Apple Releases QuickTime 5.0.1 -- After a long public beta, Apple has released QuickTime 5.0.1, enhancing performance and finally cleaning up the QuickTime Player interface. The former version's awkward circular volume control is gone, replaced by a sensible slider and complemented by control buttons sporting an Aqua appearance. Content creators, however, can now forego the interface entirely by designing their own custom interfaces. There are also improvements under the skin, such as a new DV codec that improves conversion to and from digital videotape, significantly enhanced AppleScript support, full support for MPEG-1 and Flash 4 media, and the capability to download new components as needed. QuickTime 5 also adds Cubic VR, which displays full 360 degree views of specially created QuickTime VR movies (previously, you were limited when viewing up or down), plus a new music synthesizer. The QuickTime Player is free, but you'll need to pay $30 to unlock the QuickTime Pro features (unless you registered after 12-Oct-00). QuickTime 5.0.1 is available both as a 408K Web installer and a 9.1 MB stand-alone installer. [JLC]

<http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/>