File sizes in iTunes are still in Mebibytes not Megabytes

Question

File sizes in iTunes are still in Mebibytes not Megabytes

The file sizes displayed in the "Size" column, and in the "Status Bar" at the bottom if more than one track is selected, are still showing Mebibytes, whereas the Finder displays file sizes in Megabytes ever since Snow Leopard was introduced in August, 2009.

If you insist on display Mebibytes then you should use the correct abbreviation of "MiB" (not MB) after the size figure to save confusion. Or you could follow Donald Knuth's proposal and use the MMB suffix.

It would be more consistent to mimic the changes to Finder and correct this. Otherwise users might get confused when the Finder tells them they have enough space on a Memory Stick or external disk drive to copy some selected track(s) but when they try to do so then the copy doesn't fit. For instance, Finder says the destination has 21.0 MB available, iTunes says the selected track is 20.1 MB, and the copy fails because it is really 20.1 MiB which is actually 21.077 MB.

The best way is to just alter iTunes to display true Megabytes (1,000,000 bytes). If it was a good idea for Finder then it's a good idea for iTunes, even if it is 5 years late. 😎

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Sep 20, 2014 11:10 PM

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Answer 1

ed2345

Level 9

63,608 points

Sep 21, 2014 7:53 PM in response to Pete Stonebridge

Pete Stonebridge wrote:

The file sizes displayed in the "Size" column, and in the "Status Bar" at the bottom if more than one track is selected, are still showing Mebibytes, whereas the Finder displays file sizes in Megabytes ever since Snow Leopard was introduced in August, 2009.

If you insist on display Mebibytes then you should use the correct abbreviation of "MiB" (not MB) after the size figure to save confusion. Or you could follow Donald Knuth's proposal and use the MMB suffix.

It would be more consistent to mimic the changes to Finder and correct this. Otherwise users might get confused when the Finder tells them they have enough space on a Memory Stick or external disk drive to copy some selected track(s) but when they try to do so then the copy doesn't fit. For instance, Finder says the destination has 21.0 MB available, iTunes says the selected track is 20.1 MB, and the copy fails because it is really 20.1 MiB which is actually 21.077 MB.

The best way is to just alter iTunes to display true Megabytes (1,000,000 bytes). If it was a good idea for Finder then it's a good idea for iTunes, even if it is 5 years late. 😎

Pete,

As I am sure you know, it is quite common in all kinds of computing to refer to Mebibytes as Megabytes. You are correct that this is not quite correct, but the difference is small and people are used to it. The Finder point is interesting, but around 85% of iTunes installations run on Windows.

However, you can make your suggestion known directly to Apple via the iTunes Feedback page:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

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Answer 2

Sep 22, 2014 1:50 AM in response to ed2345

Thanks for that link, I sent on my suggestion to Apple.

As Apple was brave enough (and pedantic enough) to change the Finder to show true decimal Megabytes in Snow Leopard and beyond, then I think they must do the same for the Mac OSX version of iTunes. I believe that even the latest versions of Windows still show file sizes in Mebibytes so the Windows version of iTunes can remain outdated and do the same. But whatever platform you are using, all applications should display file sizes in the same format or it is just too confusing for the average user.

BTW, the difference is not that small when you start talking about Gigabytes vs. Gibibytes. It's over 7% different. (1.024^3)

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Answer 3

ed2345

Level 9

63,608 points

Sep 22, 2014 5:54 PM in response to Pete Stonebridge

Win7 shows sizes in Mebibytes, but calls them "MB," which is not really proper. It would probably be less confusing to call them by the correct binary name than to switch to true decimal Megabytes, but that is a matter of opinion.

We will see what the wisdom of Redmond and Cupertino comes up with. Having lived through the (supposed) great metric conversion of the USA in the 1970s, which largely fizzled, I don't try to predict. 🙂

BTW, your point is well taken about the increasing discrepancy as you get to the higher multiples.

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