has it really been a week since I last (and first) wrote about the latest iTunes? Nope, but I'm on time this week, unlike last week. And I knew that hard work (seven screen captures pieced together this week) would pay off - something is fishy at the iTMS.
Up until today, quite a few of the albums now listed as new for September 16 were actually listed under September 9. Today, they magically jumped to the new list, leaving last week's entries radically depleted. I understand that albums can be added day by day, but this is ridiculous. I'm not talk about a track or two here or there, either. Starting from the top, the first album that isn't just moved over from last week's like is the Aretha Franklin single The Only Thing Missin'. After that you've got to go all the way down to the eponymous Billy Talent to find another 'Just Added' album that's actually new. And so on.
I presume that all of the albums added between September 3 and September 9 are now in the September 9 column. That's fair. But it seems that all of the albums added after September 9 were also stored in that column until September 16 rolled around, and that's a little odd. It means that the current column will always be the heaviest, and also that it can't really be trusted until it has moved into the 'Last Week' position, at which point it is stripped and left more accurate for all (er, all iTMS users) to see.
Weird. Very weird.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
What do you deduce Mr. Holmes?
2 - TDavid
I think it was Colonel Mustard in the study with the pipe wrench.
3 - Phillip Winn
TDavid, it was obviously Mrs. Peacock in the Conservatory with the Candlestick!
Eric, I really think it was just what I described (poorly) in the story. The leftmost column in the iTMS right now is labeled "This Week, September 16, 2003". I believe that column actually contains all albums added since the previous marker, September 9, and will likely grow as the week progresses, becoming longer and longer until September 23, at which point everything is shuffled again.
So I believe that the "Three Weeks Ago, August 26" column actually contains all albums and tracks added between August 20 and August 26. The "Two Weeks Ago, September 2" column actually contains all albums and tracks added between August 27 and September 2. The "One Week Ago, September 9" column actually contains all albums and tracks added between September 3 and September 9. And the current column is the odd duck out, contain not just all albums and tracks added between September 10 and September 16, but also (temporarily) all track added since.
All of this would be much easier to verify if Apple didn't encrypt their XML feeds, forcing me to rely on screen captures and visual comparison. I'm not typing in all of that stuff, nor am I manually searching the iTMS every day. I understand why Apple protects their stuff, I guess, though I note that Amazon has done quite well by opening up their database for all to see.
4 - TDavid
Ahh, I never did get the Clue.
I think more text was needed so that long image didn't bleed over into the comment section. You just have to be more wordy, Phillip! LOL ;)
5 - Phillip Winn
More wordy! Ha! I just posted a comment that was longer than most posts on Blogcritics, so I know how to be wordy!