Improving iTunes

I love my iPod, and iTunes is pretty good...but it could be a whole lot better. Here are a couple of things that I find really irritating in the current version:

Updates: In any sensible handheld device, updates work both ways; when you synch it, the most recent version on either handheld or desktop is transferred to the other. In iPod, updates appear to work only one way--from desktop to iPod. This is a huge pain in the ass for me because I have dialup at home and a faster connection at work; the computer where I upload from CDs is not the computer where I download from the web. That makes it infeasible to consolidate all of my music in one place. (Importing from the iPod is possible, but extremely clunky and awkward.) I'm sure there are copyright reasons for doing it this way, but still...pain in the ass.

Categories: What is this, 1999 or something? Everybody knows tags are the way to go. Tags allow a user to apply multiple attributes within any given category of information (see Flickr, Gmail, etc.). Instead, iTunes makes you put everything in one box or another. It's either Instrumental or Film; it can't be both. It's Funk or Psychedelic or African; it can't be all three. This is just a monumentally stupid way to organize music.

I'm not asking for any remuneration from Apple for helping them like this. Their gratitude will be sufficient.

[That's all, folks]