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iTunes 11: Mini Player is really crap...(!)

I'm wondering.. really hard!

Who in the... thinks the new MiniPlayer is a step forward?

Yeah, it's now s**t loaded with all kind of features, but THE most important is now either missing, or hidden in a submenu:



VOLUME! Why do I need to dig into 'AirPlay' to SEE and act on the volume????

My ears have already taken damage!!!!!

I'm sorry, but this is SO BADLY missing in the UI (that is also but ugly!) that I don't know what to do..

I now need to take off my headphones or click menus before clicking play, in order to not hurt my ears or surprise people around me ... ****, it's bad..!



Song progress/timecode!!

What happened?? Why can't I see the progress of the music playing?? This is IMPORTANT!!!!! People use iTunes to be CREATIVE, and that involves keeping trace of where the track is in time!

Wow, I can see Album Art.. WOW!!! In a tiny, small, hard to see area.. USELESS!!!!


So now I need to have the huge(but, at least sizable) 'QuickTime Player/Artwork Player' window open as well.. fantastic...


So much for making changes, just for the changes... Maybe you should seed this kind of stuff to AppleSeed and get some real world feedback before releasing this half-backed stuff...!


PS: The new iTunes version is not selectable in the feedback form.. when do you learn to update the websites when you release software??

With all the billions in the bank, one should think it's possible to hire staff to maintain these things..

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 20G Ram, SSD, 2TB HD

Posted on Nov 29, 2012 6:13 PM

Reply
42 replies

Mar 21, 2017 5:57 PM in response to Cthulhu

Hey everyone - iTunes 12.6 is here and guess what - the miniplayer is STILL crap.


This is what I have (and only on hovering)...

User uploaded file

This is what I need...


User uploaded file

With all the controls and data it's actually smaller in the main window!!! So either I find an iTunes replacement, or I tuck the main window in the lower left off the screen with most of it off screen.

Mar 22, 2017 8:21 AM in response to Sikh

I spend a good part of my day listening to streams. Since the mini player is basically dead, I found I can at least use the QuickTime Player and get the volume control back without going into Airplay and seeing two volumes for one output (really, Apple - really?).


So for example I love CHIRP radio, a local Chicago stream, so I open it on the terminal with:


open -a "QuickTime Player" http://chirpradio.org/stream


Or with an AppleScript I Alfred (because Spotlight's UX is dead to me as well) like:


on alfred_script(q)

tell application "QuickTime Player"

open URL "http://chirpradio.org/stream"

activate

repeat until document 1 exists

end repeat

delay 1

tell document 1

pause

set audio volume to 0.5

end tell

end tell

end alfred_script


That gives me a little player with the volume like:


User uploaded file

I realize this does not save the average user or people who listen to their music files from MiniPlayer ****, but I thought I'd share just in case.

Nov 29, 2012 9:18 PM in response to Jakob Peterhänsel

It's really bugging me how the buttons moved to the center of the player, and aren't visible while a song's playing. I keep the mini player in the top left of my screen all the time, and sometimes windows overlap it. This was no problem before, since the buttons were on the left side and visible. But now, you don't know if your buttons will be visible until you roll over the player. So when I go to quickly interact with the player, instead of:


click a button


it's:


  • hover over the player
  • see if the buttons are covered up by another window
  • if they are, rearrange windows
  • hover over the player
  • click a button


I'm also glad you mentioned the volume slider, because I didn't know where to find that. Buried in an AirPlay menu? (Which is hidden and even farther to the right side than the other buttons, so you'd better hope another window isn't covering it!)

Nov 29, 2012 9:35 PM in response to Jakob Peterhänsel

I guess you don't realize that the controller can be resized.. go to the right edge of the window and over over it with your mouse. You can click and drag it closer in so there's no longer a gap.


User uploaded file


You can also set the controller to be on top of other windows by going into iTunes >> Preferences >> Advanced. The option is at the bottom.


I personally like the volume control in the "airplay" menu. It means I can take up less space with the mini-player. Is it really that hard? Heck, use the volume control buttons on your keyboard if it's such an issue, every mac ships with these controls. If you want you can also use Command + up / down arrows to control iTunes volume. Or you can do Option+shift+ volume up or volume down to do incrimental volume adjustments. There are so many ways to do it, I don't really see the change as being that big of an issue.

Nov 29, 2012 9:53 PM in response to cowmamba

You're right, I didn't realize it could scale thinner. That does help a little.


Yes, I know there are volume controls on the keyboard. I use that volume slider in the mini player when I want iTunes to play at a different volume from the rest of the system. Some albums are louder than others, and it gives a finer level of control than just the keyboard buttons do. I'm just saying that it seems useful enough that it shouldn't be hidden in an unrelated submenu.


The layout of the old one was more efficient, I think. Back/Play/Forward and volume, all in a tight little package. Always in a consistent spot, no matter how wide you stretched the player.


User uploaded file

Nov 30, 2012 3:11 AM in response to cowmamba

cowmamba wrote:


I personally like the volume control in the "airplay" menu. It means I can take up less space with the mini-player. Is it really that hard? Heck, use the volume control buttons on your keyboard if it's such an issue, every mac ships with these controls. If you want you can also use Command + up / down arrows to control iTunes volume. Or you can do Option+shift+ volume up or volume down to do incrimental volume adjustments. There are so many ways to do it, I don't really see the change as being that big of an issue.

When using Airplay (rather than the computer speakers), how do you get the volume control buttons on the keyboard to change the airplay (remove Airpost Express) volume. On my computer (Mountain Lion 10.8.1 MB13 retina), those keys only change the computer speaker volume.


So as I find things working, mini play is really lame (as is the limited album view and not being able to put the browser on the left, etc.) It's all just Apple deciding we should not do things the way we like but the way they want - so they keep removing more andmore functionality. I dread every upgrade from them these days because I never know what I will no longer be able to do!


I also found the time played/remaining and skip/position in the track ver useful. As I listen to a lot of podcasts (30 mins plus) the back a bit to listen again or skip forward a few mins was very very useful. Its just removing functionality and Apple either not using their own products or just nt recognising that others might use them differently from the in-house employees.

Nov 30, 2012 5:07 AM in response to Jakob Peterhänsel

Agreed! I have no idea why they got rid of the timeline (song progress). I use the mini player all the time, and I used that a lot. The other thing I used on the mini player a lot (when not using the timeline) was the spectrum analyzer... that is gone as well.


I do not mind when they change the GUI design, or enhance products, but to reduce functionality?? I don't like it.

Nov 30, 2012 5:40 AM in response to Jakob Peterhänsel

OMG this is the worst thing apple has done to me. Seriously, did they actually even try this? How do I know what's playing? How do I know anything? I thought Calendar make me click around a lot to do even the most basic thing, but this is totally over the top!!! Worst GUI of any Apple product, and lately, that's really saying something!


I miss Audion now more than ever. Does anyone have a good iTunes alternative? This is just awful. Thanks, Apple, for adding iTunes to the list of horrible apps that you might as well not even provide because I have to get them from somewhere else like Contacts, Calendar, an IM client, etc.


Apple used to be the model for excellent UI/UX, and it's rapidly changing to a "What not to do" company. Seriously, what the heck is going on in Cupertino??


Grrrrrrr. This is just so awful and frustrating.

Nov 30, 2012 7:55 AM in response to Jakob Peterhänsel

I'm with you. Love the new cleaner faster iTunes 11 overall, but am getting annoyed with the mini player having used it for most of a day.


I want volume control there, because as has been said you usually want iTunes volume controlled seperately from system volume. What about all the pings, pongs and alerts you need to be aware of and respond too.


And the time/progress monitor.


I'm used to using the keyboard to stop/start and skip but I want seperate volume control and a progress monitor.


Initially I thought the addition of the cover art to the mini player would finally kill off most of the third party iTunes controllers, but it looks like the overall design of the mini player will instead trigger a resurgence.


Now where did I put that CoverSutra registration key...

iTunes 11: Mini Player is really crap...(!)

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