iTunes 9.0 - my favorite feature (hint: app organization) & BONUS: my favorite apps
Like you, I’ve been playing with the new iTunes for about a week now. The verdict: a big improvement, in several departments. Less of a freezing memory hog, better podcast features, and most importantly my favorite feature:
APP ORGANIZATION IN ITUNES
While they did a good job hiding it, Apple has included the ability to organize your apps in iTunes (finally!). To access this feature, your iPhone/iTouch must be connected (and I’m also told updated to the newer 3.x firmware). Then click on your device, and click the Applications tab. You will see a new screen, which includes a sortable list of your apps, a search function (!), and on the right hand side actual screenshots of your different app pages with drag and drop functionality.
This is a giant leap in application organization, and one long overdue, in my humble opinion. You can uncheck apps that are just taking up space to remove them, drag your apps around in the simulated windows to organize them, and change the order of app pages by dragging them up and down.
I’ve organized my apps into different sections, as follows (number indicates which page things are on):
- Most used apps — these are the ones I use constantly, including Calendar, Maps, Contacts, Tasks (a shortcut to the Google Tasks function found in Google’s Calendar), Calculator, LogMeIn Ignition (remote access to mine and clients’ computers), Notes, Clock (for alarms and timers mostly), Sugarsync, X10 (home automation), Skype, Speed Test, Google Voice Mobile, MeterRead (for keeping track of my house energy usage, great app!), NFL Mobile (from DirecTV, lets me watch all the football games live from the Sunday Ticket package in the event I’m not near a TV), and CBS Sports (for Fantasy football).
- Streaming audio services & reading, mostly: Pandora, WunderRadio, Last.fm, SOMA.FM (trippy streaming tunes), Ambiance, Emergency Radio, DirecTV (for programming my TiVO), NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Read It Later (great app!), Kindle for iPhone, Classics, Google Books, Google Reader
- Weather & remote control apps: Wunderground for iPhone (safari link), WunderMap (safari link), iWeathr (Safari link), WeatherBug elite, TideGraph, Distant Suns, SoLuna, Surf Report, Tracking the Eye Free (hurricane info), Wind Alert, Google Earth; Remote, VLC Remote, VNC
- Assorted references: Dictionary (will soon be moved closer to page 1, as I use it every day), MapQuest, Google for iPhone, Vicinity (good when travelling), Urbanspoon, Tracker Lite (flight info), goMovies, uStream viewer (needs to be moved to page 2), i.TV (TV listings, rarely used), InerTrak (time management program I spent $20 on but rarely use), and Tipulator (also soon to be moved closer to page 1)
The next 5 pages are assorted apps that I haven’t organized yet, including a bunch of games, my favorites being: I Dig It, GoldRush (paid version), GeoDefense, Flight Control.
I plan to create a sports page tonight, to include the already-mentioned sports apps and also the following three: ScoreMobile, ScoreCenter, and Sportacular. These basically do the same thing, but I haven’t decided which I like the best yet since they are only used when I’m away from my computer (read: very rarely).
Honorable mentions, in no particular order: Enigmo, iDracula, Seafood Watch, Fromage, WootWatch, Wikipedia, OpenTable, World War, Grocery IQ, Dynolicious, Lux Touch, College Radio, Public Radio, iShoot, Orions, The Arena, Summit, and Topple. This last group will be organized tonight, hopefully.
