Apple iTunes 5.0 Released

Today, Apple released version 5.0 of what they—obviously—claim is the world’s best digital jukebox. Apple’s list of new features immediately shows the lack-luster update, which is hardly worth jumping to 5.x.

• New Look—Streamlined design makes iTunes even easier to use.
• Search Bar—Find stuff fast and refine your search with the handy new Search Bar.
• Smart Shuffle—Adjust random playback to hear what you want.
• Sync from Outlook—iTunes now supports iPod syncing for Outlook and Outlook Express on Windows PCs.
• Playlist Folders—Organize all your playlists into folders.
• Parental Controls—Limit kids’ access to the iTunes Music Store and sharing features.
• Album Reviews—Browse over 1,000 album reviews.
• The Complete Harry Potter—Download all six audiobooks or the Digital Box Set and add the collector’s iPod with Hogwarts crest.
• iTunes for Your Mobile Phone—Sync music to the Motorola ROKR E1.

Let’s examine these new features. New Look Um … okay. What’s new here? Sure, the interface has a slight face lift and—OH! Is that a slight tint of blue? Really, I notice almost nothing new, and there is certainly no part of the interface that makes iTunes any easier to use. They could have at least made Browser the default view, since it seems that no iTunes user knows what it is. Sure, they moved around some things, but most people probably wouldn’t notice the difference (it has taken this long and still no one notices the Browse button). Search Bar This is sort of a cool feature, but I never saw it until I was digging through the menus. Like the other new features, this is not turned on by default, so most users are likely to miss it. It was under the Edit menu. That makes lots of sense, right? “Show Search Bar