How to downgrade from iTunes 11 to 10.7 (Until the next iTunes 11.xxx release)

THANK YOU spencer 1181! I just did it, all is good again! To anyone else that may have given the same directions, the way he gave it just seemed to click to me. Hope this will help anyone else who has this issue. Now I can go to AFG. and take my music with me. It makes it much easier to travel long convoy's with music that I like.

How do I give out points for helping me?

I have been soldiering on with iTunes 11 simply because I couldn't see how to rid myself of it. I did download the last v10 and managed to remove 11 and reinstall the older version. However I then ran into the library being saved in a new version issue. The trouble is I've probably added about 300 songs and have been messing about with playlists etc. when I had a bit of time over Christmas. Is there anyway to just resave the latest library to an older version or convert to an older version?

AIB01:

"I have been soldiering on with iTunes 11 simply because I couldn't see how to rid myself of it. I did download the last v10 and managed to remove 11 and reinstall the older version. However I then ran into the library being saved in a new version issue. The trouble is I've probably added about 300 songs and have been messing about with playlists etc. when I had a bit of time over Christmas. Is there anyway to just resave the latest library to an older version or convert to an older version?"

You might try this work around, before you delete your new library in iTunes 11 saved it as a playlist, there should be a feature in the new iTunes to do this you might have to look around a bit. First selete all of your songs including old and newly added in the currently new library and save it as a playlist, label the playlist something you can remember and save it say in your local music folder. Also go to any newly created playlists you may have made of those new songs or artists save those as playlists as well within the same local music folder.

Now follow the instructions given previously to downgrade to iTunes version 10.xxxx . Replace your music library to the old previous back up library that existed in iTunes 10.xxxx, and now add in those newely created playlists by using the import playlist feature within iTunes 10. Do a restart of iTunes 10 and see it if loads properly, if it does so correctly you might be able to also load back your new library with both old and new songs added as well next, do a restart of iTunes and see if everything is back as was but under iTunes 10.xxxx.

Thanks for your help. I'm not that computer savi so paranoid about losing everything! All of my music is in one playlist or another. I tried to export one by way of a trial and it gave me a number of file format options which other than .txt meant nothing to me so I suspect they may all be text files and therefore not deliver what I want when I import back? For some reason it won't let me export to a memory stick either?

Perhaps this set of instructions will be clearer...

To roll back to iTunes 10.7 first download a copy of the 32 bit installer or 64 bit installeras appropriate, uninstall iTunes and suppporting software, i.e. Apple Application Support & Apple Mobile Device Support. Reboot. Restore the pre-upgrade version of your library database as per the diagram below, then install iTunes 10.7.

See iTunes Folder Watch for a tool to scan the media folder and catch up with any changes made since the backup file was created.

Rating, playlists, playcounts etc. are all stored in the .itl file. You can always make your backup copies before any major update in case you want to roll back. You should also backup regularly.

tt2

Hey, all,

I tried turingtest2's instructions for the .itl file without rolling back to iTunes 7 and my playlists have all reappeared. I house my Library on an external hard drive and for some reason my apps and purchased books always get sent to the computer's iTunes folder instead of the designated place set in Preferences; in other words I have stuff in two places.

So afterwards, I chose File>Library>Organize Library, and checked Consolidate files to try to gather them all back into iTunes. I may end up with a slew of duplications but I'll cross that bridge, etc. For now I've got my playlists back and they have stuff in them! Hurrah!

A few things, like movie, music vid and book files, (especially epubs), I had to go and locate and get them back into iTunes; and since the .itl is an older file, some metadata-- like ratings and even titles and authors-- that sort of thing, showed up in the playlists, with an ! next to them. But I believe that's because I deleted them on purpose, like, a week ago but the replacement .itl file doesn't reflect that action. I'll just have to sort thru it carefully. However, I am of the strong opinion that no media file was tossed, it's just that iTunes neglected to grab it to put it in.

Also when putting things back into iTunes, I used File>Add to Library, so that iTunes can organize it in a way that makes sense to it.

The way I see if, if I end up creating duplicates in iTunes, I can delete them from iTunes, and I won't have to go around and find every folder that houses every one of those duplicates. When I tell iTunes to toss it in the trash that should take care of them.

But you can bet your sweet bippy that I won't be emptying the trash for quite some time, till this is sorted.

"What did you learn?", (asked Stewie) NO updates until version .5 for ANY software, forever!

Apps in the iTunes folder instead of the media folder is a sign of a library initially created before iTunes 9 that hasn't been upgraded to the new layout. Use File > Library > Organize Library > Rearrange files in the folder <Media Folder>, then consolidate. Ideally I'd recommend you get your library all hooked up on the external drive. See Make a split library portable for details.

tt2

I'm stuck with the same issue. The latest date I have in my "Previous iTunes Libraries" folder is 2012-12-04, and I've added hundreds of songs and a couple of new playlists since I first installed iTunes 11. I've tried to be patient and work with iTunes 11, but I really miss having cover flow and the album artwork preview at the bottom left of the screen. I could work much more efficiently with previous versions of iTunes. So I'm going to try JayBrown9's suggestion of exporting/importing the playlists and see what happens. I'll update with the results as soon as I can. If anyone else knows of a better way, please let me and AIB01 know!

cl-ellison, I posted a thread on this and this guy sorted me. Everything back to V10 now including V11 library. Like you I tried to live with it but tryu as I might I couldn't see the benefits for the pit-falls.https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4725202?answerId=20985517022#20985517022

Thankyou for this. Worked perfectly.

iTunes 11 was a no go for me because of the Up Next feature.

I have used the the old DJ for years, and it is much better than its replacement. Much more flexible. My favourite thing about it is that you can set it to a live play list, and it plays forever. Yet you can still add to it and reorder it as you wish, and see it all like a normal play list, rather than in a silly and barely useable drop down list with little functionality.

So, i am very glad the downgrade was so easy.

Many thanks for the instructions . Worked fine first time.

I am so pleased to have got rid of this horrible new version and got back the Cover flow screen.