Rubenerd

We’ve got a slew of new Apple goodies to play with, but I’m always most interested in iTunes. When will the former centre of the Apple media ecosystem get better? I defended iTunes for years on the basis that version 1.0 running on Mac OS 9 on my blueberry iMac DV was so much better than anything else, but there’s no doubt it’s long past its prime now.

No substantive changes this time that I can see, though their imitation of the Rubenerd blue and pale grey colour scheme and bold headings (heh) are a welcome change from the pencil thin lines and muted colours taken from iOS 7.

The confusingly named “New” tab which lead to Apple Music has also been changed to “Browse”. Somewhat of an improvement, but not ideal.

Above all though, I’m disappointed to see the adaptive album colours gone. Recent versions dynamically chose a colour palette based on the current album’s art, which made for some striking themes.

For reference, I reviewed iTunes 9 in 2010, and iTunes 7 almost a decade ago to the day! I also posted excitedly at the airport in Kuala Lumpur when I was able to log in and stream Whole Wheat Radio; seems like a whole other time ago.