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Apple debuts iTunes 7
Tuesday, September 12, 2006 - 02:18 PM EST

Apple today announced iTunes 7, the most significant enhancement to the world's most popular music jukebox and online music and video store since it debuted in 2001. iTunes 7 delivers stunning new features such as the new album and Cover Flow views of music, TV shows and movies, enabling users to quickly find titles in their library as well as casually browse through and re-discover titles they already own. In addition, the iTunes Store is now offering over 75 movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films, that customers can purchase and download to watch on their computers and iPods, and soon on their flat screen televisions with Apple's upcoming iTV player. Movies will become available on the iTunes Store the same day they are released on DVD, with new releases priced at $12.99 when pre-ordered and during their first week of availability, and $14.99 thereafter, and library titles available for just $9.99 every day.

MacDailyNews Note: iTV is the project's internal code name and will not be the final product name.

"Here we go again! First music, then TV shows, and now movies," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, in the press release. "In less than one year we've grown from offering just five TV shows to offering over 220 TV shows, and we hope to do the same with movies. iTunes is selling over one million videos a week, and we hope to match this with movies in less than a year."

"ABC and Disney Channel were the first networks to offer television programming on iTunes, and we're once again breaking new ground as The Walt Disney Studios becomes the first to debut feature films on the iTunes platform," said Robert Iger, president and CEO, The Walt Disney Company, in the press release. "Disney is committed to providing innovative ways for audiences to enjoy their favorite entertainment content, and our association with Apple is yet another example of how we continue to reach consumers on their terms, regardless the time, location or device."

"Steve Jobs and Apple have consistently demonstrated that they have their finger on the pulse of today's audience with regard to legal downloads of music and television shows, and our presence on iTunes will now allow us to deliver Disney's films in this popular and convenient format," said Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, in the press release. "Not only are we proud to be expanding our association with Apple, but we feel that this new venture meets a growing demand for movie viewing that will ultimately expand the market for our films."

The iTunes Store has quickly become the world's most popular video download store, selling over one million videos per week. The iTunes Store began selling TV shows with five shows from ABC/Disney less than a year ago, in October 2005, and rapidly expanded its library to over 220 television shows from over 40 networks today. The iTunes Store also features the world's largest catalog of online music with over 3.5 million songs and has sold a stunning 1.5 billion songs, making it the world's most popular digital music store.

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.

With iTunes 7, all videos purchased from the iTunes Store are downloaded in near-DVD quality at a resolution of 640x480 (up to 480, depending on the aspect ratio), which is four times higher than before. Downloaded videos can be played on computers and iPods. iTunes 7 also includes new features to better organize and enjoy digital music and video, including expanded parental controls, an iTunes video playback window with on-screen controls, and the new Cover Flow view that lets you visually browse your entire video collection by cover artwork.

The iTunes Store now also offers downloads of popular video games for fifth generation iPods, including "Tetris," "Mahjong" and "Mini Golf" from Electronic Arts Inc.; "Pac-Man" from Namco Networks America Inc.; "Cubis 2" from FreshGames, LLC; "Bejeweled" and "Zuma" from PopCap Games, Inc.; "Texas Hold'em" and "Vortex" developed by Apple, all available beginning today for $4.99 each.

iTunes 7 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Store and is available as a free download immediately from http://www.itunes.com . Purchase and download of content from the iTunes Store for Mac or Windows requires a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. Television shows and feature films are available in the US only, and video availability varies by country. Games are available for download in the 21 countries in which iTunes operates and play on the fifth generation iPod. New release feature films are $14.99 each and other feature-length films are $9.99 each, television shows are $1.99 per episode, music videos and short films are $1.99 each and games are $4.99 each.

More info and download link for iTunes 7 here.

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Related articles:
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Apple intros new iPod nano with new aluminum design in five colors and 24-hour battery life - September 12, 2006

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Sep 12, 06 - 01:33 pm Comment from: DBS

yet the stock went down a lot

the new Nano should bring it up

Sep 12, 06 - 01:35 pm Comment from: Eric

Hopefully Steve annouced iTV today, but it will be shipped early???

Sounds very cool.

Sep 12, 06 - 01:36 pm Comment from: me

iTunes 7 cover art browsing is so freaking sweet I cannot put it into words!

When you install, it will convert all your songs so they will playback seeemlessly and it will get album art cover including for TV shows.

So when you browse by cover, it it very timemachine-esq except it is left-to-right. The covers glide as you "flip" through them. This is a great enhancement!

Sep 12, 06 - 01:37 pm Comment from: Jack Taylor

Nice, good idea about the names and I like the way you can send your songs from your ipod to another computer, but I WANTED A BIGGER SCREEN!!!!!!!

Sep 12, 06 - 01:42 pm Comment from: phone driver

Just installed iTunes 7 and, when looking at custom install options, noticed a "phone driver" that was not yet available as an option for install. Has this always been there.

Sep 12, 06 - 01:44 pm Comment from: Ampar

7 is pretty cool. How about iTVo for the new set-top box?

Sep 12, 06 - 01:45 pm Comment from: itunes phone?

iTunes Phone is a greyed out option when installing and chosing "Customize"... Did I miss that announcement?

Sep 12, 06 - 01:45 pm Comment from: Dave's not here

I wanted a bigger screen too, but the iTV player is a bigger announcement, and so is the higher resolution. Apple is moving into the livingroom!!!

Sep 12, 06 - 01:46 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

I am downloading A Bug's Life.

It's a 1.08 GB download and it appears as though it will take 33 minutes (give or take with all this browser activity I'm doing). The movie cost me 12.99.

MDN MW: Large. As in, you know it.

Sep 12, 06 - 01:46 pm Comment from: Ampar

Did Apple buy Coverflow? I can't access their website.

Sep 12, 06 - 01:47 pm Comment from: Sure am relieved?

what are the DRM limitations?

and, especially, can you burn movies to a DVD?

Sep 12, 06 - 01:51 pm Comment from: Confused

I know at least one other person is aware of this. Coverflow was already a peice of software which did the exact same thing and has been around for a while. I'm assuming that apple bought them for this to be allowed with the same name and features?

Sep 12, 06 - 01:51 pm Comment from: Tim Rosencrans

Three words

DEATH RACE 2000!!!!!

Sep 12, 06 - 01:52 pm Comment from: Beans

THis is the coolest update EVER!

Sep 12, 06 - 01:54 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

The Showtime event is now available from Apple...

It's Showtime!

Sep 12, 06 - 01:58 pm Comment from: me

another super cool iTunes 7 feature - graphical depiction of drive usage on your iPod so you see how much is video/photo/music/etc.

Sep 12, 06 - 01:59 pm Comment from: ken1w

The "phone driver," as it currently exists, is for the Motorola iTunes-enabled phone, I believe. It came in over Software Update a while back. Mine was grayed-out, but I thought that was probably because I ignored that update when it came in over Software Update. In other words, if you previously installed it, it probably was not grayed out. Just my thoughts on the matter...

Cool announcements. The new iPod nanos are great, because I always like the iPod mini and was disappointed when it was cancelled. Now they're back, in my book.

I like my older iPod shuffle better. The new one seems actually too small to hold and use, although I'm sure it's great if you clip it on your shirt. And mine doubles as a flash drive for me, and the new one appears to be less convenient in that respect (no direct USB connector).

Sep 12, 06 - 02:02 pm Comment from: iScott

I'm so excited over all this stuff I can't bring myself to get any work done.

One annoyance in the new iTunes 7 though, I can't seem to hide the mini-store. The button in the bottom right isn't there anymore (replaced by the burn disc and eject buttons) and I can't find a preference option to turn it off.

Sep 12, 06 - 02:04 pm Comment from: iScott

I knew that if I posted that I would find it right afterwards making me look like an idiot.... always seems to work out that way.

Found it.

Sep 12, 06 - 02:04 pm Comment from: the other Mark

iTunes 7 is not on software update yet.

Sep 12, 06 - 02:10 pm Comment from: Darkness

Installed iTunes 7, had it update cover art, etc. Fantastic. A few observations, not complaints. This was difficult to do, and they did it well.

Artists that aren't in the Music Store don't get album art, obviously. The example I noticed first was Garth Brooks, but it's also true for much of my classical music.

It sometimes gets album art wrong, probably because of an error in the metadata. I was quite shocked to have the album art for "The Gap Band" instead of "The Band". Very different artists. grin

Some artists in the store don't get album art updates. Nine Inch Nails "Pretty Hate Machine" for instance.

But those are just quibbles. Apple did this right. Remembering the iTunes Mini Store controversy, this time they tell you that they'll be sending info to Apple, and what they'll be doing with it. The look and feel of iTunes 7 is great, and it probably gives us a feel for what Leopard is going to be like.

Sep 12, 06 - 02:20 pm Comment from: Winston

With iTunes 7, all videos purchased from the iTunes Store are downloaded in near-DVD quality at a resolution of 640x480

Can we upgrade the TV shows we've already purchased from 320x240 to 640x480 at no charge? That'd be nice customer service.

Sep 12, 06 - 02:24 pm Comment from: DLMeyer

Movies from Disney. No ... think I'll pass.

ABC, a subsidiary of Disney, played a "docu-drama" purporting to "tell the story" of 9/11 - it was a Republican hatchet job instead.

When advertisers started to pull their ads, Disney decided to swallow over $10 Million in ad revenue to put on the show. Rumor has it that Jeb Bush called in some favors ... like a couple $Billion in tax rebates to DisneyWorld.

No. I won't be buying anything "Disney" for a while.

chuckle - MDN MW=pressure - :D

Sep 12, 06 - 02:27 pm Comment from: me

Steve talking about something thats coming in 2007 underscores that today's "big event" was another yawn. Right up there with the demo of Leopard. Which consisted of updates to Mail, iCal and such. Oh yeah and secret stuff!

I've said it before; Apple creates the uge buzz itself, and then...so what. These are not "big events". Anti-climatic for sure. .1 updates. This should have been just like the recent iMac updates. Apple is working and updating out products for you. Today was not a "big event". And only Apple can get away with creating an event out of a non-event.

And the next one will be strike three in my opinion. Today, just like the Leopard demo is a WTF moment.And yes the rumor sites do not help but, again Apple has brought this all on itself since Jobs has come back.

Today was like a grocery store making their shelves bigger. Yeah so what.

And I'm an Apple devotee. Upgrading to everthing my iBooks & PowerBooks to MacBooks and MacBook Pro's.

But today? Get a life Apple. Jobs too. This wasn't a "Showtime" or a "big event". This was a modest product upgrade worthy of just happening.

Apple you cry wolf one more time, and no on will show up. Me included.

Sep 12, 06 - 02:28 pm Comment from: your mom

DLMeyer

No one cares, go away.

Sep 12, 06 - 02:52 pm Comment from: R

DLMeyer--

Did you actually watch it? You are clueless. It nailed everyone.

Sep 12, 06 - 03:01 pm Comment from: R

Did the visualizer button disappear?

Sep 12, 06 - 03:04 pm Comment from: iToonz

Is iTunes not playing music files or is it just me?

Mp2, M4a, whatever...nothing

latest QT and iTunes, good files (play in QT and Finder), volumes up...

Click play and it sits there. Doesn't play.

Trashed Prefs. Nothing.

Reinstalled iTunes 7....nothing.

iBook G3 700MHz - supported.


MDN MW = "works" LOL No it doesn't...

Sep 12, 06 - 03:07 pm Comment from: iToonz

I meant mp3 of course....

Not even the 30 second audio previews online...

Videos have their audio but not music files.

Sep 12, 06 - 03:09 pm Comment from: Nick

iTunes 7 is a really solid improvement. It makes everything else look dated. I do kind of miss the ability to enable and set "crossfade" playback to 0 seconds, which gave me gapless playback all of the time. I'll have to see how this new gapless plaback system works.

Sep 12, 06 - 03:14 pm Comment from: EvangelizeWithRespect

I noticed the similarity between the new iTunes cover art view and CoverFlow (a very cool way to view and select your music by album) and found this on the old CoverFlow site: "We are pleased to announce that all CoverFlow technology and intellectual property was recently sold to Apple. It has been incorporated into the latest version of iTunes. Please visit http://www.apple.com/itunes"

Way to go, Apple! But I can't figure out if there's a way to get the cover art view fullscreen like I can (still) with CoverFlow. Anybody else find a way?

Sep 12, 06 - 03:18 pm Comment from: davida

the updates took a few extra clicks to find. wonder why it's takes so long to show up in Software Update? No keyboard shortcut to the equalizer anymore, or a button.. bummer. Apparently they figure it's best to make it slightly hidden, so that it's flat for the movies/tv shows audio.

Sep 12, 06 - 03:23 pm Comment from: Voyager

A pretty solid update... but it will get some 0.0.1 updates in the very near future methinks.

The biggest glitch (IMO) is in scanning with the scrubber bar... I can't stop in a spot for a moment and hear what the music is like in that spot as I could in all other versions. Now it's just loud 'skippy' noise until I LET GO of the scrubber.

Also... why can't I select a SINGLE album to have artwork filled in? iTunes apparently thinks it has to go through my ENTIRE library looking for every artwork-less album, many of which I KNOW it won't find matches for in the iTS. Arggghh.

I do think the gapless playback is the best enhancement in the package (for me at least).... but I heard for years that it COULDN'T be done with MP3, M4A, etc.

I also noticed that iTunes updated my whole library to provide the gapless playback.

Can any developer or something give any ideas about how they did it?

Sep 12, 06 - 03:23 pm Comment from: waiting for more album art

to Darkness

Some of the songs which actually are in the Music Store do not get cover art either. Some songs do, others don't. It seems to be totally random. Does anybody know already what determines whether a song gets cover art or not?
(And oh yes, for classical music it's a total disaster, indeed.)

Sep 12, 06 - 03:24 pm Comment from: Cubert

Anyone else notice that iTunes and Quicktime are both at version 7? Coincidence? I don't think so. Apple flew through iTunes 5 in about 4 weeks or so and now has went from 6.0.5 to 7. Quicktime technology has been embedded in iTunes for quite a while now. I see these 2 apps growing closer together with time.

Sep 12, 06 - 03:24 pm Comment from: M di L B Simoni

I'm going to wait to see what Microsoft will introduce with their new MediaPlayer in Vista. I bet it is better than iTunes. Hey, Carl, pass me the crack pipe!

Sep 12, 06 - 03:26 pm Comment from: Voyager

Never mind that last complaint...... one CAN get just a single album's artwork. (Highlight the album's tracks, and CTRL-click for the option)

Just gimme a little more time with it..... grin

Sep 12, 06 - 03:35 pm Comment from: Voyager

Although I'm getting about a 20% success rate with album artwork fetching for albums I KNOW the iTS has.

Meh.

Sep 12, 06 - 03:52 pm Comment from: justme2

If I have albums without artwork, I usually look up the album on CDNow or Amazon; if they have it I just do an image copy then manually put it in. Or if no one has it, I'll use a generic image (treble clef for classical, breakdancers for rap/hip-hop, etc.) for the "album cover". If I can find a photo of the group, I'll use that, like for my Doors songs I ripped from my Best of the Doors CD.

This new feature at least saves me a little bit of Web work...

Sep 12, 06 - 04:00 pm Comment from: DenisRS

me: "This wasn't a "Showtime" or a "big event". This was a modest product upgrade worthy of just happening."

You completely lost the idia, probably. The point is that the world's biggest base of buyers can now get a unified way to buy and play legally films on new iPods (and on computers, as well as on TVs in few months) -- for the first time in history. You can now go to any trip and watch whatever you want, including full feature films.

It is totally new thing, it is milestone in the history of entertainment. Amazon's attempt to "outrun" Apple with that is formal; in essence you can ascribe the innovation to Amazon just because they announced it few days earlier. And, most importantly, Amazon does not offer consumer experience of iPod+iTunes quality level.

Sep 12, 06 - 04:12 pm Comment from: lowfatsourcreme

What's up with the funky new interface? Buttons/scrollbar look different. Less aqua-y. :(

But the cover browsing looks sweet. Yay!

Sep 12, 06 - 05:00 pm Comment from: MattBookPro

Voyager,

You can right click on a song and choose "Get Album Artwork" for single songs/albums.

Sep 12, 06 - 05:01 pm Comment from: MattBookPro

Oops, didn't read the next post. You already discovered that. smile

Sep 12, 06 - 05:13 pm Comment from: me

DenisRS:

I don't miss anything. I've already bought some movies today. I work on my Apple MacBook Pro 18 out of 24 hours a day. Everyday! 7 dyas a week! But Apple NEEDS to stop this insatiable "big event" event.

The rumor sites have just enough inside Apple moles as they need to make Apple look foolish on these "big events".

Apple ad the unified experience already. The movies and iPod announcement are not the "big events" one expects from Apple. It is an upgrade to the only "perfect" digital download experience. And the over hype the last two "big events" as made them "small events". Anf Wall Street notices that more than anything. Apple up something like .13 cents. The iMac upgrades bring more revenue to Apple than what was announced today. Today was not a "big events". Based on the expectations Apple itself has created for everyone.

Sep 12, 06 - 07:05 pm Comment from: Gazzah

Nobody's mentioned the disappearance of the big round friendly button that used to be at the top right corner of iTunes! Where the hell is has it gone? How do I update my podcasts now? Waahh!

Sep 12, 06 - 07:48 pm Comment from: davida

Re: Gazzah

It seems have to changed into a rectangular button, and moved to the lower right corner, and has a new name "refresh". No worries.

Sep 12, 06 - 09:17 pm Comment from: ©

Here's the About link on Apples site for those who like to save them:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/itunes70.html

Sep 12, 06 - 11:19 pm Comment from: Gazzah

Davida

Thanks for your responses to my cry for help in both threads. It was tough making my commute this morning without my daily podcasts to break the tedium. Looking forward to trying the new 'refresh' but I'm going to miss that big old friendly 'eye' button.

Sep 12, 06 - 11:53 pm Comment from: ©

RE: For people having problems finding some features -

Apple should release a "users guide" PDF document with this release for those who need it. Especially if they change UI stuff. I know they have with QT. Maybe it's in the works. But who am I? - I don't even use iTunes! (although I updated because it was there)

I'm a cave man (unfrozen cave man lawyer?) that still listens to plastic discs they used to call CDs. Someday, when you're old enough, I'll tell ya all about 'em wink

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