iTunes

Mac Podcasts app concept 

Yesterday in my WWDC wish list I included a request for pulling Apple’s podcast player out of iTunes and promoting it to a dedicated app on the Mac just like it is on iOS. iTunes in its current form can be a mess as a music player, but at least that tries to be its primary function; being a good podcast player is hardly the focus of iTunes. Aside from removing part of the bloat from iTunes, promoting podcast playback on the Mac to its own app would solve several existing problems.

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In addition to releasing software updates across iOS, Mac, and watchOS, Apple today has released an update to iTunes. The update brings iTunes to version 12.4 and includes the design tweaks that were initially rumored earlier this month.

iTunes 12.4 introduces a variety of interface tweaks that Apple says make it easier to navigate the app and switch between different kinds of content. First off, there’s a new media picker that allows users to quickly switch between Music, Movies, TV shows, and more.

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While Apple has denied a report that it was planning to stop selling music downloads in either two years or 3-4 years, the denial to Re/code was somewhat vague.

Apple rep Tom Neumayr wouldn’t expand on [the ‘not true’] comment, except to make it clear that he was responding to both timelines proposed in today’s story from Digital Music News.

And really, nobody should be surprised if the broader report is true: that Apple has discussed how and when it might exit the music download business …

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I addressed one big issue with Apple Music last week – and was very surprised to see from the poll results just how widespread the issue was. But while discussing that issue, we happened across a Reddit thread that I thought contained a really great idea: give the iOS app Smart Playlist functionality via Siri.

I may complain a lot about the bloated nature of iTunes, a single app that tries to do way too many different things, but I do really like it as a pure music player. One of the features I love is Smart Playlists, which you can use to do all kinds of funky things.

For example, maybe you have some music you really love but haven’t listened to for a while? Create a Smart Playlist where Rating is 5 and Last Played is not in the last year. Been listening to the same stuff too much lately? Create a playlist where Last Played is not in the past month. Feeling nostalgic? A playlist where Year is a particular year …

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A refreshed version of iTunes has been in the pipeline since Eddy Cue teased it in February of this year. While the Apple executive didn’t specify exactly what would change, a new leak from MacRumors shows that Apple is planning a relatively minor update in iTunes 12.4 that doesn’t dramatically overhaul the interface of the application like many had hoped.

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Streaming of Drake’s latest album Views has hit Apple Music, and will be exclusive to the streaming service for one week, the rapper announced on Beats 1. This confirmed an earlier Buzzfeed report.

Drake told Zane Lowe that the album is a very personal one, based very much on his own feelings about himself and his home city of Toronto.

I’m a very honest person. I can’t write fiction.

The short one-week exclusivity period was no doubt influenced by the fact that Drake was the most-streamed artist on Spotify last year, and perhaps also wanting to avoid emulating some high-profile U-turns by artists who had initially promised full exclusivity elsewhere …

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Last week, users in China mysteriously saw the iTunes Movies Store and iBooks Store shut down. At the time, it was unclear why the services went down, but now, The New York Times reports that the two stores were ordered to shut down by the Chinese State Administration of Press, Publication, Film, and Television.

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Siri for Mac with OS X 10.12, iTunes and App Store redesigns, improved iCloud encryption, and original programming for the Apple TV. These are just a few of the projects Apple has reportedly been working on and they are also likely candidates for stage time at its upcoming WWDC press event and developer conference. Add in the last of the Macs that are due for updates and the usual dose of new developer tools, and we already have a lot to look forward to at WWDC slated for June 13-17.

Below we take a look at the latest rumors and reports for all of the expected product updates and new features in the cards for the event.

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If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, Apple makes it easy to create an embeddable playlist preview widget via its Apple Music website. All it takes is the share URL from the playlist of your choice, and the widget generator does the rest of the heavy lifting.

The widget is limited to 30-second previews of all of the songs included in the selected playlist. At the bottom of the widget, you’ll find a link to Apple Music, where playlist listeners who aren’t yet subscribers can sign up for a free 3-month trial subscription.
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At long last, Apple today has started rolling out web links and iTunes web previews for tvOS apps, similar to how links to iOS/Mac apps and iTunes content has worked for years now. As reported by MacStories, users will now be able to easily share links to fourth-gen Apple TV apps on their computer and subsequently be able to view app details, as well.

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Apple has announced that users can no longer setup iTunes Allowances for kids from today, ahead of a complete shutdown of the iTunes Allowances program on May 25th, 2016. iTunes Allowances let parents set up monthly credit for their kids to spend on App Store and iTunes Store purchases.

In the support note announcing the closure, Apple recommends families instead use Family Sharing to manage purchase and spending habits across family members. This does not impact the availability of iTunes Gifts — Apple customers will still be able to buy iTunes gift cards to give to friends and family as normal.

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Have you noticed that virtually every aspect of the personal information on our iPhones can be restored individually via iCloud? Things like photos, mail, contacts, calendars, Safari bookmarks, and notes can all be individually recovered on a fresh install of iOS.

The one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is text messages and iMessages. Sure, it’s possible to restore text messages if you’re willing to backup and restore the entire contents of your iPhone, but what if you wish to perform a fresh install of iOS and then restore messages?

Fortunately, backing up and restoring SMS texts and iMessages on an individual basis is possible, as long as you’re willing to take some time to follow our step-by-step guide.

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All the excitement for this week’s Apple announcement for the new iPhone SE, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and refreshed Apple Watch models has got me on the edge of my seat. Not just for the hardware, but also for the potential iTunes software changes that might be coming. Eddy Cue dropped the hint during an interview last month, saying that iTunes would be receiving a refresh this month focusing on music with the new version of Mac OS X. That’s great news, because a refresh is undeniably what iTunes needs right now.

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Non-jailbroken iPhones are usually close to immune from malware thanks to Apple vetting every app before it’s made available in the App Store. So far, malware has relied on abusing enterprise certificates designed to allow companies to distribute apps to their own phones. But security company Palo Alto Networks has discovered a new piece of malware that can infect iPhones by exploiting a vulnerability in Apple’s DRM mechanism.

AceDeceiver is the first iOS malware we’ve seen that abuses certain design flaws in Apple’s DRM protection mechanism — namely FairPlay — to install malicious apps on iOS devices regardless of whether they are jailbroken.

AceDeceiver currently uses a geotag so that it is only activated when a user is located in China, but a simple switch could allow it to infect iPhones elsewhere …

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If Apple’s most recent hardware events were about going bigger (larger iPhones, a jumbo iPad, and a new Apple TV), Apple’s March 21st event is about going smaller. Apple yesterday officially sent invites to its much-anticipated event to be held at its Cupertino campus with the tagline “Let us loop you in.” The event, which was originally internally scheduled for a week earlier, will focus on Apple’s new 4-inch iPhone SE, a smaller, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and new Apple Watch bands. The company will likely also reveal the final versions of iOS 9.3, tvOS 9.2, watchOS 2.2, OS X 10.11.4, and an iTunes update. We’ve reported nearly the entirety of what’s expected to come at the event, so read on for a full roundup of everything we’re likely to see. (Updated March 18th with the latest information):

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Apple has officially announced its upcoming spring event (via @tim) scheduled for March 21st in Cupertino at Apple’s 1 Infinite Loop campus at 10 am PT/1 pm ET. The company is expected to introduce the 4-inch iPhone SE, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, new Apple Watch bands, software updates, and more. As for what’s in store for this event, this is what’s rumored and what we expect to see:

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