Even better, you can sort the list by name, category, or date downloaded. (This last option replaces the category display with the date, and it's the date the particular version on your Mac was downloaded, not the date you originally purchased the app.) You can also search the list. These improvements make it dramatically easier to work with the apps you've downloaded, although if you have many apps, the list can be slow to scroll thanks to the app icons.

The second column, though, is perhaps the most-welcome improvement in iTunes 9--at least for iPhone and iPod touch owners. It shows each of your iPhone's actual screens and lets you rearrange apps via drag and drop. To move an app within a screen, simply click on its icon and drag it to a new position; other app icons will move out of the way to make room. To move an app to a different screen, drag the icon to that screen on the right (the list scrolls automatically to show additional screens, although it would be nice if yo ucould resize this area on larger screens to minimize scrolling).

You can even Command-click on multiple icons to move several apps at once, and you can rearrange entire screens by dragging a screen up or down in the list. Heavy users of the App Store, rejoice!

It isn't just iPhone apps that get improved management tools. iTunes 9 also improves the options for choosing which media are synced to your iPhones and iPods. For example, the Music tab now lets you choose to sync any combination of playlists (Genius mixes and playlists included), artists, and genres. So, for example, you can easily copy just your favorite three playlists, along with everything by your favorite band, and all tracks classified as Alternative; there's even a search field for the Artists list to make it easier to find particular artists.