Well, the sources I read yesterday were right. Apple has release iTunes 4.9 to the world. While Apple has not updated their homepage yet, the folks at Slashdot broke the news. So I went and downloaded the bits from here.
What do I think of it? That’s tough to say. I haven’t played with it for long. But here are a couple of first thoughts:
- It looks like iTunes. Duh, big surprise?
- In the “Source” panel on the left, there is a new source type of “Podcasts” for the new media.
- Podcast subscriptions can be added in the Advanced -> Subscribe to Podcast… dialong.
- Individual podcast episodes are listed in what appears to be an outline form. You can see details on each download. The interface is fairly intuitive and familiar.
- The Prefernces dialog box has a new tab for Podcasts… The best feature is that you can select whether/which podcasts are to be sync’ed with your iPod. This is paramount for me and my Shuffle. For a long while, I had iPodder drop my podcasts into Windows Media Player. That way, I wouldn’t get errant podcasts on my Shuffle. And I wasn’t patient enough to play with Playlists. So this preference is just what I need. Woot!
- I don’t know if there is OPML support. But it would sure make sense.
- Similarly, I don’t know if I can drag and drop RSS feeds/links onto iTunes. I suspect so. But I haven’t validated it.
So my first impressions are very positive. But I want to take a few days before I write a comprehensive review. In the meantime, go hit the mirrors and get a copy.
-CyclingRoo-
*Update* Apple’s iTunes Music Store has also been updated. New tabs for Podcasting are on the site. In addition, one click access to podcasts is provided. This is fabulous. Podcasting will be in the hands of the masses in very short order. Woot!
**Update** OK. I want to immerse myself in the experience to get a full sense of it. So I have removed iPodder from my systems. Don’t get me wrong. I have loved iPodder for a long time. But I really want to immerse myself w/o reservations. Like the conquistadors, I have burned the ships and there is no turning back. There be gold in them hills!