iTunes 4 vs. iTunes 5
by Adrian Hanft, (14 comments)
A bit overshadowed by the release of iPod nano, iTunes 5 was also released last week. Although you can’t exactly call it a redesign, there were some design changes to the interface. As has come to be expected from the Apple faithful, let’s dissect the changes…
Here is a screenshot of iTunes 4. This is taken from my PC which I haven’t upgraded yet:
Here is a screenshot from iTunes 5 from my Mac:
Let me be the first to point out the obvious: 1. The brushed metal is gone. Some people get very vocal about the brushed metal, but I don’t mind it that much.
The volume has been moved from under the play button to the right of the play button. Change for the sake of change?
Light blue behind the source section. La de da…
No more gray margin around the different compartments. I want them back.
Gray replaces the light blue behind the track info. Big risk.
Circle “Now Playing” box is now square. Settle down.
Font change? Help me out here. On the PC, the font seems to be more bitmapped. See below…
The top two lines are from iTunes 5. Is this an improvement to iTunes font renering, or just further proof that my PC sucks? I am wishing I took a screenshot of iTunes 4 on my Mac before I upgraded. Doh!
Very minor changes indeed. So which one do you think is better?
Comments (14)
nate said:
Well, obviously iTunes 4 supports a lot more Iron and Wine, so I’m glad they redesigned that.
Posted on September 13, 2005
DC1974 said:
Over at Daring Fireball there is a really funny send up of the change from Brush Metal. Basically, Brush Metal is talking to his agent and you can read it or imagine the rest…
http://daringfireball.net/2005/09/anthropomorphized
Posted on September 13, 2005
Bobby said:
I think the volume slider was moved for the purpose of compacting the vertical height of the header area.
Also you forgot to mention that the song progress bar has little gray lines that fill up the played space.
Posted on September 13, 2005
Kyle said:
Adrian, your Mac iTunes 4 probably did have the smooth text. There’s an option under OS X Preferences > Appearance to fine-tune how much smoothing you want, depending on your CRT/LCD display. One more picky thing, my shaded lines are still blue. Sure, I miss some of the white space, but I don’t mind seeing more of my music on my small 12” PowerBook at home. In other words, I’m okay with the update. I think my favorite part is tthe shaded progress bar. It takes a bit less work to realize how much has played/how much is left.
Posted on September 13, 2005
lawrence::otoole said:
BIG improvement - the “Now Playing” box remains BIGGER when iTunes is collapsed into “little remote” mode… and retains the scrubbing function in the song progress bar! Now I don’t have to maximize iTunes just for the sake of precise rewinding…
Posted on September 13, 2005
Mike S. said:
Who cares? Theres barely any difference
Posted on September 13, 2005
Bobby said:
I think the gray or blue highlight and scrollbars depend on whether you have your System Preferences/Appearance set to Blue or Graphite. On Windows I believe they’re just blue because they are fudging the Mac UI, but on Macs you have a choice.
Posted on September 13, 2005
Meg said:
I like the look of the older one better… It has a more friendly feel to it. The newer version reminds me of those sites that TRY so hard to look “techy,” usually for no reason, and just end up looking pretty tacky. Not that the new iTunes is tacky, it just doesn’t appeal to me as much or for the right reasons as the older versions. I particularly dislike the new Playlists sidebar area, the background color and how it reminds me of a web site frame.
PS — I’m a new commenter, but I read your blog quite often and really enjoy it! Thanks :)
Posted on September 15, 2005
Adrian said:
Meg, I also thought it reminded me of a website, but I couldn’t really explain why. Thinking about it again, it does have an almost blog like structure: header, sidebar, and main content section. Now after using iTunes 5 for a week, it has grown on me and I think it is better. I thought I would miss the small ornamental elements and the border/space around things. I don’t. I think this is what Apple does best. It eliminates everything but the absolutely essential elements. Then it puts the remaining parts back together in the most simple and functional way possible. I give it a delayed thumbs up.
Oh, and Mike S, Yes the changes seem small, but I think you should care. Design isn’t always about huge changes. If you can’t recognize the small steps toward perfection, you miss the point of design. As a result, you accept mediocrity, and that is kind of a tragedy when you think about it.
Posted on September 15, 2005
Alex said:
Let’s not pass over how the “Now Playing” box has “elapsed time” on either side of the progress bar rather than directly under the track name. This way when I am listening to online radio I can just glance up and see the track name AND band name without having to click the now playing screen to refresh it. Big plus in my book!
Posted on September 19, 2005
Carl said:
Moving the volume bar helps remove the “trapped space” between the controls and the information window. Anyone who was in even a high-school yearbook class knows trapped space is an eyesore :)
The “Square” is the standard symbol for “Stop” while the parallel bars mean “pause”. The difference in meaning depends on the source. Tape means one thing while CD means another. If iTunes simply pauses and then resumes, Apple goffed. If it stops and then starts back at the beginning, they used the correct symbol
Posted on September 26, 2005
Ian Griffiths said:
On the font front, it’s not proof that your PC sucks, it’s proof that your PC is misconfigured… (Or that you’re running a very old version of Windows. If you’re not running either Windows XP or Windows 2003 Server, then yes, the font rendering sucks.)
Turn on ClearType. If your PC was shipped with a flat panel display, this should have been the default setting unless your PC manufacturer did something wrong. But if you upgraded the display from a CRT to a flat panel at some point, that might be why you’re still using the crappy rendering.
To turn on ClearType, open the Display properties applet. (Either go into Control Panel, or just right-click on the desktop and choose Properties.) In the ‘Appearance’ tab, click ‘Effects…’, and in the window that opens, make sure “Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts:” is selected, and then choose ClearType from the dropdown.
Marvel at the evidence that your Mac’s font rendering sucks in comparison to your PC’s. Or not. Font rendering is highly subjective. I have a couple of Macs and a couple of PCs. I much prefer the ClearType rendering on the Mac to the blurrier rendering the Mac does but I know some people prefer it the other way around. (Of course it doesn’t help that Apple persist in supplying low-resolution displays. One of the reasons my PCs look better is they both came with 150dpi screens whereas the Macs both have roughly 100dpi screens.)
Posted on October 3, 2005
karen kellock said:
I hate Itunes 5—it was so cumbersome after working with 4.7 and 9. How is this an improvement? Thankfully I had 4.7 on my computer so was able to get rid of 5 and pick up where I left off. However, it took me all day to re-label the genres of 65 GB collection—everything was all mixed up in my library. I vowed to NEVER change again—when that ol’ sign comes up I will check “don’t ask me again”. It’s like Apple just wants to change—and these changes are scarily stupid! I called Apple and the guy got his back up about it, but unless you have the prior version on your computer, they will not help you—you’re stuck with five.
Posted on October 9, 2005
maria civetta said:
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! This was such a shock—the inefficacy of it all. Lapsing into confusion made me realize I must save all old programs and never upgrade if things are working right. Earlier programs are simply simpler, until technicians get a bee in their bonnet and change just for the sake of change—then things derange.
Posted on October 9, 2005