I almost posted this morning, predicting that there would be commentary/scorn on the new iTunes interface from John Gruber, but was too busy. The interface is unlike anything else on Mac OS X–again.

Sure enough, here it is, in the form of a Hollywood script.

I have just a couple of notes.

1. The rounded corners of the Brushed Metal take up a lot of space. This new theme rounds in fewer pixels, giving more room for content.
2. The Mail.app theme Gruber contrasts it with turns into an Aqua-like window when focus isn’t on it–I just noticed this tonight. The new theme on iTunes behaves like Brushed metal, in that interface elements dim and there’s a drop shadow from the foreground window on unfocused windows, but other than that there’s no distinction between the focused and unfocused states.
3. It’s prettier than Brushed Metal. But Brushed Metal is supposed to be used for applications that mimic real-world interfaces. So here was an area where Brushed Metal was used appropriately according to the Human Interface Guidelines, but it’s no longer used! Here’s hoping it replaces Brushed Metal, and that Safari gets the Mail.app treatment. And that developers either stick with Aqua or the Mail.app theme unless there’s a REALLY good reason for it.