Apple updates iTunes and the iPhone OS

The updated iTunes sync screen. (Click to enlarge)
[PHOTO: Courtesy of Apple]

In addition to unveiling a new lineup of iPods, Apple today announced upgrades to its iTunes music-management software and store, along with making available a new version of the iPhone software for its smart phones and iPod Touch. All are available immediately.

iTunes version 9 adds the following key features to all iPods with displays:

iTunes LP. This includes expanded visual features to downloaded albums, such as live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, and album credits. But it's only available for a handful of albums from such artists as Norah Jones, the Grateful Dead, and Dave Matthews.

iTunes Extra. Similar to iTunes LP, this features documentaries, deleted scenes, interviews and interactive galleries you can download from iTunes. But, it too, is only available for a small number of titles, which include "Twilight," "Batman Begins," "WALL-E," "Iron Man" and "The Da Vinci Code."

Home Sharing. As the name implies, this lets you transfer music, movies, and TV shows among up to five authorized computers, allowing up to five iTunes libraries to be shared on a home network. It claims to filter out the portion of the shared libraries each user already has, and allows content to be imported directly to their libraries and for new purchases made at any computer on the network to be automatically added to all users libraries.

Genius Mixes. A DJ application that plays endless mixes of songs from your library that Genius thinks "go together." Just click on one of the mixes, and start playing it—and it will go on and on and on, like a radio station.

iPhone OS 3.1, available now for free, will allows iPhone and Touch users to organize their apps on their computer desktop, using iTunes, and to automatically appear on your iPhone with the same layout. It also adds the ability to sync music by artist and genre and sync photos by Events and Faces. [[The upgrade is free for iPhones, and $4.95 for Touches]]—Mike Gikas.

Comments

[Brian]

Radioio Grateful Dead stream is missing in the new Itunes 9 Radio

[Kerri Keating]

You should also note that on the nano the radio feature and on itunes 9 the radio feature. The only thing I see is that there is all sorts of versions of Rock but not Rock itself for the streams.

[Michael]

You should note, the upgrade for the Touch v2.0 still comes with a fee but it is now lower than the original upgrade. The current cost is $4.95 for the upgrade.