iTunes 12 - why?

For whatever reason, Apple decided we no longer need a sidebar.

Not only did it disappear from the default view in prior versions, it has now completely been eliminated, and cannot be turned back on.

This is the kind of issue that could drive me to switch.

iTunes Ping - Review

Apple recently released a new music-centric social networking service called "Ping".  At the moment, it looks half-baked at best, useless at worst.

Here's some of the things I think are wrong or missing as of now:
1. Another "walled garden" that's separate from other social networks, especially facebook.  I think this is the biggest failing - searching for friends who participate in the service by their names or email addresses one-by-one SUCKS.  Period.
2. The artists that are participating are relatively sparse at this point, and I suspect Apple recruited those who are there.  Also, independent artists can't setup an "Artist" profile on their own - currently they've got to setup a personal account profile.
3. The "following" of specific artists isn't integrated properly with their iTunes store listing.  If a particular artist is for sale on the iTunes, you should be able to follow them from there, regardless of whether they have setup an artist profile in Ping.

When Steve Jobs demoed the new iTunes "Ping" social networking service, it had Facebook friend finding.  Apparently the feature was pulled last minute because Apple used a Facebook API without approval.  Even if that feature was still there, it's not enough.  The status updates, etc. should be fully integrated into Facebook.  If iTunes Ping remains a separate social network, it will fail.

iTunes 9.1 remaining issue

I got iTunes 9.1 to work, and connected my iPhone to sync it.

Guess what appeared:

Of course, I usually synchronize "Notes" with my computer, but it's the first time I did so in German... ;)

iTunes 9.1 on Windows 7 (64-bit) is BROKEN

Just updated my iTunes to 9.1, and now it won't start.

Apparently I'm not alone:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=150&start=45#threads

No error messages, no apparent problems during installation. :(


UPDATE: TURNS OUT IT'S A PROBLEM WITH BONJOUR - WHICH IS USED FOR APPLE TV. I REMOVED IT AND ALL IS WELL WITH THE WORLD.

Donate to the Red Cross through iTunes

In the wake of the Haiti Earthquake tragedy, there’s been a lot of media coverage about donating to the American Red Cross via text message.  While that’s a clever method, and apparently it’s generating a lot of donations, I stumbled across another method that I think is likely to get the money there faster.

Did you know you can donate via iTunes?  Click the button below to donate to the American Red Cross via iTunes (it will open iTunes on your computer):

I’ve already donated.  You should too.

A little surprise with iTunes 8

Recently installed the iTunes 8 update. The new Genius feature is pretty useless for me, as is the new visualizer. That being said, the new album view is kinda nice. Not much else changed/improved.

Except... I noticed that before updating, the icon Windows showed for my iPhone was a camera.

Now it's an iPhone. Nice.

I know it's minor, but a nice touch nonetheless.

iPhone 2.0.1 firmware update helps, but...

The 2.0.1 firmware update released last night seems to help a little:
- faster backups and sync
- most things on phone respond faster
- phone seems a bit more stable

My biggest gripe about the sync process is that it doesn't seem to confirm changes to Outlook data. That being said, it seems to be making those decisions correctly.

So far, I'm very happy.

iTunes 7.7.1 improves backup

I just installed iTunes 7.7.1. It seems to speed up the backup.

I don't know if it improves anything else...