

In an effort to simplify iTunes' user interface, Apple also stripped out one of the features power users loved: the option to break out functions into their own windows. That's a bummer for any live-show or big 1970s concept CDs you might have planned on ripping. You just can't tweak any of your existing music to make use of the feature from the options editor. One of the best examples: Pink Floyd's "The Wall."Ĭuriously enough, gapless playback in iTunes 11 still works just fine. In iTunes 11, though, it's MIA.Īs the name suggests, the gapless playback feature plays songs back to back, without any break - something that's useful for tracks meant to be in immediate succession. Google's defunct Nexus Q device (which is currently being reworked) wanted to take that same idea and turn it into a standalone product. If a party host agreed, that song would go on, making the whole thing feel a little more social. What made it really stand out, however, was a feature Apple added in iTunes 8.1 that let other people at your party put in a request for a song from their mobile device, and even vote on upcoming tracks. You could even tweak it to make sure it wouldn't play the embarrassing chunks of your music collection by limiting selections to a certain playlist or genre (see above). ITunes DJ was a neat feature that would let you put together a never-ending playlist in a pinch. Third-party tools like $40 TuneUp can bridge the gap with a feature that finds and deletes duplicates, grabs album art, and fixes metadata. In iTunes 11, the feature is missing in action. It wasn't great, but it was something, and free.

In iTunes 10.7 and earlier, Apple offered a built-in tool that would sniff out duplicates and put them on a single page. By default, iTunes won't let you re-add another music file if you've already added it, but accidents happen and large libraries can overlap. In the world of collecting and organizing digital music, you might get a duplicate or a thousand in your library. The Cover Flow feature remains on iPhones and iPods. Apple's even been sued over using it, and initially lost a $625 million patent lawsuit until the judge reversed the jury verdict.Īpple completely nixed Cover Flow in iTunes 11 in favor of its new album view, which will expand out an album to show you the songs within when you click on it.
#ITUNES ALBUM FLOW SOFTWARE#
Short of the built-in visualizer, it was really one of iTunes' biggest eye candy features, but it was also a way to show off the fluidity and smarts of the software when browsing through music with a multitouch trackpad. The feature put album covers in a "flow" together, that let you flip between them as if they were floating in front of you. Few of the deep-sixed features seem like logical deletions, and others are already bringing ire from longtime users who expected to see them on the other side of the update.Ĭover Flow was the headlining feature of iTunes 7 in 2006. Apple's also more deeply integrated iCloud and its stores within the software.īut some of that march towards simplicity has come at the expense of some old features.
#ITUNES ALBUM FLOW FREE#
The software, which went out yesterday as a free update, comes with a redesigned player and a more extensive album view for browsing music. Apple's latest iTunes brings plenty of new features, but also puts some golden oldies out to pasture.
