In any effect , I ’m starting to wonder if I ’m receiving secluded psychic content from Steve Jobs via my iPod . Apple ’s iTunes declaration came just five day after I suggested that the company integrate lossless audio compression in iTunes and the iPod . Kooky !
Two and a one-half month ago , I groused about missing iTunes feature of speech and was joined by an avalanche of reaction fromMacworldreaders wish you . clear , people really care about iTunes and want to see novel features sum up to it . Let ’s go to the magnetic tape .
The good news program is that iTunes 4.5 does indeed introduce lossless compression to iTunes and the iPod . As I wrote last week , it ’s a with child via media between the lossy compression of MP3 and AAC and the gigantic Indian file sizes ( but pristine audio ) of AIFF . In my weblog token , I indicate that Apple adopt the FLAC standard for lossless sound recording . Thatdidn’thappen Wednesday . Instead , in what is not a surprising move for Apple , the company has decided to invent its own formatting , Apple Lossless Encoder .
Is Apple spurning dead good be technologies ? Is this another model of “ not - excogitate - here ” syndrome ? I ’m disturbed that it is . But we do n’t know the whole picture : perhaps ALE was necessary because be formats would n’t work with the current iPod hardware ; perhaps FLAC and its compatriots are actually enmeshed in sound or patent of invention issues that make commercial-grade support for them untenable ; perhaps the company decided to wrap up lossless compression in an Apple - invented format so that , one day , the iTunes Music Store can sell lossless euphony in the format ’s protected eq . I just do n’t know . But I hope Apple made the conclusion for some unspoilt reasons , because it ’s jilted standards for its own excogitation . Never a proficient sign .
( Update : Macworld ’s Jonathan Seff account that , according to Apple , the big difference between ALC and FLAC is speed — Apple order ALC is faster . Apple enunciate ALC is not based on FLAC , but was created by Apple itself . )
Marginally on the plus side : Apple in reality added , by sheer fortune , the lineament that prompt me to compose my particular in February :
That feature ’s in iTunes 4.5 . alas , it come in the material body of a confutative user interface conclusion , one made specifically to spur iTunes Music Store sales . In version 4.5 , if you select the arrow while in your personal euphony library , you ’re accept not to another part of your own Library but to the iTunes Music Store .
Now , I can see why Apple require to push the Music Store . That ’s fine . This is a free program and Apple needs to make money . And , in a badly good maturation , if you choice - get through the arrow let you move within your own depository library !
The problem is , there ’s no penchant to interchange - flop those behavior ! A simple click , by default , will always take you to the Music Store . That ’s blocking user selection in the name of meliorate music sale . And it ’s a shame . A unsubdivided orientation to toggle the behavior would be an light solution .
( Update : turn out there ’s a secret preference . Thanks toSven - S. Portsfor the info , via MacinTouch , Mac OS X Hints , and Schneb . Just enter
The new Party Shuffle feature looks like a clap , but I ’m disappointed that you ca n’t do a Party Shuffle from an attached iPod . ( Does n’t Malus pumila pull in that some of us shuttle our library around on our iPods when we ’re off from home ? ) The feature that pull together all tracks from compilations under a single “ Compilations ” creative person is fantastic . And the power to authorize 5 Macs rather than 3 is a real hidden gem of today ’s announcement . ( As for the new 7 - time limitation on play list electrocution , it seems like a non - number to me . ) The new impression features face cool , too , although I am nowhere near a printing machine , so I ca n’t test that one .
And I do n’t know what to call up about iMix , except that it ’s skillful to finally have some community feature on the iTunes Music Store . Go in advance , seek to find my playlists — I dare ya !
