What are your thoughts on the New iTunes 11?

midilifestyle wrote:

Please stop making "improvements" that are designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of user intelligence. Please stop stuffing more and more "functionality" into programs that have been working just fine. Please return to the era of Apple computing that gave multimedia professionals an advantage and a comfortable working experience.

Yea, that.

Well said! I agree.

midilifestyle wrote:

This is horrific.

the GUI is so patronizingly gloopy that I feel like I'm experiencing Windows XP for the first time all over again.

If you want horrific, try windows 8.... If you are epileptic prone suffering from ADHD, I'd suggest you avoid that one... MS has "live tiles" that are constantly flashing / updating / changing (trying to merge handheld UX with PC UX, they have "weather" here, "stock quotes" over there, this and that also updating) and first time I saw win 8 on the desktop, it was as if all desire to use the computer was sucked right out of me.

Itunes 11 isn't quite as bad as that, but it also rubs me the wrong way. At least, itunes 11 doesn't suck my will to use it until I start playing with the software.

In an alternate universe, would Apple actually listen to their customers and bring back the 10.7 UX

<Edited By Host>

apparently that was a bit uncalled for... and with another response apparently swallowed because it was even more uncalled for, I might be on someone's radar, no matter what I say.... let's play a game and see if this slips under the radar.

(a previous post continued) ... if sufficient quantities of entities scribbled their monichre on parchment indicating a collective will for the target entity to acquiesce?

and in monty python style....

Dennis: Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

King Arthur: Bloody peasant!

Dennis: Oh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw him, Didn't you?

Wow they seriously censored that??? Unbelievable.

Five tips to make iTunes look more familiar. They really help a lot.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/11/29/5-tips-make-itunes-look-normal/

I believe soliciting support for petitions, either here or elsewhere, falls foul of the terms of use.

Nice Python reference though...

tt2

If you want to go back to iTunes 10 I am happy to show you the way.

I am happy to regard myself an expert now on how to downgrade iTunes 11 back to 10. Having found a straight forward and logical way of doing so I thought it my duty to share with others. I can't express what a relief it is to have version 10 back again. See the method below. Let me know how you got on.

You can jump to the method below but I feel I need to express my view on the experience I have had of using iTunes 11.

I have been a mac obsessed devoted fan all my life (I'm 46), never used a PC and got my first mac back in 1988. Until just the past few months I wouldn't hear anyone say anything derogatory about anything apple. However a few things are rocking my 'religious like' devotion. Most of all I have been dumfunded about issues of the recent iTunes evolution in version 11.

I am also obsessed with music, movies and music videos. It's not just a hobby - I am a DJ and Video DJ by proffesion. iTunes, since the very first release, has been the backbone to the way I organise and store all my digital media. I never had any need to seek an alterantive and have also enjoyed the intergration it provides with my iPhone and other things etc etc.

My libary is huge. I don't mean to brag but aside from my digital music collection of 40,000 + tracks, either purchassed from the iTunes store or imported from my CD colection, my music video collection is over 10,000. I am a proffeciant iTunes user and I often have reason to need to retag my files within iTunes or sometimes I use MetaX.

Until now I have never resisted installing any available apple updates and even feel some excitement in anticipation of improved features etc. iTunes version 11 has changed all that now. It is, without question, an inferior version to 10. Anyone who feels otherwize is probaly only using itunes in a basic way and for this reason I have always thought there was a market for a pro version of iTunes for people like me.

iTunes 11 simply doesn't work. I click to play a track, click again cos it hasn't started and click another time and only then do I get to hear the track play for the start three times. It takes ages to build links to external files, just as long as it takes to actually import them to the media folder. Tagging takes rediculous long the point yu would need to leave the job to be done over night. I could go on but you are probably reading this because you have aleady experienced your own issues concerning version 11.

Befoe following the method below, I tried to seek alternatives to iTunes all together. I briefly tried Double Twist and Song Bird amougst many other but it truth iTunes is better for my personal purposes.

The most dispointing thing about version 11 is the silence from Apple about the obvious problems. It is this specific fact that has agrivated me so much. Maybe I am romanticising, bt I can't help imagine that SJ would have never let version 11 go as far as actually being released.

Here are the Stages and Steps: For OS X only. (have no idea for PC users). Thank you to Bogoss on MacForums, whoever you are.

Stage 1.

Note: Any changes you have made to your music files since you used last used version 10 will be lost but any purchasses you have made in the time since can be downloaded again if you can't find those purchasses in your media folder. If recently made playlists are of particular importance you could export the lists to somewhere for later.

1. Back up your iTunes Folder(s) just incase

2. Download these apps 1. AppZapper from http://appzapper.com (the free version will do). 2. Pacifist fromhttp://www.charlessoft.com.

3. Download iTunes 10.7 (last version before 11). Check your download folder, it might still be there. You can also get it from : http://appldnld.apple.com/iTunes10/0...iTunes10.7.dmg

4. Using AppZapper simply uninstall itunes 11. Before you drag the iTunes icon from the Application folder to the window you will need to open the preferences of AppZapper and deselect the tick next to "Keep Apple applications safe"

5. Open the 10.7 dmg file, you will see the pkg file(usally you would double click it to install), but now, this time drag it out somewhere, eg desktop.

6. Open Pacifist

7 drag the pkg iTunes 10.7 file to pacifist and then click install from the menu bar

8, during installation, click replace everytime a window pops up.

9. installation finished, iTunes 10.7 is back!

10. Don't open it yet!!!!

Stage 2.

See this video that explains the pocess here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXKZ2IBNsIA

1. In FINDER - go to your iTunes Folder in the iTunes Folder.

2. Within it, open the folder called Previous iTunes Libraries.

3. Identify the most recent backup. It has the date at the end.

4. Duplicate it. Move it to the desktop.

5. Rename it as iTunes Library.itl. Basically remove the date from the file name.

6. Go back to your iTunes Folder and rename the file there which is already named iTunes Library.itl to iTunes Library.itl.old.

7. Now move the iTunes Library.itl file from your desktop to this location.

8. Now open iTunes 10.7. If it can't find your iTunes library, select choose library and navigate the application to the new iTunes Library.itl file you created.

9. Breath sigh of relief, you're done!

10. Copy this and post it to help others. Only come back to me to say Thanks, not for more support.

Danny

DanRolnick wrote:

... iTunes 11 simply doesn't work. I click to play a track, click again cos it hasn't started and click another time and only then do I get to hear the track play for the start three times. It takes ages to build links to external files, just as long as it takes to actually import them to the media folder. Tagging takes rediculous long the point yu would need to leave the job to be done over night. I could go on but you are probably reading this because you have aleady experienced your own issues concerning version 11.

Although I dislike iTunes 11, I have to disagree with your statement that it "simply doesn't work." I think you have a system-specific problem, maybe a bad install. I have 30,000 songs and I'm not finding any of the problems you report. I've found iTunes 11 to be very solid and fast on my computer -- a MacBook Pro that's almost 4 years old. If it included Cover Flow I wouldn't be coming to the support forums to complain.

@ DanRolnick.

I have to agree with Mark Block here. There is much wrong with this version and what is wrong is different for different sets of users - mine is predominantly being not allowed more than one window open at a time (but there is more) - but I've never had any performance issues. In fact, for me and my installation, this is probably the "snappiest", most responsive, version ever.

Some people have reported issues as you have, but they are in the minority, so I expect that there is something else afoot with that. Sorry, I can't help to diagnose that - I'm just not as "in" with Apple stuff as I used to be.

Terms of use state, "Do not post polls or petitions or links to same."

A poll was suggested not posted or linked to so the edit was uncalled for I believe.

hi dan

if you want to go back to 10.7, i'd recommend this thread - in particular the 6th post from the top by double-ohh7

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4666718?start=0&tstart=0

i followed this last weekend, found it very easy to do, and it worked perfectly. best of all you don't need time machine or app zapper.

good luck

... on the other hand, maybe just wait for iTunes12 - with all the complaints about iTunes 11, version 12 can't be long coming, and if Apple have any sense it will be much more like iTunes 10.7 than 11 !!!!!

I also upgraded back to iTunes 10.6. BUT I have no idea how to get my 2nd Gen Nano back. It worked amazingly well for years until the day i installed iTunes 11. Now my mac wont recognize it at all. I thought rolling back to iTunes 10.6 would fix it but it seems gone for good. All the Apple tech support says it that its probably all my fault and i need to send in the Nano to be fixed. The only thing that is my fault is that i trusted Apple to not release an "upgrade" that ruined my music library and my nano and my ipod. Since Apple doesnt care and has zero helpful troubleshooting guides, does anyone have some tips to get my Nano back? Any help would be extremely appreciated.

My libary is huge. I don't mean to brag but aside from my digital music collection of 40,000 + tracks, either purchassed from the iTunes store or imported from my CD colection, my music video collection is over 10,000. I am a proffeciant iTunes user and I often have reason to need to retag my files within iTunes or sometimes I use MetaX.

Until now I have never resisted installing any available apple updates and even feel some excitement in anticipation of improved features etc. iTunes version 11 has changed all that now. It is, without question, an inferior version to 10. Anyone who feels otherwize is probaly only using itunes in a basic way and for this reason I have always thought there was a market for a pro version of iTunes for people like me.

I totally agree with DanR on this. I have about the same track count and the fact that I can only open one window at a time to work with my playlists has killed my work flow. If they ever think about doing this with Finder I'd be seriously capital D Done! When I switched over from Microsoft PC's to Mac PC's many moons ago it took me a while to capitalize on using iTunes and iPhoto for organizing my files. I just wasn't used to it. Now I'm ready to go back to Windows Explorer to organize my files since 11 makes it very difficult.

I also happen to agree with a previous poster who mentioned that using the album view makes finding songs easier for his 73 year old mother. I'm sure it does. I have 9,000 albums and iTunes can't find artwork for all of them so I'd like AquariaTX's mother to be able to search her way and I'd like to be able to search and organize the way I've been doing it for 8 years or whatever it's been. Is that too much to ask??????????

CrofootN wrote:

I also upgraded back to iTunes 10.6. BUT I have no idea how to get my 2nd Gen Nano back. It worked amazingly well for years until the day i installed iTunes 11. Now my mac wont recognize it at all. I thought rolling back to iTunes 10.6 would fix it but it seems gone for good. All the Apple tech support says it that its probably all my fault and i need to send in the Nano to be fixed. The only thing that is my fault is that i trusted Apple to not release an "upgrade" that ruined my music library and my nano and my ipod. Since Apple doesnt care and has zero helpful troubleshooting guides, does anyone have some tips to get my Nano back? Any help would be extremely appreciated.

You're not the first one to say apple screwed up the ability of itunes to see devices after an upgrade/downgrade (or downgrade/upgrade, depending how you see it) so I think there is something bigger happening here than just a library/compatibility issue...

WARNING!!!! This reponse is a bit abstract and somewhat incomplete (incoherent I might add), so if anybody else can jump in and help me, that would be great (if you have an extra setup you could use to try it out, that would be even better). I don't have a set up to verify my assumptions, and so please do not take this as the gospel truth, but here's what I think happened ( also I'm basing my knowledge on the mac, and I think windows has something similar though with different paths and locations such as registry settings, maybe something else)..

WORD OF WARNING!!! You should probably de-authorize your computer before messing around with itunes, and when you're done messing with your library/settings, re-authorize.... That should hopefully prevent the loss of one computer authorized with your apple account.

In your user directory you'll have a Music/iTunes folder (e.g. /Users/<mac user id>/Music/iTunes) and that is where your "music library is". It "might" be that when you follow the usual restore steps (grabbing a backup from the snapshot folder) it is not restoring ALL files and that version 11 mucked around with settings in some other file that are not recognized by 10 (I might also show my paranoia by suggesting it's no accident... that apple doesn't want you to "downgrade").

I think there are 2 or 3 files in the iTunes folder that are managed by some flavour of itunes and that one is the library, the other serves some other purpose... switching to 11 then back to 10 might set something in one such file that could be considered a bad thing by 10 and so itunes 10 ignores that part or causes bad things to happen with device recognition.

A possible option would be to first make sure no device is plugged into the computer and that wifi capable devices are in airplane mode, then go in itunes preferences to your devices section and see if you can convince itunes to completely forget about all your devices (remove all backup, forget all device associations, etc), reboot the computer (so it forces the itunes helper app to also restart.. there is a separate process and I could explain how you can terminate it through a terminal, at least on the mac, but let's just say it's easier to reboot), restart itunes after the reboot and see if it recognizes the device..

Another possibility is that itunes maintains "settings" OUTSIDE of your itunes folder regardless of which itunes library you have (if you press the right key combination when itunes is started you can switch to a different library or create a new library). If that is the case, then there may be a way to purge those settings and letting itunes recreate them the next time...

If you create a brand new library, you could see if the problem is inside your itunes library or if it's outside your itunes library... If you create a new library elsewhere (don't need to put anything in it) and plug the device in, if itunes recognizes it with that one, then it is probably in the itunes library and not outside.. but if it still doesn't recognize it, the problem might be outside of itunes library, in which case.....

I think I saw some itunes files in ~/Library somewhere...

If that is the case and you can see where it might be, after deleting some files in there (make sure you de-authorize your computer first), you may need to go back in and reset all your settings, but it might actually fix it at the same time.

If it is inside your itunes library, it might be possible to rebuild your itunes library from the XML file (steps are already documented somewhere else) if your library got corrupted by version 11.. I think the steps go something like this:

1) exit itunes

2) look in your ~/Music/iTunes folder for some sort of db file and an XML file (keep the xml file, move the other file of similar size out of the folder)

3) create a new empty file to replace it

4) restart itunes

In theory, itunes should see that the database it maintains got corrupted and it should rebuild the database from the XML file that is a secondary and supplementary file readable to other apps... it might lose a few of the internal settings, but overall everything should be preserved such as number of plays, etc.

As to apple being able to help you do this, I really doubt they would be motivated to helping their customers backtrack or do things that don't conform to their small group of products... If you go in to their store waving cash and saying "help me solve my problems", they'll help you by selling the latest stuff they have that can more or less fit that criteria.... beyond, I don't hold much hope for their help (I went in asking about how I could get the ipod to actually manage its smart playlists on its own without syncing and I got the typical "I don't know anything about that... did you try updating to the latest firmware?" response). That's another issue that vexes me, to no end.... It's a problem that has been around for something like 10 years and shows up like the Flying Dutchman...