iTunes 8 is a welcome update. It, combined with iPod touch firmware 2.1, has alleviated many of my backup-related woes, and it has also introduced some nice visual additions.
The biggest cosmetic change is evident in the new grid view. While it is nice, there are a few things that need to change before it is the best it can be. Here I’ll outline what I like and don’t like about iTunes 8′s grid view.
Let’s begin with the look and feel. On it’s own it looks great. But Apple just put work into unifying the interface in Leopard, and now they’re throwing it out with the new grid view. The biggest problem is the scrollbars. It doesn’t match at all the rest of the UI, and the actual scrool bar doesn’t match the background or arrows. Oddly, it fits right in when the window is deselected, leading me to believe that it might be a mistake that the normal iTunes scrollbar is thrown in where a customized “glassy” one should be.
Second is practicality. I love that podcasts show the number of unwatched and play the new ones on a double click. For albums, it doesn’t work as well. Requiring a double click to get into a song list, and then another mouse click up in the corner to get back to the all album view is less than practical. In this respect, CoverFlow works a lot better for song browsing. You can see the covers on the top half, with all the songs accessible at the same time in the bottom half.
But Adam, you say, you cant possibly have a better idea! Oh, but I do. Why can’t we take a page from the iPhone (as we already seem to be doing based upon the look of the “All Albums” button) and have the album cover flip over on a click? In my perfect iTunes 8, one click on the album art would cause the album to flip over and zoom up to center itself on screen. The backside of the album would show a song list and a star rating, just like on the iPhone and iPod touch. One click on the title of the album or outside the album area would flip it back over, and you’re right back to the All Album view. In fact, you’ve never left. Mockup below. Would this work or not, and if not, why not? Tell me in the comments!
