iTunes 4.8 Coming

[Lynxpro]

You all do realize that lyrics are copyright owned property? Lyrics are most often owned by a different entity than the music and of the actual recording itself. Ever notice that statement in the CD booklet that says "Lyrics used by permission?" Notice that there is never a statement that says "Music used by permission." If Apple sells the lyrics as part of a song from iTunes then Apple must pay royalties (publishers would love it), that means the consumer pays more money for the product. Yes, there are many lyrics sites on the web, yet they are not selling the lyrics, otherwise they would have to pay royalties or be shut down.

We already pay music publisher royalty on every song/album we purchase through iTunes or from retail CDs, something to the tune (pun intended) of $0.08 per song. Its criminal how much we pay considering how many albums on CD are sold that do not reprint the lyrics in the booklets. ASCAP is worse than the RIAA in my book. They are the organization that threatens lawsuits on restaurants/coffee shops who don't pay them monthly royalties for live performances whether or not any of the performing acts are ASCAP members. And who gets the monies from what ASCAP collects? Artists at the top of the Billboard lists. If I owned a coffee shop, I'd have all the live acts sign waivers that they were responsible for any copyrighted material they performed and then would tell ASCAP to pound sand. I think their lawsuits are as bogus as the RIAA's and would crumble in court if a party was represented by a competent lawyer. BMI, the other large publishers group, is not as ethically challenged as ASCAP.

I'm sure Jobs could work something out in terms of lyrics for *purchased* tracks through the iTunes Music Store. The end users would be up a creek without a paddle expecting the same for incorporated albums from CDs into iTunes as well as the usual rogue MP3 file.

 

[Lynxpro]

Of course, to do that, Apple would have to improve the MP3-to-AAC conversion (and/or MP3-to-OGG) in the iTunes program itself (less lossless).

I thought I'd correct myself before anyone else did. I meant "lossy"...as in "less lossy."

 

[Lynxpro]

5. "BLEEEP" mode for editing naughty lyrics to make them more kid-safe or parent-compatible as it is. (I don't think any music player has done this.)

That's a good idea, but Apple wouldn't do it when they offer "clean" versions of otherwise *explicit* albums through the iTunes Music Store. They'd simply tell you to download the less-objectionable version, and gladly take your money while doing so...

Remember, Apple wants to hit critical mass with its music store, eventually supplanting retail CD sales...and they certainly want to be the company that does so and not Microsoft...

 

[JzzTrump22]

I want to see semething different. Not little updates, i want to see something completly different.

 

[Lynxpro]

At the time I didn't really care about audio quality (my speakers and headphones were both crap), but now that my collection's pretty large and I've moved over to my iMac G5 and some nice headphones, I've realized a lot of my songs sound like crap (not content-wise, though I've noticed that too a bit from early last year, lol).

You mean they sound like WMA files?

 

[Lynxpro]

HE-AAC is a part of the MPEG-4 spec, just like the AVC video codec is.

I'm hoping Sony has the *ballz* to insist that Microsoft's AV-1 codec (Windows Media 9/10) is dropped from the finalized American & European specs for Blu-Ray based upon the compression findings done by the SMPTE group. SMPTE found that Microsoft misrepresented (imagine that!) the performance of AV-1. If Sony (and Apple) insisted on it being dropped from Blu-Ray, not only would there be less licensing fees on Blu-Ray hardware, but also on the titles themselves. This would make Blu-Ray more competitive in the eyes of the studios since a Blu-Ray disc is more expensive to manufacture than an HD-DVD disc.

Consequently, Apple wouldn't have to support AV-1 in QuickTime7. They probably aren't anyway...

 

[Lynxpro]

No, let me correct you, by that logic you are entitled to scan the art yourself of the CD you have, just as you are entitled to "rip" a CD you own. But not download either at someone else's expense. Just because you have the CD, you are not entitled to download the songs for free, same with the art and the lyrics.

I disagree (on your right to download a song if you own it in another format and retain it), and I'd love to see it taken to court. Just like how the RIAA calls downloading songs theft, when it actually isn't since the RIAA labels do not offer commercial MP3s for download. It may be a form of conversion, which is another form of theft, but not theft outright.

Of course, this isn't going to get straightened out until the RIAA sues an end user who actually has the economic resources to fight them in court and take down these bogus scare-tactic court cases.

 

[Yvan256]

Yes, but chameeeleon is choosing AIFF because AIFF is likely to be around longer than Apple Lossless.

He could still use FLAC instead of AIFF. It's open-source, so no matter what new hardware/OS we get in the future, someone is bound to make a port of the tools.

Isn't the Apple Lossless format open, anyway? (available docs and all)

 

[Yvan256]

He's talking about re-ripping everything, but in a way that won't force him to do it all over again in the future if/when he decides to switch to a better codec.

Well, if you ask me, going with either AIFF, WAV or even FLAC (not sure on this one) will give him a lot of work when switching format...

iTunes gives you meta-data, including album art. The biggest part of putting one's music onto a computer system isn't in the ripping, it's in the tagging.

Unless you think having 1000's of files named "TRACK01.AIFF" is useful?

My personnal choice (and recommendation for such a situation) is still iTunes with the Apple Lossless CODEC, burned on DVD-Rs.

 

[Yvan256]

No, let me correct you, by that logic you are entitled to scan the art yourself of the CD you have, just as you are entitled to "rip" a CD you own. But not download either at someone else's expense. Just because you have the CD, you are not entitled to download the songs for free, same with the art and the lyrics.

He may be free to scan the album art himself, but in this case you're assuming he has a scanner. Not everyone has one of those.

A CD-ROM drive (or better), on the other hand, is now standard on nearly all computers.

Granted, that would still require a server with the album art and everything, but the iTMS already has that. Maybe it could pull the artwork when someone rips tracks directly from the CD (so P2P leechers couldn't take advantage of the service).

 

[ASZ993]

He may be free to scan the album art himself, but in this case you're assuming he has a scanner. Not everyone has one of those.

A CD-ROM drive (or better), on the other hand, is now standard on nearly all computers.

Granted, that would still require a server with the album art and everything, but the iTMS already has that. Maybe it could pull the artwork when someone rips tracks directly from the CD (so P2P leechers couldn't take advantage of the service).

I think its part of the same CDDB database used to get track names

 

[Yvan256]

Promoting OGG AND ACC usage helps Apple by encouraging end users not to think/use MP3. If there was a large shift, then Apple could eventually phase out MP3 support on the iPods and thereby increasing their profits from not having to continue licensing the format. Of course, to do that, Apple would have to improve the MP3-to-AAC conversion (and/or MP3-to-OGG) in the iTunes program itself (less lossless). Then Apple would only have to license MP3 usage through the iTunes program itself. Sure, Sony drew fire for a similar strategy for MP3-to-ATRAC conversion on their portables, but ATRAC does not sound as good as AAC, and only Sony uses ATRAC whereas other products from companies besides Apple supports (unencrypted) AAC files.

1. MP3 is here to stay, just like GIF wasn't really replaced by PNG, even for non-animated images. Dropping MP3 would simply give more anti-iPod arguments (yes, even years from now).

2. I doubt the MP3 license costs much, especially at the number of licenses Apple must be purchasing. Also, see point 1 again.

3. I also think Apple could benefit from this whole OGG/FLAC debate. Offer the formats in iTunes and update the iPod firmwares. If the first and second (and maybe even third) generation iPods can't use it, simply say it.

It may sound weird to ask Apple to support OGG and FLAC, but the more choices there is (AAC being the default setup and the format for iTMS), the more WMA gets irrelevant. Most people will stick with MP3 (even with iTunes+iPod), techies will be happy to see Apple support yet another open format, iPod bashers will have one less argument and Microsoft will still be seen as the "big bully who just won't support open-source". Unlike Apple, the "cool company who embraces industry and open-source standards".

 

[Yvan256]

I think its part of the same CDDB database used to get track names

CDDB has album artwork?

 

[Lynxpro]

1. MP3 is here to stay, just like GIF wasn't really replaced by PNG, even for non-animated images. Dropping MP3 would simply give more anti-iPod arguments (yes, even years from now).

Good point, but I think the real reason why GIF was never replaced is because the patents Unisys held finally expired. Its funny to see that since the expiration, Windows/Internet Explorer has no problems viewing GIF images. Coincidence? Had the dubious patents continued, PNG would've grown, unless Microsoft created their own file format and pushed heavily for its implementation.

It may sound weird to ask Apple to support OGG and FLAC, but the more choices there is (AAC being the default setup and the format for iTMS), the more WMA gets irrelevant. Most people will stick with MP3 (even with iTunes+iPod), techies will be happy to see Apple support yet another open format, iPod bashers will have one less argument and Microsoft will still be seen as the "big bully who just won't support open-source". Unlike Apple, the "cool company who embraces industry and open-source standards".

I totally agree with you on this and often thought the same thing. Apple should open the iPod to several formats, with the exception being WMA. Marginalizing WMA would be the best thing Apple could do. Although I'd go a couple of steps further and license FairPlay to a handful of MP3 player manufacturers. Why? Because the iTunes Music Store isn't the draw for iPod sales, its ancillary. If more players were allowed access to iTunes, Apple could easily defend itself against monopoly accusations, plus again it would strengthen AAC+Fairplay against the WMA challengers. It would also be the final nail in the coffin of Napster, Musicmatch, and other onliners. It would become a direct Apple vs. Microsoft endgame even before online sales reached critical mass. Jobs did offer 50/50 ownership/control with Sony over the iTunes Store, and I think he should offer it again since Sony now has a non-Japanese CEO (British, actually). Bringing Sony into the fold would bring AAC support to all Sony devices... the Playstation3, the PSP, Sony-Ericsson phones, etc, not to mention focusing SonyBMG on getting their entire combined album catalogs online in their entiriety. And that would be the best thing that could happen.

A year ago, the big rumor was Apple would purchase Universal Music from Vivendi. Instead, I think Apple should acquire EMI. EMI is cheaper, and they are the distributors of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Grabbing that key component to The Beatles catalog could successfully put pressure on "Apple Records" into settling their never-ending court cases against Apple Computer and could lead to iTunes Music Store exclusivity on The Beatles material online. Then Apple could do the logical thing and merge EMI with Warner Music, thereby bringing more pressure to get all RIAA backcatalogs online instead of the half-azz attempt that is currently going on. That would only leave Universal being the footdragger and the only member of the RIAA pushing for higher prices from online sales, thereby marginalizing them. C'mon Apple shareholders, make some noise!!!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

He may be free to scan the album art himself, but in this case you're assuming he has a scanner. Not everyone has one of those.

A CD-ROM drive (or better), on the other hand, is now standard on nearly all computers.

Granted, that would still require a server with the album art and everything, but the iTMS already has that. Maybe it could pull the artwork when someone rips tracks directly from the CD (so P2P leechers couldn't take advantage of the service).

Wait - that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Why not just make the album art available through the iTMS, and only the iTMS (not CDDB, for example)? This will stop P2P people from using it, and get the iTMS people the album art they want. Then, as far as the CD burning issue goes, that is dealt with by burning the music as if the album art wasn't there (since it can't be accessed outside the iTMS anyway, having a CD copy isn't going to make one jot of difference).

 

[shamino]

iTunes wish

Last week, I got a new car stereo that can play MP3 CDs.

Unfortunately, i realized that you have to manually convert or re-rip your files into MP3 format in order to make such a CD.

It would be really great if iTunes would automatically convert non-MP3 files into MP3 format when burning an MP3 CD (discarding or maybe caching the results once the CD is burned.) Sort of like how iPod shuffle owners have the option of converting everything to 128K AAC as a part of loading the iPod.

Right now, it's a real pain for me to manually convert a stack of files, burn the CD, and then delete those files.

(And yes, I'm aware that MP3s converted from AAC will lose quality. But this isn't a big deal, since the disc's purpose is to be played in the car. The convenience of 10 hours on a single disc far outweighs quality loss that won't be noticed over road/wind noise.)

 

[Rantipole]

Last week, I got a new car stereo that can play MP3 CDs.

Unfortunately, i realized that you have to manually convert or re-rip your files into MP3 format in order to make such a CD.

Now see here! A better answer would be if electronics makers started making AAC compatible devices.

 

[shamino]

Now see here! A better answer would be if electronics makers started making AAC compatible devices.

When I did my shopping, I noticed several Kenwood models with AAC support: KDC-MP4028, KDC-MP5028, KDC-MP628, KDC-X589, KDC-X789, and KDC-X889

Unfortunately, none of these have front-panel line-in jacks. All of their AUX connectors are on the back of the unit, meaning you have to snake a wire through the dashboard somewhere if you want to attach an iPod without an FM transmitter. The unit I got (a JVC KD-AR560) has a front-panel AUX input, which is where I will attach an iPod when I finally decide to buy one. I made a value judgement and decided that the front-panel AUX input means more than AAC support.

A unit with both would be absolutely phenomenal, but as far as I know, no such device exists right now. Maybe I'll have that option the next time I buy a car stereo, but I don't expect to do that until I get my next car, which (hopefully) won't be for many years.

 

[Bilvox]

garageband 2 update?

I have noticed some problems with crackling of tracks when it get beyond a certain number, like th audio drivers arent quite handling it or the buffer size is interfeiring.. any ideas?
perhaps an update is coming for garageband....?
-bilvox



http://www.bilvox.com/

 

[Rantipole]

When I did my shopping, I noticed several Kenwood models with AAC support:

That's a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I have yet to see any boomboxes or even CD player components for stereos that support AAC.

Anyway, ALL the in-dash car stereos should have input jacks at this point. What the heck is taking them so long?

 

[zigzag]

iTunes 5 bettter be cocoa and properly threaded!

 

[Diomedes]

Must-Have Features for next version of iTunes...(IMHO)

1. Nested playlists. (This may be the same as "folders' several people have mentioned.) I want to be able to nest a playlist within another one, but keep the nested playlist independent.
2. Multiple logical conditions for Smart Playlists. Right now, you can either have a Smart Playlist match all or any of the criteria. I want to have the option of having more than one logical condition, instead of having to create placeholder playlists. (Example: I want to create a playlist that has artist "Madonna" and Year After "1997" Except "Bedtime Stories".)
3. Options for the Shuffle command, similar to the options in Smart Playlists; i.e., have shuffle by highest rated, lowest rated, most recently played, etc.) And for the regular random, a more elaborate shuffling algorithm.
4. Option to retrieve artwork from Google for tracks you've imported.
5. MULTIPLE LIBRARIES, and ones that keep track of iPod(s) are associated with each one. I keep all my compressed music on my PowerBook, but all my CDs get encoded as AIFF files on an external drive. I'd like to see an elegant solution worthy of Apple. (This is not to knock Doug Adam's iTunes Library Manager, which works great. I just want to see this built-in the product.)

Nice to have:
1. CD-Text when burning playlists. Seems like an easy enough to do.
2. Mini-controls a la Synergy (maybe Tiger's Widgets will have this?)

 

[dongmin]

Am i the only one who thinks it's ridiculous that people are asking to be "wowed" by an update to a jukebox program? Come on, there's only so much you can do with a jukebox. Personally, I'd rather Apple kept it simple and easy to use, not bloated with features and playlist organizing tricks that most people wouldn't use 99% of the time.

But I have one complaint about iTunes, which I've had from day one: why oh why must there be a gap between songs??? There's nothing more annoying when I'm enjoying a DJ mix to hear that bloody gap between the tracks!!! CD players can do it. Winamp does it.

Not more bells and whistles...just basic things working like they're supposed to.

 

[cmvsm]

Am i the only one who thinks it's ridiculous that people are asking to be "wowed" by an update to a jukebox program? Come on, there's only so much you can do with a jukebox. Personally, I'd rather Apple kept it simple and easy to use, not bloated with features and playlist organizing tricks that most people wouldn't use 99% of the time.

But I have one complaint about iTunes, which I've had from day one: why oh why must there be a gap between songs??? There's nothing more annoying when I'm enjoying a DJ mix to hear that bloody gap between the tracks!!! CD players can do it. Winamp does it.

Not more bells and whistles...just basic things working like they're supposed to.

I'm not sure if you are already referring to this but iTunes does have a fadeout option between each song instead of just a gap. Sounds just like a radio station...

 

[Gump]

They need to add proxy support in preferences, no more reliance on Internet Explorer's proxy settings (PC version)!!

Also, it would be nice if when you exported your library as XML to re-import later, say in the event of a system backup, that it would export more than just the basic information.

I want the XML export to export the 'Date Added' information, too!