What To Expect From iTunes∞ (8.0)
Let’s face it, iTunes has been showing its’ age recently with the addition of Movies and the App Store. For what is meant to be our window into our digital media lifestyle, it’s an app whose UI is primarily based around scrolling text lists. So let’s see what we can hope to expect from iTunes “Infinity”:
• move the library into a database (SQLite?) and out of the big index.xml text file.
• as a result of using a real database for indexing, we should get improved performance as well as new features such as:
• 1 song file can appear as part of multiple albums (a band’s album, a soundtrack, a compilation, etc.)
• easily cross reference musicians (“show me all songs that Sting played bass on”, for instance)
• recommendations (other people have already discussed the potential of this)
From a UI perspective, though, I think it’s safe to say that Apple have been concentrating pretty hard on figuring out new ways to represent information in clean, concise formats (for example due to limitations of the iPhone’s screen size). Apple still manage to pack in the same functionality (some might argue, better) in much less space.
There are some beautiful apps out there making the most of Core Animation, so let’s cross our fingers iTunes 8 incorporates:
• better use of space in lists. With a little typography we can easily work song titles, artists and album names into less space.
• new UI elements: iPhone/iPod users are familiar with the “now playing” button that’s easily accessible from anywhere in the iPod app when a song is playing. It’s time to let go of the 12x12px snap-back arrow. It’s too small, too hard to find (some of you probably don’t even know it’s there).
• more iPhone/iPod-like UI means better use of space. Hopefully iTunes 8 will not require a full screen to usefully navigate.
With the advances in WebKit, here’s hoping that the mother of all web apps, the iTunes Store gets a serious overhaul too.
The primary interface was designed as the iTunes Music Store. Ever since, they’ve been shoehorning other content (podcasts, apps, tv shows, movies, iPod games) into the same mold, and it’s getting cramped.
Look at how rich the newly revamped Apple.com site is to see some examples of some UI elements that would be welcome in the new iTunes Store:
• New header bar to quickly switch between Music, Movies, Podcasts, App Store, etc. (no more text sidebar).
• Goodbye various shaded gradient backgrounds and glossy rounded tabs.
• Accordion tabs that show and hide content as you request it (on rollover, for example).
• If you haven’t already, check out the software Tutorial interfaces. Be still my heart :)
And some new things that could come from the iPhone/iPod UI, such as:
• Prominent area for updates when new versions of apps are ready for download, or when your preorder has become available.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many things that iTunes does right, and knowing Apple, they’re not going to fix something that ain’t necessarily broke.
I don’t expect iTunes 8 to be as radical a UI shift as, say iMovie ‘08, but under the hood improvements will hopefully bring it up to date both performance wise, and introduce new capabilities.
As on the eve of all Apple updates, part of me gets carried away with the fantastical, far fetched possibilities that my inner geek would love. Social networking? Sure. “iTunes-Anywhere” via iPhone? Ok! Smart Synching between iTunes libraries? Who doesn’t? But one thing is for sure, if iTunes 8 is half as good as the stuff Apple has been producing lately*, we’ll all wonder how we ever got along without it.
*other than MobileMe.
