iTunes Tip: New “Mini Player” Window in iTunes 10

You may be familiar with the iTunes Mini Player window. When you’re playing music, and click the green button at the top-left of the iTunes window, the Mini Player window displays, offering you basic controls for your music.

iTunes 10 added another type of “mini player,” which I’ll call the “artwork player.” When listening to music in iTunes, display the music’s artwork by clicking the artwork viewer button, the fourth button from the left at the bottom of the Itunes window . Click on the artwork, and it will display in its own window. If you hover over this window, you’ll see that there are controllers visible. (These are the same type of controllers you can see when playing videos in iTunes, or in QuickTime Player.)

Now, you can minimize the main iTunes window by clicking the yellow button in the top-left corner, and use this window to control your playback.

If you’re listening to a single album, the artwork will remain the same; if you’re listening to a playlist of songs from different albums, the artwork will change as the songs change. If what you want to listen to has no artwork, you can still use this window: it will display two musical notes. You can resize the window by dragging the bottom-right corner, so you can make it very small if you want. It doesn’t, however, give you the option to have it float over other windows as the Mini Player does.

Learn more about iTunes 10 in my forthcoming Take Control of iTunes 10: The FAQ, due out in mid-September.

Coming Soon: Take Control of iTunes 10: The FAQ

Now that iTunes 10 is out, I’m going to make a pre-announcement for my forthcoming book. Take Control of iTunes 10: The FAQ is the latest in the Take Control series, and the first book to look at real-world uses of iTunes. As a long-time music fan, I’ve learned, over the years, how to tame iTunes, and bend it to my will. In this book, I’ll show you how to manage your media files, tag and organize them, choose the best views in iTunes, and I’ll give you dozens of tips to make working with this complex and powerful program easier. Written in frequently asked question format, Take Control of iTunes 10: The FAQ looks at the main questions that users have about the program.

Ready for publication in August, we waited for Apple’s music event this week, and the announcement of iTunes 10, to finalize the book. I’m going over the last new iTunes features, and it should be published in about ten days. It’s totally up-to-date for all the new features and interface elements in iTunes 10. Stay tuned for more info.

iTunes Tip: Force Artwork to Display No Matter How Many Tracks in an Album

With iTunes 10′s new Album List view, you may find that if you have fewer than five tracks (for medium-sized artwork, three tracks for small, or seven tracks for large), no artwork displays. I’m a visual guy, and I like to see my artwork all the time, especially because I have a lot of albums with few tracks, since I tag many classical works as albums.

So, you can force the artwork to display no matter what. For each library or playlist where you want to do this, choose View > Always Show Artwork.

I’d prefer the way it was before, where you could choose the size of the artwork by changing the column width, and I find the “large” size still a bit small. But at least there’s a way to see artwork all the time.

New Big Box Set of Bernstein Symphonies

There’s no details yet on the Amazon page listing this box set, but it contains 60 CDs of symphonies recorded by Leonard Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic from Sony. My guess is that it includes the recently remastered Mahler recordings from the 1960s, along with many other key Bernstein recordings. At less than $100, this is a no-brainer. I’ll be getting this no matter what it contains, because there was so much great music that Bernstein recorded with the NYPO.

It’s getting to be the Christmas season, so all the labels will be releasing big box sets at low prices like this one to tempt music lovers. I’m looking forward to this year’s selection, as every year I generally find one or two that are worth getting.

My Predictions for Apple’s Music Event Tomorrow

Without writing anything long and detailed, here’s a brief list of what I think Apple will give us tomorrow. I’ll probably be wrong for most of it, but, well…

• An iPod touch with retina display, new form factor, and more memory: maybe as much as 128 GB.
• A new iPod nano.
• Maybe the end of the iPod classic, if the touch goes to 128 GB.
• Maybe the end of the iPod shuffle, if the new nano is as small as the case rumors suggest.
• Perhaps, if the iPod line gets slimmed down, changes in the naming. The iPod touch would become the iPod, and the nano, well, iPod mini?
• Some changes to iTunes, but nothing major: I don’t believe in the longer previews, because of licensing issues.
• One more thing? A new Apple TV? I don’t think so. Nothing new for the iPad either. Maybe a surprise…

So I’m not expecting anything earth-shattering, but you never know with Apple.

Follow Me on Twitter

So I’ve finally joined the world of micro-blogging. I’ve got a Twitter account, @mcelhearn, where I’ll be posting the RSS feed from this site, as well as occasional other tidbits. If you feel like it, follow me on Twitter!

Apple’s Magic Trackpad: Magic or Hype?

Apple introduced their $69 Magic Trackpad last week, and the delivery gnomes were pretty fast in getting one to me. I unpacked mine this morning and hooked it up (by Bluetooth, of course; it’s wireless) to my Mac. I’ve been trying it out for a while, and I find it to be a very interesting device, not without some drawbacks.

First of all, the Magic Trackpad is quite large. If you have a recent Apple keyboard (the aluminum one with the white keys), it’s the same depth as the keyboard, and is on the same angle. Compared to Apple’s wireless keyboard, the trackpad is almost half as wide; compared to their wired keyboard, it’s just a bit wider than the number pad and the two columns of keys to the left.

But it’s a sleek device, with a very smooth surface that offers very little resistance. You can set it up either parallel to your keyboard, or, as I have found to be a bit more efficient, on an angle. Obviously, it works on either side of your keyboard; I’m a righty, so I’ve put it there.

If you’re familiar with Apple’s multi-touch trackpads on the company’s laptops, there’s not much that’s new here. There is one thing you can do, however, that is quite practical: you can set either a lower-right or lower-left corner press to activate contextual menus (the equivalent of a right-click or Control-click).

The Magic Trackpad offers a number of gestures, which are shown in the Trackpad preference pane. (You’ll need to connect the device, then run Software Update to get the necessary software.) As before, these gestures are demonstrated with small videos, so it’s easy to understand what it does. There are a total of 12 gestures you can perform, from taps to swipes.

Now I used a trackpad with a desktop computer way back in the old days; the late 90s. I had a device that was quite small and that had two buttons in front of the touch pad. I really liked this, but it eventually stopped working as drivers weren’t updated. So the idea of using a trackpad on a desktop computer seems natural.

The Magic Trackpad, however, is quite large, and I’m finding it hard to get my hand in an efficient position. For now, I’ve found that if I actually center my fingers it the lower-right corner of the device, rather than using all of its space, I’m more efficient. My hand can rest more easily on my desk, and my thumb doesn’t accidentally touch it. For everything I’ve been doing this morning, it works well, and I can see getting used to it. While I’ll miss the extra buttons on my Logitech mouse, which are programmed to do certain actions in a few applications, the more comfortable hand position with the trackpad may win out. At the same time, I’ve switched from the wired keyboard to the wireless model; I have had both for a while, but even though I don’t type numbers often, not having the number pad kept me from using the wireless keyboard. But the trackpad is better positioned with the smaller keyboard, so I’ll try out this setup for a while.

All in all, the Magic Trackpad is nothing special, since Apple’s laptops offer the same features; if you have a laptop, you won’t be surprised by much. I’d have preferred if it was a bit smaller; I don’t see that people need such a big target. But the ability to not have to move a mouse can be more efficient – and more ergonomic – so I think this device could be a good choice for many people.

Update: It’s been a month now, and the Magic Trackpad has become second nature. I’m very comfortable with it, and don’t plan to go back to using a mouse.

What New iPod Features Will Apple Present Next Week?

It’s iPod time again. As Apple has done for many years now, the company has announced a “media event” for September 1, undoubtedly to announce new iPods, but also, perhaps, other iOS devices or features. My Macworld colleague Chris Breen ponders this, as do many others in the Mac punditry. I thought I would add a few pixels to the discussion.

First, it’s important to note that Apple has announced this media event just as my new Take Control of iTunes book has been wrapped up and moved into production. (Which will, most likely, delay the book a few days, as I’ll need to add new content for the new features if iTunes is updated.) So I’m particularly interested in any newness in iTunes itself, as well as for the iPod line.

Back in June, I tossed out a few ideas for iTunes improvements: that the program could add new file formats, add a streaming feature, and, above all, offer wireless syncing to devices that have wifi. Others have talked about a possible iPod nano with a touch screen (I don’t see the point), or a refresh to the AppleTV.

My guess is that we’re going to see several things: an increase to the capacity of the iPod touch, with a 128 GB model. This will lead to the retirement of the iPod classic, which is marginal at best. With more capacity on the touch, those with large libraries will be able to move over to the improved interface of the touch device, and will have all the apps at their fingertips.

There will certainly be a new nano, as this is Apple’s prime unit seller in the iPod product line, but I won’t speculate on what it will offer. (Though if Apple adds wireless syncing to iTunes, I could imagine the nano getting wifi, just for syncing.)

I hope Apple ditches its horrid shuffle-with-no-buttons. I have one, and have only used it a couple of times when I was writing about it; I far prefer the previous model with buttons.

As for iTunes itself, other than possible wireless syncing, will we see a streaming service, related to Apple’s purchase of Lala some time ago? The rumors aren’t there, and for something that big (which involves agreements with the major record labels), info does leak.

In any case, stay tuned for more information about my Take Control of iTunes ebook, which will be out very soon.