I rather like the new iTunes, and it’s been fun tracking down some of the interesting Twitter and blog posts. Many of the changes are subtle, like the positioning and spacing of the now playing display and search bar, while others, like the new iPhone storage bar and traffic light buttons, just scream “different”. – […]
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OT: Assorted observations of iTunes 10

Sep 3rd 2010 by

I rather like the new iTunes, and it’s been fun tracking down some of the interesting Twitter and blog posts. Many of the changes are subtle, like the positioning and spacing of the now playing display and search bar, while others, like the new iPhone storage bar and traffic light buttons, just scream “different”.

– Monochrometunes –

This is one of the changes that I was actually able to notice on my own, but I didn’t realize how widespread the changes were until I read a few blog posts. The main view is now a lot easier on the eyes, and I do find it easier to navigate my music in black and white. I do wonder why they had to blast the colour right out of the settings panel, though…I rather liked the colour there.

– Album Art Widget –

This is one that I found just this morning with help from TUAW. You could always double-click on the artwork on the bottom left and have it pop up, but iTunes 10 has taken a page out of the Bowtie (and even the QuickTime 10) playbook and added hidden music controls. You can simply hover over the artwork and use that as your mini iTunes controller and hide the huge iTunes window.

– iPhone section changes –

These are two relatively small changes, but I’ve noticed that the free disk space along the bottom was given a more matted look and tone:

While the top section that houses the tabs is now more minimal:

– Traffic Light –

This is a change I knew about before iTunes 10 had even hit my download folder: the change from a horizontal close, minimize, and maximize layout to a vertical, traffic light style. The Internet seems to feel two ways about it, but I’m just fine with it. I also agree with Layton Duncan that the saved pixel space is a good move. I barely ever touch those buttons anyway, save for the times that I’ll option-click the maximize button to make iTunes fill the screen.

If you don’t like this style on your Mac, Smoking Apples published a tip from @bartelme to revert the traffic light changes: simply paste “defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -1” into Terminal.app.

– Creating Ringtones within iTunes –

Some people are apparently reporting that iTunes 10 has lost its ability to create ringtones, but iClarified says states otherwise. I haven’t tried this out for myself, but iClarified has a great track record with their tips, so if they posted this, I’m pretty comfortable linking to it.

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So that’s about all of what I’ve found thus far. If you’ve got anything else to add, please share it with a link in the comments!


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