Step by Step Guide to What’s New in iTunes 8

Apple, Inc. released iTunes 8 on September 9th, alongside a new line of iPods. New iPods include a one size fits all 120GB iPod Classic, new colors for the iPod Shuffles, an all new design for the iPod Nano (8GB, 16GB, and accelerometer inside), and of course a redesign for the iPod Touch, improving the device with GPS and Speaker at a lower price. But what is a new iPod without a new version of iTunes? The answer to what is new in iTunes 8 is a short list. Apple basically used this revision of the popular music player to rearrange the interface, add new visualizations, while adding one new feature called Genius Playlists.

Below is a Step by Step Guide to What’s New in iTunes 8.

The New List View

List View is basically a combination of List and Album View from iTunes 7, along with the Genre, Artist, Album Browser built in. This view combines all of my favorite ways of browsing music in iTunes into one simple interface. Sometimes I ask the question, why do I need any other view?

I can make the album covers visible or invisible by clicking the arrow by the Artwork Column.

The New Album View

For those who regularly listen to entire albums, this is the view for you. I like this view as opposed to Cover Flow for viewing Albums, but many people may find this view to be superfluous.

One feature in Album View is the ability to rate an entire album at once. Just Control+Click or Right Click the album and rate in the menu.

Genius Sidebar and Playlists

For those who regularly purchase music from the iTunes Store this new feature may be really useful. But, many people may find the Genius Sidebar annoying or even useless. The Genius Sidebar can be turned on by clicking the Arrow Icon Next to the Genius icon in the bottom right corner of the iTunes 8 window. iTunes then logs me into the iTunes store and analyzes my iTunes library. One big drawback to using the Genius Sidebar is that I give up all privacy regarding the contents of my iTunes library so that Apple can analyze my music and recommend new songs. For those who have privacy concerns, there is an easy method to turn off Genius Playlists entirely outlined below.

Whenever I click on a song, the Genius Sidebar will recommend tracks available at the iTunes Store that are musically like the one I already have selected.

While a song is selected, if I click on the Genius Icon in the bottom right, iTunes will then make a Genius Playlist from tracks in my library based on my selection. What is a Genius Playlist? Basically, it is a playlist with songs that are in the same genre or have a similar sound to the song I selected.

The Genius Sidebar is anything but a Genius. I thought a R.E.M. track may reveal artists who were influenced heavily by R.E.M. or even newer unknown bands who had the same low-fi sound that R.E.M had in their beginnings. Instead, all that was recommended to me was more R.E.M., what’s popular, and big name alternative/pop bands who anybody that listens to R.E.M. probably already knows. Why would I want to know what’s popular when I am looking up a band who isn’t popular? I’m not saying R.E.M. isn’t popular, but when I want a recommendation based on a relatively unknown Indie band, give me more up and coming Indie bands. I laughed when the artist Seal was recommended to me when I had R.E.M. selected. The Genius Playlists are alright, but why should I have to give up my privacy to activate a feature that sorts tracks already in my playlist? This is what companies like Google and Apple are asking of us now, sacrifice a little privacy for more features.

Apple, Inc.’s Genius Sidebar is based on a rather simple algorithm. That combined with my privacy concerns influenced me to turn off the Genius Sidebar, but only after Apple got a look at everything I listen to. For those who have privacy concerns, there is an easy way to turn off the Genius Sidebar. Choose Turn Off Genius in the iTunes 8 Store Menu.

A New Visualization

It’s been several updates since Apple, Inc. gave their customers new visualizations in iTunes. But wait, is there only one new visualization? The new visualization is a psychedelic space age warp through black holes that transform into molecular patterns of light. I’m happy that the new visualization doesn’t have the Apple logo appear every so often, but c’mon, where are the rest of them Apple? Haven’t you hired people to play around in Quartz in the last few years? Turning on the Visualization is simple, make sure iTunes Visualizer is selected in the View -> Visualizer Menu. Then Select Show Visualizer in the View Menu to turn it on (or hold Apple / Cmd and Press T). Select Hide Visualizer in the same menu to turn it off.

HD Content in iTunes

Another feature upgrade is the addition of HD video downloads from the iTunes Store. NBC has hopped back on the iTunes Store with some new offerings. HDTV Shows go for $2.99/ show. Or I can purchase a Season Pass for around $36.99 (based on the cost of Lost Season 4). Some shows like Battlestar Galactica are purchasable by Episode Only.

This is a nice feature for those of us who own a Mac but do not own a HDTV. It’s even good for anyone who has a HDTV but doesn’t have access to cable or satellite. Most Apple monitors can handle HD Quality video these days, so this feature is ripe for anyone without a HDTV and for someone who has the Hard Drive space to support it. Looks like I’ll be burning DVDs to backup my content.

Enhanced Accessibility

iTunes now supports the built in VoiceOver in Leopard for the visually impaired. Why iTunes didn’t have this before, nobody knows. Windows XP and Vista Users can use Windows-Eyes.

What’s So Different Then?

The real changes in iTunes 8 do not mean new features. Instead Apple, Inc. chose to tighten up the interface of the iTunes Application, hopefully making it easier for everyone to use. But what that means is that some of the functions we know and love about iTunes are now located in a completely different place in the Application. The rest of this blog post is devoted to showing where several functions like Disc Burning settings, Export Library, etc can now be found in the menus. I will take you through menu by menu to show what is different in iTunes 8.

File Menu & Library Import and Export

A lot of functionality has been placed in the Library Submenu of the File Menu. Everything to do with Importing, Exporting, Burning a Backup to Disc has been consolidated in the Library Submenu of the File Menu. Also located here is Consolidate Library, which used to be in the Advanced Menu. I can also Import and Export Playlists in the Library Submenu and Burn a Playlist to Disc.

Show Duplicates

“Show Duplicates” moved from the Edit Menu to the File Menu. Choose File -> Show Duplicates. I can browse only the Duplicates and delete the ones I don’t need. When I am done, I just click Show All at the bottom of the screen.

View Menu

The View Menu now reflects the three new View modes. The MiniStore is no longer available (and good riddance), so Apple + M will minimize iTunes now like any other Application. The Browser and Album Covers can be turned on and off in this menu. All of the Visualizer settings are located here, just now at the bottom of the menu. Overall, the View Menu is tighter and easier to use.

Show Current Song

A new feature in the View Menu is “Show Current Song”. Suppose I just downloaded a bunch of new music and I am listening to a song, I don’t know who it is, and I’ve navigated away from the song. I can choose “Show Current Song” from the View Menu to take me there.

Controls Menu

The Controls Menu used to come before the View menu, but now it’s the other way around. Repeat options are now in their own Submenu and Shuffle now has its own Submenu too.

Store Menu

“Create an iMix” has moved to this menu. I can turn Genius on and off here. “Check for Purchases” is now called “Check for available downloads”.

Advanced Menu

Everything is pretty much the same here, although Consolidate Library is now in the File Menu, Convert Selection to MP3 (or whatever file format I have chosen) is now called “Create MP3 Version”, and the “Convert Selection for iPod/iPhone” and “Convert Selection for Apple TV” options that used to be available when I Ctrl +Clicked a Movie are now listed in this menu too.

iTunes 8 Preferences

Several items have been reorganized in the iTunes Preferences. Press Cmd + , or Choose File -> Preferences to see all the changes. The “Syncing” Tab is now called “Devices”. The Podcasts Tab is now exclusively found in the Podcasts View, when I press the Settings… Button at the bottom of the iTunes window.

General

Several options have moved or have been deleted from the General menu. The “Importing” Tab that used to be in the Advanced Section is now at the bottom of the General Menu. Here I can choose what happens when I insert a CD and I can change the Import settings from AAC to MP3, or whatever else I want.

Playback

All of the Shuffle settings have been moved into the Controls Menu Bar and Smart Shuffle is now missing. An option to “Keep movie window on top of all other windows” has been added.

Store

The “Automatically create playlists when buying song collections” is gone.

Parental

The only new Parental Preference is to “Show content ratings in library”, which is turned on by default.

Devices

The “Forget All Remotes” Button has been moved to the Devices Tab from the Advanced General Tab, as well as the options to “Look for iPhone and iPod Touch Remotes”, “Disable iTunes volume control for remote speakers”, and “Allow iTunes control from remote speakers”.

Advanced

The Advanced tab has shrunk and many of its options dispersed among the other Preferences. Importing Preferences are now located in the General tab and the Burning Preferences that used to be here now appear everytime I attempt to burn a CD. Everything else is pretty much the same, but rearranged. A “Reset all dialog warnings” option is now available.

Get Info on a Song or Multiple Items

Several Get Info options were added in iTunes 7 so nothing much has changed here, with the exception that Get Info for Multiple Items now has a similar tabbed interface to the standard Get Info. All of the Options like Gapless Playback, Remember Position, and Part of a Compilation are still there.

Movie Playback and Conversion

I can no longer Right Click or Ctrl + Click a movie to Convert it for an iPod or Apple TV.

These functions are now located in the Advanced Menu. Video playback sizes can now be selected in the View Menu.

Burning a CD

The overall process for burning a CD is the same. Make a playlist of the songs I want on the CD, then Ctrl + Click the Playlist Name and Select “Burn Playlist to Disc” or select File -> Library -> Burn Playlist to Disc from the Menubar. Or Select the Playlist and the Burn to Disc button appears in the bottom right of the iTunes Window, Click it. When I do that, the Burning Preference Window Appears. If I want a Gapless Album, meaning there will not be a pause in between tracks, I must Select none in the Gap between songs dialog. Then I click Burn.

Conclusion

Well there you have it, a comprehensive guide to everything that is new in iTunes 8. Is it worth upgrading right away? I hardly think so, but it probably will be time for everyone to upgrade sometime before iTunes 9 comes out, since it may take some readjustment to figure out where Apple placed everything. Maybe iTunes 9 will reinvent the wheel, but I hardly doubt it, since it seems like Apple is fine tuning the interface and maturing the iTunes Store. I have to give up my privacy to use the main new Genius feature, something I refuse to let happen. So, the only new features that I can see really being useful for the privacy advocate are the Enhanced Accessibility for the Visually Impaired and the HDTV Shows now available from the iTunes Store. But then again, I just use iTunes to listen to and sort my music collection.

I hope this guide helped you in the adjustment to the new iTunes 8.

Step by Step Guide to What’s New in iTunes 7 from 2006.

Please comment below if you need more help.