Move column browser to left side vertically rather than on top horizontally?

Like others, created an ID just so I can add my frustration to this list.. Can't believe Apple's usability net let this through.. For those with massive audio collections, this just made iTunes lots more difficult to use. Hopefully Apple is monitoring for sheer volume of posts and can make a quick fix to restore the view..

While we are on the topic of what's (really badly) wrong with iTunes 11, in the past no matter where you were you could hit command + L and immediately go back to the song that is currently playing, however, now if you are in or at any kind of search process/window/query result this no longer functions, which is when I used it the most, not when I am in listview doing nothing.

And the search: it's maddeningly annoying! In the past it parsed the results and showed you what matched your entry instantly, yet now you have this massive dropdown that shows you way too much stuff to be even remotely useful, and then when you click on something in it, i.e. the very top bar that remotely functions as per the old search "Show '. . .' in Music'" it immediately takes you out of the list view, and in fact, if you click on an album or an artist it immediately takes you back to that infernal highly graphic viewer, and even that it only does half the time and apparently only if the album has an image, otherwise it just queues it into that stupid up next player. We should be able to disable this junk if we just want to play what we want to play. I don't need an up next player, I have playlists or I select music when the album stops, etc.

C'mon Apple, you guys have actually made iTunes useless for everyone who has a large library, and I'm sure a lot of us are frustrated as we've maintained our iTunes libraries for years and now we might need to migrate everything elsewhere which means years of lists and ratings gone down the drains.

And let me view playlists without the three-part column browser at the top! AHHHH

@denisabel7

Thanks but that's the sidebar (which it is possible to enable using option + command + S or control+S on PC as you've found out) we're talking about the column browser which allows you to filter results by genre, artist, album etc. Completely different thing.

We want laid out like this - http://assets.ilounge.com/images/articles_tagging/2011/4.jpg

But it now only let's you have laid out like this -

http://assets.ilounge.com/images/articles_tagging/2011/3.jpg

btw - the above are screenshots of iTunes 9 but the same principle applies. In fact the article from which those screenshots were taken describes how the option to have the column browser on the left was added (and is the the default view) in iTunes 9 but that you could switch to the old style view with the column browser above the track listing if required. For whatever reason Apple have now taken this option (and default view) away in iTunes 11 so we're back to the pre-iTunes 9 days when the column browser can only be displayed above the track listing. Full article here - http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/the-complete-guide-to-album-t agging-art-and-playlists-in-itunes/

@rydimryder

I agree the new search is awful. It doesn't give results for information in the comment tag and I find the new drop down search results virtually unusable. I want the search results displayed in the track window like 10.7.

+1 this is stupid as more and more pople have widescreen monitors! this decision is nearly as stupid as thinking apple maps was good enough to replace google maps.

Why remove such a simple but useful option that makes great use of space and allows easy navigation of a large library with no stupid graphics. artist view would be ten times better without the album artwork next to each artist aswell.

This is what iTunes look like on my 27" Apple screen. "Good" job, Apple. :-( The worst thing is that I'm afraid Apple is so sure with its geniousity that they will not care to fix it.

Column browser on the top is ridiculous. Our monitored are wide screen orientation. If they were rotated on their side then maybe column browser on the top would make sense. We cannot see anything with it this way Apple!!!! Change it back please ASAP!

I agree, i'd very much like to see this resolved as soon as possible or I will be switching music management services. I used itunes because of it's easy organization with the column browser aligned to the left, with it cluttering the top of the screen music organization programs such as zune and spotify are far superior. Honestly guys, would Steve have let this happen? He was almost obsessive about the symmetry, organization, and functionality of Apple products, which I have unfortunately witnessed in a decline recently. The iOS updates were sloppy as **** too. Get it together down there at Apple or i'll join my friends who are switching to Android. Poor service and bad ideas lose business for you. The only thing I have to deal with is downloading a new program and switching contracts. Keep that in mind.

Not happy about this. It's so much harder to navigate my large collection. I want revert back. Give me my left column back! Why, oh why, did I "upgrade" this afternoon to v.11? I should have known better.

Just updated: this is absurdly silly. Came here to +1, this is my first time on the apple forums.

Apple: the whole POINT of the column browser was that it SAVED us from having to page or scroll around by giving us a consolidated list to click through. The function of the column browser now is very unclear to me.

This is encapsulates my problem with apple products: the design is overbearing. Wanna change the UI? Fine! Innovate away! But to leave me no option to customize back to my preferred layout if I think your innovation doesn’t work for me? That’s just ‘clean design pedantry’, and exactly why I switched to Android phones.

Hopefully this was just an oversight.

Another +1 for Apple to get their s#@* together about this. Having column browser on top is useless, and takes twice as long to scroll through music lists... its especially annoying when I'm trying to create playlists on my iPod.

Such a simple thing to reinstate.

Bring back column browsing! Downgrading to iTunes 11 has been my biggest regret so far.

Apple can't even name features properly... This should be called "Row Browser" and not "Column Browser"

I open itunes and the majority of my screen is emptey/unused... I have to click through severall options just to go from playlists to music.

The best feature apple can possibly make is a "Rollback feature" where I can instantly go back to the previous version.

I'm so upset with this that I've already googled how to downgrade.

What a frickin' joke!!! Do the people that design these new versions even use iTunes???? With the artist list at the top you can only view about 5 artist at a time!! When it's on the side you can see a lot more! when your picking songs and your in a hurry you don't have time to scroll!!!! very poor design!! I'll take the old version any day!!! I would like to have the album art work on the side like the old version also!!!