iTunes 4.9 EarlyRelease, MajorLaunch, Tuning Mainstream In

[Charles]

iTunes 4.9 ahead of schedule, major launch planned

AppleInsider has an interesting article on reported progress on iTunes 4.9:

Quote:
On May 22, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said that iTunes would debut within 60 days of May 22; however, sources tell AppleInsider that iTunes 4.9 is reportedly nearing the final stages of development--about three weeks ahead of schedule. The company now plans to unveil the software at the end of June or by the first week of July.

As a first order of business, sources say that Apple is developing a user-friendly "Podcasts" area in its iTunes Music Store that will closely resemble the existing "Audiobooks" store. A centralized grouping of the latest and most high-profile content will be flanked by listings of Podcast categories and top downloads.

Apple is also trying to simplify the process of locating relevant Podcasts; an iTunes Podcasting team has attempted to streamline the organization and accessibility of individual Podcasts. After analyzing iPodder.org, the Internet's most popular Podcast directory, Apple has reportedly developed a new directory structure and categorical listing for Podcasts.

While iPodder.org lists several dozen Podcast categories from which users can choose, sources say that Apple felt the directory structure was too complex and drawn-out for the average user. Instead, the company plans to consolidate and re-organize those categories into no more than eight primary directories that will be listed on its Podcast storefront.

http://www.podcastingnews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1146#1146

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then there was these excerpts from Publish.com:

"The implications of Apple's move, though, go beyond proselytizing the new medium of Podcasts. By building Podcasts directly into iTunes, Apple could help turn Podcasting into a more mainstream activity, usher in an era of premium downloads and pressure its digital music rivals to follow suit, say analysts and producers of Podcasts."

"In that one motion of saying let's bypass the aggregators and make Podcasts a part of iTunes, Apple is just opening more reason to buy an iPod and use the iTunes Music Store,"

"Apple is more likely to focus its Podcasting efforts on more mainstream content, such as higher-quality Podcasts coming from established broadcasters, said Marc Strohlein, vice president and lead analyst at Outsell Inc."

"By jumping into Podcasting, Apple also is likely anticipating the potential for another source of revenue. So far, Jobs has focused his discussion on free Podcasts being made available both through a Podcast directory on iTunes and by users entering the URL to a Podcast's RSS feed for tracking.

But analysts expect iTunes to eventually provide premium Podcasts, where users might pay per download as they do for songs or on a subscription basis.

"We'll start to see the market cleave into people serving free content for the goodness of mankind, and then people like Apple will help sell content and make money," Strohlein said.

Apple's move, though, is about more than money. The Cupertino, Calif., company also is capitalizing on the perception that Podcasting is somewhat synonymous with Apple's iPod."

http://www.publish.com/article2/0,1759,1828998,00.asp

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting, so maybe a total of no more than 8 main categories. Also interesting that the emphasis seems to be on The Number Of Downloads. That means that major media(broadcast networks, NPR, PRI, BBC & others) podcasts will predominate the top of the listings. Also predominating Apples listings will be what ever the content providers offerings are that they are partnering with.

Steve Jobs is pushing for an early release(end of June) if possible. right now it is on track for a very early July release that was moved up from a later July release. Apple will be releasing Tiger 10.4.2 before that at the end of June.

Keep in mind that the first release of iTunes 4.9 will be for Mac OS 10.3(Panther) & 10.4(Tiger). No word on when iTunes 4.9 for Windows will be released but probably about a month later.

No surprise that Apple is positioning itself to make money off podcast downloads along with lots of publicity by partnering with major content providers as they have already started to do.

So in other words, if you aren't Dawn and Drew, don't count on Apple doing much for you other than burying your show in one of 8 huge categories.

[Hittman]

Which is exactly what most of us have been predicting will happen to all top ten lists, in umpteen threads here, unless the setup is changed.

I don't use Itunes. I'm guessing they use collaborative filtering to recommend music, the same way Amazon does with books. (People who bought the book you just bought also bought this one, so we're recommending it to you.) We had a brief discussion about that here in another thread, and it turns out the technology is complex and requires huge amounts of data to provide useful recommendations. As people start downloading podcasts, Apple will have enough information to start recommending other casts to their users based on their preferences, which could result in a gradual, possibly substantial, increase in listeners.

[Charles]

So in other words, if you aren't dawn and drew, don't count on Apple doing much for you other than burying your show in one of 8 huge categories.

I don't think that show is a good example because most certainly it will sink toward the bottom along with the other bottom dwellers. The great majority of people think it is quite a lame, very boring, bad & unfunny show. A few hundred votes for bad boring content won't magically change it to something worth listening to.

Apple is going towards the Billboard model of the number of sales but in Apples case it is going toward counting downloads OR if you happen to be a partner with them then you will be featured.

Apple is going after making iTunes the defacto standard for Podcast listings, downloads and subscriptions both free and pay.

Welcome to Podcasting 2.0 when Apple jumps in with both feet.

[Patrick]

The company now plans to unveil the software at the end of June or by the first week of July.

Where's Craig? I was dead on, baby!

[Charles]

iTunes 4.9 Is Not Released yet.

Millions of people are predicting a July release of iTunes 4.9. That is public knowledge.

So one can be jumping on the mass bandwagon. However that is Not being dead on in any way.

We won't know until it is actually released in Early July. One has to remember that this is the Mac release and the Windows release is probably August or so.

[Patrick]

Right, but I'm referring to a conversation you weren't involved in.

When I said I predict a late June or early July release, that makes me dead on if this info is accurate.

Thanks.

[Charles]

Claiming one is "dead on" when there is no factual basis for it is not logical or the fact at all. Someone saying "late june or early july" is extremely vague and covers a whole month. That is a wide coverage month long guess based on mass publicity. That is not a prediction.

Keep in mind that the software is Not Released.

Thanks

[Patrick]

Yeah, it's a colloquial interaction - commonly referred to by humans as joking around, ribbing, kidding, etc.

Thanks for the updates, Mr. Apple.