iTunes 7.0 Special Report: Release notes

Apple announced a new version of iTunes, 7.0, at its special event in San Francisco on September 12th, 2006. The new release allows access to various enhancements made to the online music/video store and introduces some new navigation mechanisms.

Television shows downloaded from the iTunes store are now available in a 640x480 resolution -- quadruple the resolution previously offered.

Another key improvement in iTunes 7.0 is the ability for the iPod to push music back to the computer -- a capability previously offered only through third-party utilities. Now when a single iPod is connected to one authorized Mac, then another, it will be able to synchronize libraries among all three (or more) devices, rather than having to be synchronized with only a single Mac at a time.

iPod-related improvements also include a new management interface that shows a graphical representation of iPod hard drive capacity (broken down into photos, videos, audio and other). iPod management is no longer accomplished through the Preferences pane.

iTunes will also now automatically download cover art for items in your music library if you are a registered member of the online store.

Also now available through the iTunes store are movies. Currently only available in the United States, the movie store will feature titles from Walt Disney's four studios: Pixar, Touchstone, Disney, Miramax. Like television video, the movies will be available in 640x480 resolution.

The movies will take anywhere from a half hour to an hour to download on a high-speed connection, but can also be streamed a few minutes after the download starts.

Pricing starts at $9.99 with new releases available for $12.99 for the first week, then scaling up to $14.99.

Unfortunately, the movies cannot be burned to disc, but they will be available for download the same day DVDs are released.

An apple press release states:

The iTunes Store now features great new releases and library titles from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films, such as "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," "Shakespeare in Love," "The Princess Diaries," "The Incredibles," "National Treasure," "Toy Story," "The Rock" and "The Rookie." Customers can purchase and download movies from iTunes the same day they become available on DVD, or pre-order upcoming movies which are automatically downloaded when they become available. Customers get the same great one-click download experience for movies that they enjoy with music and TV shows."

Index:

• AAC files and mobile phones: Problems playing, possible fix
• Accessing iTunes media in iMovie, other applications: Problems and fixes
• AirTunes streaming broken? Store issues? Enable IPv6
• Album browser confusion
• Artwork issues: How to make album covers portable, problems dragging and dropping
• Authorization problems: Unable to playback purchased media, more
• Brighter video display
• Downgrading (reverting) to iTunes 6.0.5
• Downloading purchased media: -50 errors, other
• Equalizer not appearing, fix
• Incomplete ID3 tags for converted files
• Inexplicable crashes: Bad plug-ins, other fixes
• iPod synchronization issues: Problems transferring music, crashes, making sure software is up to date
• Make sure you are using QuickTime 7.1.3
• Older versions of iTunes locked out from store
• Play/skip count discrepancies
• Playback problems with audio and video: Fixes (including disabling OSS 3D)
• Podcast problems, inadvertently deleted: Fixes
• Re-purchase required for higher resolution
• Release notes
• Satellite-based connections: Problems downloading media with
• Screen redraw slowness
• Slow music importing/conversion: Fixes
• Smart playlists not updating on iPods
• Store preview problems
• Two tracks playing simultaneously
• Using multiple libraries, selecting library at startup
• Volume Logic incompatibility: Workaround

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