Apple Quietly Updates iTunes With “iTunes Sidebar”

Today Apple released a silent and minor update to the latest iTunes 10.0.1 (version number stayed the same).

iTunes 10.0.1 (updated)

The new iTunes upgrade brings an updated Genius/Ping sidebar now called “iTunes Sidebar” (was “Ping” sidebar in 10.0.1). The new sidebar provides Genius recommendations based on selected songs and also the ability to play samples without going into the iTunes Store.

However, if no song is selected, the Genius function will simply recommend albums based on a user’ iTunes Library.

Ping users also received an update where users can now see a brief summary of recent activity. Ping users can further “like” or post about songs and other users can listen to the recommendations or sample albums directly from the new sidebar.

For those who do not use Ping or Genius, users can toggle the new sidebar on or off within iTunes at any time.

[macnn]