Apple Media Player Update

Over the last few weeks apple has totally relaunched their media player market. No, I’m not talking about their portable media players, I’m talking about their desktop media players: Quicktime and iTunes.

iTunes
On 9/9/09 at apple’s ‘It’s only rock and roll’ media event, iTunes 9 was launched with a slew of new features. Among the update include a new user interface, a new itunes store, iTunes LP’s, iTunes’s extra, enhanced iPhone/iPod touch application management, social media integration with twitter and facebook, and home sharing. With iTunes LP and iTunes extras digital music and movie distribution will never be the same.

With LP’s, you get the classic LP experience with special features including liner notes, lyrics, exclusive interviews, and a UI for the media. However, the music is not in a lossless format which kills the experience and upgrade status one would expect with an LP purchase. From apple’s point of view, I doubt the music industry want’s online distribution to offer such quality but never the less, without lossless files I will never spend extra money to buy an iTunes LP. With iTune’s extras, digital movies now include some of the dvd extras one get’s when one buys the dvd. Again, apple is trying to upgrade digital media by including extras found in physical distribution.

The improved application management system allows users to organize applications in iTunes instead of directly on their home-screens. This saves a lot of time and streamlines the process. Finally, home share allows users with multiple computers on their network to grab media files from any local machine and copy them to any other local machine. It has never been so easy to make sure all computers on the network have the same media library.

iTunes 9 Walkthrough:

Quicktime X
Launched along side snow leopard, Quicktime X eliminates the need for a pro version by including all features in the application, free of charge. You no longer have to pay extra for movie recording or the ability to save quicktime movies from the internet. Quicktime also includes many new features including the ability to record screen captures, trimming, sharing, and a new UI.

Apple has really tried to make quicktime the Swiss Army Knife of media applications allowing you to watch, create, and share media from with-in the app. For instance, to make a quick video you can capture the moment via the isight or screen capture. From there, you can trim the beginning and end to create the perfect file. Finally, post your movie to mobileme or youtube with one click. It’s really that simple.

Don’t forget, quicktime still is a very well done media player. Most files will play seamlessly in quicktime and the new UI makes it even nicer to watch. With subtle transitions and a classy black overlay, quicktime looks as good as ever.

Quicktime X Walkthrough:

Apple has really improved their media player applications. The iTunes update is really well done and I’m it will give apple a jolt in terms of sales. Quicktime X is no slouch either but I’m not sure if it works with any operating systems before snow leopard. So although it’s free, if it requires snow leopard it’s not exactly a simple upgrade.