Originally I was quite concerned about Apple’s plans for iTunes 9. The rumors of social networking tie-ins and more store-centric updates really left me uneasily considering skipping the update. When the event on Tuesday confirmed the rumors I really started getting irritated about the potential of turning iTunes into an even worse behemoth. Devin Coldewey over at TechCrunch Summed up my fears of bloatware in his appeal for iTunes Lite. Like any good Mac fan-boy though, I dutifully downloaded the update as soon as the page would refresh.
After tinkering for a few days I must admit I am pleasantly surprised by the update. Generally I only use iTunes as a file manager for our ever growing music collection. I do all my listening from my Nano. In this regard Apple has fulfilled it’s promise of better synchronization. Perhaps it’s a psychological effect of the lighter and more spacious UI but it actually seems more responsive. The library updates more quickly and receives artwork and genius updates with a little more alacrity. I haven’t tried moving over a large volume of songs to my Nano but iTunes has always seemed to be a little ungainly when syncing in the past. I haven’t noticed that at all yet. I still need to give it a more rigorous workout but I’m happy that my earlier misgivings seem to be so much smoke.
