Where is option to have side bar in iTunes 12 ?

Most people dont ever speak up. Period. If there is nothing else that I've learned in this 60 something years of my life, its that. Most people are silent.

True, very true. But on the other hand what's also true is that those who are unhappy are far more likely to speak up than those who are happy, so what you're reading on this thread is multiply skewed.

In my circles, everyone hates this v12 flat, fugly interface with missing and/or harder to find functionality.

Which proves what, exactly? I can happily say that in my circles exactly the opposite is the case.

Thats what Apple banks on.

Think you seriously overestimate the amount of thought Apple gives to what's written on this thread.

Apple obviously do not take much interest in the forum as, it is a place for those that are looking for help and those helping them to sort out the problems or changes that are not always easy to figure out as, nobody from Apple bothers to let anyone know the changes foisted upon us all at times. It is also a venting place where Apple controls everything as they wish without having to comment to the forum. It's a win, win situation for Apple and a great help at times for many people but, as there is never an official response to the forum and the suggestions/technical problems sent via the official channels do not receive replies it is very convenient for them. Apple are good at design in a lot of regards but rarely answerable except to market dictates and as there are good developing markets in front of them they do not have to take a lot of notice of the existing customer base who are dependent to some degree having invested in relatively expensive hardware/software especially if one is in the UK. There are some seriously sharp minds on the forum who put a lot of effort into resolving problems and making great suggestions but Apple get all this for free. What's not to like from Apple's point of view?

It is also a venting place

Actually, it's not. Read the terms of use you agreed to.

where Apple controls everything as they wish without having to comment to the forum. It's a win, win situation for Apple and a great help at times for many people but, as there is never an official response to the forum

All of this is explicitly clear in the terms of use. You agreed to that, but you still signed up. I wonder if the real reason Apple don't reply on the forum is because the quality of contribution is of such a poor level that it would be impossible to. And they have rules, as they must, because a:they're paying for it and b: they could find themselves in court for things said on the forum by others if they didn't. I'm not sure why this is even worth commenting on. That's pretty much standard all over the internet. Apple do provide support systems. Like other manufacturers, after a free period you can pay for them.

Apple are good at design in a lot of regards but rarely answerable except to market dictates

And this differs from, say, Ford or BMW or Boeing, how?

There are some seriously sharp minds on the forum who put a lot of effort into resolving problems and making great suggestions but Apple get all this for free.

The people who contribute do so for our their reasons. In my case, the crossword got too easy. But if you see posting on the forum as contributing to to Apple for free, then don't. That is the simple choice you always have. Further up the thread you mentioned that Android and PCs are "far more flexible". You know that you don't have to buy Apple, right? And if that's what's important to you, this "flexibility", then that should inform your purchasing decisions.

Any time there is a change to the interface there are complaints. (Some are astonishingly virulent. I saw one guy demand on here that an Apple employee should not only be fired but banned from ever working in any form of design anywhere ever again. This crime against humanity? The iTunes icon.) But you know, it's not that big a change, is it?

Some fair points Terence, however, Boeing and Ford don't pretend to be the good guys lol. if you purchased a car and had to spend as much time sussing out how it worked as one has to with an Apple product would you bother? It's always interesting how any of us respond and its always striking how some respondents assume that their viewpoint is correct including my own views of course. Apple-heads are blind though in my view as, they have bought into an ethos and stand by it no matter how much is put in their way. As you say its's down to choice.

I chuckled at that as I envisioned a Ford designed a la Apple's latest and greatest.

Hidden controls. Hidden switches. You caress the drivers' console to see what lights up ! You see an oncoming emergency and hit the brake only to find it's been moved and is now in the trunk (boot).

"Think you seriously overestimate the amount of thought Apple gives to what's written on this thread."

Then why even host it and waste the money.

Terence Devlin wrote:

Most people dont ever speak up. Period. If there is nothing else that I've learned in this 60 something years of my life, its that. Most people are silent.

True, very true. But on the other hand what's also true is that those who are unhappy are far more likely to speak up than those who are happy, so what you're reading on this thread is multiply skewed.

What I have learned in my nearly 70 years is that most people just don't care much one way or the other about things like this. The few that do are the only ones likely to take the time to post to forums like this one, & among that small number the unhappy ones are far more likely to post anything than the happy ones, regardless of the issue.

martin from wrote:

Apple are good at design in a lot of regards but rarely answerable except to market dictates ...

Judging by Apple's undeniable success in the market, the company seems to be doing an excellent job of coming up with the right answers for what it dictates.

I did install a previous version of Itunes. sidebar is back!!

Apple, stop changing itunes all the time please!!!!

Being successful and confident does not mean that you are doing the right thing. History shows us that.

Hi Roger,

I like your thinking on this. 🙂

Thanks Hogboy. I also found this :http://awesometoast.com/downgrading-to-itunes-10-7-from-itunes-11-on-osx/ which tells you how to go back to 10.7. I will look at the pros and cons.

R C-R wrote:

steveh46 wrote:

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.

So what do you propose as an alternative? Half a dozen different apps, each devoted to one media type? How many of the hundreds of millions of iTunes users do you think would prefer that, vs. how many would complain about lost functionality, needless complexity, change for the sake of change, etc.?

No matter what Apple has done or will do with iTunes, there will always be those who think it was or is the worst possible choice. Yet despite this, not only is the iTunes user base amazingly large, it is growing at an accelerating rate: just one year ago the user account number was about 540 million, now it is at 800 million, & there is little doubt it will exceed one billion in the upcoming year.

If it really is as rotten a media manager as you say it is, how do you explain that?

iTunes is the only game in town, if there were competition the numbers might tell a different story. If you want to use Apple you've got to use iTunes. Growth doesn't mean the program is getting better, it means more people are buying iPhones. McDonalds may sell billions of Quarter Pounders but that doesn't mean they make the best burger.

Any criticism voiced in forums (or anywhere else for that matter) is only going to directly reflect the views of a tiny slice of the users, but if a few hundred are saying it, millions of others are probably thinking it. It's up to Apple to decide if it's something worth addressing. Dismissing sincere criticism on that basis means you might as well shut down the forums.

In my opinion, Apple has taken a few steps backwards with the new interface. If they don't fix it, I'll adjust and learn to deal with the frustrations they added to iTunes 12. But if they want to listen to their customers feedback telling them how to improve the user experience, I'd prefer they do that.

Be aware that some versions of iOS on an iPod Touch will only work with the later versions of iTunes. I made the mistake of letting my iPod Touch upgrade to the latest version and when next connected to my trusty Snow Leopard/iTunes 10.7 system, it was politely told to go away. I had to upgrade to iTunes 11 and that was the trigger to migrate to Mavericks. Oh that and thef act that no more security updates were coming out for SL.

Good points. Ah Snow Leopard, the last stable, really good reliable platform that Apple produced before they went for mass domination by compromise. Yes, the update scenario is always a hassle if you have something that you like using and try and keep with it. Apple are unrelenting in forcing change which is their prerogative but, just making everything faster and faster and more and more convenient means that you end up spending your whole life on maintaining gadgets and trying to understand how they work which takes up a lot of time, hence the forum I suppose.