The last couple of postings were pretty depressing, so let’s see if I can pick things up a bit.
Although I’ve had to roll-back to iTunes 8.0 to restore syncing capability for the second generation Shuffle that was removed in 8.1, I did get some time to play before the pain.
From your What’s new in iTunes 8.1 documentation:
iTunes 8.1 is now faster and more responsive. You will enjoy noticeable improvements when working with large libraries, browsing the iTunes Store, preparing to sync with iPod or iPhone, and optimizing photos for syncing.
In addition, iTunes 8.1 provides many other improvements and bug fixes, including:
- Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rd generation).
- Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ.
- Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows.
- Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs.
- Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods.
- Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus.
- Includes many accessibility improvements.
- Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls.
I can’t vouch for it being any faster since my library isn’t that large. Under 13,000 music tracks plus a few podcasts, movies, and TV shows. As for preparing to sync with iPod, well, I think they mean iPods other than the 2G Shuffle and probably the 1G Shuffle too.
While you have added long overdue syncing to the new 3G Shuffle, you removed it from the 2G Shuffle. Don’t do that. Please restore it in 8.1.1, which I hope will be out any day now.
The whole iTunes DJ thing is actually something quite nice. I suspect it’s targeted more at the younger generation who all show up at large parties with their laptops and iPhones, and iPod Touches. You’re adding the whole social aspect to iTunes.
Of course, I would have preferred you spent more time allowing me to use my library from any Mac, anywhere including the Internet, and to allow families to share movies and TV shows with individual tagging as to who is interested in which shows, plus play counts and other stats. But that younger generation you’re targeting don’t have kids yet, right? So I guess I’ll have to wait awhile yet.
The Genius feature is not something I use because I always know pretty much what I want to listen to right now. I have played with it though and the recommendations are interesting, more as a geek trying to understand the algorithm than a music aficionado looking for new music. Once you’ve fixed the 2G Shuffle syncing problem, I’ll upgrade again and play with the Genius feature for movies and TV shows. That sounds more interesting.
Improves Autofill for manually managed iPods. That sounds like a bit of a dig against the loss of syncing of the 2G Shuffle, but I’m still P.O.ed about that. More likely you’re referring to those people who have turned off auto-syncing. Wouldn’t it have been a better idea to explain exactly what that improvement was supposed to be?
Now that I’m back on iTunes 8.0 I checked and found that I’ve been able to set the same import quality as iTunes Plus at 256 kbps AAC. Do you mean that you forced the default to be iTunes Plus compatible? You shouldn’t change people’s preference on them without their permission. But that’s what you did when I had upgraded to 8.1. I checked the settings and noticed my import setting had been overridden to the higher quality. Please let me manage my own settings.
The accessibility improvements are something I’m fortunate enough not to need, but I do applaud your efforts in this area.
Now that my daughter is 18, parental controls aren’t something I’ll use either.
That’s it. My desktop computer has been rolled back to iTunes 8.0, but I do have a laptop that doesn’t sync with my Shuffle so I’ll upgrade that and play around. No, I won’t invite a bunch of teenagers over to try out iTunes DJ. That would be creepy.
