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Author Topic: iTunes for windows released...  (Read 9411 times)

cubedco

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iTunes for windows released...
« on: October 16, 2003, 03:03:36 pm »

Well, i finally got iTunes for windows and while its pretty decent and a replica of the mac version, im not very thrilled...

looking at my processes, i see iTunes @ 40,000, iTunesHelper -- an additional 5,000, and iPod Service -- 3,000. Yikes -- too many resources for a simple mp3 player.

continuing, the iTunes supports rendevous w/ other macs -- cool! 'cause i work in the advertising industry... all my co-workers are on macs... now we can share! :)

bad -- kinda sluggish... and it takes nearly 20 minutes to import 9-10k files.

bad -- MC 9.0 seems to have no windows title bar -- why can't iTunes?!!? really really disappointing.

good -- AAC SUPPORT!

Want: someone hack their AAC codec and make a plugin for MC9.

all in all, its great to finally have iTunes.. im sure ill use both MC and iTunes (particularly since it has native iPod support and ACC support)... nonetheless,

MC 9 kicks iTunes ass.

:c
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bdjohns1

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2003, 03:24:38 pm »

Quote
good -- AAC SUPPORT!

Want: someone hack their AAC codec and make a plugin for MC9.

all in all, its great to finally have iTunes.. im sure ill use both MC and iTunes (particularly since it has native iPod support and ACC support)... nonetheless,

No kidding.  I don't even care if I can't play purchased AAC (m4p) files.  All I want to be able to do is have the following with a self-created AAC (m4a) file:

* Import the files
* Playback (I don't care if it's someone else's DirectShow filter)
* Tag (doesn't even need to be in the actual file, just as long as I see the info in MC9)
* Sync to iPod with all the usual functionality (ie, ratings/playcounts work, tagged properly in iTunesDB, etc.)

Stuff I don't necessarily need:
* Encode from within MC9

As of today AAC is a mainstream format for PC users - it should be supported.
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Jynx

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2003, 03:26:38 pm »

I'm not impressed either.  It'a 19meg download, which seems a little exesive and I just can't the darn thing to work - I get it installed but whenever I run it I just get an application error.  Lots of others over at ipodlounge are having probleme too.

Just goes to show what a fine job J River are doing I think I'm gonna stick with MC9.1

J
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JimH

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2003, 03:38:52 pm »


Just goes to show what a fine job J River are doing I think I'm gonna stick with MC9.1

J
Thanks, J.
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JimH

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2003, 03:44:43 pm »


No kidding.  I don't even care if I can't play purchased AAC (m4p) files.  All I want to be able to do is have the following with a self-created AAC (m4a) file:

* Import the files
* Playback (I don't care if it's someone else's DirectShow filter)
* Tag (doesn't even need to be in the actual file, just as long as I see the info in MC9)
* Sync to iPod with all the usual functionality (ie, ratings/playcounts work, tagged properly in iTunesDB, etc.)

Stuff I don't necessarily need:
* Encode from within MC9

As of today AAC is a mainstream format for PC users - it should be supported.
Try a google search for "winamp aac".  You can use Winamp plug-ins with MC by putting them in the plug-ins directory.
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Sam

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2003, 04:19:20 pm »

Definitely disappointed.  Not as easy to use as I had expected.  The panes show up only when you're searching in the music store, so selecting music in your library can be a pain if you have a lot of songs.  

There are no folders for playlists.  

There are no tag editing tools.

It doesn't look nearly as good as MC9's Brushed Metal skin.

You can't Play a song with the right-click menu!

I haven't tested out the iPod features yet, but I'd expect that to be good...


Three positives:
Because there are no folders, you have access to the playlists and your library without having to always click to expand a tree.

Instead of a Playing Now, you just play a playlist - and that's what's playing now.  It took me a few minutes to figure it out, but I think it's simpler.  BUT there's no obvious way of knowing which playlist is playing.

The visualizations are good.  You have no control over them, and they aren't connected to the music, but they are impressive to watch.


Bottom line:  I'm sticking with MC9.
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bdjohns1

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2003, 04:21:46 pm »

Try a google search for "winamp aac".  You can use Winamp plug-ins with MC by putting them in the plug-ins directory.

Jim,

Yeah, I've tried that before, and it sort-of works.  However, when I tried this, I was unable to do any kind of tagging of the files in MC9.  Have any changes been made since around 9.1.250 or so that would remedy this?
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crowfan

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2003, 04:28:27 pm »

iTunes seems to lock out any other software (MC!!!) from accessing the iPod.....

This stinks, I want to use mC for everything but still be able to browse the iTunes store...

Am I missing something, or is this how it is?

crow
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bjsolem

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #8 on: October 16, 2003, 04:29:05 pm »

I was looking forward to downloading and playing around tonight, but maybe I'll try to be patient.

Somehow a 19 meg download doesn't sound very appealing, especially if it's for buggy software.....

Maybe J River will take the wraps off whatever they're working on soon and I won't even bother with it.....  

(JimH - Am I reading too much into things or is it more than a coincedence that you posted the picture with the music store airbrushed out on the same day as the Itunes announcement? see this thread http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=16055)
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crowfan

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2003, 04:57:29 pm »

Apple also released new software for the iPod, this could be causing my problem...

crow
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Doof

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #10 on: October 16, 2003, 05:03:55 pm »

I downloaded and installed it out of curiosity. I'd always heard MAC people going on and on and on about how great iTunes is.

After installing it and playing around with it for 10 minutes, I said "Is this it?"

I really don't get it. It doesn't seem to do ANYTHING. Yeah, I can find songs, and I can play them. I guess if that's all you're looking for, then it's a good piece of software.

While I spent 10 minutes with it, I'd say you can pretty thoroughly play with all of its features in about 5.

The only thing they have over MC from my point of is the Smartlist Wizard. It's just perfectly implemented. Well... almost. It relies a little too much on actual typing in of Artist names, etc. to be perfect. Typing introduces typos, which means your smartlists don't work right. If you could select the actual values from a list, the way you can with MC, it would be better.

Anyway, after my 10 minutes of use, I uninstalled it. I was irritated that it not only required a reboot to install, but to uninstall as well.
 
So for a one-word review of iTunes for Windows, all I can say is: "yawn".
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Sam

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #11 on: October 16, 2003, 05:24:16 pm »

Apple also released new software for the iPod, this could be causing my problem...

crow

Yup.  I guess iTunes triggered iPod to ask for a software update, after which MC can't access the iPod...
I uninstalled iTunes and reformatted my iPod.  And now MC is happy again.

Quote
I downloaded and installed it out of curiosity. I'd always heard MAC people going on and on and on about how great iTunes is.

After installing it and playing around with it for 10 minutes, I said "Is this it?"

I really don't get it. It doesn't seem to do ANYTHING. Yeah, I can find songs, and I can play them. I guess if that's all you're looking for, then it's a good piece of software.

While I spent 10 minutes with it, I'd say you can pretty thoroughly play with all of its features in about 5.

The only thing they have over MC from my point of is the Smartlist Wizard. It's just perfectly implemented. Well... almost. It relies a little too much on actual typing in of Artist names, etc. to be perfect. Typing introduces typos, which means your smartlists don't work right. If you could select the actual values from a list, the way you can with MC, it would be better.

Anyway, after my 10 minutes of use, I uninstalled it. I was irritated that it not only required a reboot to install, but to uninstall as well.

So for a one-word review of iTunes for Windows, all I can say is: "yawn".

Well said, Doof.
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dragyn

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2003, 05:49:47 pm »

Since I usually agree with Doof, I'm not even gonna try it.

Thanks! I can waste the time on something else instead.
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cubedco

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #13 on: October 16, 2003, 05:59:20 pm »

yeah.. that Winamp AAC plugin doesn't work half the time w/ MC... i get frequent MC 9 shut downs w/out error... it just closes. :(

:cc
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Doof

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #14 on: October 16, 2003, 06:09:11 pm »

Since I usually agree with Doof, I'm not even gonna try it.

Thanks! I can waste the time on something else instead.

lol!

Next time we want to testdrive some useless piece of software, it's your turn. :)
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MachineHead

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #15 on: October 16, 2003, 06:22:38 pm »


(JimH - Am I reading too much into things or is it more than a coincedence that you posted the picture with the music store airbrushed out on the same day as the Itunes announcement?

I think you're reading to much into this and I think you should wait. And there is more then one source besides Apple for music purchases.

But...I'd really like to know if J River drm is gonna be part of the deal? Can you guys at least drop that hint? Also of great interest is the new monkey's encoder with MC's latest build. File verification....say could it be the choosen one?
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NoCodeUK

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #16 on: October 16, 2003, 06:36:56 pm »

I downloaded it to and to be fair I think a lot of the criticisims above are a bit harsh...I love MC else I wouldn't devote so much time to it and will probably still use it as my main player but I dont think it is wise to even compare MC and iTunes.  They are aiming for a totally different market.  And there are a lot of things here that JRiver should take note of and possibly implement...

Good things which are not possible in MC -

  • Equalizer settings can be applied on a per track basis
  • Tracks can be X of Y and discs can be X of Y...makes compilation set up much easier
  • Radio is presented very nicely with access to a lot of channels.  This is one area of MC that has not seen an upgrade for a long time
  • Has a calculated field next to the all option in the panes telling you the stats.  By this I mean if I select Pearl Jam the Album field says All (7 Albums)
  • Has a selective XML output eg playlists can be exported to XML. I knowwe can export to MPL in MC but not all fields are exported in this mode.
  • Like Doof I think the smart playlist wizard is a thing of beauty.  If MC could introduce some kind of GUI based thing like this it would be just perfect
  • For those interested there is obviously the native AAC support and audible support
  • You can shuffle by Album or by Artist
  • You can edit start and stop times for tracks to create an AB Loop
  • You can add more than one art file per track.  So you can add front/back cover...
  • Single click on the cover art quickly displays it full screen

Now let me make it clear that these comments are made in no way to knock MC becasue I love it and it is the most powerful peice of software on my PC.  Kudos to JRiver.  However I wanted to highlight that there are lot of good things in iTunes which are not in MC.  I don't think anyone could call it buggy and a lot of peoples comments are unfounded or are just plain wrong (ie that you cannot see the panes in library mode...just go to the edit menu and hit show browser or press control B).  Fior a first version on Windows I think Apple have done very well.  It is not MC but then again it is not trying to be.... And for something that is being given away for free it has some powerful features which MC doesn't in a package that costs...

I think for the market that it is intended to serve iTunes will do very well and for its market MC will...

Hope I haven't offeneded anyone, or made anyone feel I am knocking MC because I am not but I do think people should give this a bit more of a chance.

Adam
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cubedco

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #17 on: October 16, 2003, 06:42:47 pm »

i use to be jealous of iTunes... but after using MC... nothing really compares truthfully....

additionally, features or no features -- i havent been impressed w/ the audio quality of iTunes and the amount of system resources it requires considering it's such a minimal program.

lastly, numerous people have had problems w/ the software.. i think they released it a little too early -- possibly to beat Napster? seems to be unfinished... either that or they didnt product-beta enough.

nobody is knocking iTunes -- given most of the MC9 users are audiophiles, i think its more than fair to be critical -- hell, our critiques (on top of the hardwork of the entire MC team) is the stronghold to such a great program like MC.

like you said, iTunes is for a different market. We are the elitest thus being anal.. and hard to please.

:cc
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Kurt Young

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #18 on: October 16, 2003, 06:43:04 pm »

<snip!>
I really don't get it. It doesn't seem to do ANYTHING. Yeah, I can find songs, and I can play them. I guess if that's all you're looking for, then it's a good piece of software.

While I spent 10 minutes with it, I'd say you can pretty thoroughly play with all of its features in about 5.
<snip!>
Doof, that's the idea man.

It's Mac software.  For Mac people.  From what I understand, that's why Mac people love their Macs so darn much... the software is really really really dumbed down.  

MC9 will beat the pants offa iTunes any minute of any hour of any day of the week when it comes to robustness, power, and adaptability.  A user who knows what he's doing can use MC9 to do some real freakin sweet stuff.  

iTunes (and most every other "non-professional" app made by Apple) is made to be so intuitive, so user-friendly, that anyone can use it.  This includes people who have no clue how (or no right to) use a computer.  Want proof?  Go find some of those inane "switch" videos, heh.  These people's mice only have one button, man... don't expect to see a lot of options, customizabilities, and so on.  At least, not with vanilla software straight from Apple.


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lOth

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #19 on: October 16, 2003, 08:41:30 pm »

I agree with most of what Doof said, especially on the pros/cons about smartlists.

I gave it a couple more minutes than Doof before uninstalling it though, and I used that time to check out the radio section. Not much to find in there in terms of stations, but I thought that MC would gain from reorganizing its "Web Media" section in such a way. Just a thought, but radios might be a feature I think JRiver should work on because MC as a lot of potential in that respect. To my knowledge, MC is one of the only few programs (with Media Player Classic and Winamp) that can play ALL major audio streaming format (real, wm, shoutcast). I don't know what JRiver people plan to do in the music store area, but if some form of streaming is on the agenda, a feature like the customized radio stations in Rhapsody would be really nice (for those of you who have not tried Rhapsody, you can enter a few artist names and Rhapsody 'builds' a station and I've found the artist choice very relevant).

As for iTunes, as I said, already uninstalled. Their Hairstyle sucks  ;D, the playing of videos is pretty limited  :D, and when a decent band or artist can be found in the music store the choice of albums is really bad  ? (an example which people a little familiar with The Cure will readily understand:
_full albums available: Galore (!), Wild Mood Swings, Wish, The Head on the Door
_partially available: Greatest Hits, Mixed Up, Bloodflowers, Disintegration
_no Pornography, no Three Imaginary Boys...)

Well, go MC!
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nila

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #20 on: October 16, 2003, 08:54:14 pm »

Hunk of junk - wont even install on a non win2k/xp machine - this one is on Win98 till I get back to my main computer!!

Stupid software - whats so flashy about it that it needs that high an OS requirement!!!
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lOth

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #21 on: October 16, 2003, 09:09:24 pm »

Quote
(JimH - Am I reading too much into things or is it more than a coincedence that you posted the picture with the music store airbrushed out on the same day as the Itunes announcement? see this thread http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=16055)

I had pointed something similar back in August:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=10493;start=msg64495#msg64495

Back then they had forgotten to airbrush the music store section in the tree and it was called 'Music Now'. Screenshots:
http://www.jriver.com/~jriver/misc/mc91228.jpg
http://www.jriver.com/~jriver/misc/mc91228_2.jpg

Dam' it was more than 50 builds ago... So, I guess we should trust JimH when he says they've been working on deal for months (I don't know about 6 but at least more than 2).

No one commented then on my observation, but I guess they might be less secretive this time since it feels like the release is close  :P
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Snarglefarg

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #22 on: October 16, 2003, 09:39:38 pm »

Here's the iTunes Readme file.

It is mentioned in the 2nd paragraph that you'll only be able to transfer music to an iPod with iTunes once installed.

You can use iTunes to create your own personal digital music library and easily organize and listen to your collection of digital music files. You can also create your own custom audio CDs and transfer your music to an Apple iPod portable digital music player.

Important: After installing iTunes 4.1 for Windows, you'll only be able to transfer music to your iPod using iTunes. To transfer music from MusicMatch Jukebox or Audible Manager to your iPod, you'll need to first import the music into iTunes. For more information, search iTunes and Music Store Help.

System Requirements
iTunes 4.1 requires Windows 2000 or Windows XP with a QuickTime-compatible audio card. Also make sure you have the latest Service Pack for your computer using Windows Update.

To create CDs or DVDs, you need an iTunes-compatible CD or DVD burner. For a list of supported drives, visit www.apple.com/support/itunes. To use the iTunes visualizer, you need a QuickTime-compatible video card.

If you plan to listen to music previews or buy music from the iTunes Music Store, a DSL, cable modem, or local area network (LAN) Internet connection is recommended.

Installing iTunes 4.1
Double-click the iTunes 4.1 Installer and follow the instructions that appear. When you install iTunes, QuickTime 6.4 is also installed.

What's new in iTunes 4.1
Using iTunes 4.1, you can:
- Use iTunes on Windows 2000 and Windows XP computers; you can also share music between Macintosh and Windows computers
- Sync On-The-Go playlists or voice notes that you create on your iPod with iTunes
- Burn large playlists to multiple CDs or DVDs; when your playlist is too large to fit on one CD or DVD, iTunes asks you to insert another disc
- Drag a webpage from the iTunes Music Store to a document or email
- Buy Audible spoken word content from the iTunes Music Store using your Apple Account

For more information
For more information about using iTunes, open iTunes and choose Help > "iTunes and Music Store Help." Type a question in the search field, or click Overview or Contents.

If you've purchased music from the Music Store and have a billing question, open iTunes and choose Help > Music Store Customer Service.

For more information about using your iPod with iTunes, open iTunes and choose Help > iPod Help.

For the latest news about iTunes, visit the iTunes website at www.apple.com/itunes or the Apple Support website at www.apple.com/support/itunes. For the latest information about iPod, visit www.apple.com/ipod.

A note about copyright
This software may be used to reproduce materials. It is licensed to you only for reproduction of non-copyrighted materials, materials in which you own the copyright, or materials you are authorized or legally permitted to reproduce. If you are uncertain about your right to copy any material, contact your legal advisor.


© 2003 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iTunes, Mac, Macintosh, Mac OS, and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPod is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

Updated October 10, 2003
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Sam

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #23 on: October 16, 2003, 09:43:41 pm »

...
I don't think anyone could call it buggy and a lot of peoples comments are unfounded or are just plain wrong (ie that you cannot see the panes in library mode...just go to the edit menu and hit show browser or press control B).
...

That was me.  Sorry!  I guess I didn't give enough time to figure it out better.  

Regarding the over-criticism of iTunes, yes, it's fair to ask for a balanced perspective.  And it's good to identify where MC could improve...  But none of the features you list are of any importance to me.  (I'm not sure what you meant by "shuffle.")

iTunes is not as easy to use as MC, is missing some important tools, and doesn't look as nice.

And you haven't offended me.   :)
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Kurt Young

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #24 on: October 17, 2003, 02:43:06 am »

I'll keep it short.  I am very, very, very dissatisfied with iTunes.  I can't believe that Mac users choose to use this.
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Endymion

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #25 on: October 17, 2003, 03:26:29 am »

Interesting...  I just installed ITunes, downloaded some music from their store, downloaded it to my IPOD then fired up MC9.1.   MC9.1 was still able to access the IPOD without any problem even while ITunes was concurrently open and accessing the IPOD.  I even tried ejecting the IPOD and then reconnecting it.  Same deal.  Give it a try; works for me.

This is great.  I can still use MC9.1 to manage my IPOD and play my CD music at home while using ITunes to buy downloaded music that I can use on my IPOD (on on my HTPC if I play it through ITunes).  
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cualexander

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #26 on: October 17, 2003, 03:30:26 am »

For some reason unknown to me, Itunes has decided to keep the full filenames of my mp3s.  Before Itunes, files used to transfer as numbers for me. Like 2345.mp3 or something.  Now with Itunes I notice it takes much longer to seek out a file on the hard disk and play it, and sometimes it times out and skips over the song entirely.  Itunes is annoying me.
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NoCodeUK

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #27 on: October 17, 2003, 04:33:49 am »

I don't think Mac Users have much of a choice...they don't have MC!!  I played with itunes a bit more last night and although I do not completely dislike it I probably won't really use it much.  Firstly it appears my CD/RW and DVD/RW aren't supported (even though two older models in the same line are) sop I cannot play, rip from or burn cds...thats a bit of downer :D

As for the features it supports which MC doesn't, like Sam said most of them are porbably irrelevant.  I am not personally interested in the AAC support seeing as I don't have an ipod and I have 5000 songs encoded in MP3.  However things I think would be good in MC would be equalizer settings on a per track/album basis...would be nice to be listening to a rock album with the rock setting and then auto switch to a classical album with the classical setting...The disc X of Y tag would be nice to be able to sort multi disc sets.  At the moment I put them in as 1 big album as I hate having to split using Disc 1/2 etc.  The web radio is nicely implememnted and I definitely think this is an area where MC could improve. Also the summaries in the panes would be fantastic...this was mentioned a while back but was never implemented...The only other thing for me is the selective XML output.  I would like to be able to export a playlist but to have all fields present...at the moment MPL export does not include claculated fields like XML Export does, problem being to export the full XML the files is huge and crashes the XSLT processor due to its sheer size.

To conclude I don't think I will be using iTunes very often if at all (The only possible reasons would be for its web radio and to browse the store to hear the previews).  The iTunes store is nice and if MCs store could be implemented in a similar way with links to meta info and being able to easily navigate to other sections using hyperlinks, all from within the program then this will be great.  It isn't availbale for me here anyway so I can only use it to preview tracks and not to buy.  I will be sticking to MC but I will be pushing to get some of the nicer features of iTunes mentioned above implemented in Version 10 :D  (And I am holding out great hope for the JRiver Music store that not only will it have similar functionality to the iTunes one but that I will be able to buy too...

Clock one up to JRiver for still possessing the best Jukebox software able for any computer but clock one up to Apple for some interesting ideas and some good implementations...

Adam
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Kurt Young

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #28 on: October 17, 2003, 10:29:44 am »

<snip!>
Clock one up to JRiver for still possessing the best Jukebox software able for any computer but clock one up to Apple for some interesting ideas and some good implementations...

Adam

Well said, Adam, I agree.
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kiwi

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #29 on: October 17, 2003, 10:39:06 am »

iTunes seems to lock out any other software (MC!!!) from accessing the iPod.....

This stinks, I want to use mC for everything but still be able to browse the iTunes store...

Am I missing something, or is this how it is?

crow

You have to tell iTunes to let the iPod be seen as a disk drive.  Either by selecting the option or by selecting manage the iPod manually.  This is done by clicking on the iPod icon in the lower right hand corner.

kiwi
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crowfan

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #30 on: October 17, 2003, 10:42:17 am »

kiwi,

Thanks, I noticed your post over at the lounge, and I will give this a shot when I get home tonight.  It still messed up my iPod database so I'll have to fix that, but I'm glad to see that there's a way to have my cake and eat it too.

crow
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kiwi

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #31 on: October 17, 2003, 10:57:00 am »

kiwi,

Thanks, I noticed your post over at the lounge, and I will give this a shot when I get home tonight.  It still messed up my iPod database so I'll have to fix that, but I'm glad to see that there's a way to have my cake and eat it too.

crow

Cool.  Yeah, I'm never sure where everyone looks.  Sometimes people only view one forum.  Other times they check everywhere.  

Hope it works for you.  I remembered it as soon as the drive stopped showing up, and wasn't available in My Computer.  I had a Mac when I first got my iPod and remember going through the ordeal of getting the iPod to act like a firewire drive.  Basically, iTunes was telling the OS to ignore the device as a drive.  A bit of poking around found the same flag in iTunes for Windows.  

kiwi
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511PF

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #32 on: October 17, 2003, 12:39:24 pm »

It's funny that everyone picks on iTunes as a poor music library.  Personally, I never intended to use it as a music library.  I intend to use it to buy music, and it's well suited to that purpose.  Their library isn't complete, but I can get at least half of what I listen to right now.

I buy, burn and rip back to MP3, with the rest of my music library in MC9 (and don't file trade).  I don't have $50,000 speakers or $50,000 ears, so the music sounds fine to me.

No, iTunes isn't a great library (although it's better than what most people use now) but it is a good music store, which people seem to overlook.
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Doof

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #33 on: October 17, 2003, 12:54:48 pm »

I think my disappointment stems directly from the hype. I'd heard nothing but fawning over iTunes from the Mac people. I thought that it must be like the Second Coming or something. And then I finally get a chance to try it and there's just really not much to it. I guess if it's all you know, then it would seem really nice. But if this is the best media app available for the MacOS, then I really pity Mac people...

Seems like a golden oppurtunity for MC to be ported to the Mac and win over a whole new crowd of people.

So it's not that iTunes is bad, per se... it's just a letdown considering what I'd heard about it.

Kind of like Once Upon A Time In Mexico...
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milehigh

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #34 on: October 17, 2003, 02:17:33 pm »

To my knowledge, MC is one of the only few programs (with Media Player Classic and Winamp) that can play ALL major audio streaming format (real, wm, shoutcast).

It is my understanding, from searching the boards that MC can NOT stream - shoutcast - if it can - please point me in the right direction on how to set this up - I really want to use shoutcast or icecast in order to stream to my Audiotron.  Has anyone done this?

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lOth

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #35 on: October 17, 2003, 02:40:02 pm »

I meant that MC can play shoutcast streams, not that it could stream using shoutcast. Or maybe it can, I don't know... Anyone?
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crowfan

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #36 on: October 17, 2003, 03:45:52 pm »

Well, I tried kiwi's approach, and it didn't work  :(

iPod is set up in disk mode, and I have "manual" selected. MC still crashes when I click the iPod in the tree in MC9.1.

crow
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"It's going to be a trilogy."   Robert Jordan, circa 1989

kiwi

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #37 on: October 17, 2003, 06:58:46 pm »

Well, I tried kiwi's approach, and it didn't work  :(

iPod is set up in disk mode, and I have "manual" selected. MC still crashes when I click the iPod in the tree in MC9.1.

Have you tried "initializing" the iPod in MC and then using it in iTunes?  There may be some trick to it.

Also, what version of iPod do you have?  G1&2 or G3?

You might want to post in the iPod thread, they will probably want to fix something that causes MC to consistantly crash.

kiwi
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Veldrin

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #38 on: October 17, 2003, 07:44:38 pm »

How do you get the .m4p files into media center?  I'd like to use the "Import Media..." option, but .m4p files aren't one of the options on the list.
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bjsolem

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #39 on: October 17, 2003, 09:03:20 pm »

How do you get the .m4p files into media center?  I'd like to use the "Import Media..." option, but .m4p files aren't one of the options on the list.

I've been burning as an audio cd to a cd-rw and then ripping into mc.

Not perfect I know, but it works, and I don't waste a cd-r for a just a few songs.

And my two cents about itunes - I like the music store.  I have no intentions of using it as a library, when I have MC.
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nameless

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #40 on: October 18, 2003, 04:45:47 am »

Where iTunes is concerned, what bitrate is used for the AAC files?  And how bad is it?

I find the idea of paying for reduced-quality music a complete joke.  And a bad joke at that.
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bjsolem

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #41 on: October 18, 2003, 09:10:59 am »

The Itunes files are 128 aac.  Apple claims that aac is superior in sound quality so 128 files are equivalent to higher bitrate mp3's with smaller filesizes.

I'm no expert, but the files i've purchased sound as good or better than my 128 mp3's.
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kiwi

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #42 on: October 18, 2003, 07:31:30 pm »

I've heard rummors that you can play iTMS songs back using any program that allows for quicktime plug-ins.  As long as it's on an "autorized" computer?

Don't know how true it is as I don't have any songs at the moment.  Maybe I'll buy some pepsi's to see whether I can win some songs...

kiw
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nila

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Re:iTunes for windows released...
« Reply #43 on: October 20, 2003, 04:43:33 am »

Just tried it finally!!

Dont think alot of it except for a couple of areas.

Smartlist interface is clear easy and powerful.
Per song equaliser settings are great.
Song Summary page is clear and well laid out with a LOT of info - Love the amount of info provided including: Encoded with...
Ability to add several artworks is great
and finally: 'Options' per song to set the volume adjustment manually per song, equaliser and also to set start and stop times for the song - excellent features!

Other than that it's way too basic with no power or features!
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