| Product: |
iTunes2 |
| Date: |
17/12/01 (2222 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Easy to use, looks nice
Disadvantages: For Mac only, ony one library available
The website for Apple's new iTunes 2 software declares 'The world's best jukebox just got better'. Now that's a big claim to make. So does the product live up to it?
I came across the original iTunes for the first time when I got my Power Mac G4. I'd never really used a computer much to play CDs or MP3s before. There's a nasty thick firewall at work and no CD players on the PCs.
Still, I found iTunes one of the most intuitive, user friendly pieces of software I've ever used.
iTunes (and iTunes 2) has a number of purposes:
- playing CDs
- playing MP3s
- ripping tracks from CDs
- burning CDs
- listening to streamed radio stations
The user interface has changed little between versions. It has a simple, brushes steel finish (a little like that of Quicktime) and clearly separated fields for playlists and songs.
As well as displaying artist, song title and duration details, each recording stored in iTune's library has its own information card where you can store more information about which album it came from, which order the songs were on the album and when the song was recorded.
The songs are all stored in one central library and can be dragged into customised playlists. Playlists can be burned onto CDs with just one click.
Ripping has the same one-click approach. It's so simple.
My favourite feature though is the visual selection. You can fill a small section of or your entire screen with stunning, randomly generated visuals which reflect the beats and frequencies of the track being played. It's awesome to watch. Apparently some independent programmers have developed additional visual programmes which can be added to the system. I don't know where you get them from at the moment, but I will find out!
While iTunes is already a really impressive piece of software, iTunes 2 has some nifty new features.
The f
irst is a new Multiband Equalizer. For each song you have saved in your library, you can alter individual frequencies across a 10 band equaliser or choose from a list of 22 preset selections. The settings for each song can then be saved so you never have to adjust them again!
The other fab addition is the crossfader which helps eliminate those dull silences between songs. You can set the crossfade from one second to twelve. You can set it across your entire playlist or alter it for different songs. You can also do away with it all together if you want.
The crossfader is a fantastic device enabling you to create a seamless flow of music.
It's perfect for the lazy party DJ.
There are a few other alterations - apparently CD burning is now twice as fast as with the original iTunes and there's also support for Japanese, Korean and Chinese characters. The system also supports MP3 CDs on which you can burn up to 150 songs.
iTunes 2 is also designed to synchronise automatically with the iPod - Apple's gorgeous little silver MP3 player. It lets you pack 1,000 songs into the tiny devise using the speedy Firewire link. Since the iPod costs over £300 I don't think will be a feature of ITunes 2 I'll be testing out for a while (unless Santa is really good to me).
If you already have iTunes, you can download iTunes 2 free from Apple's website. It takes about half an hour and will automatically pick up your music library and replace iTunes.
It's compatible with all Apple systems that have built-in USB ports. There are separate versions available for OS 9 and OS X users and you can share your library between the OS 9 and OS X versions if you are running both on your computer.
If you're running iTunes and haven't upgraded to iTunes 2 yet, you're really missing out.
Once you've got it, your hi-fi could soon be feeling neglected.
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