At the same time, its growing importance in the Apple ecosystem means iTunes is a far cry from the relatively svelte and spry program that debuted back in 2001. The program now handles music, movies, TV shows, music videos, podcasts, audiobooks, iPhone applications, iPod games, ringtones, and Internet radio. It supports purchasing, renting, and importing. It manages iPods, iPhones, and the Apple TV. It coordinates the syncing of contacts, calendars, bookmarks, notes, mail accounts, and even photos. And it manages wireless streaming to remote AirPort and Apple TV units. Whew! The result is an application that offers many features but can be less-than-obvious to use--not to mention a program that can at times get bogged down under the weight of its media burden.

During Apple's , the company said that many of the interface changes in iTunes 9--besides the new "shinier" chrome finish, I assume--were designed to make the program easier to use and to make it easier to figure out how to get your media. For example, if you don't have a type of media--say, music--iTunes no longer displays an empty list. Instead, you see a screen that explains how to music--download it from the iTunes Store or import it from your CDs--along with links to the Store and to tutorial videos. (There's no mention of Amazon MP3, eMusic, or other services, of course.)

Assuming you've already got content in your iTunes Library, you'll see a progress dialog on the initial launch of iTunes 9 as the program updates your iTunes library. (The new version may also update your Genius information; more on that below.) Then you can dig into the new media-browsing features. For example, the Column Browser view now lets you choose between having the browser on top (the pre-9 approach, with the track list below the browser) or on the left (with the track list to the right). The new on-the-left setting gives you a narrower track list that shows fewer columns, but if you have a large iTunes library, it lets you view more items in each column as you browse--a welcome improvement. You can also choose columns to browse by: any one, two, or three of genres, artists, albums, composers, or groupings.

There are also minor interface changes that will trip up some users. For example, the green "resize" button in the upper left corner of the iTunes window no longer toggles between Mini Player and standard mode; it now zooms the window larger or smaller, just as it does in other programs. (You can still activiate Mini Player mode by Option-clicking on the green button, pressing a keyboard shortcut, or choosing a menu command.) And in Grid view, the header--which lets you change the grid groupings (by artist, album, genre, or composer) and adjust the album-cover size--is disabled by default; you must enable it in the View menu.