Our weeks of obsessively checking for iPhone updates were rewarded today with software version 1.1.1. There are several changes, like a new Calculator icon (it now matches that of the iPod touch) and additional text message alert sounds.The big news for iPhone users, however (those that survived the update, that is), is the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. Here are my impressions after spending a few minutes with it.
Look and Feel
Upon first launch, you're brought to the main screen. I had an excellent Wi-Fi connection and the store came up very quickly. Across the top are three buttons: "New Releases," "What's Hot" and "Genres." Below that are two banner ads and a scroll-able list of top releases. Flipping through the list was snappy, though it did take a second or two to draw album art towards the bottom of the list.
At the very bottom of the screen are four icons: "Featured," "Top Tens," "Search" and "Downloads."
It feels much snappier than I expected. The album art is nice and big and everything is quite legible.
Purchasing Music
I touched The Shepard's Dog by Iron & Wine (I intended to buy it anyway) and got a listing of the album's tracks. Tapping any title launches its 30 second preview almost immediately, just as tapping the price tag reveals the "Buy now" button.
I bought the album, and was prompted for my iTunes Store password. The selected music seems to "jump" down into the "Downloads" icon, and a small, red indicator slowly flashes red, indicating the number of tracks remaining.
Again I was amazed at how quickly it downloaded: 3MB and 4MB songs were taking 3 and 4 seconds.
Once the download was complete, a button for the newly-created "Purchased" playlist appeared in the upper right hand corner. Clicking it quit iTunes and launched the iPod software, where my music was ready to play. The whole process was fast and dead simple. Apple obviously contemplated (and nailed) every last detail.
Synchronizing with iTunes
Again, this was laughably easy. With my iPhone connected to my Mac, I launched iTunes and started a sync. iTunes saw and imported the new music. It also created a new, "Purchased on Dave's iPhone" playlist. Other Features
- Live search: iTunes begins searching as soon as you start typing, which is pretty cool.
- Top Tens: Quickly jump to the top ten songs across genres, or view the store's over all top ten downloads.
- Download Extras: If an album contains extras, like a digital booklet or a video, it's described beneath the list of album tracks.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-27-2007 @ 4:13PM
Dan said...
I'm getting "Could not play preview" messages when trying to preview anything. Anyone else?
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9-27-2007 @ 4:13PM
Luigi193 said...
Thats SWEET!
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9-27-2007 @ 4:25PM
WillGonz said...
Ok the first few times of deleting e-mail was cute. Now it is time consuming to delete 100+ e-mails out of my mailbox. There is no select all and delete. Still not ready for real business use.
Can't wait until someone else makes a device this cool with open source.
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9-27-2007 @ 4:30PM
jonathan ober said...
downloading now. not worried about iBrick, since i dont hack. don't have custom Ringtones either...oh well.
maybe this will persuade me to download from the iTunes store instead of purchase CDs.
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9-27-2007 @ 4:34PM
Dasutin said...
Can you download Podcasts?
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9-27-2007 @ 4:35PM
jonathan ober said...
WillGonz, do you have your email set to update all the time, or just on Manual? I have found that if I set it up to manual then it only downloads mail that I haven't opened from my gmail account. It's a lot better than getting every single message and having to go through them twice.
Try it.
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9-27-2007 @ 4:36PM
Noah Kronemeyer said...
If you get the "Cannot Play Preview" message, just try again. If it's still not working, check your WiFi signal strength if you are on that network.
You can also click any web-links that lead to the iTunes store in the Safari browser, and you'll be taken to your iPhone/Touch iTunes Store. This is helpful if you want to download the free single of the week to your iPhone directly w/o having to wait till the next time you sync w/ your computer.
Cheers!
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9-27-2007 @ 4:36PM
Bob said...
Sorry, no podcasts. There has also been an update for the iPod Touch. Now at version 1.1.1. The screen issues are being reported as fixed or at least better. (I can verify!! Yay!)
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9-27-2007 @ 4:51PM
Bala said...
Just a stupid question: Does the *Wi-Fi* Music Store only work when you are on a Wi-Fi network or does it work even if you are on an EDGE network?
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9-27-2007 @ 4:58PM
Dan said...
VERY NICE! Installed update and immediately purchased an album to test. Like butter easy!
Downloaded a 14 song album and it was on my iPhone in under 4 minutes. Docked and songs came over to iTunes as expected! Great feature that I'm sure I'll use from time to time.
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9-27-2007 @ 4:59PM
NewMexiKen said...
Given this update, the hacking issues, the price drop, and all that's happened, is the iPhone as-is a good buy? What do people think? What do the experts think? I realize this is highly subjective, but with bluetooth add-ons and, in my case a VzW contract, it's still an expensive outlay, and I'd like an assessment.
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9-27-2007 @ 5:07PM
jason said...
I just downloaded the update, and right away, 1 problem.. My speakers are totally imbalanced!!! My left speaker (as you're looking at the phone) is really loud, almost distorted, and my right speaker barely has any noise coming out of it. I checked the sound with a video, several songs, and song previews from the store...all of them goofy.
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9-27-2007 @ 5:08PM
Donald Burr said...
Does anyone know whether the WiFi Music Store respects and uses any iTunes card credit balances in your account?
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9-27-2007 @ 5:18PM
nkatz said...
@12 - Are you talking about the physical grills on the bottom edge of the phone? Only the left one is a speaker to begin with. The right one is the mic, if I'm not mistaken...
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9-27-2007 @ 5:40PM
Susan said...
@ 13 I ordered a 99 cent song using the wifi store and checked later on the computer. The song was purchased using the store credit in my account (the current total credit appears next to your user name and it had dropped by a little over one dollar).
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9-27-2007 @ 6:36PM
nkatz said...
@12 - Are you referring to the two grilled openings on the bottom edge of your phone? Because only the left one is a speaker to begin with. The right one is the mic, if I'm not mistaken...
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9-27-2007 @ 6:38PM
nkatz said...
Sorry for the double post, folks... :(
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9-27-2007 @ 7:21PM
eriq said...
when i try to purchase something i get a pop up stating "No account information found. Please connect to iTunes to configure your account". Well I connected to iTunes but I see nowhere to configure this, this computer is authorized, I'm downloading a season pass episode as we speak so the iTunes software on the computer certainly knows I'm configured. How do I make it notify the iPhone?
Any ideas?
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9-27-2007 @ 8:04PM
matto said...
@12+14
you are not mistaken... one is a speaker, the other the mic...
Always been that way...
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9-27-2007 @ 8:26PM
Michael Mendoza said...
@9 - Sorry, I asked the same question at Engadget and they said you cannot connect to the iTunes store with EDGE/GPRS, you need to use Wifi. If I get different results (d/l the update right now) I'll give you more information.
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