iTunes v8.1 and Front Row v2.1.7 Released

In just the past hour Apple has sent down the tubes of Software Update the next version of iTunes, v8.1. This is a major update that includes various new features. The biggest is support for Apple’s newest generation of iPod Shuffles that were released this morning. Other new features include extended Genius support to videos, importing to the iTunes Plus format, improving performance when downloading iTunes Plus purchases, allowing friends to request songs for iTunes DJ, provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods, many accessibility improvements, and separates the iTunes Store parental controls so that the main store can be disabled separately of iTunes U. Front Row, Apple’s built-in remote-controlled multimedia interface to your Mac, also got updated to v2.1.7 to provide support for iTunes 8.1. Neither update requires a reboot, so installing them isn’t hard at all. Enjoy, Alex.