Finally, it's worth noting that because it now does so many things, iTunes's interface is becoming more complex. For example, there are now sections--Library, Store, Devices, Shared, Genius, and Playlist--in the sidebar, each of which contains its own sub-items, and each of displays content in the main part of the window. While Apple has indeed made progress in simplifying some aspect's of iTunes's operation, it's no longer the dead-simple program the company once touted it to be.

For frequent customers of the iPhone App Store, one of the most frequent requests was for a better way to manage iPhone apps--both in iTunes and on your phone. iTunes 9 makes big, big strides here.

For starters, when you select the Applications item in the iTunes sidebar, you can now view your purchased iPhone apps in list, grid or Cover Flow mode. The icon-free list view is especially welcome for those of us who've downloaded far too many apps, and it lets you view--and sort by--columns for artist (developer), date added or modified, genre, kind, purchase or release date, size, and year. One useful feature that's not available: a way to see which apps are currently installed on your iPhone or iPod touch, and perhaps even rearrange your apps and screens, when the device isn't connected.

But the improvements that generated oohs and aahs from the assembled media at are the new tools for managing what gets synced to your iPhone or iPod touch and how those apps are organized on the device. Select your iPhone or iPod on the left, and then click on the Applications tab to the right: the main area of the iTunes window now shows two columns. The first is a list of all the applications you've downloaded from the App Store; each app's entry in the list shows its icon, name, category (Games, Entertainment, Productivity, and so on), and size. As in iTunes 8, you check the box next to an app to install it on your iPhone, or uncheck the box to remove it, at the next sync.