From the looks of it, Apple has something major up its sleeve for its iTunes Store and media-management software. The company today promised an 'exciting announcement from iTunes.' Our money is on a completely revamped iTunes, and here's what we want to see.
1. A Cloud-Based Content Model: The smart money is on this wish, over the others, actually coming to fruition. Ever since Apple bought and shut down Lala, the streaming music service, we've wondered when Apple would start a cloud-based media model. We've gotten a little taste with Apple TV. The new set-top-box media streamer doesn't include any local storage, so you either stream your own content from your computer or rent movies or TV shows from the box, nothing lives on the device itself. This would work really well with our next wish…
2. Subscription-Based Content Plans: Apple currently offers season pass-pricing on television shows, but that's the closest thing you'll get to an all-you-can-eat content plan in the iTunes Store. C'mon Apple, please let us pay a monthly subscription fee for all the music and video we care to consume. If not movies and television, then at least music. Everyone else including Rhapsody, Microsoft, with its Zune Pass, and even Web radio services like Pandora and Slacker are doing it.
3. Streamline the iTunes Interface and Make Everything Simpler: This is one place where Apple typically excels; the company makes some of the best user interfaces in the business. iTunes, though, while undeniably powerful, is overly complicated. I can't even count how many times I've had to help a family member or a friend with a seemingly simple task like syncing multiple iPods, authorizing computers, or even renaming multiple files at once. Yes, once you start using it, you catch on, but achieving everyday tasks could be a lot easier, and device-syncing just seems archaic, which leads to our next couple of wishes…
4. Drag-and-Drop Device Syncing: Apple, please just let me plug in my iPod, iPad, or iPhone into my computer and see it mount on my desktop as a drive like every other PMP on the planet. Then let me drag and drop files on and off of my device. It's difficult to believe you still need a third-party app to get files off your iPod. Apple, this should be simple. Pretty please?
5. Better Yet, Wireless Syncing: Even more useful, let me sync my device right over my Wi-Fi network. Right now, you can buy apps and media right on Apple's iOS devices, but you still need that proprietary white cable to sync up with your computer. Apple, cable-free syncing is one of the best features of the Zune HD. Just sayin'.
Oh, and one more thing: we'll take the Beatles catalog, in its entirety, too.