It's here, it's now, it's ten

iTunes Ten is out. 

You know the drill. Head over to the  (apple menu) and click on software update. Here's what you can expect to see 

Software update

The description is as follows 

iTunes 10 comes with many new features and improvements, including:

• Introducing Ping. Use Ping to follow your favorite artists and friends or connect with the world's most passionate music fans. Discover the music everyone is talking about, listening to, and downloading.

• Rent HD TV episodes for just 99¢ each. Watch them on your Mac or PC, on-the-go with iPhone or iPod touch, or in your living room with the all new Apple TV.

• Play your favorites on the all new iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, and Apple TV.

• Play music wirelessly with AirPlay on AirPlay-enabled speakers, home theater receivers, and iPod accessories.

• Explore many look-and-feel improvements throughout iTunes.

• Enjoy performance improvements which make iTunes faster and more responsive.

• Additional voice support with VoiceOver Kit for iPod.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Update your iTunes — 9.2.1 is here

If you have not done it already, head over to Software Update in your Apple menu (top left corner of the screen). What do you get in this version? Well, here's the information straight from Apple: 

iTunes 9.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Disables older versions of some incompatible third-party plug-ins
• Addresses minor issues with dragging and dropping items
• Addresses a performance issue when first syncing to some devices with iTunes 9.2
• Addresses an issue upgrading to iOS 4 on an iPhone or iPod touch with encrypted back-ups
• Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance
iTunes 9.2 comes with several new features and improvements, including:

• Sync with iPhone 4 to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on-the-go

• Sync and read books with iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4 and iBooks 1.1

• Organize and sync PDF documents as books. Read PDFs with iBooks 1.1 on iPad and any iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4

• Organize your apps on your iOS 4 home screens into folders using iTunes

• Faster back-ups while syncing an iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4

• Album artwork improvements make artwork appear more quickly when exploring your library

For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Apple's latest irritating technology patent: Let's try to see some good in it

As I read the new york times article, I was trying to make some sense out of it. I hope I am not the first person on the Internet to make the connection but I think this patent application probably makes sense.

1.  More than just premium products: With mass adoption of the iPod and iPhone line-up, Apple is not an "exclusive" market player. Especially withe the iPhone (and the iPod Touch), Apple is headed into "free" (as in free beer) territory. Perhaps not so much with the devices themselves, but the apps are stuck in a whirlpool that keeps sucking prices down. Not everyone is going to buy fifty dollar apps even if they are super awesome. Wolfram Alpha gets away with charging fifty dollars for its apps. The rest of the mortals need to stick to USD 1.99 price point at the app store (or even free). To help the developers (and pay its own hosting fees), Apple needs to  monetize this transaction. Enter an annoying scheme that makes advertisers so happy that the cost per impression is dramatically high enough to cover the cost of the app. 
2. More than just products: It might sound be an urban legend now (with the tremendous success of the Mac Book and Mac Book pro line) but at some point in history, there was a joke that actually sounded right. It said that Apple made more money from its patent on laptop design than from selling laptops. Couple this with the ridiculous 1-Click patent that Apple was forced to license and you have a no-brainer. Think of all the money msn live search bing would pay to have a piece of this technology. 
3. Maybe it is not for the money: This may be stretching it too far but could Apple be taking a patent on this topic to stop others from using it? This would force its competitors to come out in the open as far as pricing is concerned and that can only be a good thing for Apple as even today, it has an image (rightly or wrongly is another issue altogether) of being over-priced.
   

iTunes new version 9.0.2 released

iTunes 9.0.2 is available for general download. Here's what it has to offer to you:

iTunes 9.0.2 adds support for Apple TV software version 3.0, adds an option for a dark background for Grid View, and improves support for accessibility.

iTunes 9 comes with many new features and improvements, including:

• An improved look and feel, including a new Column Browser for easily browsing your artists or albums, movies, TV shows, and more.

• iTunes Store has a brand new look, with improved navigation for quick and easy exploration.

• iTunes LP and iTunes Extras create unique experiences that feature exclusive interviews, videos, photos, and more — available with select album and movie purchases on the iTunes Store.

• Home Sharing helps you manage your family's iTunes collection between computers in your home. iTunes can automatically transfer new purchases, or you can choose just the items you want.

• Genius Mixes are created for you by iTunes and play songs from your library that go great together.

• iPod and iPhone syncing now allows you to organize your iPhone and iPod touch home screens directly in iTunes. Syncing is now also more flexible, allowing you to sync individual artists, genres, or TV show and Podcast episodes.

• iTunes U items are now organized into their own section in your iTunes library.

• Sync with iPod nano (5th generation), iPod classic (Fall 2009), and iPod touch (Fall 2009).

• iTunes 9 also includes many other improvements, such as HE-AAC encoding and playback, more flexibility with Smart Playlists rules, simpler organization of your media files inside an iTunes Media folder, and more.

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It is too early for a review but here's a little advice. If you do not find the updated features appealing, just ignore the new version (92.8 MB download for mac) for a few days. As the notes above do not suggest there is any critical vulnerability with the existing version, it should be OK to hold off on updating your iTunes for a few days. I am updating it anyways. :)  


PS: This blog is not affiliated to Apple, Inc. in any way.This blog is not a replacement for personalized or professional advice. Please talk to your doctor about your wireless service.