Apple iTunes 10: What’s new

With new iPods comes a new iTunes, and if Apple’s media monolith hasn’t been bugging you to update yet, just wait. But the big 1-0 does come with some pretty serious revisions. Here’s what’s new in iTunes 10.

Ping

Apple’s crack at a social network for music junkies sets down roots for the first time in iTunes 10. Besides allowing you to check out what your friends are listening to, buying, and their reviews of it, Ping lets you follow your favorite artists to download their newest music, see what they recommend, and even catch tour updates.

TV Rentals

At a typical $2.99 an episode, watching TV on iTunes has never been cheap, but Apple has made it a little more affordable to get a quick fix with the addition of 99 cent TV downloads. You get many of the same shows – just for a 48-hour window. Download and dispose.

Syncing Improvements

Use one of Apple’s media players with iTunes? Syncing has been minorly improved with a new indicator bar that shows exactly how much of your storage is consumed by photos, apps, and books.

AirPlay

Not so much a feature as the promise of one, AirPlay will allow iPhone, iPod and iPad users to shuttle content back and forth between their mobile devices and Apple TVs. Started watching Titanic on the iPad and getting a cramp in your neck from looking at the screen? Press the airplay button, choose Apple TV, and it’s on your big screen – no file transfer needed.

Apple TV Support

If you’re getting a new Apple TV, you’ll need iTunes 10 if you actually want to play any of your own music, video or photo files from your PC – especially because it doesn’t have any onboard storage like previous iterations.

Tweaked Interface

No, you won’t have to relearn iTunes from scratch, but Apple has gone through and visually tuned the look of iTunes 10 just enough to give it a fresh feel. If you’re a casual user, you might miss the updates completely, but regular users and design-savvy iTunes will pick up on bleached-out icons that lack the color of old version, and even more obviously, a new desktop icon that’s now a blue orb with a music note inside (fair enough, we say – that pile of CDs was starting to look a little dated).