Where's the Power Search in iTunes 11?

You just search for the artist in the top right search space and voila. Powersearch...

Unfortunately, that doesn't do much good when searching for classical music. The Power Search that is now gone allowed you to specify a piece of music, a performing artist, a composer. Now it's just a guessing game.

but you can do that in the browse tab

I wish I could see how that is true. I just tried. Let's say I want to see what recordings of Beethoven's Op. 18, No. 3 string quartets are available. I used to be able to enter each piece of information in the Power Search, which allowed the composer's name, the piece title, and performing artist, each one entered separately. I don't see how to do that in Browse. I just put in Beethoven Op. 18, No. 3, and it did bring up some of the right piece, but it also brough up a whole bunch of other pieces by Beethoven.

Guess they're NOT INTERESTED in SELLING me any Music today.
Off to Amazon.....
Yes where is the SEARCH??????????????

in iT 11

not at the bottom of my page a simple "search music" would not take up much real estate!

Do these URLs work for power searching under iTunes 11?

• Music: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=1
• Podcasts: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=2
• TV shows: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=4
• Movies: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=6
• Apps: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=8

They work under iTunes 10.7 (and also used to work in earlier versions of iTunes for at least the last 5 years)

There used to be a few other numbers for other categories that no longer work now that the iTunes Store has been reorganized, with audiobooks included with Books under iTunes, and the separate iBooks Store, and with iTunes U as a separate app. (The mt=11 category used to be for iTunes U content.) I can't presently get to the iTunes U category power search page with the earlier syntax that used "mt=11", but the later search syntax still works for me in iTunes 10.7 for power searches for iTunes U:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?institutionTer m=&media=iTunesU

The following syntax works to get me to the Books power search page.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?media=ebook

This search syntax dates from the first attempts to merge iTunes Store entries with web browser URLs. However, since last fall, Apple has started using an https: prefix to their media search engines, so I'm not sure how long this will continue to work. The use of the "itms:" prefix (for "iTunes Music Store", mentioned in the post by DancingBob on the previous forum page) was an alternate way of assigning addresses to collections like podcasts that could be directed to the collections in the iTunes Store.

The URLs to the various power search pages will work with Safari on a Mac, but the pages may stop updating to the power search entries if you are running many such redirections and/or running short on memory resources. They should also work for other browsers on Windows, if you approve the redirection.

I haven't upgraded to iTunes 11, so it would be useful to know whether any of these links help with power searches under iTunes 11. You should also be able to run a search of items in the iTunes Store by typing search terms in the iTunes search field (use the Command-Option-F shortcut in Mac OS X to move there, or Control-Option-F in Windows), and then press Option+Enter to have the search done in the iTunes Store. This does not permit the finer grain searching of specific fields that the power search permits, however.

Bless you. The music, podcast, TV & movie links do seem to work on 11.0.3. (Purely as a data point, the apps link won't pull up for me, though: it's still accessible from the drop-down on the left, but it doesn't take me straight to it.) Thank you, thank you, thank you!

ETA: I was too excited to find this to realize this is the Windows forum. In fact I'm using Safari on a Mac as well, so can't confirm whether Windows will be happy with the links. Another bonus to this power search: the 'all albums' search result page actually loads quickly, without the hangs and jerks and pauses I'm used to getting from the standard search results page.

Thank you, thank you, thank you moriond!!!! This is going to save me a LOT of frustration as I try to purchase some music for my elderly mother, which requires me to find very specific tracks (and "browsing" for them would be a complete PITA).

I too have been shocked by how user-hostile iTunes has become, compared to before. Actually I find that to be increasingly true with the shift to iOS--I'm guessing the new generation of programmers hasn't been well-trained on how to make things work well as opposed to look slick & flashy [or maybe their bosses are telling them to emphasize looks over functionality].

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch

The little window says "search library"! 40 years of computer experience and 35 years with Apple computers and they turned me into an idiot overnight. BOOOOO!

I had a similar problem and resolved it by creating a "Smart Playlist"

All the power search options you could ever want are there

Hope this help 🙂

Cybernook wrote:

> I had a similar problem and resolved it by creating a "Smart Playlist"

> All the power search options you could ever want are there

This looks like a good idea, but when I tried it I couldn't figure out how to make the Smart Playlist refer to the iTunes Store. (By default it refers to the local opened iTunes library.)

Could you please enlighten us how to "Smart Playlist" the iTunes store?

Thank you to moriond for the amazing links to advanced searches in itunes. It's better than anything I was able to dig up from their menus.

I have been disliking the iTunes store seach capacity for some time, and it's only been made worse by the recent update. Aside from the many "quirks" in search function noted here, the thing that bothers me most is that it's impossible to go and truly browse in the movie section to see if there's something interesting that you forgot about but might like to rent or buy. For the most part, this is how I choose movies. I would say it's impossible to do this with the current search function and layout.

I believe Apple needs to spend some of its many billions of dollars and hire 1) Some librarians and 2) Some proprietors of the many successful independent video stores that have been put out of business by digital downloads. Those people understand the tricks of enticing people so that they come in not sure if they want anything at all, and leave happily with one (or two or three) things to keep them occupied for the next days.

Apple needs to stop trying to "improve" the Itunes store experience by tweaking the algorithms and instead focus on straight up user interface issues which are verging on overwhelming for many of us. I point them to the famous "$300 Million Button" story where a firm finally considered that its stubborn insistance that it knew what was best for customers might be wrong, they researched was happening on their site, made a simple user interface improvement...and sales rose by about $300 million.

I know I would spend more in the iTunes store if it didn't make me cross each time I visited.

AtaraxySF wrote:

I found a solution to my problem and it, thankfully, has nothing to do with going to the iTunes store to perform the search.

This won't resolve everyone's issue in this thread, but I hope this helps anyone who was frustrated about the inability to search the Comments field.

In iTunes 11, click the magnifying glass in the search field. A drop down menu will appear with an option to "Search Entire Library" which is selected by default. Oddly, deselecting that option will allow you to search all fields again. Comments will now be included in the Search. However, since you will only be able to filter by "All, Song, Album, Artist, Composer", you can then click "Sort" to sort by Comments and to display your selections better. It's not perfect, but at least Comments are searchable.

Good luck everyone.

I don't think this works anymore . Can you still do this?

I was amazed that the power search appeared but when I searched in music for the rare song I was looking for it gave me no results. The song is there in regular search you just have to weed through lots of other

songs. So it appears to be useless.

Selecting title at the top to put the songs in alphabetical order only went from the A's to the D's !!! What good is that?

moriond wrote:

Do these URLs work for power searching under iTunes 11?

• Music: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=1
• Podcasts: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=2
• TV shows: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=4
• Movies: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=6
• Apps: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?mt=8

They work under iTunes 10.7 (and also used to work in earlier versions of iTunes for at least the last 5 years)

There used to be a few other numbers for other categories that no longer work now that the iTunes Store has been reorganized, with audiobooks included with Books under iTunes, and the separate iBooks Store, and with iTunes U as a separate app. (The mt=11 category used to be for iTunes U content.) I can't presently get to the iTunes U category power search page with the earlier syntax that used "mt=11", but the later search syntax still works for me in iTunes 10.7 for power searches for iTunes U:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?institutionTer m=&media=iTunesU

The following syntax works to get me to the Books power search page.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?media=ebook

This search syntax dates from the first attempts to merge iTunes Store entries with web browser URLs. However, since last fall, Apple has started using an https: prefix to their media search engines, so I'm not sure how long this will continue to work. The use of the "itms:" prefix (for "iTunes Music Store", mentioned in the post by DancingBob on the previous forum page) was an alternate way of assigning addresses to collections like podcasts that could be directed to the collections in the iTunes Store.

The URLs to the various power search pages will work with Safari on a Mac, but the pages may stop updating to the power search entries if you are running many such redirections and/or running short on memory resources. They should also work for other browsers on Windows, if you approve the redirection.

I haven't upgraded to iTunes 11, so it would be useful to know whether any of these links help with power searches under iTunes 11. You should also be able to run a search of items in the iTunes Store by typing search terms in the iTunes search field (use the Command-Option-F shortcut in Mac OS X to move there, or Control-Option-F in Windows), and then press Option+Enter to have the search done in the iTunes Store. This does not permit the finer grain searching of specific fields that the power search permits, however.