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"I'll admit, I was skeptical about iTunes 11 before it finally arrived late Thursday. Announced by Apple during the launch of the iPhone 5, it was promptly forgotten, rating not a mention during the iPad mini launch. Promised during October, it only just made it under the wire at the end of November. During a period of extreme executive reshuffle and the flap over Maps, the iTunes delay contributed to a sense that the Cupertino company had lost its way in software.  \nLike many an iTunes user, I also had diminished expectations from a decade of downloading updates. It had become a dreaded routine \u2014 hold out as long as possible, download only when Software Update reminded me for the sixth or seventh time, then go through a tortuous process of turning off all the options the update had turned back on (such as the awful Ping and Cover Flow). I had to make iTunes mine again, and suffer with the fact that the update had made it slightly slower.\n\nSEE ALSO: Hey Apple, Fix iTunes First\nUnderstandably, this history has prejudiced many commentators against iTunes 11. Box founder Aaron Levie dismissed it by comparing iTunes users to \"people who still shopped at Tower Records in the 2000s.\" Slate didn't so much jump the gun as leap over the guided missile; its review encouraged Apple to kill \"this horrible, bloated program\" \u2014 in which the normally reasonable author admitted he'd only just downloaded iTunes 11 and that it was \"too early for me to tell whether the new version is better or just different.\"  \nWell, if you're still waiting to find out, here's the bottom line: ignore the haters. iTunes 11 is a tremendous reboot of a tired old brand. Ping and Cover Flow are gone, and so is the bloat. It runs fast and smooth. On the design front, everything has been tweaked with a gentle hand. Apple has resisted the temptation to redesign the things that worked well in the first place. \nIn short, it's like encountering an old friend who just shed 90 pounds, but is still recognizably himself, jogging merrily down the street. \nEverything just works. There are no more pop-ups telling you that iTunes is checking its library and preventing you from doing so much as playing a tune. For those of us whose music collections were maxing out the 25,000-song iTunes Match limit, this is a huge deal. The Store has been overhauled too; it feels more like the iTunes app on the iPad than its painful-to-access predecessors.\nYour iDevices don't draw so much attention to themselves. They sit like polite party guests in a pull-down menu, ready for whatever you want to do with them. Connecting an iPhone no longer gives you the spinning pinwheel of death, and pulling the USB plug on your device no longer causes the software to throw up its hands in horror. \nSo what complaints are still legit? There's this notion that iTunes would do better if it were split up into its constituent parts: one piece of software for syncing iPhones and iPads, one for music storage, one for the store. That only made sense when iTunes was a bloated piece of code. If Apple tried to do that now, it would simply create more bloat in your applications folder. \nWe're still uncovering surprising new options. You can, for example, now view your tracks in order of the last time you modified them. You can also see stats on how many times you skipped them, which is helpful if you're pushed for space and need to trim down your library. As Mashable's Christina Warren spotted, the window of tracks in album view chooses a background color based on the album cover.\nIf iTunes' underlying code hadn't been overhauled, this kind of detail would be like putting lipstick on a pig. As it is, to switch my metaphors mid-stream, it's the icing on a completely non-fattening cake. \nApple is back on track with this update. The trust is back. And when iTunes 12 comes along, as it surely will (sorry, haters), I'll download that thing in a hot minute.\nWhat's your take on iTunes 11? Let us know in the comments. \n\n\niTunes 11\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAll New Library\nYour music library is going to see a redesign in iTunes 11. Browsing is much more intuitive, and can be sorted more carefully based on what you\u2019re looking for in your collection.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nExpanded View\nWhen you select an album in iTunes 11 that album will expand in place. Say, for instance, you click on Maroon 5\u2019s \u2018Overexposed.\u201D Clicking on the cover art for the album will open a drop-down viewable display of the entire album complete with star ratings, pricing, and play time for each track.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUpdated MiniPlayer\nThe MiniPlayer in iTunes is seeing an upgrade. Now you can see what songs are coming next in your playlist by tapping on an icon on the miniature window, as well as search your music collection for new tracks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBetter Recommendations\nNeed helping finding out abut new music? Now selecting an album, genre, or artist you like will bring up suggestions on music that Apple thinks you might also be excited about.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPreview History\nPreview a new awesome song yesterday, but don\u2019t remember what it was today? A new Preview History feature in iTunes lets you see what you\u2019ve checked out on your computer as well as your mobile device while you\u2019re out on the town.  Preview History is synced across devices using iCloud, so if you listen to a tune on your phone you can buy it later on your home computer or vice versa.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMore Social\nFacebook integration lets you keep on top of what apps your friends like in the App Store.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMore iCloud Features\niCloud  will make purchases available instantly across all of your devices, and will allow you to do things such as start a movie on your iPad and  pick up where you left off on your computer when you get home.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/11/30/itunes-11-rocks/>