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iTunes 4.9 With Podcasting Support

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tue Jun 28, 2005 08:01 AM
from the waste-of-bandwidth-and-time dept.
Businesses Media Media (Apple) Music Apple
eakthecat writes "Hot on the heels of the 4.8 release, Apple has released the next version of its popular iTunes jukebox software. Version 4.9 incorporates several new features, most notable of which is podcasting. The front page and iTunes webpages have not been updated yet, but you can get your greedy little hands on it or through the new podcasting link in the music store! !"
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  • "Mac-dotted" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by amichalo (132545) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:04AM (#12930458)
    The iTunes Music Store has "Mac-dotted" themselves. After getting 49, I tried to download some podcasts but the store that can serve up hundreds of millions of tracks is a bit overwhelmed right now. Try again later.

    In other news, Apple also modified its iPod line by removing the iPod Photo as a unique line:

    20GB COLOR iPod $299
    60GB color iPod $399
    1GB Shuffle $129

    • Re:"Mac-dotted" (Score:5, Informative)

      by the_unknown_soldier (675161) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:10AM (#12930492)
      The podcasts are held on the server of whoever makes them. Slowness of teh podcasts is most likely due to the fact that Curry/Madge can't handle the bandwidth hit.

      • If you look at Curry's blog it mentions that Apple is supposed to be distributing the podcasts they index on Akamai. They just haven't gotten that going yet.

    • Re:"Mac-dotted" (Score:4, Interesting)

      by FidelCatsro (861135) <<fidelcatsro> <at> <gmail.com>> on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:15AM (#12930521) Journal
      In the Euro market the Ipod 20GB colour costs 299 euros or 361 dollars.
      All the Euro prices are identical to the dollar prices (which is very annoying considering the dollars value right now) except for the 1GB shuffle which is 139.

      • Re:"Mac-dotted" (Score:5, Insightful)

        by zulux (112259) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @09:13AM (#12931020) Homepage Journal
        All the Euro prices are identical to the dollar prices

        The cost of doing business is *much* higher in western Europe than in the States. Hence, the higher prices - so that companies can attempt to recoup the taxes they must pay. It's not just Apple: Phillips, BMW, Mercedes and Virgin's products are more expensive in Europe - even if they are European companies.

        You didn't think that all those social services were free did you?

        • Don't stomp the world flat. It's complicated. (Score:4, Insightful)

          by ianscot (591483) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @10:32AM (#12931869)
          Inside of the last year-plus, the price of luxury goods from Europe has gone up dramatically here, too. The difference is almost strictly the decline of the dollar against the Euro.

          My own painful example would be Leica and Swarovski optics. A Leica spotting scope that cost 800 USD three years ago is now $1300. Leica isn't paying dramatically more taxes today than they were then. I still can't buy their dang scopes, and I could have back then.

          Anyone who's traveled in Europe or anywhere else could tell you that prices in different sectors of the economy can differ in ways that may or may not reflect the added costs you're talking about. Gas for private cars is much more expensive. Other stuff will be far cheaper than you'd find them in the US. And until the Euro there was tons of variation in those things from place to place. Soda in Paris, always expensive. Instanbul is cheap, but it's hard to say how cheap at a given moment because of Lira inflation.

          The world is not reducible to doctrines.

  • Annoying installer (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kevmo (243736) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:05AM (#12930461)
    Is anyone else annoyed that their is no real Windows "updater" for iTunes, and each update basically requires iTunes to reinstall, sometimes clobbering my settings that tell Quicktime to stop bothering me?

    I really wish that if Apple releases software for Windows that they actually put the work necessary into it to make it a good product. (Don't get me wrong, I still like iTunes, it just seems very unpolished in Windows).

    • Re:Annoying installer (Score:4, Informative)

      by chota (577760) <cghota@midsouth.ualr.edu> on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:10AM (#12930493) Homepage

      Hmm... I've never had the problems you've described, maybe you're using the iTunes + Quicktime combined installer instead of the iTunes-only one? In any case, when the "Register Quicktime" box comes up next time, set your clock forward about 4 years, click "Not Now" and then set your clock back to the real time. No more annoying pop-up. :)

      (Don't get me wrong, I still like iTunes, it just seems very unpolished in Windows).

      I think that may be by design, to get you to "switch".

      Also, it's now available on the website: Download iTunes 4.9 [apple.com].

        • If you drop the price of the Mac Mini $500, you get a free computer... Sure it needs more ram, but as an owner, it is a nice little machine...

          Lower the price of a 12inch powerbook $1000 and you have a free laptop...

          Are you a student? They have nice student discounts that are super easy to get.
            • I used a PowerBook G4 1ghz as my primary machine for about a year and it worked great for everything I wanted to do, including compilation and video editing. That's a significantly slower machine than the Mac Mini.

              Compiling programs works fine in the background of any modern Mac. It's been years since compiling software was a truly taxing task for a modern computer. I remember well when it took 15 minutes to compile and link my Unix-based BBS software on a 286. Thank goodness those days are long gone!

            • Re:Annoying installer (Score:4, Insightful)

              by porcupine8 (816071) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @10:49AM (#12932102) Journal
              Honestly, if I were a PC gamer, I'd treat it as another console. I'd have a PC for gaming, and a Mac for doing everything else. Because PCs do games better, and OS X does just about everything else better - the right tool for the job. If your current PC is still running fine, there's no reason to toss it if you get a Mac Mini - keep it around for gaming.

  • What's with the dept line...? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by chota (577760) <cghota@midsouth.ualr.edu> on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:05AM (#12930463) Homepage
    from the waste-of-bandwidth-and-time dept.

    Ouch!

    Can someone explain why this is a waste of bandwidth and time? Wouldn't a major company with a massive userbase supporting podcasting actually help the genre?

    Also, since (presumably) Rob hasn't actually *tried* the software, isn't judging it a little harsh?

  • Podcasting mainstream? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by grqb (410789) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:07AM (#12930475) Homepage Journal
    We'll see if this makes podcasting more mainstream. From what I've heard apple seems to be fairly committed to podcast support in iTunes, they've been consulting with some of the podcasting community so they obviously feel that podcasting is on the up-and-up.

    They must envision an economic model for podcasting one day, similar to their iTunes store I'm guessing, it'll be interesting to see how this develops.

    • Re:Podcasting mainstream? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Chyeburashka (122715) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:30AM (#12930640) Homepage
      When Rush Limbaugh [rushlimbaugh.com] is available via podcasting, it's mainstream. Regardless of your opinion of Rush, he's staying up with technology.

      I just updated to iTunes 4.9, so I guess it's time to run out and get my first iPod. So many choices, but it looks like the $299 new color iPod will be the one I'll get.

  • The Good:

    Rather nicely done. A good interface, the search function works, and the display is very iTunes-ish - to be honest, better than using iPodderX or NetNewsWire to import the songs, and you can add in custom feeds.

    I like the ability to tell it "Keep the most recent X and dump the rest" - for news based Podcasts, I usually have to do that manually with listened ones. Now, once I listen to it, it will automatically be taken out. Sweet.

    The Bad:

    No built in support for turning MP3 to bookmarkable AAC's. I don't see any kind of support for video podcasts (such as Rocketboom, which is odd since iPodderX can export the videos to iTunes, perhaps in support for a (someday) future video iPod).

    Otherwise, it's a nice addition, and it's going to be interesting to see where it goes. Kudos to Apple for getting it - now let's see how long it takes the Napster and Rhapsody folks to catch on ;).

    • Make bookmarkable workaround (Score:5, Informative)

      by mccalli (323026) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:40AM (#12930713) Homepage
      No built in support for turning MP3 to bookmarkable AAC's.

      A workaround for now (on OS X):

      1. Set your importing preferences to AAC
      2. Install this Make Bookmarable [dougscripts.com] Applescript
      3. Select the MP3, go to Advanced->Convert to AAC
      4. Select the newly-created AAC, run the Make Bookmarkable script on it
      Finished, and you only need to do steps 1 and 2 the once, of course. I've been using this to convert BBC radio captures to bookmarkable AAC for a while (workflow: Tivo->MP3->bookmarkable AAC).

      would agree that making an AAC bookmarkable could do with being integrated into the main interface though.

      Cheers,
      Ian

  • I just installed 4.9 on my mac (Score:5, Funny)

    by pHatidic (163975) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:17AM (#12930537) Homepage
    It feels way snappier than the last release.

  • Gnomedex and the pod father (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Ghost-in-the-shell (103736) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:19AM (#12930558) Homepage

    Adam Curry (yes that guy from MTV) is the father of Podcasting and as such he gave the keynote speech at Gnomedex this past weekend. The full keynote is also one of his many podcasts.

    (Ok, if you don't know a podcast is basically an audio file. The term originates from the idea of Broadcasting and the iPod. The idea is take your content with you and listen when you want. The CBC has some of their radio content available as a podcast. So the concept is catching on!)

    This keynote is well worth the listen. It is motivational, and it is focused. Users demand content and they don't care how the delivery method works (ATOM, RSS, etc). For the rest of the speech, go over to Adam's [curry.com] site for a link to the audio file. Listen, enjoy, and think about what he has to say.

  • hm (Score:4, Insightful)

    by speel3k (793160) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:23AM (#12930574) Homepage
    This is what i love about apple. They see the customers need and they execute simple as that.

        • Re:hm (Score:3, Informative)

          by Seanasy (21730)
          (I don't think there's any method for subscribing to podcasts not featured in the iTunes Music Store with Apple's new release)

          There is: Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast...

  • Also an iPod update (Score:5, Informative)

    by generic-man (33649) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:23AM (#12930575) Homepage Journal
    I'm also downloading a new iPod updater [apple.com] which is supposed to add Podcast support to "iPod with color display," "iPod with Click Wheel," and "iPod mini." Looks like the 3G series has reached its end-of-life as far as support goes.
    • It does work with 3Gs. I'm listening to podcasts on it now, although it appears as an ordinary playlist. I assume later models get a couple of extra features or something.

  • slick, but: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jeffehobbs (419930) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:25AM (#12930593) Homepage
    I think, technically speaking, it's as good an implementation as you're likely to see for a while.

    The only missed opportunity from my perspective is the lack of some peer-to-peer method of distribution of the podcasts. That would be awfully nice. As it is, if your podcast gets popular, you're going to have to contend with a hefty bandwidth fee, which leaves at least a vestige of the old-media power structure in place; those who have the bucks control the means of distribution. With a stripped-down BitTorrent or even a Gnutella-style "swarm" distribution model, your listeners could actually distribute your podcasts for you; truly listener-supported public radio.

    Otherwise, good stuff. More nice work by the iTunes team.

    ~jeff

  • IPOD UPDATE (Score:5, Informative)

    by the_unknown_soldier (675161) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:27AM (#12930603)
    Perhaps more interesting.. there is also an ipod update available!

    http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/

    This means that your podcasts will FINALLY be organised on your ipod, and your ipod will treat it like an audio book: press pause, come back later and it remembers where you are!

  • UI is a mess though (Score:3, Insightful)

    by JeFurry (75785) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:29AM (#12930626)
    Unfortunately, and unusually for Apple, some of the changes to the iTunes user interface are somewhat confusing.
    • Going to a category subsection of the podcast list on the iTunes Music Store results in a browser window that lists genres, yet clicking any genre goes back to music listings, without any way to return. Podcast genres are in fact listed under the "Artist" column, and podcast titles under "Album".
    • There is now a subgenre column in the iTMS browser, which could be helpful if I could find any way to read or set the subgenres of music I already own.
    • The "All" item sometimes disappears from the top of the Artist column, meaning that you have to change genre/subgenre in order to change artist.
    • There are "[x>" icons beside some podcasts which aren't explained (though they could just be part of the feed name).
    iPod/iTunes's strength is partly in its simplicity - it's a good app for many people's music archival and retrieval needs. Perhaps it's being pushed to do too much? Some of the recent additions such as photo browsing (which can't be anything but mediocre on a 2" screen) and the new podcasting facilities might be better suited to a different GUI rather than being shoehorned into the existing ones. I love the idea of Podcasting in iTunes, but it's different enough from album browsing to warrant a bit more GUI work.

    I felt the same way about MacOS X Tiger's slightly premature release - although it was quickly improved with updates, the "release as beta, fix afterwards" approach is one I'd come to expect more from one of Apple's chief competitors. I hope Apple don't continue down this path - their software has often been a comparative joy to use, and these annoyances reduce that enjoyment.

  • Prompted by BadFruit's BadApple? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Webs 101 (798265) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:29AM (#12930629) Homepage
    From the latest Netsurfer Digest:

    BadApple Plug-in for iTunes Podcasts

    At some point, Apple is going to add explicit support for podcasts to iTunes. Podcasts are really only long, often dull sound files, the 21st century equivalent of talk radio on cassette. Still, it's a fad, and since iTunes lets you look you for streaming broadcasts, why not podcasts, too? At least, so think the anonymous folks behind BadFruit, an outfit that just released the BadApple iTunes plug-in, ironically for the Windows version of iTunes only. The plug-in adds another link, called Podcasts, to the main iTunes window. Click on the link and you get a list of podcast categories. Drill down to download specific podcasts in iTunes and use them as you would any other iTunes sound file. BadApple claims to be pre-emptive insurance against any potential limitations Apple may place on the podcasts it may offer in future versions of iTunes. CNET speculates that MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, who now has a new site called MP3Tunes.com, is the anonymous author of BadFruit.
    BadFruit: http://www.badfruit.com/ [badfruit.com]
    CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5754227.html [com.com]
    MP3Tunes.com: http://www.mp3tunes.com/ [mp3tunes.com]

    • Short answer: No.

      The goal of BadApple is clearly stated in their FAQ [badfruit.com]:

      Why was BadApple created?

      The goal is to make iTunes and iPods interoperate with other piles of media. I'm worried that when and if Apple adds podcast support they will only list a few podcasts that they approve. Remember this is a company that sues web sites that say good things about their upcoming products - bad Apple! Podcasts are significant because they offer a wide-range of diverse topics and ideas, not just those endorsed by one
    • Didn't Apple announce that they'd be adding podcasting support at WWDC? So I doubt this is in response to a third-party app that appears to have been released more than a week after WWDC.

    • BadFruit's BadApple is a BadProduct (Score:5, Informative)

      by nuxx (10153) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @09:38AM (#12931281) Homepage
      People may be interested in my write-up on Badfruit's BadApple which I posted to LiveJournal here [livejournal.com].

      In short, this tool modifies your HOSTS file to point the iTunes Music Store link in iTunes to a local copy of IIS. That copy of IIS serves a python app which hosts a fake music store to offer Podcasts. This copy of IIS is open to the entire world (listening on *:80) running some rather untested software, and the redirection (via the HOSTS file) essentially 'breaks' iTunes Music Store functionality. This behavior (still) does not appear to be documented on BadFruit's site.

      It also appears to have some hooks into mp3tunes.com, but I wasn't able to completely determine what. BadFruit may be selling music or collecting referrals, I'm not sure which.

      In short, please use lots of caution before installing this software. It makes some rather drastic changes to one's machine, and these aren't documented on BadFruit's site.

  • DAAP & iTunes Music Sharing (Score:4, Informative)

    by crazney (194622) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @09:04AM (#12930939) Homepage Journal
    In case anyone was wondering, Apple have not changed the DAAP authentication [craz.net] with this new version of iTunes. So my various iTunes apps for linux, etc [craz.net] still work.

  • Podcasting Laws? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by randomErr (172078) <tekrat.2d@com> on Tuesday June 28 2005, @09:27AM (#12931174) Journal
    Here is something that I've been wondering: What are the legal guidelines for podcasting? I know the ones that are talk and original music are fine. But what about people who play their favorite song or remake of existing songs?

    I listen to a couple of podcasts where people play their favorite songs and I was wondering if that is legal? I know this is offtopic but this one question have yet to find an answer too.

  • obGrampa (Score:5, Funny)

    by djdavetrouble (442175) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @09:43AM (#12931319) Homepage
    I don't read blogs, and I don't intend to listen to any 'podcasts' either. Books are for reading, and iPod's are for music. As far as I can tell, the main disadvantage of these digital soapboxes is that you can't hurl tomatoes at the orator. These newfangled ideas are nothing but chicanery perpetrated by charlatans. In fact, the iPod is nothing more than a cassette player crossed with a cue ball.

    • Re:What IS podcasting? (Score:5, Informative)

      by djkoolaide (729441) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:05AM (#12930464)
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting [wikipedia.org]

    • Re:What IS podcasting? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:06AM (#12930472)
      Podcasting is an audio distribution system based on RSS with enclosures. This allows anyone to setup their own audio show and easily distribute it to subscribers. One of the pioneers of Podcasting is Adam Curry http://www.curry.com/ [curry.com]
      • Okay. If podcasting exists then it stands to reason that it already had such support. Isn't it just downloading someone's audio and playing it? Is iTunes merely adding "sites" to iTunes that you can goto and GET audio like this?
        • If podcasting exists then it stands to reason that it already had such support.

          It was enabled by third-party software. Check out this site [ipodder.org] for links for some software and the podcasting feeds.

          Isn't it just downloading someone's audio and playing it?

          Yes, but it's also more than that. The podcast's website typically is set up with an RSS-type feed (coded in XML, I believe) which your podcasting-enabled software automatically checks each day or so, downloads the new and/or updated content, transfers it
    • A better question is, "why should I care?" I understand that you visit people's sites, download their rants and listen to them on the go... but I still don't "get" it. Why is this useful to me? I see so many geeks excited about this, and I feel I must have missed out on something. Does this appeal to the whole blogger group... who enjoy hearing about a complete stranger's day, or listening to them voice their opinion? Because that's what podcasting seems like to me... again, I wonder if I'm missing som

      • Re:What IS podcasting? (Score:5, Informative)

        by SFEley (743605) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @09:00AM (#12930888) Homepage
        If it was news or other information, I could see the usefulness, but podcasting seems like a fancy soapbox for people.

        Some of it is news [slashdotreview.com]. Some of it's music [coverville.com]. Some of it's audiobooks [podiobooks.com]. And yeah, some of it's just personal life and ranting. But don't limit your perspective to just those. It's basically whatever you want.

        My own podcast narrates science fiction short stories [extraneous.org]. We also do some reviews and commentary, but I've made a solemn promise on it never, ever to simply tell you about my day.

      • A better question is, "why should I care?"

        I'll tell you why I care: after having a tivo for years now, I like my entertainment time shifted. The few things I listen to on the radio are mostly NPR broadcasts, and mostly on an inconvenient times for me. So I get the podcast versions of those. Done.

        I don't listen to lame ass rants made by some kid in his mom's basement, and I'm guessing that few adults do. Podcasting has been going on a lot longer than you think. Take for example Audible [audible.com]. They've been doing it since way before it was trendy, and I've been downloading (and in the earlier days paying for) NPR content from them. Simply because it's convenient for me.

    • Re:What IS podcasting? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Zhe Mappel (607548) on Wednesday June 29 2005, @01:51AM (#12939398)
      If you disentangle people from the teat of majority culture, interesting possibilities arise.

      Podcasting can do that.

      In its small way--like blogging and posting--podcasting is helping to unplug people from the central switchboard of corporate media.

      No, it's not as if this is the Enlightenment, and you have a lot of Voltaires running about beaming great thoughts into mp3 files, and suddenly we'll throw off the tentacular church and state. Someone blabbing about his day through your expensive tiny white headphones does not a revolution make.

      Doesn't matter. American society is like Terry Schiavo: if you want excitement and growth, brother, you've come to the wrong vegetable. That's why anything outside of the grey, soggy, monolithic blob that constitutes our majority media is welcome at this stage--just to show people that they don't need Big Daddy Fox or Mommy MSNBC.

      Podcasting removes these baleful arbiters. It shortcircuits the money power's monopoly on the conversation. It says, "Who the fuck needs a doorknob like Brit Hume, anyway?"

      The early signs are promising. With each download, podcasting happily extends the trend of declining audiences for corporate media. And that is a Good Thing. The less the great obedient horde lines up for more orders, the better.

    • Re:Apple Getting Dumped By IBM (Score:5, Funny)

      by repetty (260322) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:30AM (#12930641) Homepage
      >> Apple getting dumped by IBM is going to put a quick end to the iPod fad.

      Put the drugs down and back away slowly....

    • Apple getting dumped by IBM is going to put a quick end to the iPod fad.

      In a year Apple is going to be struggling to survive as just another overpriced x86 OEM. Media companies know this, are going to start distancing themselves quietly and looking for new partners to take Apple place over the next year or two as revenues/profits start to dry up.

      It was fun while it lasted, but Steve's tempertantrum/unwillingness to pay for a mobile PPC chip is going to be the death of the company over the next couple

    • Well, on the Mac, you're supposed to use AppleScript to work with iTunes. I wrote a little podcast aggregator using Cocoa and it uses AppleScript to interface with iTunes to add/delete tracks and manage a Podcast playlist. Quite easy. XCode makes Mac development really easy.

    • Think the rock hit your head (Score:4, Insightful)

      by SuperKendall (25149) * on Tuesday June 28 2005, @11:59AM (#12932906)
      I'm just waiting for Apple to remove sharing and cd burning all together. If you think that isn't their long term goal your kidding yourself.

      I think that rock hit your head. Apple has removed some features that most people don't use, and a few people (like you or I) miss.

      But burning and sharing removed? Sorry, that's not going to happen because they are core features that Apple is promoting. Why would you buy an Apple laptop and a desktop if you couldn't share? Why would you use iTunes if you couldn't burn CD's? It makes no sense.

      Basically Apple racheted down the iTunes features to those used in a home setup, and they are pretty much done it seems. Although I am also sad iTunes no longer lets me share with everyone in the office as well as it used to, I have to say that since there's no other choice at all that lets me share anything whatsoever I can't be too mad at them. Why not bitch that Windows Media Player has no sharing at all?

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