iTunes 11 is the biggest update for iTunes in a long time, here are some its newest features:
New miniplayer
iTunes always had a miniplayer, but it has been redesigned in iTunes 11 with new features.
The way you switch to and from the miniplayer has changed. Instead of clicking the green button, now there is a small rectangular icon in the top right of the iTunes window. There are also some keyboard shortcuts – Command-Option-M will switch to the miniplayer, and Command-Option-3 will open up a separate miniplayer in addition to the regular iTunes window.
There are 2 modes within the new miniplayer, it displays the song and artist until you hover your mouse cursor over it, then it switches to display playback controls.
Click and drag
Since the sidebar is now gone, you could be forgiven for thinking you can no longer just drag songs into a playlist or onto a connected iPhone, iPod or iPad. But if you try it, you’ll find a sidebar slides in from the right as soon as you start dragging a song — allowing easy access to all your playlists and devices.
Up Next
Up Next is a new feature that is a improvement upon iTunes DJ, which it was designed to replace.
You can select any song and right-click it then choose Play Next to add it to the top of your Up Next List, or Add to Up Next, to add it to the end.
You can also just drag a song up to the centre display in the top toolbar. Alternatively, just hold down the Option key and click the plus (+) icon that appears next to the song, or press Option-Return while the song is selected.
The above applies to entire albums and/or playlists as well as individual songs, it even works with songs from shared libraries.
Navigate with the keyboard
To make navigating easier, you can use the Command key with the numbers one to seven to access different areas:
- Command-1: Music
- Command-2: Movies
- Command-3: TV Shows
- Command-4: Podcasts
- Command-5: iTunes U
- Command-6: Books
- Command-7: Apps
Home videos
There’s a new classification for movies, Home videos.
Videos imported to iTunes from elsewhere automatically get this classification. To change the classification on a movie, go to “Get Info” and change the “Media Kind” drop-down menu under “Options”.
