history of iTunes
The version history of iTunes spans from 2001 until the present and covers the application's evolution and refinement from a simple music player to a control center for many types of media. Support for the iPod and iTunes Store (originally the iTunes Music Store) were added in the first few versions. Later, other types of media, including radio, movies, television shows, and audiobooks, were also supported. The popularity of iTunes has facilitated the development of two new forms of media; iMixes and podcasts.[citation needed]
Mac OS 9
- Original release. Based on the code of SoundJam MP.
1.1 — February 21 2001
- Support for external burners.
- Improved visual effects generator.
- More supported CD burners.
Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X
2.0 — October 23 2001
- iPod support.
- Equalizer.
- MP3 CD burning.
- Crossfader.
- Sound enhancer.
- Burns CDs two times faster than before.
- Unicode metadata and ID3 tag support.
- 2.0.2 — November 16 2001
- Language support for French and German.
- 2.0.3 — December 13 2001
- Only checked songs are synchronized with iPod.
- Rio One MP3 player support.
- Expanded AppleScript support.
- Improved stability and performance.
Mac OS X
- Smart playlists.
- Audible.com audiobook support.
- Sound check.
- Ratings.
- Play counts.
- Join tracks.
- Playlist importing and exporting.
- New data field added: "Composer"
- 3.0.1 — September 18 2002
- Performance improvements.
- Better support for Mac OS X v10.2.
- Music Store support.
- Music sharing.
- AAC audio codec.
- Album artwork.
- DVD burning support.
- Improved searching.
- Beats per minute field.
- Music sharing only in subnet.
- Performance improvements.
Mac OS X and Windows 2000/XP/Vista
4.1 — October 16 2003
- Voice notes and On-The-Go playlists synchronization with iPod.
- Support for large library to be burned on multiple CDs.
- Music Store link dragging and dropping.
- Music Store now features audiobooks.
- Music Store has more advanced Power Search.
- Music Store supports allowance.
- Music Store supports gift certificates.
4.2 — December 18 2003
- AOL account support in Music Store.
- Performance improvements.
- New data field added: "Grouping"
- iMix.
- Party Shuffle.
- CD insert printing.
- Music Store Quick Links.
- Automatic WMA to AAC conversion (Windows only).
- Apple Lossless audio codec.
- AirTunes support.
- Minor improvements.
4.7 — October 27 2004
- Support for copying photos to an iPod photo.
- Ability to show duplicate songs in library.
- Performance improvements.
- iPod preferences now part of the Preferences window.
- Ability to search iMixes by name on the iTunes Music Store.
- Taskbar iTunes toolbar, minimize to tray. (Windows only.)
- 4.7.1 — January 11 2005
- Support for iPod shuffle and "Autofill" functionality.
- Disallows play and transfer of Music Store-purchased tracks that have had the DRM-protection stripped by third-party applications.
- Only allows 5 connections per day to libraries shared over a network.
- Video support.
- Support for new international iTunes Stores.
- Support for transferring contacts and calendars from a computer to an iPod. (Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" only.)
- Security enhancements.
- Mac OS X v10.1 support dropped.
- Support for Podcasting.
- Support for mobile phones. (Currently only the Motorola ROKR E1 and Motorola SLVR are able to take advantage of this.)
5.0 — September 7 2005
- Refined user interface.
- Display at top now displays artist and song together.
- Ability to group playlists in folders.
- Search now has Search Bar for refining search results. It duplicates the Spotlight bar in the Mac OS X v10.4 Finder:
- Search all music, audiobooks, podcasts, and videos, etc.
- Search all artists, albums, and songs
- Automatically sync calendars and contacts with Microsoft Outlook and contacts only with Outlook Express.
- Smart shuffle with adjustable 'randomness'.
- Support for the playback and creation of variable bitrate AAC files.
- Parental Controls to limit children's access to podcasts, the iTunes Music Store, and sharing features.
- Lyrics tab in track info box.
- Each song has the option to remember playback position and to skip it in shuffle mode.
- 5.0.1 — September 20 2005
- Bug fixes.
- Bonjour for Windows removed from installer bundle after DNS conflict problems.
6.0 — October 12 2005
- "Videos" added to "Sources" list.
- Supports purchase of video content through the iTunes Music Store.
- Can transfer video files to fifth-generation iPods.
- By purchasing music with 6.0 and further versions, iTunes Music Store account is upgraded, blocking the Hymn DRM removal utility.
- 6.0.1 — October 20 2005
- Bug fixes.
- 6.0.2 — January 10 2006
- Bug fixes.
- MiniStore in library.
- Convert home movies to iPod compatible files in iTunes.
- AirTunes enhancement to allow three separate audio streams.
- 6.0.3 — February 15 2006
- Bug fixes.
- Performance improvements.
- Addresses stability and performance issues related to Front Row.
- Fixes problems that some users have with playlists only in version 6.0.4.
- Adds support for syncing Nike+iPod workout data to easily track progress, set training goals, and challenge others.
- New Nike Sport area on the iTunes Store to download workout mixes, athlete inspiration playlists, and Nike podcasts.
7.0 — September 12 2006
- Support for movies downloaded from iTunes Store.
- Improved full screen video playback with onscreen controls.
- Selectable user interfaces and track listings.
- Source list organized into sections: Library, Store, Devices, Shared, Playlists.
- Cover Flow view for album art.
- Download manager.
- iPod Manager (iPod Updater is now built-in instead of being separate software)
- MyTunesRedux piracy measures removed.
- Missing album art available for download from iTunes Store.
- Support for second generation iPod nano and shuffle
- Improved ratings and parental controls.
- Multiple libraries and library backup commands.
- Gapless playback.
- Transfer of purchased content from iPod to computer.
- iPod games.
- Improved search.
- New data fields: “Album Artist”, “Skip Count”, and “Last Skipped.”
- Mac OS X v10.2 support dropped.
- 7.0.1 — September 27 2006
- Stability and performance improvements with Cover Flow, CD importing, iPod syncing, and more.
- Resolved some compatibility issues with the Remote Desktop Protocol.
- Resolved compatibility with Windows Live Messenger and computer calls on PCs.
- Made the one-click rating work again.
- 7.0.2 — October 31 2006
- Added support for 2nd generation iPod shuffle and iPod nano.
- Fixed various stability and performance issues found in iTunes 7 and 7.0.1.
- Added support for the Apple TV.
- New full screen Cover Flow and improved sorting options.
- Fixes for several Windows Vista issues.
- Shows number of items selected when dragging multiple songs from iTunes to Finder/Explorer or to playlists.
- “Sorting” tab under the “Get Info” options for a single song selection.
- “Mark as Unplayed” changed to “Mark as New.”
- Addresses a stability issue and minor compatibility problems.
- Also addresses a stability issue with unintegrated-installer iPods.
- iTunes Plus for support with DRM Free Music at $1.29
- Windows Vista-compatible
- iTunes U - offers free content from some of the top universities around the nation