Apple Quietly Releases iTunes 4.8

trmptblwr writes "Apple has quietly released an iTunes update to version 4.8 for Mac OS X and Windows. Release notes say 'iTunes 4.8 includes new Music Store features and support for transferring contacts and calendars from your computer to your iPod (requires Mac OS X version 10.4 on your computer).' There also appears to be a some sort of new video functionality as you can now import QuickTime movies. I speculate that this has something to do with the 'new Music Store features.'"

Re:I wonder

[CptChipJew]

Jobs said that video on portable devices was a bad move (or something). I remember it sounded like he was implying such a thing would never happen.

New Apple Lossless format

[georgewad]

from the link:
Use the new lossless encoder to import music from CDs and achieve sound quality indistinguishable from the original, at about half the original file size. Plays in iTunes and on iPod.
Yum.

Re:New Apple Lossless format

[CptChipJew]

That encoder was in the last release of iTunes. It isn't new.

Re:MOV import

[CptChipJew]

It plays the video in the album artwork display. Do you have it hidden?

Security fixes included as well

[confidential]

from 2 seconds ago, posted to the OSX Security Bulletins Mailing list:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

APPLE-SA-2005-05-09 iTunes 4.8

iTunes 4.8 is now available and, among other enhancements, delivers
the following security improvement:

CVE-ID: CAN-2005-1248

Impact: A buffer overflow in iTunes could cause a denial of service
and lead to execution of arbitrary code

Description: The MPEG4 file parsing code in iTunes versions prior to
4.8 contains a buffer overflow vulnerability. Parsing a
maliciously-crafted MPEG4 file could cause iTunes to terminate or
potentially execute arbitrary code. iTunes 4.8 addresses this issue
by improving the validation checks used when loading MPEG4 files.
Credit to Mark Litchfield of NGS Software for reporting this issue.

iTunes 4.8 is freely available at
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ [apple.com] for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later,
Microsoft Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows 2000

For Mac OS X:
The download file is named: "iTunes4.8.dmg"
Its SHA-1 digest is: 5a86f278f9f83192a7789ad123d5d62f67a6a316

For Windows 2000 or XP:
The download file is named: "iTunesSetup.exe"
Its SHA-1 digest is: 12582d193b27991c8f069331ab12d107c569bde2

Information will also be posted to the Apple Product Security
web site:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=617 98 [apple.com]

This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,
and details are available at:
http://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/ [apple.com]

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Version: PGP 8.1

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Re:Not in software update, it seems.

[moosesocks]

Yes. this is normal procedure.

they roll out updates to a small section of the net at a time, usually over the span of a day so that their servers don't die the instant they release a patch.

it's not a bad idea... Microsoft used a similar scheme for SP2, but did it over the course of several weeks leaving many customers high and dry for a few weeks until they got enabled to receive the update.

Re:MOV import

[confidential]

in the iTunes preferences (under advanced), you can also set it to play the movies in the album viewer spot, in a new window, or fullscreen... Regardless of your choice, you can always click on the new "open in full screen" button on the bottom left corner.

Re:Yeah, but will it play oggs?

[geoffspear]

The icons were there about a year and a half ago. I wouldn't count on actual ogg support being "on the horizon", as it hasn't materialized in that time.

Re:Yeah, but will it play oggs?

[DLWormwood]

there's some talk about an unused Ogg iTunes icon embedded in Tiger.

That icon's been present in the last few releases of iTunes. It seems to have devolved into a running gag at this point. During the OS 9 era, iTunes included icons for MODs, S3Ms, and other "sound module/track" formats.

The rationale once seemed to be that since iTunes is playing files via QuickTime, iTunes could potentially play OGG or WMA files via a new codec component provided by a third party. Apple used to encourage developers to create codecs and make them available for distribution via QuickTime Update. There has been some effort at making an OGG codec, and the the first verison of WMA (then called NetPlay, IIRC) used QuickTime hooks for the Mac version of the player.

However, Apple hasn't done much with QuickTime Update and it appears to be going the way of QuickTime TV. (Does anybody out there use stuff like Axel, On2, or ZyGoVideo?) It seems there is no market or widespread enough interest in third-party enhancements to QuickTime...

Re:Have they fixed basics yet?

[CaptainStormfield]

I don't get duplicates when I tell iTunes to "add folder to library" and point it at my itunes music folder. Widows XP for me; perhaps the mac version works differently?

AppleScript

[pudge]

I want to be able to select a file (or files) in iTunes and open it in QuickTime Player or VLC. So, I wrote this, and save it in ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts/. Select one or more files and select the script in your iTunes scripts menu.

tell application "iTunes"
set myfiles to location of selection
tell application "QuickTime Player"
activate
open myfiles
end tell
end tell

Also save a separate version with "VLC" instead of "QuickTime Player". Also works with any media file in iTunes. including MP3s etc.

Re:Have they fixed basics yet?

[Sometimes_Rational]

How about an option to rescan a directory? ... Ideally, I could drop the whole folder on itunes and it would find the new items. Instead, it reimports all of them so I end up w/ duplicates in my library.

As others have pointed out, the File > Add to Library ... menu item is the rescan function that you seek. In the preferences, under the "Advanced" tab, uncheck "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized", and when you use the Add to Library ..." menu item, the files will get added to the library list without new copies being made in the iTunes Music folder. You can keep whatever personal organizational scheme you want for your music this way. Of course, if you store your music all over your hard disk, you are likely to accidentally delete something one day and then you'll be sorry.

This basic functionality has been with iTunes for some time.