ones, but for the rest of us, it's not a great program.

[Jason Tate]

I can't believe people actually use this as an argument.

Just because you haven't had a problem, that doesn't mean lots of people haven't. It certainly doesn't mean it's not full of bugs, because it is and that has been proven. You're just lucky that you haven't experienced them. I've had nothing but problems with it and my computer is a beast.
No, it just probably means you've done something wrong with your computer maintenance over the past few years that's led to a problem. I've installed it on all my systems (including a linux install using wine) and had absolutely no problems. The problems are usually with the end user - not the software.

[Jason Tate]

Yeah, but not everyone has a Mac.
You're one of the lucky ones, but for the rest of us, it's not a great program.
False, again.

[Just An End]

in no way am I trying to be negative.. i love itunes.. its awesome... but what makes this version so much better besides like the album cover thing? i honestly want to know.. i feel like im missing out

[tacosforcharles]

I haven't had a single problem with it either. It's a GREAT program.

[RicKy085]

That's because you have to use direct sound, I lost the article though.

really? if anyone knows about this, let me know. i don't have any idea because i've had every iTunes and AIM before this and haven't had to change anything before.



and yeah, the AIM noises are annoying but i'd rather leave them on then walk back to my computer every time i'm curious if anyone has IMed me

[Jason Tate]

in no way am I trying to be negative.. i love itunes.. its awesome... but what makes this version so much better besides like the album cover thing? i honestly want to know.. i feel like im missing out
*yawn* - if you don't know, someone typing the "new features" isn't going to do much.

I'll just give you two words that make this download worth it (supposed bugs (:rolleyes: ) and all): Gapless Playback.

[sweetforever]

Itunes 7 is neat:) Itunes is my main music player

[shane hennessey]

i like hte new itunes a lot. the only problem ive had though is when my ipod was reupdating, i clicked music library and it crashed. so to fix the problem, i stopped doing it

[RicKy085]

*yawn* - if you don't know, someone typing the "new features" isn't going to do much.

I'll just give you two words that make this download worth it (supposed bugs (:rolleyes: ) and all): Gapless Playback.



amen

[whatchokesbegin]

No, it just probably means you've done something wrong with your computer maintenance over the past few years that's led to a problem. I've installed it on all my systems (including a linux install using wine) and had absolutely no problems. The problems are usually with the end user - not the software.

My computer maintenance is fine. Strange that you think that everyone experiencing bugs is to blame.

For someone who has the know how to build a site like this, you sure make yourself seem like you dont know jack about computers.

[whatchokesbegin]

I'm sorry, I forgot. Bugs aren't real. All software is flawless. It's a shame that software was made for the end user.

[jfb392]

*yawn* - if you don't know, someone typing the "new features" isn't going to do much.

I'll just give you two words that make this download worth it (supposed bugs (:rolleyes: ) and all): Gapless Playback.Yes, Gapless is totally worth it, I love it, I just don't care for iTunes..

Ricky085:
Try:
Control Panel > QuickTime > Audio Tab > Size = 16 bit.
If that doesn't help;
Control Panel > QuickTime > Audio > Uncheck "Safe mode (waveOut only)"

[CT-Tim]

My computer maintenance is fine. Strange that you think that everyone experiencing bugs is to blame.

For someone who has the know how to build a site like this, you sure make yourself seem like you dont know jack about computers.

People that don't have problems always blame the person having them. It mostly pertains to people that like Apple... haha.

Seriously, when I started having problems with my MacBook Pro people would always come posting on the Mac forums about how perfect and wonderful MacBook Pros were, and if you tried to point out that yours: Whines, overheats, is falling apart, has "pits" in the handrest, and randomly shuts off... well, then the user of course assumes it's either your fault or tries to write it off as a "rare case" (even when there's a whole website dedicated to one of the issues...).

I have no problems with iTunes 7 in Mac OS, but I'm sure it's possible people ARE having problems with it... there was no random outcry over the last update saying things broke, so they're most likely not just making stuff up.

[grace we bestow]

The new i-tunes pisses me off so bad. It skips and get's all fuzzy.

[thewebguy]

it's true some people are having problems with itunes 7, but it's not as many as the loud few would like you to think. here is a list of common problems and links to apple's fixes:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=15906&Page=1&pagePos=1

i wonder if apple can keep up now that they have so many platforms to debug.. i guess it is only 3 ( XP, OS X PPC, OS X Intel) but still. that is up from their usual ONE haha

[RicKy085]

Yes, Gapless is totally worth it, I love it, I just don't care for iTunes..

Ricky085:
Try:
Control Panel > QuickTime > Audio Tab > Size = 16 bit.
If that doesn't help;
Control Panel > QuickTime > Audio > Uncheck "Safe mode (waveOut only)"


dammit...thanks. but both settings are already like that.

[SePaMc]

Jason: The people reporting the problem are far too great in number for you to blame it on the end user. Look into this supposed problem people are reporting. When your sound card is accessed from something other than itunes, it gets mad and skips. The guy with AIM noises would have this problem, me watching a movie would have this problem. I haven't had any interference with firefox, but browsing with windows explorer also creates the skip. If I close the movie, then pause/play it plays fine.

But google the problem. Not this many people (including people on tech blogs) are this bad at computer maintenance. I have an AMD 3700+, 2 gigs RAM, and reformat my comp every year. I am also a computer engineering major going into my third year. Don't tell me its an end user issue. Unless its an end user issue because they are exploiting a bug, and not for beneficial reasons.

[SePaMc]

Jason: The people reporting the problem are far too great in number for you to blame it on the end user. Look into this supposed problem people are reporting. When your sound card is accessed from something other than itunes, it gets mad and skips. The guy with AIM noises would have this problem, me watching a movie would have this problem. I haven't had any interference with firefox, but browsing with windows explorer also creates the skip. If I close the movie, then pause/play it plays fine.

But google the problem. Not this many people (including people on tech blogs) are this bad at computer maintenance. I have an AMD 3700+, 2 gigs RAM, and reformat my comp every year. I am also a computer engineering major going into my third year. Don't tell me its an end user issue. Unless its an end user issue because they are exploiting a bug, and not for beneficial reasons.

Reported bug on Apple's Site that they don't have a work around for:

"You are running any other audio applications that use Direct Sound output while listening to audio in iTunes. To see if the application is causing the conflict, exit the application while you are listening to Audio in iTunes or QuickTime. If the issue is gone you should consult the manufacturer of this application to attempt changing the output from Direct Sound to Wave Out to see if that alleviates the conflict with iTunes."

[The Coalition]

Yeah, but not everyone has a Mac.
You're one of the lucky ones, but for the rest of us, it's not a great program.

We'll then go out and get a Mac, why do you think they put out a Windows version? It's to show you silly kids a little taste of how much better life is over here. ;)

All kidding aside... head on over to the apple discussions forums if you have an issue. Another amazing part of the company that is Apple is their forums. You will get a solution, search or ask questions... it never fails.

[SePaMc]

We'll then go out and get a Mac, why do you think they put out a Windows version? It's to show you silly kids a little taste of how much better life is over here. ;)

All kidding aside... from my understanding of any bugs people are experiencing they are issues that are from iTunes and another program conflicting. Most of the time it seems they are fixed by updating sound drivers (is that a real thing, i may have made that up?) that the other program uses.

It is important to remember that iTunes relies pretty heavily on QuickTime, so while you might think it's an iTunes issue, it could be an issue with QuickTime. This could all be me making things up, cause I only go on PC's to check for coding errors. But yeah, make sure you have QuickTime 7.

That might make sense. But with QT + iTunes running at the same time it skips.

So...I'm lost.

[jfb392]

We'll then go out and get a Mac, why do you think they put out a Windows version? It's to show you silly kids a little taste of how much better life is over here. ;)

All kidding aside... head on over to the apple discussions forums if you have an issue. Another amazing part of the company that is Apple is their forums. You will get a solution, search or ask questions... it never fails.Well, the fact that I'm too young to get a job kind of keeps me from buying one, believe me, I want to.

[crowl-E]

Don't download 7 until there's a bug fix.
There's mass reports of random crashes, glitchy audio, etc.

yeah mine fucks up ALOT. way more than the previous version did.

[Lemieux66]

I can't believe people actually use this as an argument.

Just because you haven't had a problem, that doesn't mean lots of people haven't. It certainly doesn't mean it's not full of bugs, because it is and that has been proven. You're just lucky that you haven't experienced them. I've had nothing but problems with it and my computer is a beast.

And just because you read about problems on the internet doesn't mean that it's as widespread as you think. You're using the same argument he is, which is you having a problem and you taking that single anectdote and applying it to masses of people. People mostly post on the internet when they have a problem, and iTunes is a program that is meant for the casual user that won't go to a tech website and post about a problem. Most people don't post "hey, just checking in, because all random people who will read this thread should know that on my specific hardware/software everything is great". That's worthless. No one cares. And as for the casual user (Which again is who the program is made for), they don't know how to post on these forums and they don't care to. I'm willing to bet but have no proof that there's at least a correlation between the people who post on tech/software forums and the number of people that have more complicated hardware / software / scripts. Not a causation but just a correlation, so take it for what you will.

Also, just because you had an idea about a website and can properly maintain it doesn't mean you know about hardware. So cut the nerd rage; I doubt Jason really cares.

[DeadCityScars]

Bugs in the software are Apple's mistake 90% of the time, not "the end user". They will be fixed in an update soon, so everybody chill, you whiny bastards. I haven't had a problem either.

iTunes is great. The guy that invented the interface/(software in general) for it orginally (Apple bought it off him) must be rich right now, assuming he still gets some sort of cut (I dont know how that works).

[Fury15]

what is gapless playback?

[Roboman]

Fuck iTunes. Winamp isn't that great either (I still use it, though). I wish I could develop my own audio player for my own personal use.

[bluetoes]

i had trouble with the new itunes.
im on a mac
but the trouble started when i plugged in my ipod. it rendered all my songs on my ipod unplayable when it was performing the "gapless playback" check thing. they just skip through now, and have exclamation marks next to them in itunes.



http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=641700&tstart=15
there seems to be a lot of people having problems despite claims to the contrary. just because your program works fine doesn't guarantee the same for everyone else. that's ridiculous.
personally i wish i hadn't downloaded it.

[jfb392]

what is gapless playback?It makes songs on your iPod go seamlessly into eachother.
I think it just changes how it buffers data, because before it didn't buffer any of the new song, but it must now, because there's no pause in between them.

[XpunkXroutineX]

no, i refuse to give in to iTunes...yet.

[mdarket]

iTunes 7, is actually a really great update. Usually their updates do not really update much that is visible. But, it downloads artwork automatically when you import a cd. There is no more gaps between songs which gets annoying on cds where the next song begins 10 seconds before on the previous track, like "Dark Side of the Moon". I don't think I'll be buying any movies from the iTunes store though. My attention span is too short to watch a movie on that small of a screen. But yeah it also notifies the user of any software updates for your iPod that are available. There's games available, again i probably won't be buying them.

[secondsunrise]

I love itunes...always have....I might give win amp a shot...but alllll my songs are in AAC mode

[Vil de Locke]

I do have some problems with iTunes. It takes forever to pass from a song to one another on a playlist or in the library, and I have some playback problems. Hope they'll fix it up soon.

[midtown]

It makes songs on your iPod go seamlessly into eachother.
I think it just changes how it buffers data, because before it didn't buffer any of the new song, but it must now, because there's no pause in between them.

I think it's a little more complicated than that. I believe in the encoding process for mp3s, a couple milliseconds of silence gets left and the beginning and/or end of a track, so it actually figures out where to stop and start tracks by scanning them all. If it was just buffering it wouldn't have to scan every track certainly.

Also I love the new version. Other than gapless playback and the coverflow view, there is also the view which shows album images on the left and divides each album with a horizontal bar, which I love.

You can now sort in more complicated ways like Album by year, where it sorts by artist and then by year, or Album by Artist, which keeps VAs you have marked as compilations together nicely.

Plus it automatically gets album art. It does quite a lot more.

I run it on a 1.7ghz laptop and have had absolutely no problems. I am sure some people are having problems but again as Lemuiex pointed out, the people that complained are probably a pretty small percentage (just think of how many millions of downloads they have probably had already). It certainly has issues I guess, but I haven't experienced them myself.

One more thing! If you like how iTunes looks but don't like some of the features, you might want to try MultiPlugin: http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=38334&highlight=multiplugin+2.4. It let's you do many amazing things, such as actually play the audio through the foobar engine! You can also enable an option that reduces resources if you minimize iTunes to the system tray (not just the start menu, you have to enable iTunes minimizing to the tray in preferences for this to work). When I do this the CPU usage averages 0% (seriously) and spikes at around 6%, with 6 megs of memory usage.

Not to mention it lets you skin iTunes, change fonts, and much more. I can't recommend this plugin enough. If you think iTunes is a resource hog, this will most likely fix it. If you hate quicktime or are having an audio problem, the foobar passthrough will probably fix that as well. Basically this program is a panacea.

[midtown]

Fuck iTunes. Winamp isn't that great either (I still use it, though). I wish I could develop my own audio player for my own personal use.

Well then stop wishing and start doing, my friend! Pick a progamming language (python is a great place to start @ python.org) and google a tutorial, then check out one of the popular audio APIs like fmod (http://www.fmod.org/) or audiere (http://audiere.sourceforge.net/home.php).

A couple years ago when iTunes was missing some of the features it had now, I wrote a little player called jTunes with the goal of implementing the extra things I wanted. While I had previous programming experience, getting a really simple audio player up only took me a night.

I do have some problems with iTunes. It takes forever to pass from a song to one another on a playlist or in the library, and I have some playback problems. Hope they'll fix it up soon.

Wow and you have 7.0? This is the first time I heard of gapless not working. Even on my room mates computer which had problems with the static and such, gapless was fine.

[Lemieux66]

Fuck iTunes. Winamp isn't that great either (I still use it, though). I wish I could develop my own audio player for my own personal use.

Try foobar.

[smalltymehero]

i dig it. it runs super well on my mac, but is there really a reason it shouldn't? i like flipping through the album covers like a book. not extremely useful, but it makes me want to organize my library by album now and search to find what album every song belongs on. that would take my ass forever but amost feels worth it.

[lbc182]

i like itunes version 7 but slows my pc down.

[crowl-E]

Fuck iTunes. Winamp isn't that great either (I still use it, though). I wish I could develop my own audio player for my own personal use.

try foobar.

[attnchibirobo]

I have Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2, and I think that Microsoft could take some of the steam away from the iPod coming up soon with the release of their Zune. I'm not a MS fanboy or anything, and dont tell me about greed and all that crap, because all these companies are greedy...I just like what they've done with the new WMP11. Besides that I can't even open iTunes 7 because it crashes before it even opens. Any word on that?

[piaffeprncess98]

I'm afraid to download Itunes 7 because I've heard it might cause your Ipod to lose everything....is there any truth to this? I don't have mine automatically update either.

[Chris Fallon]

So, to answer all further questions, there is apparently a God...and it's in the form of a computer program that plays music you buy for 99 cents.

Is the Bible in HTML or what?

[midtown]

i dig it. it runs super well on my mac, but is there really a reason it shouldn't? i like flipping through the album covers like a book. not extremely useful, but it makes me want to organize my library by album now and search to find what album every song belongs on. that would take my ass forever but amost feels worth it.

Yeah it totally is. I spent basically a whole year doing exactly that, looking at all the songs I had and finding/getting the full albums in at least 192k. iTunes really shines when you have an impeccable database, especially after you have been using it for two or three years and all the data it keeps track of comes into to use. For example I can make a smart playlist (a playlist that updates itself) of things I have listened to more than 10 times, but haven't heard in the past year (or six months or whatever). It's so useful for finding things I completely forgot about but used to enjoy. That is just one of a plethora of things you can do with all the metadata it keeps.