iTunes Almost Got Me

I’m impressed. Not blown away or flabbergasted, but certainly impressed.

The iTunes interface is clean and simple, though a bit different from most other Windows or Linux music players I’ve used. I had heard the player would do its own little magic to your music library, so I was hesitant to import everything, but after seeing the results, I’m pleased.

I don’t have an iPod, so I’m mainly looking at iTunes as a music player and I’ll consider purchasing a song or two. The radio stations are nice though I expected more of them. If nothing else, I love the iTunes visualizer.

I ran the store through my standard checks and it performed moderately well. All the music you’d expect to find is there. I admit I had high hopes that some rather rare and odd musical treasures could be discovered as well, but to my disappointment Dar Williams, Eliza Carthy, Keller Williams and the Waifs were not to be found. After that I wasn’t surprise at the absence of any Chinese pop music. Not that Chinese pop music is all that great, but the great potential of online services such as iTunes is the eventual access to all things musical.

If nothing else, that’s the impression iTunes left me with—so much potential. Potential for new artists, new music, and an endless supply of tunes from all times and all places. Sounds lofty but the potential is really there. And with competition from MusicMatch and soon Napster 2 one of the real deciding factors in the marketplace will be the depth of the online library.

So for the mean time I’m content to use it as a music player. I’ll be trying out the new MusicMatch and eventually Napster. And since I’m considering a new portable music player, the winner on my desktop will most likely influence the purchase. Perhaps there’s an iPod in my future after all.