Works With
iPhone
iPod touch
The Good
Simple interface
Amazingly fast downloads
The iTunes experience on a mobile device
The Bad
No support for video or games downloads yet
Removes some iTunes Store features
The Price
Varies by content
The iTunes Wifi Music Store is Apple’s latest attempt to expand the use of versatility of its industry-leading iTunes Store. The WiFi Music Store adds the ability to browse music at the iTunes Store and wirelessly buy songs or albums over Apple’s new WiFi-enabled devices, the iPhone and the iPod touch.
And it’s pretty amazing. The iTunes WiFi Music Store is a streamlined and slimmed down version of the iTunes Store that lets you easily browse or search the music at the iTunes Store, preview it, and then buy it from your mobile device. Apple’s done great work here – the store could hardly work better. If you’ve used the iTunes Store or the iPhone before, the interface is completely intuitive and simple to navigate.
Previewing and buying songs is just as easy – a matter of just a tap or two on the screen. Downloads are ridiculously fast. In my tests, a 2.5 MB song, including album art, downloaded to my iPhone in 3 seconds and a 3.8 MB song took just 5 seconds. Even the standard iTunes Store doesn’t work this quickly.
Songs purchased on the iPhone or iPod touch are automatically added to the music on the mobile device and to your iTunes library when you sync the device to your computer. And, since your device already knows your iTunes account info, all you need to do is enter your password once and you’re completely configured for buying on the fly.
While the iTunes WiFi Music Store doesn’t yet offer things the full iTunes Store does – iMixes, podcasts, video, games – this new store is so easy, so blazingly fast, and generally so impressive, no one is likely to notice. That is, except iTunes addicts whose monthly bills are going to be a lot higher from now on.
