Apple has finally released the entirely revamped iTunes 11 app.
The newest version of the iTunes music player now features a brand new interface that is cleaner and simpler to use, with other features including a new App Store interface, iCloud integration, and a preview history that lets users quickly go back to recently previewed content.
The simplified new interface of iTunes 11 gets rid of the sidebar-based navigation found in earlier iTunes versions and moves to a more tab-like interface. Users can switch between various types of content like Music, Films, TV Shows (or TV Programmes), and Apps via a drop-down on the top left.
Once within a category, users will get various tabs to move quickly, with tabs to switch between Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, Playlists, Radio, and iTunes Match while in the Music category. The Songs view, however, is the old 'List' view that users are likely to be familiar with. The Album view also presents all songs from an album in a new format that includes album art on the side.
Moreover, the new interface also includes a feature called “Expanded view.” This feature allows users to click an album to quickly and simply see all of the content within an album. What this feature does is it saves users from having to search again while saving space within the player. Additionally, this view will provide iTunes Store-based recommendations for other music.
There is also a new MiniPlayer which takes less space but has more control and functionality. Apple states that the company “squeezed more features into an even smaller MiniPlayer. Now you can click the Up Next button to see which songs are playing next. And if what you see isn’t what you’re in the mood for, you can search your collection and choose a different song — without having to open your library.”
Finally, there are also bonus features which provide instant recommendations and help to choose the next album or artist on the line, which has been done with the help of Store picks that lets users just select an album, artist, or genre they like, and iTunes suggests similar music they may never have found on their own.
The iTunes 11 update has been a long time coming. The last major update, iTunes 10 was released back in Sept. 2010, with Ping being the most touted feature back then. Although there have been incremental updates along the way, they were nothing major.
In Sept. 2012, however, Apple announced that there are over 400 million iTunes accounts registered, and set up with the 1-Click purchase option, with a linked credit card.
The iTunes store currently sells from a range of 26 million songs.
