Wednesday, August 5 12:00 AM ET

Only Jobs-Approved Songs in iTunes Version 9 (Mac Only)

By Brian Briggs follow me on Twitter.

Cupertino, CA - Apple announced that the upcoming version 9 of Apple's iTunes software for the Mac finally incorporates a feature that many Mac users have been asking for: only play music approved by Steve Jobs.

The program will match all songs on a user's computer with a database of Jobs-approved songs. Nothing will change for songs already on the list, but songs not on the list will be disabled and cannot be played by iTunes or on any iPod or iPhone.

"I challenged our software developers to make an iTunes that only played music I approved of, and they did it," said Jobs on a conference call with tech reporters. "It adds the 'wow' factor that Apple customers have come to expect from us. You'll be listening to your iPod and you'll think, wow, Steve Jobs approves of this song. How awesome is that?"

"The Windows version of iTunes won't have this feature, because we can't expect those uncultured cavemen to appreciate such a great feature," said Jobs.

Many Mac users had conflicting feelings about the move, like Dale Worstman of Omaha. "I don't want Steve Jobs telling me what I can listen too, but on the other hand I want Steve Jobs telling me what I can listen to. Can anybody tell me if he likes Coldplay? He has to like Coldplay doesn't he?"

Not everyone was conflicted though. "I want to know that I'm only playing music that Jobs himself would like," said Mac user Shane Epperson. "Before I had to guess, but iTunes 9 will take the guesswork out of it for me."

Apple representatives did not reveal specific songs in the Jobs-approved song database, but said music ranged from Indian folk tunes to new age classics and the number of songs included was over 9,000.

Apple's stock was down on the news.