APPLE iTUNES 8

iTunes 8 Gets with the Times




Whenever Apple upgrades iTunes, people take notice. The new version, iTunes 8, brings some noteworthy additions-some of which are cosmetic and others that bring it more in line with how people are using digital music these days. The new window dressing in iTunes 8 consists of a tiled album-cover view and Visualizer update.


The big news, however, is Genius, a feature that in one click creates playlists from songs in your library that go together. It's somewhat similar to Pandora's seeded, automated playlist building, but it works locally, with pre-existing music as opposed to streaming Internet radio. Although Genius brings iTunes closer to Rhapsody, Pandora, and Slacker, two shortcomings still exist. First, Genius pulls from your existing library instead of exposing you to some new and perhaps undiscovered music. also, if you get new recommendations from the iTunes Store, you have to pay to download them, instead of checking them out for free the way you can with Pandora and Slacker.

Other upgrades in iTunes are harder to fault, such as its reconciliation with NBC, offering Battlestar Galactica, 20 Rock, Monk, and The Office in HD. Finally, new accessibility features are a nice inclusion, such as VoiceOver (for Leopard users) and Window-Eyes (for XP and Vista users), and a screen reader for downloading content.-Jamie Lendino

PC Magazine November 2008