Where is option to have side bar in iTunes 12 ?

When I rebuild my machine, I am putting back the very latest version with the sidebar. I guess it 11.4....

LaraRebooted wrote:

R C-R wrote:

According to Apple, there are 800 million iTunes accounts. How many of the account holders do you think want it to function the same way?

By that very logic, isn't removing any functionality that has been adopted by users a problem?

But what functionality actually has been removed in iTunes 12? What specifically is it that you could do in 11 that you can't in 12? Sure, you may have to do it from a different view or something but that is not the same thing as removing its functionality.

I'm not pointing this out because I'm trying to annoy you or because I am some kind of "Apple apologist," but because if you are going to send Apple product feedback about this (& I think you should) you need to be very clear about exactly what you think the issue is & what to do about it.

But please consider that with literally hundreds of millions of iTune users throughout the world -- many of them running it on PCs, using it for anything from just as a simple music player to managing multiple iDevices & iTunes libraries on several different computers -- you can't safely assume they will all want it to function in the same way, or even that Apple can provide every UI option they might request. In fact, it is obvious from the diversity of comments in just this topic alone that a lot of people would prefer that iTunes somehow be split up into multiple apps, each with much less functionality than any recent version. Of course, doing that would almost certainly require an entirely new set of learning curves, & that would make a lot of other users extremely unhappy.

Note my previous post on my negative experiences doing just that.

I upgraded to 12, didn't like it and went back to 11. Then I found I was unable to get updates from the App Store.

Went back, yet again, to 12 and the updates started flowing again. Nasty stuff that.

We arent talking about 800 million unique requests, its one sidebar for which the code has already been written. The sidebar was already there. Its gone. This is lost functionality.

This isnt rocket science, we're not asking them to put a person on Mars - safely. Its a sidebar. Its code. Its already written. As a software developer since the late 70's, this is cheap. Its change for the sake of change and not for the sake of functionality. A simple checkbox, show sidebar yes/no, would have been perfect.

It took billions of dollars and years for Microsoft to realize that Windows 8 *****. Doesnt matter how many billions companies make, they still think they know what the consumer wants.

I'll deal with no updates until they fix their mess.

Roger Sinden wrote:

The crux of the matter as I see it comes down to 'Why?'. Why make the changes?

I think a lot of it is because iTunes has for a very long time now not just been about obtaining, playing & managing "tunes" but about obtaining, playing & managing an ever growing list of media types on three distinct platforms: Macs, PCs, & iDevices. On top of that, it provides various print options for everything from CD jewel cases to movie lists; importing & exporting audio files in a variety of formats; burning standard audio & MP3 CDs; backing up, resetting, & restoring iPods, iPhones, & iPads, & even restoring Apple TVs; & AirPlay connectivity to both Apple & select 3rd party devices.

I suspect there is more to come, maybe even some sort of integration with Apple's recently announced but still-in-development HomeKit to interface not just with media but also with "the Internet of things," or something else Apple is working on that we know nothing about.

With that in mind, I think it very likely that Apple decided the old iTunes user interface was just not up to the task of supporting all this existing & upcoming stuff very well & what we are seeing is a makeover Apple believes is better suited for that.

I used to find having the playlist set permanently on the left and just creating a new one and dragging files from the same page into it a doddle. Now everything just takes longer. It's definitely a Mac thing making things ever more complicated. 🙂

Well, that may be so but TBH I don't use any of all that stuff nor am I ever likely to. I find iTunes 12 such a pain the butt to use that I rarely use it these days. But, as it happens, nudged by the recent flurry of posts i this thread thought I'd have another more concerted effort and so plugged in my iPod Touch. It is an older model on 5.1.1 and it is not recognised. Could be that that version of s/w is no longer supported...I don't know. What I do know is that I am slowly losing the will to live using iTunes 12.

Can I get back to i-Tunes 11? I am using Mavericks 10.9.5 and it would be lovely to have a usable version on my iMac.

AnthonyNC wrote:

We arent talking about 800 million unique requests, its one sidebar for which the code has already been written. The sidebar was already there. Its gone. This is lost functionality.

Nope. The sidebar isn't gone, it is just different. And the code for it has been rewritten several times over the years. Anybody in the Apple developer program can confirm that for themselves.

RCR wrote:

"I think a lot of it is because iTunes has for a very long time now not just been about obtaining, playing & managing "tunes" but about obtaining, playing & managing an ever growing list of media types on three distinct platforms: Macs, PCs, & iDevices."

Yes and that's the problem. iTunes used to be a great little program for managing music content. Now it's a rotten media manager. Not a mediocre media manager for multiple devices, an awful media manager.

"I suspect there is more to come, maybe even some sort of integration with Apple's recently announced but still-in-development HomeKit to interface not just with media but also with "the Internet of things," or something else Apple is working on that we know nothing about."

You mean they're going to make it even worse! Because trying to cram even more functions into a platform that's already overburdened is not going to make things better.

martin from wrote:

I used to find having the playlist set permanently on the left and just creating a new one and dragging files from the same page into it a doddle. Now everything just takes longer. It's definitely a Mac thing making things ever more complicated. 🙂

Are you aware that in iTunes 12 from any view you can just drag something from the main window into a playlist, even if the current view doesn't include a sidebar with playlists? When you start the drag, the sidebar automatically pops out from the left & any playlist on any shared/connected device as well as on the host computer appears on it. In fact, you can copy the item to the device without putting it in any playlist on it if you want, simply by dropping it on the device icon that appears in the sidebar instead of on any of its playlists.

This is quick, easy, & in no way complicated ... once you know the feature exists. 😉

"This is quick, easy, & in no way complicated ... once you know the feature exists."

True. In order to improve the user experience, Apple has hidden features from user that used to be easy to use.

That's true to some extent, however, as with many Apple so-called improvements it leads to extra clicks. You have to click on Playlists again to go to the Playlist and then scroll over contents and say then dragging into Dropbox. Before the Playlist was always on display (if you wanted it ) with your music on the

right. So, it was easier to use.

Here's how to delete iTunes 12 and reinstall 11. http://www.macworld.com/article/2839797/unhappy-with-itunes-12-heres-how-to-reve rt-to-itunes-11.html

Note that I had problems with Mac Updates after I did this.