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Mockup of new iTunes 8.0 interface published

With his iTunes 8.0 reports receiving support over the weekend, Kevin Rose has gone on to publish an interface mockup of the new media cataloging software now expected for release Tuesday.

According to the drawing (below), an area of the iTunes sidebar currently reserved for smart playlists will be replaced with Genius Playlists, while a new Genius sidebar on the right-hand side of the application will recommend music from the iTunes Store that a user doesn't already own.

The iTunes Genius is said to be activated or deactivated by an interface button near the bottom right-hand side of the application.

iTunes 8 will continue to offer users three distinct "views" of their music library, though instead of List, List with Artwork, and Cover Flow, version 8.0 will offer List, Grid, and Cover Flow. Grid view will display album covers in an aligned matrix and offer playback controls via mouse-over, according to the mockup.

A slider will reportedly control the size of the album artwork in the grid view, and users will be able to sort their music via Album, Artist, Genre, and Composer.

Rose also claims that Apple will employ a recently acquired third-party Magnetosphere plugin (below) as one its new iTunes visualizers.