Genius sidebar gone with update 10.0.1

I agree...this looks like a move to force us to use Ping. I do not and will not use Ping, and I want the Genius sidebar back. That was useful...Ping is a waste of space in the app for me. Yes, I know I can hide the Ping sidebar...I just hate when a useful tool is replaced with a useless one with no user option to change it.

Can anyone help and answer ?

Where is it? I have nothing against Ping, but that Genius sidebar was my best means of finding music similar to the things I liked without having to do a lot of work. What the H∂ll?

The Genius sidebar is in fact, still with us. In the lower right-hand side of your iTunes window, you will see a box with an arrow, next to that is the Genius symbol. Hit that and your Genius sidebar should be there. If your Ping sidebar is currently present you may need to hit the box with the arrow to hide it.

Edit:As it appears to be, I was wrong. Apple has removed the Genius sidebar, but kept it's icon which is interesting. 10.0.2 will probably remove that icon for us...

Message was edited by: 10kylelaker

10kylelaker wrote:
The Genius sidebar is in fact, still with us. In the lower right-hand side of your iTunes window, you will see a box with an arrow, next to that is the Genius symbol.

That Genius symbol always was creating a Genius playlist, it had nothing to do with the Genius sidebar. The arrow next to opens a sidebar which used to be the Genius sidebar and now is the Ping sidebar.

Claus Lund wrote:
Does anyone know how to enable the genius sidebar

Simply re-install (copy from a backup) iTunes 10.0. You can switch between 10.0 and 10.0.1 without any ill-effects.

Yeah....This is such Bull. I'm just gonna switch back to 10.0...10.1 doesn't seem to have anything useful, so yeah.

How do we switch back ?

I dont know if this might help... the sidebar seems to be dead, but the ping button can be hidden using

defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown 1

on the Terminal... and if your arrows that connect you to the iTunes Store (and by alt+click to your own library) are hidden also you can try

defaults write com.apple.iTunes show-store-link-arrows -bool TRUE

About the sidebar I don't think you can re-enable it though :/

academiasalad wrote:
How do we switch back ?

Just copy a version of iTunes 10.0 back into your application folder and drag it onto your Dock.

(Get the copy from a backup, make a copy of iTunes before updating, or download it directly from Apple:
Mac: http://appldnld.apple.com/iTunes10/061-9183.20100902.X2ndX/iTunes10.dmg
Windows: http://appldnld.apple.com/iTunes10/061-8246.20100901.Zxsew3/iTunesSetup.exe
Windows (64-bit): http://appldnld.apple.com/iTunes10/061-8245.20100901.Pr4rg/iTunes64Setup.exe
)

I dont mind playing with Ping, willing to give it a few more months, but I really love the Genius sidebar. I'm downgrading to 10.0.0.

I can't believe they took the Genius side bar away...I do need instructions on how to downgrade to iTunes 10, if somebody can help, please. I tried to copy the backup app (10.0) but I get a "permission" issue. I have downloaded 10.0 but can't install on my main drive (..newer version already installed...). Can somebody please post comprehensive instructions on how to get rid of Ping and get the useful Genius sidebar back. Thanks....

I hope Apple staff is reading this and other threads regarding the removal of Genius. I used that feature very often to browse related music, and purchased many songs off this service. Why are Apple's loyal users no longer given the choice to use Genius? I am personally not interested in social networking sites. Taking a few lines from Apple's promo text on Ping:

"Follow your favorite artists with a click and become part of their inner circle. Find out what music an artist likes and pick up a few recommendations."

I could honestly care less what some worshiped celebrity thinks is interesting.

For the many people who are "in to" social networking, there are just as many who are not. I understand Apple desires inclusion of this feature, but why do so at the expense of a very useful one? Apple, please give us the option to choose to use the Genius sidebar!

Yeah, this is a really dumb decision! Somebody who doesn't understand the business must have come up with this. I am buying a lot of music and shows, movies because I "see" them in the sidebar...now what? They want to go back three years and search the iStore for stuff...don't think so, will have to hold off on those spontaneous $1.99 decisions....as a shareholder of Apple, I really dislike that they did this...

Apple is developing an insidious habit of reducing functionality as they 'upgrade their software'. First the latest and greatest iPod (iTouch) can't even manage Smart Playlists. And now the pointless elimination of a well loved (and profitable) feature in iTunes. Is it possible they've hired a bunch of Windows programmers, or have they made a deal with the social networking sites that pays them big money to force Ping upon us. Apple is so busy selling its soul (can you say iPhone & AT&T three time fast?) that their long tradition of quality and customer oriented software is becoming nothing more than a memory. Maybe Steve Jobs should change his name to 'Bill'.