Following an announcement at the iPhone 5 event in September and then a delay last month, iTunes 11 has finally been released today by Apple. This latest version of iTunes includes a refreshed design that Apple describes as "dramatically simplified" as well as integration with iCloud. Users will be able to search through all of their content, including music, movies and TV shows, with iTunes 11's new search functionality, and there's also a new MiniPlayer for skipping and searching songs without opening the library as well as an Up Next feature that shows what music is coming up and can queue up songs or albums for playback. The iTunes Store, App Store and iBookstore have also received redesigns.
While iOS users aren't required to use iTunes with their devices like they used to be thanks to the recent addition of features like on-device activation and over the air updates, many still do boot up iTunes from time to time for things like loading content onto their hardware and saving backups onto a computer, so it's good to see the app get an overhaul like this. Of course, it remains to be seen if iTunes 11 is also an upgrade over its predecessors in terms of performance, but we can put that to the test now that iTunes 11 has been made available to the public.
The iTunes page on Apple's website still lists 10.7 as the current version, but it should be refreshing soon. A link to that page is available below. Mac users can also install iTunes 11 by going into Software Update in the Mac App Store. Once you iOS folk get iTunes 11 up and running, be sure to swing by the comments section and share your first impressions!
