Edible Apple

Lost in the controversy surrounding the iPod Shuffle (wow, I never thought I’d write that), was Apple’s iTunes 8.1 update.  One of the features included in the update is called ‘iTunes DJ’, which replaces, in name and function, the ‘Party Shuffle’ feature.  So what does iTunes DJ do exactly?  Well, Venture Beat laid out a pretty good explanation earlier this week.

You see, here’s how iTunes DJ works: In settings, when you click on “Allow guests to request songs with Remote for iPhone or iPod touch,” it will enable all iPhones and iPod touches with the Remote app installed to find your iTunes Library. When those guests set your library as a source, they can then pick any song from your library to play next…

But the real fun comes when you enable voting on songs. If you’re at a large party with dozens of iPhones (not only is that not out of the question here in San Francisco, it’s downright likely), the next song can be crowd-sourced by popular vote. This way, no one can sabotage a party by selecting “Who Let the Dogs Out?” or some lame slow song by The Eagles.

Sounds pretty cool, and not just because the blurb contained a well-placed jab against The Eagles.