iLounge article (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/instant-expert-secrets-features-of-itunes-71/)
The new full-screen Cover Flow mode is slicker than snot!
Doesn't look like the AAC encoder has changed. I'm getting exaclty the same file sizes when encoding to 128 Kbps VBR.
Still no official Windows Vista support. It runs just fine on my system but Apple needs to get their stuff together make an official Windows Vista compatible iTunes release.
Doesn't look like the AAC encoder has changed. I'm getting exaclty the same file sizes when encoding to 128 Kbps VBR.
Seems like the encoder dropdown offers more bitrates than before -- didn't AAC bitrates top off at 256kbps before (goes up to 320 now)?
Doesn't look like the AAC encoder has changed. I'm getting exaclty the same file sizes when encoding to 128 Kbps VBR.
Seems like the encoder dropdown offers more bitrates than before -- didn't AAC bitrates top off at 256kbps before (goes up to 320 now)?
No, it always went up to 320kbps.
My Nero encoded AAC files seem to play back gaplessly now!
I noticed the gapless playback being recalculated on a few songs in my library after upgrading.
I can also confirm gapless Nero AAC playback, both in iTunes and on my 5.5g 80GB iPod with firmware v1.2.1
THANK YOU APPLE!!
I can also confirm gapless Nero AAC playback, both in iTunes and on my 5.5g 80GB iPod with firmware v1.2.1
THANK YOU APPLE!!
This is great news. Time to replace lame -V5 with neroaacenc -lc -q 0.21 for my 2g Nano. That should give roughly the same quality (I guess), but reducing bitrate from ~138 -> ~88. Still need mp3 for my car player though.
iLounge article (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/instant-expert-secrets-features-of-itunes-71/)
The new full-screen Cover Flow mode is slicker than snot!
Natural progression should let you see album track list on click like their iphone demo, send to playlist would be nice to...will start using it once multi-plugin is updated
No fixes in the AAC decoder yet (IS, PNS, HE-AAC)?
Encoder updates from Apple are generally QuickTime related, not iTunes related. In a way iTunes is just a frontend for QuickTime's codecs.
Now, QuickTime is updated as well so an codec update would have been possible. However, if there is going to be any codec update I'm pretty sure it will coincide with OS X Leopard. Those updates will then trickle down via QuickTime for OS X Tiger and Windows users.
I hope iTunes/QuickTime is going to support HE-AAC. Even if it is just for streaming radio. iTunes is getting worse and worse for internet radio now HE-AAC seems to gain popularity for radio streams.
Also of note: compatibility with ID3v2.4 tags - no more annoying squares at the end of names. There are also some cool new sorting tags you can enter into files (sort name, sort artist, etc.). A nice release from Apple.
If only there was a version of the Nero AAC encoder for Macs...
I just don't trust Apple's version of AAC VBR.
I must say, the full screen coverflow looks SWEET. Very juke-boxy. Too bad whenever I use it, iTune's RAM usage jumps up to 200MB or so
If only there was a version of the Nero AAC encoder for Macs...
I just don't trust Apple's version of AAC VBR.
It's actually quite good. Check out previous listening tests (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=40607) to back up that claim.
Also of note: compatibility with ID3v2.4 tags - no more annoying squares at the end of names.
O RLY?
(http://img02.picoodle.com/img/img02/7/3/6/f_dmbm_fb13f62.png)
Also of note: compatibility with ID3v2.4 tags - no more annoying squares at the end of names.
O RLY?
(http://img02.picoodle.com/img/img02/7/3/6/f_dmbm_fb13f62.png)
Hmm, ok. It worked on one of my computers but not another. Not sure what the difference is between the two.
I must say, the full screen coverflow looks SWEET. Very juke-boxy. Too bad whenever I use it, iTune's RAM usage jumps up to 200MB or so
It looks great and it's pretty snappy too. One evening with fullscreen Cover Flow as a visual jukebox shows a few shortcomings though:
- never thought I'd miss it, but having no time counter ("3:46") or track number ("4 of 12") on screen feels weird
- the vis button on the remote doesn't seem to take iTunes into full screen visualization
- no SMS-style number keys (ie, pressing the "8" key three times does't take you to the first "V" artist as most applications do, but instead drops me off at the first 808 State album)
-
font size is way way way too big in SD TV-res (720x576), the track/title info takes up more screen space than the covers (just found out it can be changed)
- mute button doesn't work
Nothing that can't easily be fixed, though.
Quicktime for OS X was also updated yesterday to 7.1.5 - unfortunately, still no fix for the long-standing stereo imaging issues that some of us have noted.
On the other hand, I'm glad that iTunes and 5G iPods will now play back Nero encodings gaplessly - screw QT!
If only there was a version of the Nero AAC encoder for Macs...
I just don't trust Apple's version of AAC VBR.
It's actually quite good. Check out previous listening tests (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=40607) to back up that claim.
Until the stereo issue is fixed, I don't want to risk re-encoding with iTunes AAC.
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....41278&st=25 (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=41278&st=25)
If only there was a version of the Nero AAC encoder for Macs...
I just don't trust Apple's version of AAC VBR.
It's actually quite good. Check out previous listening tests (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=40607) to back up that claim.
Until the stereo issue is fixed, I don't want to risk re-encoding with iTunes AAC.
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....41278&st=25 (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=41278&st=25)
I'm basically waiting until Leopard comes out before I score my first Mac in... well, something like 16 years or so. I'm not going to let that stop me from using Nero though. I'll just boot camp it. I've pretty much already accepted the fact that I'm probably going to use Boot Camp a fair bit. I'm cool with that.
It seems that this version does not work well with iTunes-LAME Encoder. Some of the encoded files are not tagged. Could anybody confirm this?
On the other hand, I'm glad that iTunes and 5G iPods will now play back Nero encodings gaplessly - screw QT!
How is this supposed to work? There wasn't a firmware update was there? I have a 30 Gig 5.5G iPod with firmware 1.2.1 and after I updated iTunes to the new version 7.1.0.59 my nero encoded files still didn't playback gaplessly.
How is this supposed to work? There wasn't a firmware update was there?
I suppose there was no need for a firmware update for the iPod since it already supported gapless playback of iTunes encoded AAC-files. iTunes can convert the Nero gapless metadata to the format used by the iPod.
On my 60 Gig 5G iPod the Nero files plays gapless if the have a .m4a extension, but not if the have a .mp4 extension.
Anders