Applicious – A Brief Review of iTunes 9

The Good:

The bulk of the interface changes were made to the iTunes store, and Apple’s design team really hit a home run here. Most of these changes were a long time coming, as Apple hadn’t made serious updates to their store interface for quite some time. Here are 5 positive design and usability features that Apple added to the iTunes 9 store:

iTunes Store Design

iTunes 9 Store Design

1. Slider Function – Apple added a rotating slider feature as the main promo element to the store homepage. This is a great way (and a better way than the previous version) to feature new content.

2. Icon Lists – The previous version of the iTunes store felt a bit disjointed primarily because of the amount of content crammed into the homepage. Apple cleaned up the layout significantly (moving from a 3 column layout to a 2 column layout) and as a result highlights their content more effectively. The graphic menus and icon lists are more prominent now as well.

3. Rollovers – From a usability perspective, Apple nailed it with the rollover and pop-up preview functionality (see #s 3&4). Now you can sample songs, movies, etc my simply rolling over the content – much more user-friendly and you don’t have to dig deep into the site to discover if you like the song or not.

iTunes 9 Store Design Rollovers

4. Pop-Up Previews – Like the list rollover functionality, the pop-up preview feature lets users sample content without having to leave the homepage. Not only is this a great design aesthetic, but it’s very user-friendly as well. These two features alone radically change the user experience for the better and I think add a whole new dimension to the iTunes Store

iTunes9 Store Design Image

5. Updated Design – Finally, Apple spent a lot of time and effort updating the design of the iTunes store. It’s well known that Apple has been at the cutting edge of design strategy, and I don’t think you could find a graphic or web designer who hasn’t been influenced by Apple’s design style. But like anything in this day and age, the cutting edge quickly becomes outdated and the iTunes store design is no exception. Once again, subtle changes make the biggest differences. Apple got rid of the bland blues and highlighted grays for a brighter, richer design aesthetic which helps the content pop more effectively, and creates a cleaner, simpler, and better user experience.

The Bad:

Though I really dig all of the changes made to the iTunes store, I’m frankly surprised that Apple didn’t make similar changes to the actual iTunes interface. Granted Apple added some new features to iTunes 9, but the overall design remains relatively the same. It’s not a bad design, but with all of the progression made in the store, I would have liked to see, and would have appreciated the same aesthetic to be applied to the desktop interface. Here are 2 elements that I think could and should be improved:

iTunes9 Interface Design

1. A Better List – I’m still partial to the list view in iTunes because it loads faster, is easier to navigate, and I’m used to it. But man, it’s been the same style for the past several versions. Isn’t it time for a design upgrade? How about just copying the styles of the lists in the new iTunes store? That would be a great improvement.

iTunes9 Interface Design Image

2. Individual Artist Lists – This was a feature change in the last major iTunes update, and while I admit it’s not a bad design, it could be much better. And I know that’s a cliche and a cop-out at times, but again, why not apply the same styles that were applied to the store? Compared to the new iTunes store design, even this “new” feature seems outdated.

Overall Review:

The verdict? Obviously I think Apple did a fantastic job with the iTunes store re-design. But I’m a little disappointed in the lack of design revisions to the actual iTunes interface. I know I’m spoiled, because Apple’s design overall blows most other mainstream application designs out of the water – but to me Apple reached another level (yet again) in the store re-design, and I expected something similar for the interface.

Maybe that’s what we have to look forward to in iTunes 9.1.

What are your thoughts? How do you feel about the latest iTunes 9 update?

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