Apple’s finally created an iTunes that really embodies Apple’s media efforts with iTunes 7. Sometimes, as I poke through it, I see things that have been done that were on the back of my mind forever as flaws in iTunes. Then there are other times that I see a feature and just stare at how well it was done. Then, of course, it crashes.

The Good

Real Queued Downloads

This is the big one for me because podcasts were useless the way they were implemented previously. Before it just cycled the download in the HUD and that was … less than perfect. Pair that with the program locking up both an iBook G4 and a dual-core MacBook Pro with just downloading three or four items and you quickly start to look for another solution for getting your podcasts.

Now, however, there’s a full download manager in iTunes that handles podcasts, iTMS purchases, and even iPod software updates. Pretty much any time the program needs to get a file, it’s going to push it on the download queue and off it goes. It’s great, and it really shows that iTunes is becoming more of a complete media center than just a music player.

In fact, a lot of the things in iTunes 7 really promote the program from being a music player with crap tacked onto it at the last minute to being a complete media player that respects that it works with differing types of media.

iPod Management

Which brings me to the iPod management. The addition of the iPod preference pane in iTunes 6 was fairly welcome, but after using it for a while it became apparent that it was a solution to the problem in the strictest sense. It was clear that the actual implementation of the feature wasn’t the subject of endless meetings, but more that some manager said, “It’s a preference? Make it a preference pane. Shoo.”

So now when you pick an iPod, the main view switches to a new view that lets you configure everything about the iPod, including performing software updates for the iPod from within iTunes (finally).

Coverflow

Apple bought Coverflow and integrated it into iTunes 7. Not much to say outside of the fact that while I thought it was a cool idea, I was of the opinion that I would pretty much only use it if it was integrated into iTunes. Well, yeah. I love it.

Backup

Proper backup is built into iTunes now. It’s in the File menu as “Back Up to Disc…” and it creates a CD/DVD set out of your media (either everything or just purchased media). The really thoughtful part is that it allows for incremental backups, copying only media that was added or changed since the last backup. Nice.

Which is to say that Apple solved two problems with this:

• They will issue less freebies to idiots that didn’t backup because now iTunes does it for them.
• They have an unpaid backup solution for iTS media, rather than recommending .Mac Backup to everyone that wants such a feature.

Bravo.

The Bad

The interface for iTunes 7 will surely be the hot topic for many of the anal GUI reviewers out there. Personally, it’s a love-hate affair for me. I do like how it looks as a finished product, but it doesn’t make me feel like I’m using a Mac at all. It looks like the new iTunes Store does, right down to the scroll bars and buttons.

The only reason for this that I can put forth is that they needed one unified interface for both Mac, Windows, and the iTS and we thus have this new concept. It’s interesting, and it’s not entirely unusable, but it’s kind of annoying to have this iconic Mac application turned into a bastion of wishy-washy cross-platform interface design, from a place of pure principle.

So far I’ve run into the dark blue and gray versions of the following elements:

• Buttons
• Scroll bars
• Table headers
• Table views
• Pop-up menus
• Checkboxes
• Radios
• Sliders
• Tabs

It gets a little worse, however. Not only does Apple change these basic and fundamental interface elements in the main window, but it’s not consistant. None of the modal dialogs use any of these elements; they use the standard system widgets. The preferences dialog is completely lacking the new elements. Then there are the little ones, like how in the iPod settings there’s an overridden pop-up menu, but in the equalizer it’s an Aqua pop-up.

If you’re going to break a UI rule, break it consistantly. If you’re going to follow it, follow it all the time. Kind of a basic concept that they’ve missed out on just to look cool. Kind of sad.

After playing with the newest iPod for a few days I’ve grown quite attached to it. There are some features of the 3G that I liked more, but the improvements in the 4G mean my wife can have the 3G.

I spent the better part of last night downloading various notepad/memo/journal applications from MacUpdate and seeing if any of them met my needs and, if not, if they had features I wanted to put into my own notepad program. I wound up downloading something on the order of 50 programs. Fifty. Five zero. Of those 50 programs, the overwhelming majority spent more time on their serial code implementation than on the program itself.

(One let me “register” with 98765. Failed to register with 98756, 98675, 87654, 12345, 54321, or 56789. Mathematical curiosity, it seems.)

It seems that they know there’s a dearth of programs that can actually just do note-taking so they whip up something and then defend their little ground with fervor. It’s kind of pathetic.

So I have expanded my feature set for my notepad program significantly by doing this, and that’s a good thing since it means you don’t have to go through the pain I just went through. To help in the near-term, here are some of the more polished programs that I found in the mix and at least one reason I found them notable. Note that this doesn’t mean I would use them, or that in some other ways they don’t suck horribly, but that they I believe the programmers spent more time on the program than they did on serializing it.

Hey, food-tech is still tech, yes? Good. So after reading Erik’s adventure with C2 I decided to pick up some as well as some Pepsi Edge and give ‘em both a whirl.

I entered into this knowing marketing sucks. There’s no way to halve the carbohydrate content of something and keep the same taste. There will be some difference. So, with that in mind:

• Pepsi Edge: not as sweet (a blessing, really) and a little of the “diet aftertaste.” Otherwise, it’s Pepsi. Not nearly diet, but I almost prefer Pepsi One since it both has lower carb content as well as drops the facade that it tastes anything like the real thing.
• C2: The first reaction I had was it felt smooth, empty and smooth. It’s sweet, doesn’t have the “diet aftertaste” that Pepsi Edge does, but it tastes more like what I expected a half-carb soda to taste like … sweetened water, not flavored sugar like regular Coke. After drinking more and more of it I realized they kept the one reason I hate Coke: that damned sticky feeling it leaves in your mouth as it rots your teeth down to nubs right before your eyes. If that’s what you love about Coke, and the “lighter” taste doesn’t hurt, go for it.

C2 doesn’t have the diet aftertaste of Pepsi Edge, but that damned sticky feeling is still there. Pepsi Edge doesn’t have the sticky, but it feels like I should just bite it and go back to Pepsi One.

Which, after I finish these two packs off, I think I will. Barq’s and Pepsi One: when I want the sugar and when I don’t.

I’m one of those people that says “if it works, it works.” As such, I’ve been using Kung-Log for ages and never got around to seeing Ecto since it’s first release. It’s come far. Today, I found the reasons I bought this little app on a whim last week:

1. Built-in Textile support. Not just the simple stuff, but the fun stuff like: !>)(/images/animage.gif 10x10 (alt)! (right float, 1pc on each side, height and width are 10px, alt text is “alt”; yes, it’s still easier than HTML)
2. Edit your template code in the preview window just enough to include your website’s CSS file and use your entry format. 100% perfect live preview of what it will look like, down to any classes you use.
3. Use del.icio.us to flag links you see during the week. Hit Command-U in Ecto and connect to del.icio.us to fetch your latest links and then write about them.

Those three features are priceless. That and I’m typing on the left half of my screen and watching the preview on the right. It’s just insane.

Just remember to turn off the brushed metal in preferences before you judge it.

A Short Review

A little late?

Yes, I know, this is a little late for a review of the iSight, but as you’ll see, it’s the perfect timing for it. When you review a product that just came out you inevitably run into a lack of use for the item because there are no software solutions for it just yet. Now that people have taken the iSight’s QuickTime integration and run with it we’ll see just what you can do with it.