Apple Movie Junkie

By putting Apple TV HD content on the back burner this past week it gave me a little more time to spend with the new iTunes 9. After all the goal of ATVJ is to discover new HD content in the iTunes Store, either TV or Movie, and list it in an easy to read manner for you all. This brings me to the point of this post. Have the changes to the iTunes Store in version 9 actually made it harder to discover new content? And has the iTunes Store become to big for iTunes?

Let me make one thing clear, I like the changes to iTunes 9 the Media Player. Is it perfect, no, but the changes are welcome. When it comes to iTunes 9 “The Store” and discovering new media to play, thats another story. Let me start with the one positive I see in the Store. I like the main navigation across the top. It’s much more prominent and easier to navigate to the different sections of the store. For me it stops there. All though the style of the store layout has changed, it seems harder then ever to discover “new” content. For the purpose of this post I will specifically keep to the Movies and TV Shows sections. It feels as though even more content has been shoe horned into the same amount of space. There’s bright colorful artwork and text everywhere. On a black background it’s as though everything is screaming at you at once. Especially when most of the artwork is the same size. Except that main animated banner at the top of that page, it feels as though everything has the same priority or weight, and it all blends together. And don’t get me started on whats considered a “New” Release. Take the movie section and the “New This Week” listing. The first three movies listed as of this writing are Twilight, Office Space and Quantum of Solace. All movies which have been available for weeks if not months. Ok, so two of those three titles are part of the new iTunes Extras group. That fact might make them new, but thats if you hadn’t already missed the huge rotating banner at the top of the movie section, which they are a part of. At least the “New This Week” for rentals lists new release titles, maybe not from this week, but they are newer. The TV show section seems to suffer from the same cluttered feel as the movie section.

The thing is, I see new content in the iTunes Store from a unique perspective, I know new content is added every day. I suppose the purpose of ATVJ, to discover and list newly available HD content, is in no danger of being replaced by version 9 of the iTunes Store. But, Apple could have taken this opportunity to improve the ease of discovering new content, not make it harder. I’m tempted to say that even the less then perfect Apple TV interface makes it a bit easier to find newly added content.

So how do I think Apple can solve this newly cluttered iTunes Store experience? I have three suggestions. First, make the entire iTunes Store browser based. This might allow a bit more screen real estate for the display of content. This would also leave iTunes to being a media player only. As a matter of fact Apple might find new customers, ones who are averse to using iTunes for anything, discovering and even purchasing content if it was browser based. My second suggestion would be to offer “Rental only” & “Newley Added” sections to the Movie Store. I understand that Apple wants to push sales, but I think Netflix proves there are a few of us that just want to rent. This also goes for the TV Show section. Its fine to offer TV content you can purchase, but why not offer content that you can subscribe to or rent. I’m not the first or the last to suggest a subscription model for TV Shows. Third, why not play up the social nature of Movies, TV Shows and Music. Let users share and discover what others are watching or listening to. More then just the after thought addition of adding a “Share on Twitter” or “Share on Facebook” link to the buy now buttons currently used in iTunes 9. Those are but a few of my suggestions. Ultimately I just want it easier to discover newly added Movie and TV Show content, and not just what the studios want us to find. I know it’s there, I find it every day. Wait, did I just describe the Zune Experience? As iTunes/Apple TV users are these changes you would like to see? What more would you like to see Apple do with the iTunes Store experience?