MWSF - Apple Hopes To Make Some Noise With iTunes

by , 3:05 PM EST, January 9th, 2001

Steve Jobs spent considerable time during this morning's keynote address to show off Apple's latest foray into the consumer software market, iTunes. iTunes is an uber-music player, incorporating a full-featured MP3 player with CD burning software in one package.

iTunes has an advantage over some other MP3 players due to its superior list management and search capabilities, but goes the extra step by including the ability to burn a playlist onto a CD with one simple click, from within the iTunes application. According to Apple:

Apple today introduced iTunes, the worldÕs best and easiest to use ÒjukeboxÓ software that lets users create and manage their own music library on their Mac¨. iTunes lets Mac users import songs from their favorite CDs; compress them into the popular MP3 format and store them on their computerÕs hard drive; organize their music using powerful searching, browsing and play list features; watch stunning visualizations on their computer screen; and burn their own audio CDs Ñ all in one easy-to-use application.

ÒApple has done what Apple does best Ñ make complex applications easy, and make them even more powerful in the process,Ó said Steve Jobs, AppleÕs CEO. ÒiTunes is miles ahead of every other jukebox application, and we hope its dramatically simpler user interface will bring even more people into the digital music revolution.Ó

As the ultimate way to manage digital music and create custom CDs, iTunes lets users:

• import an unlimited number of audio tracks and encode them into the popular MP3 format;
• accelerate the encoding process when working on AppleÕs Power Macª G4 with Velocity Engineª;
• organize their music collection using powerful but simple to use tools including a real-time search engine and single-click browsing by artist, album or genre;
• listen to MP3s, audio CDs or hundreds of Internet radio stations;
• watch a visual representation of the music being played, which is synched to the beat of the music;
• create custom music CDs with the Power Mac G4Õs new CD-RW and a combination CD-RW/DVD-R SuperDrive that reads and writes both CDs and DVDs in a simple, one-step process with no extra CD-burning software required; and
• download songs to popular MP3 players from Rio and Creative Labs with plug-and-play simplicity with no extra software or complicated driver installations required.

iTunes is available for free, and is compatible with Mac OS 9.04 and 9.1. You can find more information at the Apple web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

The rumor mill was dead on with the prediction of Apple's focus on music software at this morning's keynote. iTunes is wickedly cool, offering the fullest featured MP3 player and encoder we have seen. However, the real "gotcha'" is the ability burn CD's, easily, from within the application.

Oh, and being free doesn't hurt either. Apple is to be commended for this, and their tight integration with the new CD-RW's.

Apple