OS X 10.9 13A538G Includes iBooks, iPhoto, iTunes Betas

Meaty, beaty, big and bouncy! Developer sources say OS X 10.9 13A538G brings a bunch of changes, some expected and others a bit more serendipitous. As reported nearly everywhere, iBooks for Mac has finally arrived, but so have new versions of other staple Apple apps.

First up, iBooks 1.0 is part of the OS X 10.9 13A538G install and it looks and performs exactly as one would expect — after starting the app, iBooks looks for books in the user’s iTunes Library and then invites him to log in. By most accounts, it seems to just work.

According to the release notes, “OS X Mavericks Developer Preview 5 includes a pre-release version [9.4.6] of iPhoto for the purpose of testing compatibility with Mavericks.” This beta includes updates and/or improvements to location tagging and other changes.

Informants also say iTunes 11.1 b44 is part of OS X 10.9 13A538G. This beta build includes updated iTunes T&C, track notifications and improvements to Gapless Playback.

OS X Mavericks Expanded Beta?
Perhaps the most interesting functionality delivered in OS X 10.9 13A538G is Feedback Assistant 3.0.4, an app whose appearance implies that an expanded beta is coming that will include invitation-only AppleSeed program members.

Your Apple ID is not part of the Customer Seeding program.

Feedback Assistant is for AppleSeed Customer Seeding participants only. If you are a registered Apple Developer, please use the Apple bug Reporter to submit bug reports.

A pretty interesting development considering that it’s August and OS X Mavericks isn’t due to ship until Fall, which arrives this year on or after September 22.

Aside from the WWDC announcement and first beta release, this is the most interesting and exciting OS X 10.9 developer seed to date — there’s a lot to consider…

What’s your take?

Sources: MacRumors, 9 to 5 Mac, AppleInsider,