So far pretty pleased. Steve J will be happy that I've bought a couple of songs so far. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Only drawback I can see is that there's no way to format files when ripping CDs. I like the naming convention of drive:\artist\Album\Artist - Album - Track Number - Track name, and it doesn't look like you can get to that level of customization in itunes.

So, the visualizations improved quite a bit with the new 2.6g Dell I got - Intel P4 with ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB at 1600x1200 res full screen. Very smooth.

To make this more on-topic for Travel Technology: Don't bother trying to use the iTunes Music Store outside the USA. It will not work. I downloaded iTunes last night and tried it here in the UK all I get is a message "iTMS is not yet available in your country" when I start it. There seem to be some nasty licensing issues. Very disappointing, especially, since the application looks pretty nice and the "preview" of songs (which does work) is very convenient.

I wonder how iTunes determines that I am outside the US. based on the IP? Have any of you Americans tried using it from their laptops when outside the US?

A couple of tips:

1) If you don't use an ipod turn off the ipod service in your administation tools, that will save a whopping 30Mb of bloat/load on your machine

2) DO NOT turn on the "keep ipod music folder organized", it will Fook up your ID3 tags and file names.

3) Apple needs to rewrite some of the code, simply resizing the window shoots my CPU load up to 65% http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/eek.gif

4) People using Norton firewall might get an instant reboot when they try to connect to the iTMS, you'll need to turn the firewall off for the initial connection to the store.

5) ID3 tags with a faulty file duration (e.g. 0:00) will crash the player and it simply vanishes...

All in all nothing too serious and it looks like I'll be on day 2 of it, I don't use visualizations and never need to resize the window.

It's still bloatware as it uses up 29Mb of system memory and 5% CPU compared to WMP9's 12Mb and 2% but I can live with that.

Unless you have an IPod , I think I-Tunes is considerably worse then similar programs.
If you want a good MP3 program I would HIGHLY recommend MoodLogic .

I don't agree, for a first version it's getting 7/10 points from me. Some of it's features are actually BETTER than WMP9, and some need a lot of work.

I just installed the Opensource OGG plugin for Quicktime http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

I've not tried it, but I remember the story of someone who moved from US to Canada and changed the billing address on their Apple ID used in the iTunes store. Apparently that was the trigger, and they could now no longer buy music there. The reason it doesn't work outside the US is not a technical one; it's an evil music empire licensing annoyance. Apple is supposedly working on Europe and projecting sometime in the spring I think for a launch of the store there. I don't know if they do anything else as far as detecting non-US store visits or not. It would be interesting to try a credit card billing address in the US from a location elsewhere and see if it works.

Does the OGG plugin allow iTunes to play OGG files or rip to OGG format? Curious. I know there's an OGG plugin for the Mac too, but I haven't tried it. I would be interesting to know from a recommendation standpoint whether those with libraries of OGG files could play them with iTunes and that plugin.

Well, we have a Dell Optiplex. Installed iTunes, rebooted and ....
Badabing, freezes on rebooting. Nada. Finally got it up using last good configuration after several tries. Uninstalled it. Guess we wont be buying much music from Apple. By the way, we arent the only ones this is happening to. Be aware.

More and more issues http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif

It doesn't like being used on a PC coming out of standy, memory use shot up to 390Mb and it disconnected the firewire drive the music was on.

Other issues I have are non-functioning CDDB option, it keeps claiming it can't find any CD information.

Amazing that a firm like Apple released this without a decent public beta http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif

This reminds me of old quicktime versions for Windows, they are without a doubt the worst software out there.

It's a nice try but I'm moving back to WMP9.

Some more reports on crashing PC's here: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5093454.html

This is NOT the kind of PR Apple can use, especially when they are claiming that hell froze over while all some people see freezing is their pc when booting...

And read this report by a Microsoft exec on iTunes, quite negative: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,112983,00.asp

easy solution to the itunes win issues.
buy a mac:-)
switched 2 years ago and never looked back.
apart from design, stability etc., i like one thing the most: i did not have to call any one of my it people since then.
true plug and play, which is especially important on the road (alright, in the air)
regards

Wow, that's a big surprise considering that Microsoft's Windows Media format is a direct competitor to AAC which is used by Apple.

However, it is very funny to see Microsoft argue angainst "closed systems" and for "choices today and in the future". http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Just to be truly technical, it's not AAC that's a closed format. AAC is part of MPEG-4. But the songs from the iTunes music store use a digital rights management addition called FairPlay. This, for the time being, is appparently not open. As far as I know, it's entirely possible for other portable audio player makers (and software makers) to include AAC and even the FairPlay capability into their players, just that none have. Seems to me if the store catches on, that would be a possibility. After all, WM9 has DRM in it and is proprietary to Microsoft, yet many players have embraced this capability. Many players can have firmware updates that could add capability to play AAC with the FairPlay stuff.

Of course, all this may be moot if people stay away in droves because of these problems. It's hard to tell how prevalent they are. To some degree we're seeing only early adopters, and these people who are serious with their collections may be more demanding than some others. Which isn't to say Apple shouldn't be refining the software, not at all. Just suggesting that maybe we're not seeing a true cross-section of users yet.

BTW, if Hell really froze over, the Sox and the Cubs would have won. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif

Good point. They didnt and Apple didnt. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

As to being more demanding, well I dont think so. In our case we demanded that after we downloaded iTunes our computer would boot up and run. I think thats pretty reasonable. I would have prefered not spending several hours on a Friday night trying to find a fix on the web. Some people gave up and reinstalled Windows. We're getting a MusicMatch download account. This just isnt remotely worth the trouble to us. The odd glitch when the software runs is one thing. Taking out your entire computer is quite another. I cannot recall a Windows app I have ever used causing this much of a problem. Ever.

Well, they do have a point. Microsoft made it possible to use a huge selection of portable music players plus with their system of plugins many 100's of companies provide extra options to the player.

Even though Apple is Apple and focusses on MacOS it's unaaceptable to release a Windows app that causes this much trouble. It can't be too hard for them to hire a load of Win developers with experience.