14 DAY TRIAL // It remains to be seen whether this is just a blunder on behalf of the Cupertino giant, but iTunes Producer has been released to regular Mac users worldwide via Software Update.
iTunes Producer is a content submission tool exclusively offered to people involved with “production,” not the regular iTunes user who mostly downloads and consumes content, rather than create it.
According to Apple, “this free software application allows you to prepare your music for direct delivery to iTunes.”
“Use it to encode your music in AAC format; enter album, song, and cover art information; and send your prepared files directly to Apple for consideration.”
The tool is also used to submit books to the iBookstore.
Apple customers who received iTunes Producer as part of the Software Update procedure are reporting that version 2.6 brings the following changes (complete change log below):
iTunes Producer 2.6 includes several new features:
Now you can look up metadata using multiple Vendor IDs simultaneously For delivery issues, Send to Apple now supports entering notes For music, the following are now supported: - Alert tones - Customizable territory groupings for rights and pricing - Improved user interface for adding and editing translations For books, the following are now supported: - Target Audience, Pre-Order Start Date, and Series Display Number using the “New from file” feature - Expanded language list
The Mac maker then directs customers to the iTunes Producer guide at itunesconnect.apple.com.
There is a good chance this has been a mistake on behalf of Apple as customers who have unwillingly received this “software update” are still required to log in to iTunes Connect.
“iTunes Connect is an extranet that provides iTunes content providers with access to iTunes Producer (our proprietary encoding software), discounted hardware, financial reports, sales/trend reports, and tools to help you manage your content on the iTunes Store,” says Apple.