The New Useful Features of iTunes 9

Yesterday, Apple released iTunes 9 (on 9-9-09) and I am in love with it. If you are an iPhone or iTouch user, then I think you will be just as excited about the changes as I am. I have a Mac so all of these options are for the Mac. Here are the new features that I have found the most useful.

iPhone/iTouch Applications Organization

You can FINALLY organize your apps from within iTunes. You can grab them from the large screen and drag them to any of the smaller screens on the right. I am finally able to organize my apps in a way that is logical to me. THANK YOU Apple!!  iTunes also shows you how large the apps are.

Syncing TV shows & Podcasts

You can choose a specific episode of a TV show or a podcast. In the above example, I was previously syncing the 3 most recent episodes, but now I can pick and choose exactly which episodes I want to listen sync to my phone. Now I can easily go back and listen to Jen’s shows that I missed right from my iPhone. This makes the syncing process much easier.

Syncing Photos

If you have a Mac and are using iPhotos, you can also sync pictures from certain events, albums or faces.

Genius Mixes

This feature is similar to the genius in the iTunes store, except that it mixes the music in your library. Here are 6 of my mixes. This could make for some interesting playlists and I’ll probably find songs I didn’t know I had.

iTunes Store

The home page looks completely different. I like the way it looks, but I did have a hard time finding the different categories within Music, TV Shows, Applications, etc. The main categories are along the top. And here is how you find the separate sections within each top category. If you mouse over the top category, then an arrow appears, click on the arrow and this is what you see.

Music Sharing

This is the Top Charts list on the Home page. If you click on the arrow next to the Buy and price, you see this. It allows you to do several things.

1. Give the song as a gift to someone instead of just giving them a generic gift card.
2. Add to your wish list. Now you can keep track of the songs that you would like to purchase when you have the money.
3. Copy Link. This lets you copy the URL of that particular song so you may include it in a post, e-mail, etc. Example – Miley Cyrus
4. Share on Facebook. It appears like this in your newsfeed on Facebook.
5. Share on Twitter. It appears in your Twitter stream like this.

This is what the music page looks like for an individual song. I like the clean look on the white background much better than the colored backgrounds of previous versions. If you click on the arrow next to the Buy Album, you get all the same 5 choices as above plus you can Tell a Friend via email.

If you move your mouse over any song, a circle appears to the left of the title. Click on that to listen to a sample.

Overall, I am really happy with the new features in iTunes 9. I am not the kind of person who wants to read a tutorial to figure out how to work my new software (or upgraded software) so I want it to be easy to figure out. Most of the new iTunes has been easy for me, but it will take some getting used to for me. I’m a creature of habit. If you like tutorials, Apple has a lot of them on their website.

Let me know what you thought of the new version.

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