Classical listeners' needs are catered for at last

[Philip Duffy]

While listening on my iPhone to an album of French classical songs recently downloaded from iTunes, Néère, sung by Véronique Gens, I noticed that the composer’s name was appearing along with the information that normally scrolls across the screen under the name of the album. This was something I had never seen before, but so often wished I could see. And not only was the composer’s name visible, but it was in the naming format I use to tag the songs in my carefully curated iTunes library; Duparc, Henri (for example). What’s this, I thought, has iTunes heard my call? So I selected another album, one that had been in my library for a longer period, to see if the composers’ names were visible there. They were not. So then I wondered why the composers’ names were showing in the album just downloaded, but not in one downloaded (or possibly ripped), from further back in time. To find the answer, I needed to go to my desktop iMac, open few song files and compare the info within. And sure enough, there was a checkbox I hadn’t seen before:

 

Show composer in all views

 

All the songs in the Véronique Gens album had this box checked, while none of the pre-existing songs in my library had the box checked. You can bet they are checked now!

 

I cannot overstate the difference this little box will make to my enjoyment of listening to classical music via iTunes. Take the Véronique Gens album: Three different composers are represented. One of the composers, Renaldo Hahn, is new to me and all the song titles are in French. It’s not a problem if all the music on the album is by one composer, Bach, say. But here I need to know which composer I am listening to from track to track. For classical listeners, the composer’s name is of paramount importance, taking precedence over the track and album names. The composer's name is our first point of reference. Until now, portable devices have not been able to display this information. The only way to find it was to open up the digital booklet in a different app, if one was available – and usually there wasn’t – or go to the desktop and look up the information in the song or album listing, where it can be revealed on the big screen.

 

So, amidst all the noise and fury over iTunes becoming too complicated and losing its orignal focus as an app for listening to music, I would like to say:

 

THANK YOU, APPLE!

 

You are listening to us after all. And the fact that newly purchased albums have the ‘Show composer in all views’ box checked by default reflects Apple’s understanding of how important this is to some of us.

[kirkmc]

Yes, I highlighted that feature, among other small but useful changes, when it was added to iTunes 12.3.3:

 

What’s New in iTunes 12.3.3

[Philip Duffy]

Well I'm sorry I missed that. I was wondering how long the feature had been available before I noticed it was there; looks like a month at most, assuming I installed the update without any delay.