The iPad launch is just around the corner, and Apple is doing their part to make it as smooth as possible by updating iTunes early in the week. iTunes 9.1 brings a number of improvement including new Genius Mix editing abilities, iBook support and organization and, of course, iPad support. The update text straight from Apple’s Software Update is just past the jump.

Apple has just released the latest version of iTunes at the September 9th event in San Francisco. iTunes 9 has some new welcome features, including the ability to organize your iPhone and iPod touch applications within iTunes to sync across to your device.

Following the release of the new iPod shuffle, it appears iTunes 8.1 is on its way. It’s not going to be a big release, but as with the new desktop line, there will be a few small changes to enhance the application further. iTunes 8.1 will respond quicker when syncing your iPod/iPhone, loading large libraries and when you’re browsing the iTunes Store.

When Apple debuted their song mix-creating Genius feature in iTunes, one of its more famous problem was the songs it didn’t work with. Obscure artists, albums that weren’t commercially available, and The Beatles. There were a few other major artists (AC/DC) who didn’t work with the nifty new gadget.

Well, that changed at some point, because after failing to create a playlist from Pat Suzuki’s melancholy “How High the Moon,” (now out of print) I clicked on “Oh! Darling” by the Fab Four and was greeted with a none-too-bad playlist that shifted through Floyd, Queen, and Bowie. I then tried it with “Revolution 9″ and got a pop-up asking me if I was seriously trying to create a playlist based on that. Okay, not really. Here’s what that gave me…

iTunes is up to version 8.0.1. The update addresses bug fixes, mainly focused on Genius and VoiceOver for the iPod nano. Apple provides all the details of what this update does right along with the package. iTunes 8.0.1 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including: Seamlessly plays the current more »

The announcement of the iTunes 8 Genius feature at Apple’s Let’s Rock event has been greeted generally favorably, even if Beatles fans can’t be told that pretty much every single band ever to follow borrowed at least some portion of their sound from them. But, did you know that Microsoft has a competing feature for their Zune thing? Did you know they were even still making that Zune thing? Well, apparently they are, and Jesus Diaz over at Gizmodo says it’s better than Genius.

Music websites Pandora and Last.fm, both of which expose users to new artists and music based on their listening choices, have praised the new iTunes 8 Genius feature.

More after the break.

Apple has just announced iTunes 8, at the “Let’s Rock” event. After rushing to download it, I immediately fell in love with the Genius playlist maker, but I didn’t particularly love Grid view. While ushering in the Grid view, you may notice there is no dedicated button for a List+Art view mode, as there was in iTunes past. I discovered that there is a way to bring back the old view, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

Learn how after the break.

As expected, today Apple launched a new version of iTunes to go along with their revamped iPod line, and during the Apple Event, Steve Jobs simply could not shut up about the newest iTunes feature: “Genius.”

What Genius does is analyze the music and video in your iTunes library (provided that you opt-in to the service, that is), and recommend other music and shows you might like, based on other users with similar tastes. It’s similar to the recommendation feature used by movie rental site Netflix and online “radio station” Pandora to help users find new movies and music.

Some very interesting details (including an odd reaction to the Beatles) after the break.

First off at today’s Let’s Rock event is iTunes 8 as rumored. So what’s so great about iTunes 8.

Read on my friend…