So, iTunes 8 is upon us, and I’ve got some more suggestions for that awesome iTunes dev team. Eight point Oh has given us some pretty nifty new features (tripped out visualizations anyone?), and while I realize the new features will a bit buggy, I think some things have been overlooked. Things that would make my music experience a lot better. Here’s five things that would make my iTunes experience more enjoyable. What are yours? Sound off in the comments.
1.) I generally switch my equalizer a lot. I had a moment of clarity today, that would fix that. Has anyone else noticed that the genre thumbnails that Apple has provided for us in iTunes 8.0 pretty much match all the preset equalizer settings? How hard would it be to have our EQ change on the fly based on those tags? Now I know all you hardcore music lovers are getting ready to flame me because there are more than six or seven genres, but it would as simple as categorizing your music categorically. Ska –> Alternative. Classic Rock –> Rock. While it’s not flawless, it’ll certainly make those tags more useful.
2.) Genius Side should update on the fly. I mean, would you be more likely to buy music that’s related to the one you’re listening to currently, or would you prefer to see the recommendations for that song you clicked on two hours ago? I realize that live updates would mean a lot more bandwidth for Apple, but I think the increased revenue would help even the balance out. I would buy more music, that’s for sure!
3.) Burning in playlist only? I might be a bit of a caveman here, but I still burn CDs quite a bit for the car. I find and actually fall in love with my music more when I’m forced to listen to it. Otherwise, I get music A.D.D and start flipping through my music after twenty seconds in, or twenty seconds from the finish of a track. It’s a disease. Anyway, why can’t I use spotlight to search for a band and an album, then burn a disc without having to throw the track into a playlist? I think this would be pretty simple to integrate.
4.) Downloading your iPhone, Touch, or iPod firmware updates when they’re ready, cache them on the system so you can install them when you’re ready. I’m not sure about you, but plugging in my iPhone for an update takes long enough for a sync, let alone a download, backup, install, sync. Eliminating the step means shaving down the update time. I think everyone can get behind that.
5.) Let’s figure out how something should work, then do it the same way again no matter where I am when I do it. Greek? I wrote a long and confusing post about Genius acting differently in different situations. Short version, don’t restart a track I’m listening to, to generate a new playlist. It’s ridiculous. I played that track for a reason, I love it, it’s why I decide to use the Genius button.
