Filed under: Audio, Software, Tips and tricks
iTunes 7 tidbits: it now respects the Browse state

This is most likely at best a minor bonus on most iTunes users' lists - if it's on them at all - but I was pleasantly surprised to discover yesterday that iTunes 7 (pre-7.0.1) now respects the Browse state when switching between the Library and playlists or other sections of the software. If you're scratching your head as to what I'm talking about, let me give you an obnoxious user scenario from previous versions: Let's say you're viewing your music library, and you enable the Browse button so you can track down that exact Genre, Artist or Album you have a craving for. Then, you switch to a playlist to maybe edit it or check and see if the track you're grooving to is on it (yes, I know you can do that by other methods). Upon switching back to the main Library, iTunes has now blown away whatever Genre/Artist/Album selection you had made, disrupting your flow and forcing you to hunt it down again.
If you don't use iTunes like this, feel free to move along at this point. But, if you're feeling my aggravating pain, I am happy to tell you that an iTunes engineer had you and I in mind my friend, as this behavior is now gone. iTunes 7 will respect your Browse state if you start hunting around in other playlists, Library sections or the store, maintaining that Genre, Artist or Album selection you made. Again, this is admittedly a tiny detail, but c'mon - we're talking about Apple, a company known for its attention to the smallest of details which often illicit the largest of "thank you's!" Enjoy.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nathan said 3:55PM on 9-27-2006
Yes!! I most certainly feel your pain! So glad this is fixed!
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mx3 said 3:56PM on 9-27-2006
Awesome, that always really bugged me.
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desistyle3 said 4:08PM on 9-27-2006
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! No just joking, I never used this, but still glad to hear they fixed it for users that rely on this...
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Thomas said 4:35PM on 9-27-2006
One word: HOORAY!
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Bill I said 4:48PM on 9-27-2006
Finally! This has been making me crazy forever. Of course my silent complaints weren't really being heard by anyone...
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J.Y. said 5:38PM on 9-27-2006
Ah, ALMOST perfect. I think I've found an exception related to the 3 "View" options / icons.
If you are in Library for example, using the first icon - "List" view, if you click on say an artist, then switch over to the second "Grouped List" view, it does indeed respect the filtered browse state (and you can go back and forth between these two list formats no problem).
However, if you go the third icon "Coverflow" it dumps it all, Coverflow is not showing your previous browse selection, and when you switch back to either of the other list views, it has been reset.
So, do you think this is a bug or feature? ;-P
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rich Facial said 6:21PM on 9-27-2006
No.5:
Of course my silent complaints weren't really being heard by anyone...
you can provide feedback, and hopefully they will fix all your complaints!
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David said 6:33PM on 9-27-2006
glad they fixed that, still need to fix the problem J.Y. describe though as that will be super annoying whenever iTunes' coverflow thing becomes usable...
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Kerensky said 10:00PM on 9-27-2006
Unfortunately it doesn't respect the browse state of the iPod after being ejected and re-docked. At least, not with my iPod Nano on the Windows iTunes 7.
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ndub said 10:02PM on 9-27-2006
Not sure if it was the case with previous versions but the fact that i only noticed last week probably suggests that it wasn't - the same applies to the search field. if you have a search parameter in the mussic library and switch to a playlist and back again - the search filter remains in place. and vice-versa etcetera...
good stuff
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Tyrone Rugen said 4:12AM on 9-28-2006
To possibly clarify Kerensky's comment, iTunes 7 no longer remembers if you have the browser turned on when viewing your iPod's music library, between dockings. Bizarrely, however, it *does* remember if the browser was on for playlists on the iPod. In fact, no matter how many times I turn the browser *off* on my playlists, and eject and re-dock, iTunes now keeps showing the browser for playlists, even though its original behaviour was not to! (At least, with my iPod nano on the Mac iTunes 7.) One step forward, two steps back?
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darleen Michael-Baker said 9:12AM on 9-28-2006
While I'm happy with the updates I can't help but turning Grinch-like and smacking your knuckles with a ruler. QUOTE: " I am happy to tell you that an iTunes engineer had you and I in mind my "
The proper grammar here is "you and me." Rule of thumb I was taught back in the stone age ... eliminate the other people and see how it sounds. i.e. "... an iTunes engineer had ... ME in my" versus "... an iTunes engineer and I in mind."
ok. rant off.
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darleen Michael-Baker said 9:14AM on 9-28-2006
Well, darned typos.
It was supposed to be:
The proper grammar here is "you and me." Rule of thumb I was taught back in the stone age ... eliminate the other people and see how it sounds. i.e. "... an iTunes engineer had ... ME in mind" versus "... an iTunes engineer had I in mind."
smack MY knuckles with a ruler.
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Alex said 9:48AM on 9-28-2006
Oh yes, the comment to apple thing really works. I commented how there wasn't a keyboard shortcut for the equilizer and that just pressing the button was not 100% convinient on Windows--what does apple do, they take away the button alltogether. Not only that, but they ALSO effectively eliminate the shortcut on mac.
Yes, I went back and through pref panel added the cmd-1 and cmd-2 shortcuts back, but you know what, those are originally reserved for resizing video in itunes, so now there's a conflict.
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Raphael said 10:53AM on 9-28-2006
Funny thing with this is that it had actually been correct in iTunes up until version 4.5.
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Washington Surprise said 11:24AM on 9-28-2006
Respek!!
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