LIGHTS, CAMERA, ITUNES
Rejoice! Apple has unveiled a major iTunes overhaul. The software has new capabilities and much-needed connectivity improvements, and the store has new content: feature films (finally!) and iPod-friendly versions of popular games. Sadly, music tracks remain à la carte.
The films look good, if a bit soft, in full-screen mode on a 19-inch monitor, and they look dazzling on a 5G iPod. But $9.99 and up each seems stiff for titles that you can view only on a PC monitor or a 2.5-inch LCD—and no iPod below a 5.5G can play more than one before going dark. The nine new full-color, full-featured (iPod-only) replicas of Web and arcade games well justify $4.99 a pop, though.
The sporty software makeover contains a tool that automatically fetches missing album art, a better-organized Sources list, and much more.Fans of live albums and other “continuous” audio will like the new option that scans your library, eliminating what it thinks are inappropriate gaps between tracks. It worked for me, but I could find no way to repeat the scan or modify the settings. My favorite addition, the iPod Summary screen, makes management a breeze. The new software offers an abundance of worthwhile tweaks and some long-overdue features. If Apple offered a music-subscription option, iTunes 7 would merit an Editors’ Choice.