We've seen it in action on the iPod Touch already but one of the biggest additions included in today's
iPhone Update was the addition of the iTunes music store. When you launch the music store you are presented with a tabbed interface as is common on the iPhone. The tabs are: featured, top tens, search and downloads. Most users will probably find themselves looking through the top tens or using the search feature to look for the exact artist/song/album they want.
The top tens tab can displays a list of genres, with the iTunes top ten at the top and an option to view even more genres at the bottom. When you select a genre you are shown the top ten songs with a small thumbnail of the album art, title, artist and price. Tapping on the title will play a 30 second preview, while a double tap takes you to the album page. You can also view albums instead of songs, switching between the two is done via two large buttons at the top of the screen.
The search function is very good. When you hit the search tab you are shown a search window at the top similar to that found in Safari or Youtube. A very nice feature is that as you search the phone creates a dynamically filtered list of possible matches. So if you type "jack" you are shown a list that includes jack johnson, jack ingram, jack & diane, etc. Matches seem to include artists, song names and album names. If you don't hit one of these items and instead hit the search button you are shown a two part search result. At the top are albums that match your search and below them songs. Two albums are loaded by default and 25 songs. At the bottom of each list is a button to view more results.
Once you've found the item you want just touch the price. It turn into a "buy now" button, tapping again will purchase the song and downloads will begin. You can keep track of your downloads by hitting the downloads tab. If you lose Wi-Fi coverage the downloads are paused and picked up again when you are in range of another hot spot. Songs are placed in a "Purchased" playlist. When you connect to iTunes the songs are automatically moved over. Overall a very nice implementation that's much better than what we've seen from the music stores on other phones, specifically the Verizon and Sprint music stores. That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement however.
So what's missing? First is of course the ability to download songs over the air using your wireless data connection. We realize that this will probably have to wait for a 3G iPhone, but we hope it comes soon. Second would be the ability to find and subscribe to podcasts. And finally we'd like to see the ability to purchase videos. We realize that downloading videos directly to your iPhone may not be practical, but what about the ability to make a purchase on the iPhone that is then synced up with your iTunes account on your computer, maybe wirelessly?
