What are your thoughts on the New iTunes 11?

snappler wrote:

those complaining obviously havent given it the time to learn it. (you still have your old layout options if you wish to set it up that way.

I do have 11.1 installed on a second computer and I do use it from time to time, I just don't use it on my real music library, and I do have the old layout set up.

Beyond the complete redesign of the UI (like hovering over a little (>) button that only appears if you hover over a certain spot to get a list of commands to play next/add to queue, etc), there are many useful options that have been removed.

One of the features used frequently enough for me is to pick a smart playlist that has all my music thrown in together (for example, all music I haven't listened to in 6 months). Most of the time, that's enough, but every now and then, I want some consistency and want to stick to one genre or another. In version 10.7 and earlier, even the playlists could let you group by genre, and play by genre.

With version 11, the only way to do that is to spawn off a half dozen new playlists based on that one alone, with an extra clause to say "this genre" or "that genre".... if you already have a dozen playlists, that makes for a lot more you didn't want, just because itunes 11 became "simplified".

Complaints are not just about where buttons are, but where features used to be and are no longer.

I personally think it's ok, but not as powerful, as featureful, easy to use or loveable as previous versions.

Nice to know you are happy.

But as someone who never used the old version, you'll be missing the frustration that 95 pages of this thread demonstrate.

If you are happy now, you should try iTunes 10.7. You'll be ecstatic!

Paul,

I totally agree, huge fan of iTunes 10.7, I dislike the fact that Apple now makes you upgrade to 11 in order to use the new iOS7 cartoon version software. My phone got updated and I had backups on my computer and was told I could go back to the older iOS7 version, but this isn't about my phone, I am now forced to use iTunes 11 in order for my new software to work on my phone. Apple forward thinking lately has them in a backwards world, maybe they hired some ex-Andriod software programers. 😉 My Mac Mini however will never have iTunes 11 on it! Bring back coverflow! They have it everwhere on the computer but remove it from iTunes, they should allow you to customize the look more, as I hate the grid look on iTunes 11.

Hey, I dislike the new iTunes so much that it has inspired me to rethink my whole relationship to Apple and how I listen to music.

First off, I no longer revere Apple the way I once did. They have lost me as a believer. I buy their stuff, because it continues to be better than the competition. Still, I hate the whole vibe of the company these days. Super arrogant, super annoying. I'm no longer proud to be a user of their product.

As far as iTunes goes, I only use it to run software updates on my iPhone these days. I have come to the realization that my music listening has actually undergone a positive transformation as I now listen to FLAC files of live shows of all kinds of music that I have legally downloaded from etree and dimeadozen. I am currently using aTunes and Nightingale for playback. Live taping is in its golden age, brothers, get on board.

If I buy music, I buy vinyl. Fortunately, the music I enjoy is made by artists who are embracing the vinyl resurgence. Cover flow was such a great feature of the old iTunes, but it's not as cool as having actual covers 🙂

crashanywhere wrote:

Hey, I dislike the new iTunes so much that it has inspired me to rethink my whole relationship to Apple and how I listen to music.

First off, I no longer revere Apple the way I once did.

It saddens me to admit the same thing. My relationship with Apple goes back a long way, but this iTunes problem has me reevaluating. You just don't mess with a person's music collection! It's arrogant of Apple to get us used to features... and then just remove them from iTunes 11. Couldn't they leave them in as options to turn off or on? I'm in a state of limbo: no upgrading to 11, no upgrading to iOS7, no new iDevice loaded with iOS7. When a person is in limbo they start looking at other options.

crashanywhere wrote:

Hey, I dislike the new iTunes so much that it has inspired me to rethink my whole relationship to Apple and how I listen to music.

To me, this is nothing new for Apple. Apple took away floppies when they were still essential. Same with optical drives. Same with various ports and connectivity. Same with CPUs and operating systems that weren't backwards compatible. Apple isn't Microsoft, for better or worse. Mostly better.

The changes between iTunes 10 and iTunes 11 are pretty trivial compared to what happended with Final Cut Pro X. It's a really big deal to screw around with the workflow and equipment of people who make their livings with Apple stuff, and yet Apple has done that a couple of times in their pro division. Professionals REALLY don't trust Apple.

If you like Apple's hardware and software, prepare to learn new things and be made uncomfortable every now and then. It's always been that way.

I've learned the ins and outs of iTunes 11 on my laptop while keeping iTunes 10.7 on my Mac Mini music server. I definitely think Apple missed the boat on 11 -- one step forward, three steps back.

snappler wrote:

those complaining obviously havent given it the time to learn it.

Great, can you can help me do these things I can do in iTunes 10?

How do I open multiple playlists at once for editing, comparing, and copying back and forth?

How do I review and search my library at the same time as I'm looking at an album in the store? I want to find which tracks are new on album re-issues or in box sets.

How do I stop the new podcast mechanism from randomly marking podcasts as played when they haven't been?

How do I re-download iTunes Essentials purchases with playlists intact?

How do I make search fast again? I own the fastest Mac Apple sells today and it still takes several seconds in iTunes 11 while results appear as quickly as I type in iTunes 10. I already turned off multi-category search.

How do I open a view of the recently played and upcoming songs that lets me shift-select blocks of songs and move them around or drag a comb of them into a playlist?

How do I rearrange apps on my iOS device and install apps into specific folders?

How do I make syncing my iPad and iPhone as fast and reliable as it was with iTunes 10?

The only acceptable solution for me was to downgrade to 10.7. Luckily I'm not an iOS user, but my concern is when I have to upgrade my Mac I'll lose OS X 10.6.8 (I hate the iOSification of later versions - I want a desktop UI best for mouse and keyboard, not touch damnit!), and by that point iTunes 10.7 may no longer run on whatever OS X version is out by then (new Macs nowadays rarely ever supporting older versions of OS X).

I'm thinking as a result of my hating newer versions of OS X and iTunes that application I use the most after my web browser, my next computer may for the first time in nearly two decades... be a PC. Of course that will depend on being able to run Windows 7 as I loath Windows 8! LOL! I don't know why OS makers seem to hate desktop mouse and KB users nowadays :-D But worst comes to worst I'll go with a *nix OS! Maybe a Linux or a BSD Unix.

I just can't work out why I'm not being catered to by either Apple or Microsoft nowadays :-(

Bravo McGroarty! I'll add:

How do I drag album artwork to and from tracks I've selected without playing them or using "Get Info"?

How do I directly import lossless audio files as mp3's using iTunes' built in batch audio file convertor that's been in every version of iTunes previous to version 11?

snappler, I keep the latest version of iTunes on my macbook, hoping for many features to be restored. I like "Up Next" and "Add to Up Next", and I love the real time Genius suggestions. Other than that, iTunes 11 is designed for streaming audio, not managing a library of music. Features we used in earlier versions of iTunes that were inexplicably removed constitutes an obtuse move on Apple's part.

Bravo indeed McGroarty!

and for me:

How do I see the progress of my Podcast subscription updates?

How do I see the progress of my iTunesU subscription updates?

Why is the update button for these in one corner of the screen and the update button for Apps hidden in the opposite corner?

How do I see the progress of my App updates?

Why is updating my iPhone with the latest Podcasts, iTunesU subscriptions and App updates so difficult? (When it all used to be so easy).

We all use iTunes in different ways. It's hard to find anyone that's benefitted from the creation of this monster.

I have been following the coverflow thread here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4554140?answerId=23312488022#23312488022&ac_cid=tw123456#23312488

And I kept getting off topic, cause the discusssion over there has gone onto why I dislike both iOS7 and iTunes 11.

On iTunes11, this is an ergonomic mess. It has no coherency.

And the new iTunes is more like Windows Media Player that WMP.

The best comment I've heard on iOS7 is that it's cartoonish. Agreed. It may have benifits, but I'll never get into them cause I have to upgrade iTunes.

So, as i've said before, my next "upgrade" is going to be out of the "ecosystem" cause all thats left is posion ivy and porcupines.

So...Apple is moving one direction, and I'm NOT going that way....

Folks,

is there any experience: Can I run iTunes 10.7 (with my beloved CoverFlow) using the latest OS X 10.8.5?

I wont't update any (and I mean really any) apple SW (applies also for Mavericks) without knowing about CoverFlow influence. Any experience out there?

Kenan

So what we all need now is someone to back up their version of iTunes 10.7 so we can re-install it.

I'm wondering if it is possible to install it on the system under a different user login so I can update my phone etc on the new version and then use the proper version (10.7) for it's far greater usability and coverflow?

Anyone know?

Kenan wrote:

Can I run iTunes 10.7 (with my beloved CoverFlow) using the latest OS X 10.8.5?

I'm doing it with no problem.