Continuing the (very welcome) trend of rapid, bug-fix (including the nasty HD overwrite Dieter wrote about a while back!) and stability themed product updates, Apple has released its first minor bump to iTunes 8 (see our feature overview), the aptly numbered 8.0.1. The list of changes, voluminous by Apple’s standards, include (via Macrumors):
Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
Improves checking for updates from the App Store.
Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.
Head on over to Apple Software Update to get the latest — and hopefully greatest version for your iPhone. Then come back here and let us know how it’s working for you, and… er.. whether it breaks anything else…
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TUAW (nice redesign, guys!) notices that the iTunes App Store no longer has a link on the lefthand side to browse all free apps. The best we have now is the Top 100 Free Apps over on the right. TUAW is hopeful that Apple will bring back the link to browse all them free apps, and indeed, so are we. Even stores that traditionally only sold for-pay mobile apps like the Mobihand store sister-site WMExperts have seen the writing on the wall and added a link for free apps.
Fear not, though, loyal TiPb Readers. We have the link to browse all 90 pages of free apps, over 1850 apps in total, right here. Go on, browse those free apps, don’t let the man keep you down. Browse all Apps
Update: Turns out that you can, in fact, stop the signal. The “Browse all free apps” listing linked above contains, well, a lot of apps that ain’t free. Could it be that Apple got sick and tired of developers listing their apps as free to move up the top apps chain, then switching to for-pay to bring in the cash? Our best guess: Apple must not have a good, automatic way to categorize “free,” so they took the above link down to tweak the store.
Let’s Rock, iTunes 8, iPhone 2.1 update, and of course, an extended rant [ED: with some cussin', beware!] on the App Store debacle. Tune in!
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As we mentioned earlier, when you purchase an HD TV show from iTunes you’re actually getting two copies of the show — one version in HD and another in standard definition for your iPhone. They’re two separate files and, well, apparently they don’t always go great together. Ars Technica is reporting that when iTunes gets around to downloading the SD version, some users are finding that it’s overwriting the HD file.
They recommend turning on “Allow simultaneous downloads” and also offer a sneaky quit-and-restart iTunes trick. If that doesn’t appeal to you, just sit tight, Apple’s aware of the issue and will likely manage to fix it up (here’s a hint, Apple, just append the resolution of the video to the end of the filename).
How about it: are you downloading HD content yet?
Joy of Tech are geniuses. Read their cartoons. Laugh. Or just smile knowingly. ‘Nuff said!
iTunes 8 is here and 95% of y’all are definitely going to want to get your upgrade on. A few of you might not until the pwnage situation clears up. A few more might want to avoid that Blue Screen of Death thing on Vista, although the good news there is we now have a decent fix (check that link).
Ok, so now what are we getting with iTunes 8? Follow us after the break!
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UPDATED: Reseting everything, including the router, solved the problem.
After Apple unleashed 2.1 today, and I downloaded and installed it with nary a snag or bump, I thought everything was pretty much apps with my Apps. Needless to say, tonight I whipped out my iPhone’s handy Apple Remote App to help out with a little YouTube searching, only to discover that while my libraries (desktop, laptop, Apple TV) were all still set up, none of them would connect. (They’d all worked flawlessly, immediately prior to iTunes 8 and iPhone 2.1).
I removed the libraries and tried to set them up again, but can’t get the iPhone to show up in iTunes in order to type in the verification PIN. I’ll continue to trouble shoot and report back if I come across any fixes.
Anyone else having this problem?
Seems iTunes 8 for Vista 32/64 will crash if you hook an iPhone or iPod up to it, or, you know, look at it funny. Gizmodo says some users are having luck reverting back to 7.7, or doing a complete uninstall and then installing 8.0. Apple, meanwhile, is asking for crash logs to try to figure out what’s happening.
Could Apple’s Quality Assurance department really not have any Vista machines in-house to run tests on? Any other company, and we wouldn’t even ask but as reader Bryan points out in the comments:
Apple, you’re looking more and more unstable as 2008 progresses. I’m not trying to be a jerk, but today’s press conference was absolutely unnecessary; these were minor product line changes, not something worth throwing an “event.” Please invest more in QA and less in these events.
We’d joke it was the new Gates/Seinfeld ad pressure, but we figure Vista users aren’t in a real laughing mood over this. For my part, I haven’t installed iTunes on my Vista machine yet, but now I’ll make a point of it. Let’s see what happens…
And Apple, break’s over, b’okay?
QuickTime 7.5.5 was the prep, Front Row 2.1.6 the side dish, but now the main event, iTunes 8 itself, is available from Apple for your downloading pleasure!
Apple Says:
iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don’t already have.
With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (120GB), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.
iTunes 8 and iTunes U are now accessible with VoiceOver on your Mac.
Updated: Now available via Software Update, or you can grab it from Apple.com right now!
It wasn’t MacWorld 2007, was it? Too much hype, too little delivery? Rumors of secret features and analysts wetting themselves over lower-margin product revelations set the bar too high? Or did Apple just decide to slip under it this time?
Either way, for iPhone lovers like we here at TiPb, Apple spared only about 10 seconds worth of attention. Highlights were limited to Firmware 2.1, which will be available Friday and include better battery life, less crashy apps, and… working 3G?!
Apple’s already made their money for the year on the iPhone, however, so it was time to pump the holiday purses: iPod Nano and iPod Touch. Read on for pics and the full roundup!
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