iTunes store needs a redesign: 10 changes I want to see

Following on from my article iTunes needs a redesign: 10 changes I want to see, I wanted to look deeper at the actual iTunes store. Now being an avid user of iTunes and iTunes there are many things I want to see changed within the store, I thought I'd try to narrow it down to 10 things that I want to see.

1. Completed my Series/Show

As a person who has brought the odd episode from iTunes I often want to complete a season. I hear this is being rolled out in the US to complete a series much as I would an album but I'd like to see this taken a lot further. I'd like to get discounts for buying the next series of a show. 

2. Pricing of TV & Film

I can buy the complete DVD boxset of The Sopranos for around £50 on iTunes it would cost me £150. I can also get most old movies for £3 on DVD cheapest I can get them is £3.99 but in most cases £6.99. There are cases I can buy cheaper than DVD but I dont want to replace my DVD collection at that price I'd prefer to import my DVD's like I do with CD's. Though I have to admit I still have a large VHS collection I'm replacing with iTunes purchases. 

3. HD

HD is a big thing that needs addressing. Firstly I tend to buy SD versions of shows as the extra price of HD is ridiculous. They can range from £2 to £15 for a TV Series and £2 to £4 for a film that to me is the cost of an album or another show. At the moment these are only 720 HD not 1080. I'd like to see HD as standard price and the ability to upgrade all my shows available in HD for a small fee, like the 20p a track for music. In addition all movies should have the ability to sell at HD so why aren't they, its SD for some and both for others they should all be sold at HD. 

4. Rental

When I was young I used to regularly rent from local video stores. £1 a night rental was normal and I'd rent two or three things at a time. Then prices rose and it was £4/5 a night I could buy the move for £10 watch it twice and make my money back hence the reason I still own 200 VHS tapes I've not replaced. Today I could stream unlimited rentals to my TV for £6 a month so why does apple insist on rentals being  so 2.49 SD and 3.49 at HD. I prefer their 99p SD  or even £1.99 HD rentals. I think if they want rentals that aren't subscription based they need to drop them to 99p for SD/HD, especially when I can buy a DVD for £3. 

5. Previews

I can preview a song before buying it but when it comes to movies and TV shows apple are falling a little flat. A movie has a preview trailer option, great but alot of the time its not the theatrical or out on video trailer. I tend to get a scene from the movie and not a good one at that. I want to see the theatrical trailers not a scene from the film. As for TV i'd like to see the promo trailers or the sneak peak as a preview not given away as a freebie that leads me to my next point...

6. Free Episodes

I'm really happy apple give away a free single of the week and even more happy we get gifts during christmas period. I am however disappointed with it compared to US store where customers enjoy regular free music videos and TV episodes. In UK you may get the occasional free episode but in most cases it is a free trailer, promo or scene. I'd prefer a free pilot episode of a show then I'd probably buy the rest of the series. 

7. Movie Bundles

Ok this is kind of the same as point one but I felt it needed highlighting. Occasionally we can get movie bundles nothing like the US again but we can buy 2 and some cases 4 films that are sequels or special offers these are great and I just wish that this feature would spread further. I want to buy several films and their sequels but do I really want to buy them individually or do I want the option to buy a bundle or even having purchased the first movie get the sequel at a special price. 

8. Brought

A very simple thing but one I think should be taken from Mac App Store. When you have purchased something it says installed when you are looking around the App Store and spot something you've purchased. I think this simple feature would be great for seeing what you own and what you don't within iTunes.

9. Content
We all know content is king and as Apple plough more and more music into the store there are still some missing. As they add new TV shows there are a wealth of shows we can't get. I can't get new shows like Dexter (US store can) and there are hundreds of old shows that should be released. Not to mention films and books. There needs to be a bigger push in content and filling the gaps of those missing in store, which brings me to my next and final point.

10. iCloud/iTunes Match mark 2
iCloud is a brilliant step in the the right direction and though I'm yet to sign up to iTunes Match I'm looking forward to the freedom the service will give me. I'm just looking for the next step in its evolution. iCloud needs to start providing purchased support for Movies if it does this I'd watch them straight from my AppleTV and probably buy HD Movies. I want iTunes Match to move towards books and videos, scanning my library and giving my access to books I may have downloaded other places as well as letting me move my DVD collection onto my idevices. All this would benefit Apple as it would help them fill in their missing media by discoving what people own and want. They could merge my match info with my purchased giving me better genius results. The ability to complete albums to the deluxe version. Genrally allow me to see things I've purchased from apple and not letting me spend money on new content.

Apple is always improving its products so we may see some of these in the future we may not but its good fun to guess. 

iTunes needs a redesign: 10 changes I want to see

As a avid Apple fan and a large consumer of media, I live my life in iTunes.  Lately though I've been thinking that iTunes and for that matter, the iTunes Store need some improvements.  The more I've thought about it the more I think its time for the biggest re-design iTunes has seen in a while.


Why now? the answer is simply the release of 10.7 (lion), this release will see the end nearing for Leopard support and the introduction of some really useful features.

In this article I'm going to look at the program rather than the store.


1. 64bit Coca code
The first thing I see coming to a redesign is a total re-write of code, as were seeing with a lot of applications to bring full 64bit and using a number of OS technologies. This straight away would give a new look and feel but iTunes needs more. Rumors are the next version of iTunes is 64 bit but it won't have that wow factor it deserves.

We can assume that with Lion, iTunes would become a full screen app, taking abilities that Front Row (no longer supported in 10.7) used to give us.

2. iTunes LP and iTunes Extra

Better support for iTunes LP and iTunes Extra as these really haven't seen any development and I can't really view them on my Apple TV as they were introduced. I'd love to see content available on DVD available to my iTunes Library.

3. Ping & Genius integration
Ping & Genius recommendations need a better integrated as the more I look at that side bar the more I think it just doesn't work. I love genius for mixes and playlists but the recommendations seem bolted on as does ping, which just doesn't seem social enough for me. I use a site called SongKick that I think would benefit from a tie up with Ping and native iTunes integration. Lets be honest Ping defiantly does need to grow with Facebook and even MySpace integration. It needs to encompass all the mediums in iTunes not just music. It also needs to bring more of the 'GetGlue' approach of sharing what you watching or reading.

4. Tagging, Artwork and metadata
As our music collection grows so does the amount of metadata iTunes needs to be able to use this data better. The search function if great but I feel the tags need to develop. There are plenty of applications that update and correct dodgy artwork and tags but its more than that. Lyrics can be imported, sub genres holidays for example wont all be Christmas songs. I think its time iTunes had functionality to update tags but its also time for a new tagging standard to include more information for music or videos e.g. Director.

5. Smart playing
I love putting my on shuffle or playing a genius mix but you can guarantee in the middle of July it will play a Christmas song. By the same account I can go from Marylin Manson to B*Witched which as good as they both are they're very contrasting in taste. The one thing that annoys me is when I have 12,000 songs I cant choose to play songs that iTunes have never played before. You can guarantee there is one song you've only played once or not at all and I find it frustrating there isn't a smart way of doing that.

iTunes isn't just about Music though and that's where I think the biggest changes need to be.

6. Radio Stations
The way Radio Stations are handled are so anti-apple it does make you play your music, which is probably the thinking as apple don't make money thorough the radio. Here in the UK, radio is still a passion and the most social way to discover music you struggle to find someone who doesn't listen to the radio.  If apple revolutionized its handling of radio by looking at how the UK market handles it, I think we would all benefit.  Ping becoming a central feature, would allow for the more social music aspect especially if the radio stations were pinging the songs they were playing so you could then purchase them. Many Digital Radios here in the UK already allow music purchases or music information that means we can quickly purchase that catcy song.

7. Podcasts
Podcasts Like radio could do with being handled better they could do with a does of Ping, bringing more social aspect to finding and downloading Podcasts. Podcasts were invented because of Apple so i think the love should still be shown towards them.

8. TV & Films
The way iTunes handles video is good but I feel it needs improvement. TV shows are not handled in the best way. Unlike the other mediums TV shows are lots of episodes over several seasons but are all the same show. It's essentially taking a book and putting each page (episode) into a chapter (season) but never putting them together as a book (show). This would make my library so much better to navigate as I'm always looking for the show before either the season or the episode.

I know films with sequels could be dealt with the same way large franchises like the Bond films could ever really see the benefit but I still think it would benefit the user.

9. Music Videos

Music videos however I think need to be handled in a similar way to TV & Films in that they should be found easier. I have to search long and hard to find music videos. They can still live within music icon but sometimes I just want to see my music videos so a drop down would benefit me.

10. eBooks
iBooks could also do with the ability to open our ebooks, even if it is with another application like preview. I just find it frustrating that I want to open a book to check its the right one before i transfer it to my ios device.

Will any of this happen, maybe some of it over time. People keep asking for an iTunes server for the home and we may see that or a version of it some day but its more likely we would see iCloud develop a better iTunes server substitute before that. If we saw that iTunes would definatly begin to look and act a lot different than I've mentioned here.

One thing that's almost a certainty, that when there is a new iTunes, it'll turn up in the App Store.