When I select a playlist in iTunes, a little cirle with an arrow in it appears next to the name of the playlist. That arrow takes me to the Music Store and sets up the playlist to publish to iMix. Once I have published the list, the circle and arrow stay next to the playlist, allowing me to view or update the published list.
That arrow next to Current Favorites takes me to the iTunes Music Store and creates a list of all of the tracks in that playlist that the Music Store sells, which means a lot of the songs in my playlist were missing from the published version. It also creates a nifty, little quilt image from the first 9 unique album covers of the playlist.
I can send my published list URL to other people, and through that they can buy individual songs, or the entire playlist (but without a bulk discount). They can do the same things that they can do with the rest of the Music Store too, including listening to snippets of songs.
I do not know what advantage this should have for me, other than sucking away all of my money in 99 cent increments. Every time I visit the Music Store I run across something I want and would never buy an entire album to get. Damn you, iTunes Music Store!
brian d foy is a Perl trainer for Stonehenge Consulting Services and is the publisher of The Perl Review.
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