So You've Been Using iTunes 5 For A While Now...

[Jay42]

I have to say, that while its a little better than 4.9, I can't say I'm thrilled. It's true that the new look has grown on me, and I like it now. Apple has truly failed to live up to the exceptionally high bar they've set for themselves. Sure they've added folders, but they're not spring loaded nor are they supported on the iPod. C'mon now.

 

[iindigo]

I agree that iTunes 5 should've been a point update, and I still think the new look is ugly as hell and reeks of Windows.

 

[Chef Medeski]

I think its better that they make small frequent improvemnts than a giant one every year. I mean come on, I love the constant evolving presence of iTunes. Its like every month new however small features come out and I use iTunes to an ever greater extent. However, I don't have to sit in front of the computer learning a brang new program or importing all my music again. This way is definetly better and if you don't like how they didn't have anythng huge in this version, well look at the last one where they added Podcasts. That was HUGE.HUGE.HUGE. I mean most companies would have left the program be for at least 4 months after such an update, but not Apple. They continually evolve there product. And I am glad they do.

 

[rainman::|:|]

the interface has grown on me immensely, i do like it better than the old one now. and the features aren't bad, certainly.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

I would of loved to see them optimize AAC, and come up with a successor or something. That would of made it muuuuuuuuch better.

 

[lexfuzo]

mostly satisfied

The features are ok (spring-loaded folders would be nice, though) and I find the new look more pleasant than the old one.
There is, however, one exception:
Bring back the round corners!!!

 

[telecomm]

Yeah, I prefer the look of the new version (though it did take a while for me to appreciate the difference one way or another), but that's only skin deep...

The addition of VBR importing and folders is much more important. Also, AirTunes on my Express connects much quicker than it used to.

 

[killmoms]

I just wish search wasn't so damn slow now. And I want them to add gapless playback and multiple artist/album support for one song file.

 

[MattG]

I still say shuffle mode sucks. I've got "Smart Shuffle" turned all the way down to "less likely" and I'll still hear the same artists within close proximity of each other, which as far as I'm concerned shouldn't happen with a library comprised of 337 artists, 563 albums and 6332 songs.

 

[Makosuke]

Me, I liked it when I first saw it and I like it now. I never liked metal that much, and I definitely prefer the new look, every added feature I appreciate (better search, folders, VBR, and are lyrics new or did I miss that before?), and I've had zero problems with it. Wait, not zero--when I first launched it it refused to find certain songs by name (even though it'd find them when searching on other fields), but quitting and restarting it caused it to work properly. In all, I'm quite happy.

I just wish search wasn't so damn slow now.

Really? That's weird, because it's noticably faster on my system compared to any version of 4.x.

...I'll still hear the same artists within close proximity of each other, which as far as I'm concerned shouldn't happen with a library comprised of 337 artists, 563 albums and 6332 songs.

It may or may not be broken, but you'd be surprised at how statistically likely things like this are, even in a perfectly random situation. Now, the "less likely" option should actually override randomness and go out of its way to space things out (that's why "random" is in the middle of the slider), but statistics can be weird that way.

I would of loved to see them optimize AAC

You mean like adding VBR AAC? They did. And I think it's a little soon to completely replace a solid format--remember most folks still use MP3.

 

[homerjward]

i like a lot of the new features, mostly subtle ones. the new look, it's a lot more space efficient, the ability to make mini player always on top (at least in windows) the way preferences is setup slightly differently, the unified toolbar, and other things i'm probably forgetting. i also like the way mini player has a two line display that always shows the song instead of one line, and the way it has a proper time indicator.

 

[dcv]

I still say shuffle mode sucks. I've got "Smart Shuffle" turned all the way down to "less likely" and I'll still hear the same artists within close proximity of each other, which as far as I'm concerned shouldn't happen with a library comprised of 337 artists, 563 albums and 6332 songs.

Did you have this problem before?

I have noticed (since i upgraded to 5) that shuffle mode is picking tracks from the same artist/album in close proximity. and i never noticed that pre-version 5. I have 1115 artists in my library.

As for the UI...i still hate it. bring back brushed metal...

 

[MattG]

Did you have this problem before?

I have noticed (since i upgraded to 5) that shuffle mode is picking tracks from the same artist/album in close proximity. and i never noticed that pre-version 5. I have 1115 artists in my library.

As for the UI...i still hate it. bring back brushed metal...

I've always had this problem, and I was really excited to hear during the keynote that this Smart Shuffle would supposedly fix that. It really doesn't seem to do much.

 

[yippy]

I actually kinda like the new design, admittedly though this is mostly simply because it is a new design and therefore a visual cue that it is "new".

The only complaint is the lack of rounded corners.

 

[neocell]

Like others have said the GUI design has definitely grown on me and I probably like it better now than 4.x. One thing that I love about 5 is the mini player having the same display (incorporation of the progression bar) as the standard viewer. Love it.

The corners are round, just smaller

Bring back the round corners!!!

 

[cantthinkofone]

I wish they would get rid of the whole brushed metal look. Im getting very sick of it. I want it to be more colorful. The only thing i like about Itunes 5 is it shows the album art for the song being played. It never did that before. Always had to select the song to see the art work.

 

[MattG]

I wish they would get rid of the whole brushed metal look. Im getting very sick of it. I want it to be more colorful. The only thing i like about Itunes 5 is it shows the album art for the song being played. It never did that before. Always had to select the song to see the art work.

Yes it did do that before, but I think in iTunes 5 it does it by default. If you clicked on the header above the picture where it says "Selected Song" (or whatever it said), it switched to "Current Song." They didn't make it obvious that it did that, though. I actually discovered it by mistake!

 

[Graeme]

I wish they would get rid of the whole brushed metal look. Im getting very sick of it. I want it to be more colorful. The only thing i like about Itunes 5 is it shows the album art for the song being played. It never did that before. Always had to select the song to see the art work.

Yeah it did. If you click on the place where it says either "Now Playing" or Selected Song" it will change to whichever of the two that it doesn't say.

 

[jiv3turkey748]

i love the new look and smart shuffles kind of cool (although i never use it) but other than that itunes 5 isnt any better than 4.9

 

[Sirus The Virus]

The features are ok (spring-loaded folders would be nice, though) and I find the new look more pleasant than the old one.
There is, however, one exception:
Bring back the round corners!!!

They are sorta rounded. But what's the big deal about rounded corners? There still rounded, just not as much.

 

[keyshawn]

I just wish search wasn't so damn slow now. And I want them to add gapless playback and multiple artist/album support for one song file.

At least for me, I have gapless playback [that is, going from one song right into the next one]. I'm not sure how I even configured that [a bit of a newb on osx here], but it works.

I haven't really noticed any real differences with 4.9 and 5, it's probably because I only used the older one for a week or two before 5 came out...

*still patiently waiting for official OGG support*

regards,
keyshawn

 

[MattG]

At least for me, I have gapless playback [that is, going from one song right into the next one]. I'm not sure how I even configured that [a bit of a newb on osx here], but it works.

I haven't really noticed any real differences with 4.9 and 5, it's probably because I only used the older one for a week or two before 5 came out...

*still patiently waiting for official OGG support*

regards,
keyshawn

Yeah, can't you get gapless playback with the crossfade playback in preferences? I've never had a problem in iTunes, it's playing music back on the iPod where I'd like to see them do something about gapless playback.

 

[cantthinkofone]

Yes it did do that before, but I think in iTunes 5 it does it by default. If you clicked on the header above the picture where it says "Selected Song" (or whatever it said), it switched to "Current Song." They didn't make it obvious that it did that, though. I actually discovered it by mistake!

Hmm, ill have to look at it on my windows computer. It didn't do that so i thought it was a apple computers only feature.

 

[dubbz]

Yeah, can't you get gapless playback with the crossfade playback in preferences? I've never had a problem in iTunes, it's playing music back on the iPod where I'd like to see them do something about gapless playback.

Setting Crossfade to 0 will make the transition from track-to-track a bit smoother (compared to turning off Crossfade), but it won't make the Gap go away competely. So the problem is still there, and it's still annoying.

 

[Eluon]

I don't know why people hate the interface of iTunes 5 but I love it. I absolutely love it and think it is a much needed refresher. I think it is rounded as well, just not so emphasized.

It is faster for me and I appreciate that. I am sure those of you that have more music than I - 2,096 songs - appreciate it too.

Ofcourse, I am mostly using it on my new iMac G5 with a gig of ram, so the speed boost could be from that.

Has anyone watched it processes? Does it take up more RAM than 4.x?