iTunes 7 – New Features

Tools, Windows

iTunes, the proprietary digital media player from Apple had a major version upgrade from 6 to 7. The same was released yesterday and I went on a hunt to find out the supposedly cool new features of iTunes.

When I connected my iPod, as expected iTunes launched automatically and came up with this screen !

Most of the options that were available via the Preference dialog are now available via the main iTunes screen. I was also prompted to upgrade my firmware version and assured that anytime I could restore the iPod back to the original factory setting. (I went ahead with the firmware upgrade and iTunes stopped responding ! I later had to kill iTunes, and after restarting it, it was not able to detect my iPod )

Capacity Widget

The widget showing the capacity of the iPod really looks cool. You can get a clear picture of the kind of media taking up more space on your iPod.

One “hidden” feature of this widget (since no review of iTunes 7 seems to have mentioned it) is that you can repeatedly click on the colored bar to toggle the information . Other than the size, you can see the number of files of each type and also the length of the media.

According to Apple, this widget can be used to allocate capacity for specific type of content, I somehow was not able to figure out how this could be done.

Backup Data

Now you can easily back up your entire iTunes Library.

Interesting eh ? Nope, you can back up only to a CD or DVD and as far as I understood you can only back up the iTunes Library. I am not sure if this includes the data on the iPod. (Somebody correct me If I am wrong). To backup your iPod data, I guess you have to still to resort to tools like CopyPod.

Is that It ?

Nope, there are lot of other features

1. You can now download Movies and TV Shows Again its a paid service and I am not sure If I am going to use it.

2. iPod Games are now available for download at 4.99$.

3. Gapless Playback – Seamlessly transition from one song to another.

4. OnScreen Video Controls – iTunes video has a brand-new interface that gives you more control, even at full screen.

5. iTunes Store has a revamped UI and one cool change is the addition of CoverFlow.

6. iTunes 7 installs a new component called Apple Software Update for Windows which can check for iTunes and Quicktime updates for Windows.

7. For more check out these links from TUAW

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Graham Nov 29, 2006 Link

    I just got my 2000t and all of my songs are skipping in iTunes, and I cant figure out why. If someone could help me out and tell me how to fix this I would really appreciate it because its driving me crazy. Thanks for the replys.