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Moi

Freshly Squeezed OpEd: And What of iTunes?

Feb 12, 2013 | OpEd | 0 comments

During the Jurassic era (technologically speaking), Apple released iTunes, an app where you could find all of your media located in one spot. A great app at the time. But it has definitely outlived its effectiveness.
There is now up to a plethora of podcatchers, out  on the market now. There’s Downcast, my favorite – iCatcher, not to mention Miro and dozens of others. So, you can pretty much jettison the podcast listing in the sidebar
Even Apple has acknowledge this fact. Witness it’s halfhearted attempt with the iOS app, Podcasts.
Apple is so busy shoehorning media into iTunes, that now any video that you load into iTunes not bought from the iTunes store, is deposited into a folder entitled ‘Home Videos.’ Hardly intuitive. Not something that you would expect from a technology leading company.
And I have adapted my workflow to route all of my media. All my audio podcasts go to the Apple Podcast app on my iPhone 4S (a simple app for simple needs). All of my video apps go onto my iPad via iCatcher.
This year, if Apple really wants to make those doomsaying analysts look truly like idiots (redundancy), they need to break up the iTunes Store. And soon. It’s turned into an electronic Costco run wild (redundancy #2).
First, I would keep the iTunes Store but I would limit it to all material solely connected to music ((music, music documentaries, music videos and announcements for AppleTV concerts).
Second, I would place all visual media in the iVideo Store (I hate to use the “i,” but the branding is already in place).  This would be your one stop for movies, videos and all news regarding AppleTV.
Third, obviously the iBook Store. That’s self-explanatory, I know.
Lastly, and already in existence, the App Store. Joined soon, hopefully, by a section dedicated to apps created expressly for the AppleTV. Or, better yet, have ATV apps only show up on your ATV, just as iOS apps are only displayed on your mobile devices.
This is only a logical evolution. As purchases at the iTunes Store keep growing and Apple keeps garnering more customers, the electronic parking lot can no longer handle the overflow.
Sir Ives, I know that your priority is rethinking the OSs. But if you could please have some of your minions start brain-storming ways to improve our shopping experience at the Apple iMall, we’d all be much obliged.

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