Hands On With iTunes 8.1 and Remote App

by admin March 12, 2009 at 4:36 pm

ITunes has been updated to 8.1, and the accompanying iPhone Remote application has gotten a bump to v1.2. The release notes tell us that the update is “faster and more responsive”, but in normal use it seems to be the same old click-and-wait interface we’ve grown to love.

The speed bump can clearly be seen when you sync an iPod, though. Backing up my iPod Touch was noticeably faster than in the last version, and seems to be less sluggish throughout the whole sync process.

But speed bumps, while nice, aren’t as much fun as new features, and there are some of those, too. First, the never-used Party Shuffle has been renamed to the confusing-to-use iTunes DJ. When used on the Mac or PC, it works more or less the same as the old Party Shuffle. But when you fire up an iPhone or iPod with the Remote App, chaos ensues.

Read more: wired.com