Part IV of iTunes 8 mock ups is now available. Its development has evolved into a full blown next generation graphical user interface so it includes music management but extends for reasons explained in the new post to all forms of data management. Check out the next level in this evolution here.
Part III
My aim is to bring existing functionality and new functionality into iTunes without adding additional complexity to its aesthetic design. This is a problem, because with each incarnation of iTunes Apple has added complexity (presumably at the users request). My answer to keeping the design clean and simple, whilst adding complexity to the product, involves using a 3D cube as part of the programs main window. I’m aware it still need to be intuitive, so I’m keeping that in mind whilst building the mock ups.
Also I don’t expect to get this right straight away. I’ve very little time to devote to this as an ongoing project, so i will publish small updates often, rather than wait for the final version before publishing. That way any feedback I get along the way, can be absorbed into the next mockup.
As of Today 8th February 2007 i still need to do the following;
1) clear up the volume control (not great).
2) Add to the iTunes dock additional icons.
Part II
I went back to work and created a second draft of my proposal for the GUI of iTunes 8. The above image hasn’t changed much from the original. I’ve intergrated the previous, play/pause, next song buttons in the dock at the bottom. I realise the icons aren’t much to look at but i’ve no time to create decent ones. If i find the time i will change all the dock icons.
This image gives you an idea of how i’d like iTunes 8 to behave when switching between the album view and the text view. The center area of the screen would rotate back like a 3D rectangle. Pottentially you could have images, and movies on two spare sides of the rectangle. If you need more than four sides, you’d move to a 3D hexagon etc. The button to switch views, would also be in the dock. I did create one, but i was awful, so i took it out. As before if i get the time, i will change the icons on the dock.
Part I
I think the new view in iTunes 7 is fantastic, although memory hungry, my PC is not new AMD Athlon 1800 1GB RAM GFX 5200, and seems to cope well with it. The one thing i do want is to be able to view the album covers full screen, which unless i’m missing something i can’t. Therefore i thought i come up with this mock up of what i would like in iTunes 8. The File, edit, controls, view options are at the top, giving you access to all the options iTunes 7 does now, but i’ve got rid of all those annoying frames and buttons, and simply used the idea of a Mac Dock at the bottom. Any menu or submenu can be added to the dock. Most of your screen can then be devoted to showing your album art, as seen on the top mock up image. The bottom mockup is a view of your albums in text view. You can right click and save the image for a larger view. I did not create the icons, but found them on google images. I do not know whom they belong to.
the orginal cover flow for osx had a similar interface to that just without the text mode.
I don’t own a Mac, so i hadn’t seen the original Coverflow, but I’ve Google’d it, and now i see. Actually thats really cool, and almost exactly what I’m looking for. I still prefer the dock, but they sorted out how to search for you music… mmm ill have to find a way of integrating that into a new mock-up.
Also Someone on Digg disliked the Black Shiny appearance, so i may do away with it, or show it available in different colours.. say matching ipod shuffle colours?
If everybody’s talkinb about Itunes 8, where is it? It’s the only Itunes compatible with Windows Vista. It’s not out yet, so why are you bragging about it? Atleast wait until its downloadable.
Katie,
This mock-up is not intended to brag about iTunes, rather is my idea of how i’d like it to develop. Regarding iTunes compatibility with Vista, don’t expect iTunes 8, although it may be the next version, we have no information that is the case. It may be that Apple decides to call the next iTunes 7.03, whatever it is called, i agree that it must support windows Vista.
So the full screen coverflow really made a difference with iTunes 7.1, but since i’ve see it and used it, i quickly stopped using it because i couldn’t get to the track i wanted. I could find the album, but unless i’m missing something, you have to keep clicking the forward button to move along the tracks and i want to jump to a specific track. Also i want to be able to see my playlists, so i still think the idea of a Mac Dock would work well. As for being able to select a specific track, i suggest clicking on the album and it turning over to show you the back with a list of interactive tracks which you can click on and interact with.
I’ll try to come up with some mocks up soon.
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Hey Christian,
Great mock-ups! I especially like the multiple coverflows, this would be great for dragging and dropping tracks to the party shuffle, especially if you could assign each coverflow to be a different genre etc.
I’m hoping that Apple pay a bit more attention to playlists for the builds, they seem very secondary at the moment. The way I see it, playlists are like your own mix tapes. I currently find the typical “explorer” style folders and lists annoying to navigate (I have nearly 100 playlists) though most of these are for organisation. It would be great if you could “save playlist to library” then it would appear as an album (maybe apple and third parties could create album covers similar to the ones on the iTunes essentials page).
Keep up the good work, and I hope you achieve what you want.
Chris, thats a great idea for playlists. i might have to think about how to implement that into a new mock up.
Ohhh…. this UI for the future iTunes 8 is preliminary? I imagined that the look of the future iTunes version 8 is fully matched the Windows Vista Environment…. The only UI stuff changed in iTunes 7 for Windows Vista is the titlebar buttons that is Aero-like…. iTunes 7 for Vista has no drop shadows (shadows under windows), same animations as Windows Aero, and no alpha-blending to give transparency and anti-aliased (smoothen) those “gritty” curved edges of its UI. I hope iTunes 8 for Windows Vista would have drop shadows (shadows under windows), same animation as Windows Aero, and alpha-blending (anti-aliasing) to give transparency and anti-aliased (smoothen) those “gritty curved edges of its UI…..
What about Flipping the covers over to see the tracklist, ala iPhone?
yes
these is good