With MacWorld SF 2004 approaching, we've all got our sights set on iTunes 5.0. What are your feature requests for the next major version?
Ours are below:
- better and/or (boolean) selectors in Smart Playlists
- smarter Sound Check
- global hot keys for itunes control (ala Synergy)
- ability to print CD labels, track listings, and tray inserts
- CD Text burning support (for Sony & other cd players)
- "orange arrow" artist and album navigation for library (like in iTunes music store)
- auto tag lookup and completion for tunes with incomplete tags
- live album art lookup and display (with caching)
by musicpro on Dec 22, 03 | 6:47 pm
- Finder Column View-like navigation of the Browse window with arrow keys.
- The ability of iTunes to organize the library across multiple drives (some collections are really big).
- Re-ripping and replacing tracks works unless tracks are joined. Fix this.
- An API for playlist creation so tools can be made to create really complex playlists (e.g. "No more than 1 song by the same artist in an eight hour period").
by hondo77 on Dec 23, 03 | 1:10 pm
Album timings! Album timings should be sold with albums or pulled from the CD you are ripping so that AAC albums can be played as intended -- with the amount of space the artist/producers wanted. This could make the album purchase a bit more viable.
by StoneMtn on Dec 24, 03 | 12:55 pm
I am dying to have scrubber bars on the song info window - so that i can edit the start and stop times within a song without having to type in the exact times. This is just like you do in iMovie to crop a movie clip - much easier to do with a graphical interface than having to listen to the song and then type in the numbers.
by Mitch Aunger on Dec 29, 03 | 6:22 pm
I've always felt that I've had to struggle with iTunes to use it to organize classical music. I would like to see iTunes improve support classical music organization. Wouldn't it make sense to have the title of the work appear once, and then movement titles indented underneath?
(Work)
I. (Movement title)
II. (Movement title)
III. (Movement title)
Why do I have to see "La Sacre du Printemps" once for every track?
Also, fields for Opus numbers, additonal fields for subgenre (Classical - Chamber Music) and maybe additional artist fields?
by Joel Diegert on Jan 02, 04 | 7:23 am
I should be able to clear and reload a smart playlist from my iPod without having to resync.
by technoPod on Jan 06, 04 | 11:04 am
I also vote for the Keyboard Hotkeys.. especially in Windows.. the Windows keys are sorely underused.. They'd be perfect for system wide hotkeys.
One feature that hasn't been mentioned that is a MUST HAVE in iTunes 5 is the ability to created nested playlists. I would LOVE to be able to create a playlist that incorporates multiple other playlists. This would mulitply the complexity and power of the smart playlist system exponentially!
You could make a smart playlist that includes tracks that are rated 4 stars and not played in the last week and also have songs that are rated 2 stars and not played in the last month.. and have them live update too!
by camson on Jan 08, 04 | 11:12 pm
how about improving the way iPod handles it's buffer so that AIFF format tracks don't just stop mid-song whilst the buffer is re-filled. The iPod is a genuine high fidelity music player in AIFF format apart from this issue that renders it almost unlistenable <grrrr>
by Professor Tournesol on Jan 09, 04 | 11:31 pm
"You could make a smart playlist that includes tracks that are rated 4 stars and not played in the last week and also have songs that are rated 2 stars and not played in the last month.. and have them live update too!"
You don't need 'nested' playlists, all you need is improved boolean logic for smart playlists.
The ability to use AND and OR between each condition would be able to do exactly what you want.
by Jonathan on Jan 14, 04 | 8:35 pm
I'd like another field besides 'Comments' in order to add info I want but allow me to use either the 'Comments' or this new field (preferably) as others use it for limiting/delimiting playlists. I now use comments to show the Billboard ranking of all songs that have it and I'd like to keep that info in comments as I have about 4000 of my 5600 and growing library already entered.
by mdtoipod on Jan 16, 04 | 4:35 am
Do you enter all the information by hand?
by musicpro on Jan 16, 04 | 6:41 am
I do.
by mdtoipod on Jan 17, 04 | 4:18 am
Couple more thoughts: I know these relate to iPod but iTunes would have to be the basis for the changes, except the last comment.
Ability to mark songs on iPod while listening so later change, e.g., sound level, delete can be made by calling up the marked songs.
ability to substitute fields displayed on iPod, e.g., instead of album title, I'd like to display year and I use comments for Billboard rating for which I'd lose the artist name on some playlists.
ability to rate songs with the button inside the scroll wheel on the iPod so ratings can be done with feel and not looking (when you're driving)
by mdtoipod on Jan 18, 04 | 6:24 am
How about the ability to set 'book marks' in a long playlist so you can return to the track you stopped at. Relying on the iPod to resume can be unreliable at best.
by jowdawg on Feb 10, 04 | 2:35 pm
Until we get boolean logic in smart playlists, there's a third party, shareware, program that lets you combine playlists: Playlist Blender. It can be found at:
(I got this link from an earlier post on this site.)
So, in order to do:
> Rating -> is ->**
> Limit to 1 GB selected by random
> Rating -> is -> ***
> Limit to 3 GB
You would do 2 playlists:
> Rating -> is ->**
> Limit to 1 GB selected by random
and
> Rating -> is -> ***
> Limit to 3 GB
and then use Playlist Blender to combine them.
...SuBethJimBob
by on Feb 13, 04 | 5:37 pm
I'd like to see the ability to add a "limiter" or a check box for "Limit to ___ " for each rule applied. For example:
Rating -> is ->**
Limit to 1 GB selected by random
Rating -> is -> ***
Limit to 3 GB
and so on. This would allow creation of a "weighted" playlist based on rating. Just because I rate a song 2 stars doesn't mean I never want to hear it...I just want to hear it less than one I've rated a 4.
by A/V Geek on Feb 22, 04 | 1:17 pm
Itunes needs... scrolling capabilities in it's Smart Playlists. I just made an awesome rock playlist selecting artists I love, and I can't set the live updating because it's way off screen! anyone ever seen a modification for this? any word of Apple planning on this??
by Ryan Edwards on Mar 08, 04 | 11:21 pm
Does anyone know if there are plans to add new Smart Playlist functions anytime soon?
2 that would be GREAT for me (and I suspect others):
- Ability to use another playlist as a rule for a new Smart Playlist (like MC9)
- How about allowing a "Limit To" checkbox for each rule created. This would solve a lot of frustration for me.
Eg:
Artist contains REM - Limit to 10 songs
Artist contains Pixies - Limit to 15 songs
and so on...in the same playlist. Is this do-able?
This would also allow the creation of "weighted" playlists based on rating. It's not like I never want to hear a 2-rated song...I just want to hear it less than one I've rated a 4.
- auto tag lookup and completion for tunes with incomplete tags
- live album art lookup and display (with caching)