Apple i-tunes 7.7

Apple i-tunes 7.7Apple iTunes 7.7


by Michael Muchmore and Rick Broida

Apple iPhoneIn his 2008 Macworld trade show keynote, one of Apple CEO Steve Jobs's big announcements was that you'd now be able to rent movies as well as just download and buy them outright. He admitted that Apple had bet wrong in offering only sales of downloaded movies. Apple iTunes, version 7.6, made the new rental service possible. A new point release, 7.7 makes a few significant changes—the most notable being support for the Apple App Store and the iPhone 3G, but the company has yet to address our complaint about the store's lack of a music-subscription service.
        SLIDESHOW (8)    
Slideshow | All Shots

Version 7.4, of iTunes added support for new iPods, addressed some serious security vulnerabilities and added closed captions, a rating system, and a larger window for viewing video on your computer. That version dovetailed with the release of the classic, the touch, and the third-generation nano. It also let iPhone owners create custom ringtones from songs bought on the iTunes Music Store (for a buck more per song). Version 7.5 added support for the iPhone in territories besides the U.S. and implemented several bug fixes.

With version 7.6, the big news was the introduction of movie rentals, but, disappointingly, music-subscription options like those offered by Napster, Rhapsody, and other Windows Media-based services were—and are still—nowhere to be found. Music remains an à la carte, 99-cents-per-track proposition. For some reason, Apple still wants to give this advantage to the Microsoft Zune. On the positive side, now the DRM-free, higher bit-rate tracks available from the iTunes Plus section of the music store cost the same 99 cents as other songs.

The biggest new feature in iTunes 7.7 is the introduction of the new App Store, a resource for downloading all of those third-party applications to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Since launching the update late last night, the App Store has begun rolling out a number Apps. Ahead of the 7.7 launch, Steve Jobs gave the folks at The New York Times a sneak preview of the store, saying that it would, "offer more than 500 software applications, including games, educational programs, mobile commerce and business productivity tools."

However, despite the large selection, and Apple's fairly notorious control over the ties between its software and hardware, Jobs insisted that taking a big percentage from the apps was far from the company's goal "We are not trying to be business partners," he told The Times. Instead the company is looking to "sell more iPhones." Seventy percent of the apps' sale price will go to their designers. A quarter of the first 500 app will be free. Ninety percent of the remainder will be available for $9.99 or less. For more, see our AppScout iTunes/App Store story.

The new release of iTunes will also let you "sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G," according to Apple. The company is also offering Remote, a free application downloadable from the App Store that will let you control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home. We'll be testing both claims very shortly. Check our complete coverage of iPhone 3G for more on that.