Where is option to have side bar in iTunes 12 ?

For those people who walk around in life pretty much unaware of things around them, I wonder how those people who use automatic updates felt when they awoke one morning to discover their iTunes sidebar was gone? It's a pretty weird way to do business, to remove great program features and essentially tell customers we don't give a rat's you-know-what if you like it or not.

You guys with lots of movies, how do you manage slogging through them to select/deselect for a sync? I have hundreds and hundreds and the only view in sync is the thumbnail view, scrolling thru the library is slow because it has to cache the movie thumbnails. And then, if you've synced, say, 10 movies out of 900, you have to slowly wade through the thumbnail view looking for a tiny check box to find the movies you're currently syncing. I've sent feedback on this numerous times and seen zero improvement in managing this. Instead, they remove the sidebar and say go take a hike. Drives me crazy.

Oh well, I've had my say and will move on in life. lol

RogerOut wrote:

You guys with lots of movies, how do you manage slogging through them to select/deselect for a sync? I have hundreds and hundreds and the only view in sync is the thumbnail view ...

I'm not sure what you mean about thumbnail being the only view. In recent versions of iTunes (including iTunes 12) you can switch between thumbnail, list (called "movie list" in iTunes 12), & Genre views.

In iTunes 12 (& maybe earlier versions?) you also have the option in list view of not showing any artwork, & sorting the list by various criteria. In iTunes 12 you must be in the Playlists view for the sidebar to remain visible, but even when it isn't you can drag movies from the list (or other views) & it will automatically pop out from the left so you can drop them on playlists or your other connected i-devices to add them to those things.

R C-R wrote:

Zanaelf wrote:

The so called "sidebar" in 12 is not the same as in 11. You don't have your devices listed(iPods and iPhones etc) , they only appear when you have to hover files while dragging them....

??? My iPhones & such appear in the sidebar when iTunes 12 is set to the Playlists view. In other views, the sidebar slides out when dragging an item in the main window. The slide out sidebar in those views does not include smart playlists, but there is no reason that it should since you can't drag & drop an item on a smart playlist.

Exactly. Simples!

Hogboy wrote:

Not trying to take your words out of context, but many of us don't want to "tinker with it for a week".

I got enough going on without having to learn Apple's new approach to giving us a new iTunes that offers no improvements (that I can see) over the old one. Except that all the basics have been re-arranged, some stuff has disappeared and some stuff doesn't work at all.

There have been 12 versions of iTunes, each of which has a zillion sub-versions. iTunes 11, for example has 12 sub-versions and every time I get a new one I have to update 3 Macs in my house so they can talk. Total PIA for not much.

Peter

That's the craziest thing I've heard. Life has a learning curve. It's not like you lost millions in the stock market due to this new update. So, the new update has minor improvement. Improvements! And, when I say that I've been tinkering with it, I was just saying that I was USING it for a week with various looks and adjustments, all the while operating fine. It tools me a second to get used to it, but it's basically the same with the floater menu thing that you have above and that's about it.

R C-R wrote:

RogerOut wrote:

You guys with lots of movies, how do you manage slogging through them to select/deselect for a sync? I have hundreds and hundreds and the only view in sync is the thumbnail view ...

I'm not sure what you mean about thumbnail being the only view. In recent versions of iTunes (including iTunes 12) you can switch between thumbnail, list (called "movie list" in iTunes 12), & Genre views.

Yeah, thanks. I'm not talking about the normal view options when using iTunes in library mode. I'm referring to the only view you have when selecting movies to sync to a device, like an iPad. There is one view, by thumbnail. Not even a list view is available, where it would be easy to scroll thru the list and see which movies are checked and which are unchecked. The list view in sync mode used to be there but it went away in v10 or 11, don't recall, and another example of Apple removing an useful feature. A few more versions and iTunes will do nothing. lol

RogerOut wrote:

Yeah, thanks. I'm not talking about the normal view options when using iTunes in library mode. I'm referring to the only view you have when selecting movies to sync to a device, like an iPad. There is one view, by thumbnail. Not even a list view is available, where it would be easy to scroll thru the list and see which movies are checked and which are unchecked. The list view in sync mode used to be there but it went away in v10 or 11, don't recall, and another example of Apple removing an useful feature. A few more versions and iTunes will do nothing. lol

So why not just create a playlist consisting of the movies you want on your iPad or whatever while in any view that shows you playlists & then choose the option to sync only that playlist with that device? That's what I've done for a long time now & it works very well with large movie (or whatever other media type) collections, & works especially well if you have several devices you want to sync different things with.

You and apparently a lot of other very unhappy people including me...

Change for the sake of change. Too bad iTunes used to be tolerable, I am actively looking for a replacement for iTunes.

It has now become a useless over controlled piece of software no innovation here, user were not in the mind of the programmers during the design of this product.

Why are devices removed from view in the side bar or anywhere for that matter... I need to stop looking at this my blood pressure is climbing...

RIP Steve Jobs, you took innovation with you.

Improvements?, This is like playing easter egg hunt with this update nothing is in a logical place or order....

R C-R wrote:

So why not just create a playlist consisting of the movies you want on your iPad or whatever while in any view that shows you playlists & then choose the option to sync only that playlist with that device? That's what I've done for a long time now & it works very well with large movie (or whatever other media type) collections, & works especially well if you have several devices you want to sync different things with.

I guess I could do that. A playlist is intuitive for music but it's a hack for movies and adds another step. Oh well, it sounds like my only option and will give it a try. Thanks.

Is it a problem with my setup or have Apple managed to hide the 'repeat-all/repeat-one' button as well?

In iTunes 11 it used to be at the top where the title & play buttons were... Now it seems to have been replaced with the minicover and (hidden) mini-player hotspot.. I can't even find a reference to a keyboard shortcut for this functionality!

This is all quite ridiculous... I don't like eggs, don't believe in easter and don't have the time to go hunting!!! 😕

I unhappily agree. The latest itunes shenanigans are driving me faster than ever towards living in a non-Apple world. My next phone will be a Samsung. My next computer will be a PC. My next tablets...will NOT be Apples. It may seem like a petty thing, but when a company turns its back on its long-time consumers and removes functionality in favor of its newest "look" or "layout," it should lose market share, and that should go double for so-called 'free' software like itunes.

Here's the problem with your theory that 'life is about learning.' Certain things, once learned, should not have to be 're-learned.' I learned how to read in primary school, how to drive in high school, and how to shovel snow off my walk somewhere in between. I should not have to take a class in 'updated reading' every time a new edition of the New York Times comes out, have more behind-the-wheel training every time GM brings out its new model year, or 're-tune' my snow shovel each time there's another snowfall...and guess what? I don't! The only place this garbage goes on is in the computer world, and here's what I really don't get. Apple had to pay programmers to remove the functionality that almost everyone on this list wants.

Let that soak in.

Apple paid programmers and developers to do something that would **** off a portion of their user base.

Well...some of us are ******-off now, so let's all hope for Apples' sake that they get enough new users to make up for the ones they will continue to hemorrhage over mistakes like this on. Like some others on this list, I will also be looking for alternatives to itunes, and if that means my music dollars go to Amazon or whoever, so be it.

roberbaran, you are totally correct. In fact, I don't mind learning "new" software. And usually, when they "improve" it with an update or upgrade, it has more to offer, not less.

I was a long time user of Apple iWork. I had hundreds (thankfully not thousands, like some) of files created. In my opinion, when they released the new version, they ruined it. It lost functionality...check the forums, if you don't use iWork, you'll see long discussions about how to work with it. I did not want to work with loss of function. I started using another program. And, you know what? It releases updates too. And those updates don't break the software, it still looks the same and does the same things...No, instead they added functions or abilities. When I first got iWork, that's how it was, each version offered some new function. I converted all my files and I never even open iWork anymore. And, I paid $ when I first got the software, it was not free and did not come with the OS.

I'll stay with ver 11 as long as I can.

Here's the flow diagram for what happens when you send in Feedback to Apple.

1) Wait for incoming Feedback

2) Acknowledge Feedback and thank originator

3) Immediately move content of Feedback (unread) to Trash

4) Go back to (1)

At least it seems like it.

roberbaran wrote:

I unhappily agree. The latest itunes shenanigans are driving me faster than ever towards living in a non-Apple world. My next phone will be a Samsung. My next computer will be a PC. My next tablets...will NOT be Apples. ...

Well, I broke my iPhone 4s about three months ago (had moved from a Blackberry, that was a big mistake) and bought a Samsung S4 Mini as an interim until BB releases their new Classic. That Samsung is AWFUL! A real piece of garbage. Android is way more powerful than iOS and always leading with features, but the Samsung hardware is terrible. I reactivated my 4 year old Blackberry Tour and couldn't be happier. Can't believe I fell for the Apple sirens. lol My gripe is iOS and the virtual keyboard. Apple hardware almost always rocks way ahead of everybody else. Except for Blackberry. The iPhone is a toy compared to the BB. I think most of the enterprise customers who dropped BB and moved to the iPhone will wish they hadn't...

Apple is able to thumb their noses at many markets. Recall the Final Cut Pro fiasco? I have yet to hear someone rave how much they LOVE iTunes 12. Instead, it's always "what the heck, why did they do this?"