The good: The iTunes 11 interface is easier to navigate and is more intuitive than previous versions. The mini player has the right set of controls to keep the software out of your way while you do other things.
The bad: The app still takes up a lot of your computer's resources. The Windows version still lags behind the Mac.
The bottom line: iTunes 11 is a much-needed refresh with a new interface and a useful mini player, but it's still a little overly complex for its own good.
Apple's iTunes 11 (Mac | Windows) is a complete makeover to Apple's media hub, simplifying the interface, adding more iCloud integration, and adding a new mini player. The design is intuitive and visually pleasing, but as the first rollout of the new version, there are still a few problems.
What we get now is a complete redesign without Ping, without the need for as much iOS device management (now that much of that is done with iCloud), and without many of the interface elements that were doing little more than taking up space. iTunes 11 is certainly a lot more streamlined visually over past versions, but this early version uses a lot of computer services. Hopefully Apple will follow up with a bug fix update to patch some of the more-troubling problems.
Still, there's little question iTunes needed a refresh, and Apple appears to be on the right path.
The full-screen desktop player
This is the first time iTunes has had a major change to the design scheme since its inception 12 years ago. As such, it will probably take some getting used to, but my initial reaction is positive.
When you open iTunes in the full window, the left-side navigation that housed your various media libraries from earlier versions is no longer the main interface to look at all your content. Now, you have only a drop-down menu on the left to pick the type of media, and buttons across the top to drill down in each category. All you see in the main window is content from that specific category. So if you choose Music from the drop-down menu, for example, the buttons across the top let you sort by songs, albums, artists, genres, videos, playlists, and radio. Below you'll see only content from your music collection. When you choose other media libraries, you get buttons across the top appropriate to that media type.
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