iTunes 7.3 - Now With iPhone Support

Posted by Marvin Sum on 07/1/07 in Audio

Apple quietly released iTunes 7.3 Friday, just several hours before the iPhone was due to roll out. Most of the rumors proved to be true; iTunes 7.3 provides iPhone support, however we did not see any sign of custom ringtones. Neither the ‘convert to ringtone’ feature nor the ‘ringtones’ tab as seen at MacWorld 2007 earlier this year were present.

With iTunes 7.3, you can sync all sorts of things with your iPhone: music, videos, contacts, calendars, etc. Should you require help with getting started, there’s a new item under the help menu called ‘iPhone Help’. This displays a little window with several links to the appropriate places on Apple’s website. If you happen to stumble upon iTune’s preference pane, you’ll also notice a new tab just for iPhones, showing you which of those precious devices are currently backed up.

Of course, in true Apple fashion, the sign-up process is now simplified through iTunes. Just plug your shiny new iPhone into its dock and connect it into a Mac/PC. Follow the on-screen instructions and you’ll be up and running in no time. I think this is a brilliant idea; it has no doubt made the queues move swiftly at the retail stores.

This update also brought along several fixes and minor new features. Most notably, Coverflow mode now extends to include podcasts; you can now browse the album art of your favorite podcasts in style. If you happen to be a lucky owner of an Apple TV, your digital photos will now sync up wirelessly from multiple computers together with the device. Download it either using Software Update, or directly from Apple.

Has everyone upgraded to iTunes 7.3 yet?

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9 Comment(s)

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Ziv Kitaro said on

July 1st, 2007 at 7:05 am

sure did.
And it killed my library.
Got a -50 error message and you can’t find no error list and meaning on apple web site.
No information on the web, except for one place and it didn’t help.
Had to create a new library and that means I’ve lost ALL the information about it (play count, stars etc.)
if you don’t have the iphone, don’t upgrade

Fraser Drew said on

July 1st, 2007 at 8:17 am

See… I found this update one of the best iTunes upgrades in a long time. iTunes has become more responsive, the coverflow blurring issue has been fixed, and it was generally a more rounded release that has been out in a long time.
I really do wish Apple would put a bit more effort into checking iTunes, every recent release seems to have some kind of widespread problem

-1

steve said on

July 1st, 2007 at 9:15 am

made things run smoothly? You must not have heard about all the problems people were having getting their iphones working through itunes. I heard it was a nightmare.

Also

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/29/ringtone-images-hidden-in-itunes-7-3/

Dave M. said on

July 1st, 2007 at 11:41 am

Something that may have gone unnoticed is that there is a “Get All” button in the Podcast section for a subscription. If you have several podcasts that haven’t been downloaded yet, you will see the “Get” button next to each episode as usual and a “Get All” button in the line that has the podcast name and the disclosure triangle.

This is a welcome addition. I really hated clicking all the get buttons one at a time. Thanks Apple!

Raz said on

July 1st, 2007 at 2:33 pm

Is it just my iTunes or the ugly black highlight color for the sidebar has finally been removed?

ralph dagza said on

July 1st, 2007 at 4:49 pm

my itunes wont play my songs so i have to go back to 7.2

Marvin Sum said on

July 1st, 2007 at 8:10 pm

@Ziv & Steve: Hmm, that’s interesting. I haven’t encountered that problem yet, but hopefully Apple rectifies it asap.

@Fraser: Yea, the blurring issue was becoming annoying.

@Dave: I’ve never really noticed the Get All button, but it sounds fairly useful.