Software gets updated all the time, and we all get those notifications now and then that an update to Apple's iTunes for our computer is available.

If you're like me, you put those updates off. They can take awhile, and, after all, iTunes was working just fine, right?

Today, however, I jumped at an update  -- even before my computer could notify me one was available. This is the much-talked-about, slightly delayed iTunes 11.

With all the updating you've done, can you remember the last time iTunes actually looked different? It does now. That, in itself, is interesting.

But the update is more than superficial. For one thing -- and this is hardly surprising -- Apple is trying to shove the iTunes Store in your business a lot more. It's much more prevalent.

That may be a little annoying (it's getting harder and harder not to spend money while you're sitting at your computer isn't it?), but I LOVE another new feature. The update includes an improved queue that lets you see the next several songs iTunes is going to play. You can move them around, and, more importantly to me, you can go into your library and tell it to put any song into the slot following the song currently playing. I'm forever thinking of a tune I'd like to hear but needing to wait until the current song is done before playing it, assuming I'm enjoying the song playing. (It's a first-world problem, I realize.)

Those of you concerned about privacy and targeted advertising probably want to be aware of an option when you're installing the new iTunes. It will ask if Apple can have access to your library to provide photos or some such thing. It's probably a way to figure out things to suggest you buy, but I went along with it. I'm all in, baby.

Here's a screen grab from my computer. This is iTunes 11 in the album view. As you can see, it's opened the third album from the left in the top row to reveal the tracks, showing the cover art to the right. Above, slightly right of center, you can see the new queue, which you can rearrange and add any time.

I highly recommend watching the optional tutorial video after you've installed the program and before you use it. You'll be able to figure out basic operations without it, but, as with previous versions, some of the more detailed controls aren't all that obvious. It's nice to have the visual guide before you dig in.

-- Mark Meszoros | Entertainment@News-Herald.com | @nhfeatures

Come together, twist and shout, because The Beatles are available for download on iTunes.

Is this cause for celebration?

I'm more or less indifferent about the announcement. I own several Beatles albums and can't see myself downloading any that I don't have. I'm someone who prefers the packaging of a CD case when buying music from my favorite musicians. I figured that at this point -- nearly 50 years after The Beatles hit American shores -- that most people have been exposed the music through living through the 1960s and 1970s, or through listening to their parents' albums. I assumed that saying you liked The Beatles was akin to listing your interests on Facebook as "music," "hanging out" and "family and friends." Maybe I'm just projecting my own childhood onto the rest of America.

I was talking with a few of my co-workers about the Beatles-iTunes announcement to see if others had the same ho-hum attitude I did. Business Editor Brandon C. Baker surprised me when he said he didn't have any Beatles music and was happy for the opportunity to explore it via iTunes. He recalled one evening over the summer when I had friends at my house to play a spirited game of Beatles Rock Band. Brandon said he didn't know many of the songs we rocked out to and tried to search for them on iTunes -- with no success.

My assumptions about people's access to The Beatles was clearly wrong. And maybe all the kids out there who are exposed to music only through the Internet, social media and iTunes will form a new Beatles audience. Or, perhaps fans who have records, cassette tapes and damaged CDs will look at this as an opportunity to buy good, digital versions of their favorite songs.

(And if you don't have any Beatles music, $149 for all of the band's studio collections [titled The Beatles Box Set] seems like a pretty good deal to me.)

Coverage of the decision via The Associated Press can be viewed here, and read more about the agreement here.


-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com

P.S. Addendum: I don't condone illegal downloads, but this graphic representation of whether one should buy Beatles music on iTunes more or less follows the train of thought I had when I heard about the announcement. I just figured most people had the music or could easily borrow it from the library, friends or family.