iTunes 11 launches with renovated UI, MiniPlayer and better iCloud support

iTunes 11 is out today, internationally, and comes with a host of upgrades to please the Apple-happy zombies. The player has been redesigned and features a new and expanded library view, a super minimal MiniPlayer and an iCloud that now “does even more”.

Looking fine

The new look iTunes isn’t a radical update, but this updated style is both lean and athletic in appearance. Yeah, it’s an odd word to use, athletic, but it’s as if Apple’s trained and toned iTunes 11. Instead of a finely-chiseled body, iTunes 11 has close to zero percent UI bloat.

Everything now is accessed from a drop down menu. Music, movies, TV shows. The store is now accessed by clicking on “iTunes Store” located top-right corner. iTunes store has embraced cover flow and looks fantastic. Apple says it’ll provide the same visual experience across all iOS platforms, and after testing the App Store on iPhone, Mac and iPad we can confirm Cupertino’s promise. There’s also a pleasing new colour gradient to the “now playing” section which looks and feels nicely retro.

Album views also received a visual overhaul. Clicking on “album” shows a sweet selection of album covers. A further click on the album pulls down the song list.

Smaller is better

The new-look MiniPlayer is now an actual useful feature of iTunes. You can now select a new tune with ease, simply by clicking the playlist button. Or search for songs with the seemingly-new Spotlight search feature. MiniPlayer is so damn cute we want to pull it from the screen and clip it to our belts.

Cloudy outlook

Finally, well most notably, iCloud has bettered itself. Any purchased content is instantly available on all linked iOS devices. Songs can also be played directly off iCloud, is so desired. iCloud also crams in a “watch later” feature. End content on iPad, migrate to iPhone and the content picks up from where you left it. Snazzy.

And of course, you can download it from Apple directly.