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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 158. Coverage of Apple’s “It’s ShowTime event”. The 5.5 Gen iPod. The new color iPod Nanos. New redesigned iPod Shuffle. New iTunes 7.0. Movies on the iTunes Music Store (Is it still the iTunes Music Store?). And one more thing… iTV! Apple responds to RSS (Random Shutdown Syndrome), kinda. Signs shows that Mac Pro is processor upgradable. You can burn multisession CDs, not DVDs. Has Apple retired Aqua and brushed metal? Single Framer 2.1, Stop-motion on a budget. LCDs and native resolution. Meet the MacCast blogging team. Come see me at the Podcast Expo.
New music, Prodigal Son by JMS
Promos: The Self Defense Show and Cryptic Universe
Goddamn foreign TV. I told ya we should’ve got a Zenith. — Gremlins (1984)
Shownotes: HTML or OPML
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I really hope that the visual design of iTunes is not a sign of things to come. I dislike it from a purely aesthetic standpoint. The interface seems flat, dark, and not nearly as approachable as Apple’s brushed-metal and Aqua design schemes. Worst of all, it reminds me of Windows.
For me, using iTunes is not nearly the pleasure that it used to be.
There’s a cute spoof ot the Ipod Shuffle news at:
AmericanInventorSpot.com
Hi Adam.
First, congrats for your show. It’s really great.
I listen/watch a lot of podcasts about Apple and yours is one of the best.
Well, I wanna talk about iTunes 7.
I liked pretty much all the new features but as I’m a regular podcast listener as I said above, what i really liked is a bug that was fixed.
At least I think it was a bug in version 6.
Now, when you expand the art cover little window, that shows the pictures and links when listening to an enhanced podcast, the picture updates automatically in both window. The fixed one, on the iTunes interface and in the expanded view, as a separate window.
It didn’t happen on iTunes 6 and I always had to close and open over and over the expanded view, in order to see the pictures larger. It was annoying.
And one point not so good, is the change of the podcast chapter list place as you mentioned on the show.
And I only figured out where was it, after listening to your comments.
I didn’t see the Chapter menu.
Thanks for showing me ;-)
Regards and keep up the great work.
Daniel Gordon
Rio de Janeiro/Brazil
Oh. I forgot to talk about that too Mike.
I’m also thinking the look of the iTunes 7 interface is more like Windows Vista than OSX!
Didn’t like this at all.
What is that scroll bar color?
Where is the beautiful shining Aqua blue?
No Jobs, that’s not the way to go.
:(
Thank you for another great show Adam.
While there are some great new features in iTunes 7, I have to agree with Mike and Gordon above about the new interface. It seems dark and a bit too busy, and yes, it does smack of the interface Microsoft are using in Vista! It’s so different from the clean and friendly interface Apple brought us with Aqua, and I hope it’s not the shape of things to come.
Plus the scroll bar has some distracting behaviour — when you click on a part of the scroll bar itself, it skips up or down to make the part of the scroll bar you selected the centre point, meaning that you have to try and select its centre to avoid it moving up or down. This may be a bug, but has anyone else experienced it?
Thanks again for the show Adam.
Yours,
Walafrid.
Great show Adam
Really not sure about the new itune 7, not the clean cut design you would expect for Apple. Plus it doesn’t seem to have a download progression bar for pod-casts, which I’m going to miss.
Thanks for all your hard work.
Pete
Why the 8GB iPod Nano comes in black only?
I would like the 8GB Nano in other colors, like silver for example.
Hi Adam,
Got a question about Cover-Flow.
You mentioned alot of people are having problems.
Me too! iTunes can’t find cover art for ANY of my library tunes. Almost everything in there is from a CD, imported with iTunes, ID3 Tags from iTunes.
You mentioned artist and album names being important, but I’m just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience to me.
I purchased a track, and it came with album art, so now I have one in my collection.
I tried to rip a CD, to see if that helped. iTunes crashed. I gave up!
I’m using the UK store, don’t know if that makes a difference…
Anyway, thanks for the great show, and any help you can provide!
deag.
Two thumbs up to iTunes7 — functionality and form keep improving.
Dorothy, I’ll agree that some of the new functionality in iTunes 7 is nice, but I really don’t believe that the form has undergone any improvement. I can’t remember the last time I was disappointed by the interface of a piece of software from Apple.
Thanks Adam for another well prepped show, but I gotta give a real big David Pogue/Leo Laporte “YAWN” for the new iPod and iTunes movies. I want the bigger screen, and I’d rather buy DVD’s with much better quality and often much cheaper (sales at Best Buy).
As for new ITunes interface…HATE IT!
How long do you think is going to take until there is a wireless TV? This would be something like a regular TV with the new iTV circuitry incorporated inside the TV. This would be really nice, don’t you think? Sending all your media from your Mac to your big TV screen without an external box or any cables at all. As with cars with iPod connectivity, maybe Steve Jobs can convince some TV makers to make Mac-ready TV’s. I would be the first to buy one…
Bring back the visualiser button!
bring back the e.q. button!
Adam:
Another great podcast.
By the way, the Mini Store is still there in iTunes 7, accessible via the View menu.
Hi Adam,
I wanted to leave one concern regarding iTV. From what could be seen in the apple Showtime
I notices with the whole show that the show was a great show for windows users but for mac users well it was a bid dull.
drag and drop has always been the idea with apple, but I found out that now you have to sync podcast over to the ipod, and that is something you have to get used to.
the cool thing about synching is that when I did that this morning I first listened to Adams show and to catch the train, so I sync the rest over to my iPod and when I started to listen to the show at the ipod it continued from where i stopped on my mac that was cool.
but in general the show was most interesting for windows users. I guess that was the reason why apple introduced the iMacs a few days before the show
I’d like to echo the sentiments of some of the posters here: the new iTunes interface is distinctly ‘bleh’ ..just not inspiring in any way. For me it’s just the bottom strip and the grey buttons. Don’t like them at all. The rest is okay though. ..But as for features: gapless playback! yay! the new album views! double yay! ..damn sound goes all stuttery when other events happen in windows, or if I try to use it while playing a game (this never used to happen) ..I have yet to try the Mac version.
I love that new iPod Nano. Apple have recognised how much people loved the rounded aluminium shell of the iPod Mini .. I’m so glad they brought it back. I too would like to see the high-end iPod in multiple colours, but I’m sure it’s complex enough for distributors as it is. The black is cool, and if I go high-end I’m sure I can live with it. ..Cunning to make the low end model a relatively boring grey: that could convince some people to spend a bit more for the colour they want. (I’m sure it will happen. ;)
My two main objections to iTV (besides stealing the name from El Gato):
1) No DVR. DVRs are just now making serious penetration and for Apple not to offer at least connectivity to a DVR may be a deal-breaker for many.
2) Why Buy When You Can Rent? Netflix will be coming out with their set-top box in January. For those of us who love Netflix, we are salivating at the thought of being able to instantly “turn in” a rental and have the box start downloading the next movie in the queue. Hey, Apple – get with the program! If you teamed up with Netflix (*don’t* try to reinvent this wheel – Blockbuster and Walmart have already tried it), and made your box the one of choice – you’d probably add another percentage point or two via the halo effect.
Thanks Adam!
I was pretty excited to hear about the new stuff. Oddly the iPod nano design was my fav (in black!), but I love my iPod mini…
I think Apple is on the right path with everything they announced Tuesday, even if iTunes is a bit rough (most software is after big changes).
As for iTV, I think if Apple can do it really well,able they can make a success of it. I’ve heard eyeTv by Elgato is some great hardware and software at similar pricing. Still having similar stuff made by Apple could make a difference, after alliPod was not the 1st MP3 player, but it is the best.
I also think the pricing is ok. It’s still less than a DVD at Mall-mart, w/o the big corp. guilt/politics. And I admit, I was reluctant to switch from CDs. I loved CDs until I tried iPod and iTunes. Having an all in one library makes life cleaner and simpler. Making a full, wireless, Mac media library, is sounding pretty good. And if all this, helps pave the way for the rest of Hollywood, so much the better.
Looking forward to hearing your reviews and experiences of the new stuff.
Adam,
I have to be honest, not all the time I stay for the song after the show, but this one from JMS is really great, I checked his website and he have other music there that are a hit as well. I think everyone should give it a try.
Great show, thanks Adam.
Luis
And just to add one more note to the iTV box. Will it have an ATCS(?) digital OTA tuner for Hi Def like Eye TV? I have no problem recording and watching Hi Def on my Apple Cinema Display. Dont need an extra box cluttering things up just to watch Rocketboom and Tiki BarTv.
That’s a yes on a separate listing for ‘Books’ in iTunes.
I’m having a ton of trouble with my 5th Gen iPod since updating the firmware and iTunes 7.
A bunch of my podcasts that I’ve been listening to for a long time (including some top 100 itunes podcasts) are causing my ipod to crash when I push play…
And on another note: why hasn’t apple changed the top level menu on the ipod…?
Why doesn’t it say: Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Playlists…like the iPod menu on iTunes 7…
I don’t get it…Why can’t their just be a podcast menu, not a music podcast and a video podcast menu? I can’t play my video podcasts from my music podcast menu, and none of my podcasts even have anything to do with music, so why are they under music and not just a root level podcast menu?
Is it true that the revamped NANO has voice support?
I can’t find any voice support info for the revamped NANO… albeit microphone products or nano specs, that indicate voice support is available on the revamped NANO. Can somone point me to a web page? Note: I may buy a handfull of NANOs if that’s the case. Love the Podcast!!!
Thanks Matthew. I am sure Adam mentioned it? Or maybe I imagined Adam said it.
Adam, after fully listening to the show today, thanks so much for all the info you researched in such a short amount of time. I’d also like to clarify my earlier comment…iTunes 7.0 Love it, iTunes Music store still dissappointed.
Look of iTunes 7 – Yuck!
Features of iTunes 7 – Yeah!
New iPods – Awesome!
iTV – Very exciting. I want to know more.
My main gripe is the iTunes interface. It’s so flat and boring to look at now. The falt gray insteadof brushed etal is ok I guess but added with the blcak highlight in the source list, the gray scrool bars, muted blue column hight and source list background I get depressed just looking at iTunes now. WHy all the muted dull colors? I can’t stand it.
With the addition of the View Option buttons, I can see that real estate on the iTunes interface windw became a bit crowded and I guess that’s why the EQ, Visualizer, and Podcast Chapter buttons had to be removed. But there’s no denying that moving these features to the menu bar has given iTunes a more windows feel. Not too happy about that.
This had better not be a visual/interface preview of Leopard.
In response to the Macbook RSS. I was having this issue. My Mac was still under warranty so I called Applecare. They promptly sent me a pre-paird mailer box. The representative seemed very cautious with this matter. He first had me try a few things, such as resetting the battery and other factory restoration procedures, but in the end he was too wary and must have been worried of a larger issue. He even put me on hold to check with his “superior”. The representative didn’t say that it was widespread problem, but a quick Google search says different… The representative mentioned sometihng when I was one the phone with him about replacing the entire logic board, and judging from how long it took me to get my Macbook back, they must have done some significant repairs. In all I was without my Mac for 20 days (he said it would take 7-10).
Hi Adam,
Did you mention in the pod-cast that iPod batteries should be completely discharged and recharged monthly? I was under the impression that Lithium Ion batteries not only did NOT require a deep cycle, but that taking them to a discharged state shortens the life of the battery. I thought that frequent partial charging was recommended for the longevity of the battery. Keep up the good work, I love your show.
Hi Adam and everyone,
I’m having the same issue as Jeremy–my iPod crashing when I try to play some podcasts, but not others, since updating to the new iPod software. Anyone have any news on Apple’s awareness of this problem, plans to fix it?
Matt
Hi everyone,
I’ve been reading alot of posts, esp. in the Apple.com forums about serious problems related to the new iTunes 7.0 upgrade.
Tho’ many of the issues involve the Windows version of the app., still there are some Mac users also experiencing problems with stuttering, crackling audio, iPod integration issues, Quicktime issues.
I will therefore wait for ver. 7.0.1 or 7.1.
Maybe it’s also a good idea to not download any software with a .0 designation in general. Also, good to check forums to see how many users may be experiencing problems with a new upgrade as well.
hi, loved your podcast. started using mac 1 year back and only recently got a nano as a birthday gift (it was the 4GB one in Aug … if only my BD was in Sep).
any case just thot i share something i discovered. you mentioned that coverflow did not work for podcast. when you click on the podcast under library you will find that it has only one view.
but when you create a smart playlist and filter it as podcast is true, when you select the playlist, all 3 views will be enabled and you will see the coverflow for the podcast.
one thing i still have not managed to work around is how to play podcast continously one after another in the nano. On the go and playlist used to work before iTunes 7. but now, it only recognise the podcast in the list although it displays it and you can select it individually to play.
if you find a work around, will appreciate it if you put it in the next podcast. thanks.
Continous Playing Podcast. Found the problem. By default all the podcast will be set to skip when shuffle play. This is so that when you shuffle thru all the songs, the podcast will come up.
But because the shuffle is a global setting, once that is set to on, all the podcast will not play in any of the playlist. By turning it off, the playlist not list out all the podcasts in the list.
hmmm. sorry, I just found this pod cast by one of the top cast lists.
I’ll burst your apple bubbles though…
The new ipods?! honestly. its like a refresh, what is so new and great about them, that people keep saying WOW ohh look NEW.
‘brighter’ screen, ‘better’ battery’. the 80 gig one is nice. but honestly, is there anything ‘new’?
As for your podcast, how do you link to an article, read that you can do something. and miss read the whole thing?
I’m refering to your anandtech link. The WHOLE ARTICLE
was on HOW TO OPEN THE BOX AND UPGRADE?!.
Mike,
What happened, as often does for me with Anandtech articles, is I forget that they are multiple page. I am so used to short “blog like” posts on other sites that I miss the link to the next page. I often have to scan through lots of stuff to prep a show and sometimes move too quickly. My bad.
mave tam “but when you create a smart playlist and filter it as podcast is true, when you select the playlist, all 3 views will be enabled and you will see the coverflow for the podcast.” Very cool!
One quick thing I found. I was looking for a way to easily play all of the vodcasts that I haven’t seen yet. I created a smart playlist with the following settings:
[X] Match of the following rules:
Kind : contains : video
Play Count : is : 0
[X] Live Updating
This allowed me to sit in my chair and watch my weeks worth of vodcasts play through and then remove themselves from the list automatically.