iTunes Revolution
iTunes Revolution
iTunes Revolution
17 Oct 2003 — 4 Comments
On Thursday, Apple released iTunes 4.1, firmly staking its claim as the digital music player, provider, and purveyor of choice. Of course, the biggest announcement was that iTunes is now available for Windows. As much as I am loathe to even touch my Gateway-made doorstop, I have downloaded the Windows release, and as expected, it is very slick.
Seeing the filename iTunes.exe run across the screen as the installer ran was a little bit strange, but after the Gateway managed to restart itself (always a miracle) I was able to launch quite possibly the best-looking Windows application I have ever seen.
What struck me more however, were the subtle design changes to the Music Store that Apple has made with the introduction of iTunes 4.1. I noticed these changes first last night when I visited the Music Store on my Mac, and my thoughts were confirmed upon launching iTunes for Windows.
Apple, in the interest of creating a cross-platform offering of iTunes and the Music Store, has also blurred the lines of what have traditionally been "design standards" for Apple products. The new Music Store user interface is now laden with design widgits and icons that, no doubt, were created with the candy-colored Windows XP in mind. Honestly, upon the launch of the original Music Store, I thought the shuffle arrows (see image above) looked a little Windows-esque. This is even more the case with the present release.
Simply take a look at the image to the left. What was before a simple headline proclaiming "Today's Top Songs" is now replaced with a deeply colored headline element featuring lighting and shading effects to match the Windows XP user interface. Note that Apple has kept the light source effecting the shading directly above the image, as opposed to the above-left as is more common under Windows XP. The light source from above keeps the interface element in line with Apple's own standards for OS X, however these elements seem to lack the elegant cleanliness normally associated with Apple design. Apple has clearly made a step to create a user experience that blends elements from both operating systems.
All this said, Apple has done the cross-platform thing well. The Music Store looks good in both environments, but sadly, I must admit this seems to have come at the expense of lacking elegance under OS X. This certainly serves as a great example of design that manages to conform more-or-less to multiple sets of interface guidelines, but I believe there is still room for improvement.
This marks an important milestone for cross-platform interface design; one that should be studied carefully. The trend should encourage other developers to take the time to make their interface look great in multiple environments, but hopefully we'll avoid letting the least common denominator determine what good design is. Kudos to Apple for a good first step. We'll see where it goes from here.
I'd really love to hear what others think about this one. Drop a comment below if you have an opinion. Remember to play nice.
Dave Caolo says
I, too, felt that the UI of the 4.1 version of the music store had somewhat of an "XP" feel to it, and those almost purple title bars were what I identified as the culprit, too. It really doesn't bother me, in fact I think it represents smart design. Windows users expect an Apple application to be foreign, so incorporating familiar design elements makes sense. Yet I don't think these changes are blatant enough to make a veteran Mac user stare shocked at the screen.
I'm sure there was much, much discussion about this at Apple, and I think they did well in the end.
Todd Dominey says
I'm not entirely sure the Windows port of iTunes is emblematic of a cross-platform UI design strategy. I say this mainly b/c I am running 10.3 (Panther) on one of my Macs, and there are a number of UI widgets throughout the operating system that deviate from the clear, Aqua-style "blob" of yore in favor of the blue, gradient, pseudo-lit button you see in the iTunes store.
On top of that, I also believe that the iTunes Store is designed by the same crew that handles QuickTime, and is meant to look like a completely different entity than the traditional OS X UI. I wish I had (or could find) a screenshot of the iTunes store before the Windows port, but I believe it looked pretty much the same as it does now.
Lastly, if Apple truly was trying to cater to the XP crowd, I seriously doubt they would have layered a metal skin on top of the traditional blue XP bar, and replaced the window widgets with their own. THAT little modification certainly raised the eyebrows of a number of XP users I know. :)
Stéphane Curzi says
I don't really see a difference in the iTunes music store, I live in Canada so I don't really use it. But I did see a big difference in the iPod + iTunes pages http://www.apple.com/itunes/ as it's now know. It's probably the worst webpage Apple ever design, very Windows, very Buy Now !!
I guess, if it brings more people to the Mac I'm for it but I won't like my Mac as much :-(
Logo ontwerp says
It brought me to the Mac!
That and the Mac versions of Illustrator and Premiere...