The MiniPlayer of iTunes 11

I have downloaded the latest version of iTunes last Friday and I totally love the overhaul made to Apple's media player. Aside from the impressive user interface and edge to edge design maximizing screen real estate, I just love playing music using the iTunes MiniPlayer.

There are a lot of differences between the two versions of the MiniPlayer and version 11 is more powerful compared to its predecessor. Gone are the "traffic light" indicators, Apple logo and volume controls from iTunes 10. The "traffic light" indicators were replaced by "x" and a small square to minimise and maximise the MiniPlayer. The next, previous and play buttons are nicely hidden on the title and displayed when the cursor is hovered on top of it. There's no need for volume controls when you can easily control it using the F10, F11 and F12 keys on your Mac keyboard or the appropriate keys on your PC. The result is a very minimalist design and a decrease in size for the latest MiniPlayer of iTunes.

iTunes 10 MiniPlayer

iTunes 11 MiniPlayer

Next, previous and play buttons are nicely displayed
when the cursor is hovered to the title of the song playing

Now the MiniPlayer maybe tiny but don't get fooled by its simple design. This player is so powerful you can do anything to this music player even at this mode. When you tap on the album cover you get an expanded view of it. When you hover your cursor to the expanded view you can change the volume, move to the next or previous song and stop the music. You also want to see what's Up Next? You just tap on the list icon and it shows the next song that's going to play. You can also see the previous songs that played by tapping on the clock icon.

Tap on the album art in the MiniPlayer and you get this nice expanded view of the album you are listening

Tap on the list icon in the MiniPlayer and you see the songs that will play next. Tap on the clock

icon and you see the songs that previously played. If you want to delete history, just tap Clear

There are also other controls hidden in the MiniPlayer like creating a Genius Playlist, adding an album or song to a playlist you have created or going to the iTunes Store. You can view this on the icon with a Chevron insignia inside it that points to the right. You can also search for albums, artists or a song that you want to play in the MiniPlayer. This is non-existent in the previous version of the MiniPlayer.

Other hidden controls in the MiniPlayer

Searching on the MiniPlayer

So, what do you think of the latest MiniPlayer of iTunes? Feel free to give your thoughts in the comments section of this post. If you still haven't updated to the latest version of iTunes, you can download it via Software Update on your Mac or thru this link for your PC.