Filed under: iTS, Software, iTunes
iTunes: From 0 to 7.0
Dan blogged about a pictorial look at the iTunes icon evolution over time and that got me to thinking about how iTunes has changed since iTunes 1.0 (which I used, though I imagine lots of our readers didn't). Being the self starter that I am I decided to compare the last 7 versions of iTunes by showing screenshots of each version (and of the store starting in iTunes 4.0).Read on to see the pictures, most of which come from the fabulous GUI Guidebook.
SoundJam MP
Early 2000: SoundJam MP by, the now out of business, Casady & Greene was the basis for iTunes. Didn't know that, huh? Yep, Apple liked it so much that they bought the rights to it and hired its developers to write iTunes. Read all about it on Wikipedia.
iTunes 1.0
January 9, 2001: Ah, iTunes 1.0. This started iTunes mania, folks, and it only ran on OS 9. Those were simpler times, when 86 MP3's seemed like a lot. Apple touted that with iTunes you could store an unlimited number of MP3's, burn CD's (using CD burners that Apple has just added to Macs) and watch a 'visualizer,' which was totally trippy, dude.
iTunes 2.0
October 23, 2001: 9 months after introducing iTunes 1.0, Apple announced iTunes 2.0 which ran in either OS 9.2.1 or OS X 10.2. The big ticket items were MP3 CD burning, an equalizer, and cross fading. More and more folks were getting into the whole iTunes thing, but it was still Mac only much like the iPods (which were also introduced this year). You could transfer 1000 songs from iTunes to your iPod in 10 minutes. Truly, this is the future. No one knew then that iTunes and the iPod would be such a killer combo.
iTunes 3.0
July 17, 2002: iTunes 3.0 introduces smart playlists and Sound Check (that makes sure all your songs play at the same volume level). Audible.com support was also introduced in this version of iTunes. iTunes 3.0 dropped OS 9 support altogether, requiring OS X 10.1.4 or greater.
iTunes 4.0
April 28, 2003: iTunes 4 was all about one thing: The iTunes Music Store (seen below). Starting off with 200,000 songs the store made a big splash, but it was Mac only. iTunes 4 was the first version to include Rendezvous™ (now Bonjour) music sharing, which was pretty darned cool.
October 16, 2003: iTunes for Windows was introduced to sell more songs and iPods (the iTunes Music Store in OS X is pictured above). Mac users bemoaned the fact that first they had to share iPods with PC users, and now they had to share iTunes. Hell had frozen over. Apple also teamed up with AOL to offer one click purchasing using AOL screennames, added audiobooks to the store, and added the 'Allowance' feature. Oh, and podcasts in the Music Store too, thought that didn't happen until June 28th 2005.
iTunes 5.0
September 7, 2005: iTunes 5 breaks on the scene and everyone asks, what's up with that plastic looking thing in the main window? iTunes 5 introduced improved search, Smart Shuffle (people complained the iTune's shuffle wasn't random enough), and folder support.
The iTunes Music Store in iTunes 5. More than 2 million songs are available.
iTunes 6.0
October 12, 2005: Just 2 months later (which really confused people) iTunes 6 busted onto the scenes. The biggest news here (as seen below) was the addition of short films (from Pixar) and TV shows (from ABC) in the iTunes Music Store. $1.99 gets you an episode that you own forever and ever.
The iTunes Music Store in iTunes 6, now with TV shows! This was when people said, "When is Apple going to change the name of the store?!'
iTunes 7.0
September 12, 2006: iTunes 7 introduces a number of new features, including an overhauled IU and movies for sale (Disney only, once again). A name change for the iTunes Music Store finally arrives, now it is simply the iTunes Store. The store offers videos at quadruple the resolution, and you can even get games for you iPod now.
The newest look for the iTunes Store.
Where will the future lead us? Only his Steveness knows for sure.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jon said 7:42PM on 9-14-2006
You said Podcasts were introduced in iTunes 4 but I'm pretty sure they were included in 5.0. Can anyone else verify this?
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Elliot said 7:45PM on 9-14-2006
Great piece. Can I just say that black highlighing on the left in iT7 is the worst interface decision I've seen Apple make in years? I mean really, I almost think it's a bug that will be resolved in 7.0.1, it's so bad.
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John Russell said 7:44PM on 9-14-2006
I wish there was a way to go back to the look of iTunes 6, while keeping the new features in iTunes 7.
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Jon said 7:46PM on 9-14-2006
Just checked on Wikipedia. It was 4.9, not 5.0 (almost!). The date was June 28th 2005 though.
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Query said 7:49PM on 9-14-2006
I find it odd that iT7 is now pretty much all plastic, but the iTS is still glass.
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Larry said 7:49PM on 9-14-2006
I miss the good old nuclear Burn CD button. That and I dislike the look of the lower buttons. (ie: new playlist, linear, shuffle, show artwork, browse and eject buttons) They were very good looking in the previous version.
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Alan Joyce said 7:54PM on 9-14-2006
@Jon: Agreed, there is no way Apple introduced podcasts to the iTMS in October 2003. The term 'podcasting' wasn't even coined until 2004.
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Scott McNulty said 7:53PM on 9-14-2006
Thanks all, I added the date for the podcasts in the store. :)
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michel said 8:01PM on 9-14-2006
I just miss the icons of itunes 6 and the marvelous burn button and of course : Aqua scrollbars !
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CyBeR said 8:19PM on 9-14-2006
iTunes 5 introduced search? Huh? That search field has been in there since 1.0!
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Joe Folkmann said 12:56AM on 9-15-2006
I'm actually glad to see aqua go. I like how subtle everything thing is with iTunes 7. The only thing I wish they would have kept was the green folder icon.
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Twist said 8:42PM on 9-14-2006
Apple considered basing iTunes off of SoundJam's rival Audion for a time. You can read about it here: http://panic.com/extras/audionstory/
P.S. Audion's Linked Playlist feature needs to be added to iTunes.
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Blair Bendler said 8:52PM on 9-14-2006
When are you guys going to start *proofreading* your blog entries?? The spelling and grammar on TUAW have become embarrassing lately.
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Joshua Ochs said 1:16AM on 9-15-2006
In terms of interface, pretty much what everyone else has said - give me back the old buttons, scrollbars, and especially that god-awful black highlight thing!
If anyone out there has it handy, all of this is stored in a resource file called iTunes.rsrc. Unfortunately, with an Intel Mac I have no way of running ResEdit!
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Steven said 9:29PM on 9-14-2006
Also, the resolution of video in the iTunes store has been quadrupled.
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carpeicthus said 10:02PM on 9-14-2006
I still have my original copy of SoundJam on my hard drive, just as a relic of tribute. It was fantastic for the time, and had features iTunes *still* doesn't have. Skinning (no surprise there), and a built-in alarm clock, for example.
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carpeicthus said 10:02PM on 9-14-2006
Resolution has been doubled. The number of pixels has been quadrupled. Resolution is density at a given frame size, so it goes by the square root of the pixel change.
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Victor Agreda Jr said 10:16PM on 9-14-2006
iTunes 4 not only introduced the music store, but featured Ashlee Simpsons' original nose.
"Remind yourself it's just a blog, I should really just relax..." (apologies to Joel)
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Elaine said 5:53PM on 10-31-2006
At least part of the reason for the quick turnaround between iTunes 5 and iTunes 6 was to revamp the DRM scheme. The jHymn utility will defeat the Apple DRM on any track purchased under iTunes 5 and earlier. It won't touch an iTunes 6 purchase. Notice that news recently came out about a (admittedly cumbersome) DRM crack for iTunes 6 - I wonder if iTunes 7 has a new DRM scheme?
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Colin Nowra said 10:42PM on 9-14-2006
Please talk about the new feature where you can put all your TV Shows that you didn't get from iTunes that can now be put into the right category (TV Shows) you previously had to leave them in the Movies section.
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