What are your thoughts on the New iTunes 11?

Loki Katz wrote:

I upgraded to Mavericks and hit the iTunes 11 problem. […] All I had to do is change the permissions on iTunes.app to allow Everyone instead of System […] and I was able to remove 11 and reinstall 7.2.

So you were able to just delete iTunes 11 and use the standard Apple iTunes installer (presumably from a downloaded DMG) to install 7.2?

I'd be happy to just go back to iTunes 10.7 — to save the critical cover art features that disappeared in 11.

Can anyone else confirm success with this method? I always thought that iTunes had too many hooks into OS X for something this simple to work.

Unless I find a way to "downgrade" iTunes 11 to iTunes 10.7 (actually, I call 10.7 an "upgrade"), I'll be avoiding Mavericks for the forseeable future. I really need 10.7's traditional cover art features. Otherwise, no Mavericks for me…

Hi Kim,

There's a lot of problems if you decide to downgrade go to my post see here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5468044

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5474557?answerId=23502466022#23502466022

Thanks for the feedback. I looked at the Awesome Toast site and was amazed that something besides iTunes 11 would even install or launch on Mavericks. But it looks like the Mac App Store problem will be the showstopper, and as expected, it's not practical to use Mavericks w/o iTunes 11. Which for me, means no Mavericks.

No Mavericks for me either. I live at iPod Touch (4th gen.) running (6.1.3 ) the place to be and iTunes (10.7) the home for me!

yep... Mountain Lion on my MBP and iMac, check... iOS 6 on my iPhone 4S, check... iTunes 10.7 on my MBP ... Priceless...

To Apple... it's all about the iTunes... Maybe you should put that on your screensavers or write it down somewhere.

Loki Katz,

What hardware and OS are you running? Did you remove iTunes with Terminal? And Where did you find 7.2 or do you mean iTunes 10.7.2?

Mark Block wrote:

Stuff happens with new software installs, particularly a new OS, but "some users" will always have issues with any software, even if that's a dozen people out of a million. That shouldn't stop anyone from updating.

I fully agree, and I share the same philosophy regarding software updates, especially the first release of a major upgrade.

I am also on the same page regarding iTunes 11 and its hidden settings. I am using iTunes to manage my media, mainly music and podcasts, and to transfer it to my "old" iPod (5th gen). I find iTunes 11 often more intuitive and faster than iTunes 10 in managing my media, creating playlists, and even searching for content despite the omission of multiple windows; I have been using the RIGHT sidebar option and find it it even more convenient to manage single and multiple playlists.

Is the missing cover flow feature the main reason you're holding on to 10.7?

Timbuktu wrote:

I find iTunes 11 often more intuitive and faster than iTunes 10 in managing my media, creating playlists, and even searching for content despite the omission of multiple windows; I have been using the RIGHT sidebar option and find it it even more convenient to manage single and multiple playlists.

Is the missing cover flow feature the main reason you're holding on to 10.7?

I'll have to try the Sidebar on the right. Haven't thought of that. I agree that iTunes 11 is fine for searching, sorting, making playlists, syncing my phone & iPad, etc.

I'm running iTunes 10.7 on my Mac Mini, which is my music server in the family room, hooked up to an expensive hi-fi. It's got a 4TB Thunderbolt hard drive with over 30,000 songs, mostly AIFF, with a lot of high-res music at 24/96 or 24/192. It's fair to say that Cover Flow is the only reason stopping me from moving to iTunes 11 (and Mavericks). All the music has cover art associated with it, and I find the Cover Flow view to be the best, quickest, most useful and pleasing way to search for music.

I have 11.1.2 on my MacBook Pro with a different music library, mostly MP3, AAC, audiobooks and podcasts. That library was started in 2001, before there were iPods or an iTunes store. (I was using iTunes to load a Diamond Rio MP3 player at he time.) A lot of that music is missing artwork, so I don't really mind not having Cover Flow on the laptop.

However, I often bring my 4TB (backup) drive to audiophile friends' homes to play my AIFF music, so I hook it up to the MacBook Pro and use iTunes 11. Sorting and searching through my "good" music library with iTunes 11 is always a disappointment. I miss Cover Flow when playing music that has artwork, although iTunes 11 is perfectly usable.

This is a bad sign. The new iWork 2013 is getting lambasted over at Macrumors for the very same reason we're unhappy with iTunes 11. They've stripped it of some functionality that people were fond of and they've dumbed it down for the masses. Here's one comment: "Expected really, Apple software always seems to lose more advanced functions with newer iterations."

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1660766

Why can't Apple leave well enough alone. Clean up the interface, make it look modern if you must, but don't take out valuble functionality! This is clearly not a golden era for Apple software updates.

I've left feedback with Apple asking (politely) to add back a few features into iTunes 11. Result: nothing.

iTunes isn't alone in the reduced functionality list. iOS7 seems to be heading in that direction. The latest removed functionality in iOS7: playing full screen videos in Landscape mode: Gone. Cover Flow option: Gone (I knew that was coming but it still hurts). The lack of Landscape full screen video is just, well...Apple what were you thinking?

Let's see now: iMovie (where it all started), Final Cut Pro, iTunes, Pages, iOS...Apple what else can you screw up? I'm losing patience with you and I was just about to upgrade to Mavericks. Now I might not.

Mavericks seems pretty good, but I'm afraid that if I take the plunge and adapt myself to all these dumbed down apps, Apple is going to do something to OS X after I've become dependent on certain features. When will all this stop?

I feel like I am beating my head against a brick wall...a very high and very thick brick wall.

The ultimate bummer, here, for me, is that I was feeling all warm and fuzzy... sticking with iTunes 10.7 and Mountain Lion... I like it all ...just.fine.... Thank you very much. If there was something I just have to have down the pike, well, cross that bridge when I come to it. My MBP runs great with 10.7, and iTunes 11 is on the iMac if and when I need it to synch an iPhone.

But now I read in the tech news that Mountain Lion has security issues which will in all certainty not be patched. I get that Apple will no longer support Mountain Lion at some point, understandable, but now I understand, that even though I don't want to, I will, ultimately, be dragged kicking and screaming into the dumbed down future of personal computing, either by Apple or Microsoft, and lately it's looking like it may be the latter.

MacPow75 wrote:

... But now I read in the tech news that Mountain Lion has security issues which will in all certainty not be patched. I get that Apple will no longer support Mountain Lion at some point, understandable, but now I understand, that even though I don't want to, I will, ultimately, be dragged kicking and screaming into the dumbed down future of personal computing, either by Apple or Microsoft, and lately it's looking like it may be the latter.

What's the security issue? The security patch that Apple released in September included patches for Mountain Lion, Lion and Snow Leopard, so what makes you think that Apple will never again release a security patch for Mountain Lion?

And if you're that concerned with security, I don't think Microsoft is the place to go for relief.

I hope I am wrong... I will see if I can find the article, it was in the mainstream press, and the writer seemed surprised himself... yea I know, security issues in Windows, yea, can't argue with that!!

I know! Back to vinyl, and I will get my darkroom out of the attic. LOL.

Apple will stop releasing fixes eventually, however since that will be a few years away, why worry?

For example 10.5 support ended around May 2012, 10.5 was released in October 2007.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_10.5

That is 6 and a half years of security updates.

The press are full of FUD, don't believe everything you read. Apple are not forcing Mavericks on you it's your choice & you can revert if you don't like it.

I agree that reports of abandoning Mountain Lion are just FUD. No doubt ML will be supported for a long time to come.

Still, since Mavericks is now a free upgrade, I could imagine that Apple might ease back a little on long-term support, since they can tell customers to upgrade without forcing them to buy anything. No doubt part of the strategy of making Mavericks free is to unify the installed base, so that support becomes easier.