iTuneup
Friday, December 18, 2009 at 1:16PM 
I've been kicking around an idea in my head on a way to improve iTunes and the iPod/iPhone. I'm sure we all have, from time to time, despite its awesome maturity.
Like many others, I have songs on my iPod that are isolated from their albums, either because their sister songs hadn't been added to the iPod or because I simply don't own them. What I'd like to see on my iPod/iPhone is metadata of the other songs that make up the album. I could see them as being shaded to indicate that they're not actually there, but you could either synch them to the iPod the next time you connect or purchase them if you don't own them. The large portion of song files is made up of the music data itself. The metadata about other songs could be a relatively small meta file that resides and gets updated on the iPod.
Imagine you purchased "Love Song" by Lady GaGa last year, but then you realized that, after the release of her other hits, you'd like to purchase the remaining songs from the album by actually seeing them (shaded) in your playlist. You could then complete your album with one click.
Apple, if this seems interesting, you're welcome.
itunes, lady gaga, mattsnod in Technology 
Reader Comments (2)
Very interesting idea, Matt, though at least for me there would have to be an option to turn the display feature off if you don't want to see it. The only time I buy single songs is when I'm absolutely sure I don't want the rest of the CD. Otherwise I will but the entire CD download.
One thing *I* would like to see on iTunes is the ability to sort iTouch/iPhone applications by rating when you get to the main page of a search. I simply do not have the time or patience to scroll through 130 pages of applications to MAYBE find one that people have rated well.
Good point, Josh. You would need to be able to disable that view. And you're spot on about the app store. I find I'm only getting apps based on word of mouth or reviews -- not the store itself.