Apple Delays Simpler and Cleaner iTunes 'to Get It Right' 252
Hugh Pickens writes "iTunes has been criticized in the past for being slow and growing increasingly unwieldy as more and more media types have been added to what used to be simply a music player. Apple announced iTunes 11, the latest version of the program, at its iPhone 5 event in September and said the update would be released by the end of October, but Apple's deadline for the upgrade has slipped. 'The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right,' Apple told technology site AllThingsD. 'We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.' The update is said to be the most significant upgrade to iTunes in the 11-year life of the program, which has grown from a simple music player to the most powerful retailer in the music business — and a force in the movie, television and e-books businesses — and, on Apple's PCs, the portal to its app store."
Better upgrade (Score:3, Insightful)
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Thanks for the warning, Apple. Now I know that I need to upgrade now, before you remove my favourite functionalities.
As much as I hate Apple, it's assholes like you that made iTunes the elephantine mess it is today. "THIS IS MY FAVOURITE NICHE FUNCTIONALITY YOU TOSSERS SO YOU BETTER KEEP IT IN OR ELSE. Why not just get rid of all those useless other features I don't use? I'm certain I won't mind. Just ignore everyone else who posted this exact same message in regards to a different feature and keep focused on ME."
Re:Better upgrade (Score:4, Interesting)
Reminds me of one major update where a new feature they were touting was a new and improved visualizer.
Really? Who sits at their computer just watches 3D rendered shapes change form? This is a selling point for the general audience? Why did you spend Dev time working on this instead of making the program more stable or streamlines; or even a USEFUL feature?
Re:Better upgrade (Score:4, Funny)
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Just hook up your computer to a big TV or projector and you have an instant light show to go along with your music. Great for setting the mood.
Re:Better upgrade (Score:4, Informative)
Staring at air is amusing when you're on LSD.
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Glad to see someone uses Ping.
Re:Better upgrade (Score:4, Insightful)
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I wouldnt worry about that, Im sure theyre trying to make sure it runs as well as possible on OSX while remaining as buggy as possible on Windows.
They really have a knack at that, and Im looking forward to what they managed to pull off this time.
Re:Better upgrade (Score:4, Interesting)
I wouldnt worry about that, Im sure theyre trying to make sure it runs as well as possible on OSX while remaining as buggy as possible on Windows.
That makes little sense from a business strategy perspective. They make most of their profits from portable devices; desktop and laptop hardware, despite its visibility, is secondary in financial terms. When they had the only decent smartphones and tablets, they could get away with having iTunes work crappy on Windows and hope to maybe guide a few users onto OSX with promises of better support. But now that Apple faces serious competition from the new generation of Android devices, this roadblock risks losing market share in portables for no good reason. I think they're serious about fixing iTunes on Windows this time.
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Oh, it never made any sense. Ever. If you're going to offer a service, offer a good service (it just works, right?). I imagine that the first introduction to Apple for many folks was an iPod. On Windows. So with iTunes being the enormous cluster-fuck that it is/was and likely will be on Windows, where is the Apple Experience?
Even if they had to hire programmers from Microsoft themselves, it seems like they could have been arsed to do a better job.
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Good for them (Score:5, Insightful)
As much as I dislike Apple, kudos to them for admitting the new iTunes isn't ready and postponing the release rather than pushing out potentially buggy and incomplete software. Too many software companies will just shove whatever they have finished out the door, whether it works or not.
(Although it is possible to err on the opposite side. See Duke Nukem Forever)
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Insightful)
They could have admitted this before they started bolting on stuff. It's needed a complete overhaul for a very long time. If people weren't forced to use it, most probably wouldn't.
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If it doesn't work the way tech-savvy people - you know, ones who actually know about stuff - want it to work then doesn't that imply that the design is a bag of old cunt?
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"As much as I dislike Apple, kudos to them for admitting the new iTunes isn't ready and postponing the release rather than pushing out potentially buggy and incomplete software. Too many software companies will just shove whatever they have finished out the door, whether it works or not."
Like that company that pushed out iOS 6 with the Maps application that everyone was so impressed by? What were they called again?
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Interesting)
Like that company that pushed out iOS 6 with the Maps application that everyone was so impressed by?
Like that company that recently shoved the VP's in charge of those bungled releases out the door.
Re:Good for them (Score:4, Insightful)
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Ok? Next time don't buy an iphone?
Point was nobody should be surprised they're trying to be a little more careful about software releases.
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Just because you haven't heard of the guy who designed both the Maps app and Siri doesn't mean it wasn't a very significant move for them to sack him. I don't know the names or importance of any Obama cabinet members in the US but I bet they're kind of significant.
Presumably it will make things better in the future, but a public apology and important heads rolling is at least an acknowledgement that they want to do things better.
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree to this. Furthermore, some personal background for anyone who cares.
The main reason which has stopped me from buying an iPod (though I like them a lot) was iTunes. I am a man with very simple needs. I need my MP3 player to connect through USB and be recognized as a drive, so that I can copy over whatever I want without the need of additional software. Sure, I can accept some tiny, fast software that acts as a middle-tier between my player and my PC, but iTunes was everything BUT that. Then again, were it an opt-in software, I would have used a workaround, but so far it was required, so no thanks.
Make iTunes faster, smaller, simpler and I'll buy your nice iPods, because I like them, but right now, it's like buying a nice Ferrari with manure-filled seats.
That already exists (Score:3)
Sure, I can accept some tiny, fast software that acts as a middle-tier between my player and my PC
Well then go for it [copytrans.net].
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You dont understand, the lack of bugs is the problem. Theyre working hard to make sure it upholds the iTunes legacy in full. What would iTunes on Windows be without bugs?
Re:Good for them (Score:4)
As much as I dislike Apple, kudos to them for admitting the new iTunes isn't ready and postponing the release rather than pushing out potentially buggy and incomplete software. Too many software companies will just shove whatever they have finished out the door, whether it works or not.
(Although it is possible to err on the opposite side. See Duke Nukem Forever)
Seconded.
Of all things Apple that are worthy of bitching about, this ain't one of them.
They've never gotten it right (Score:4, Insightful)
Even when I had a Mac Mini and a MacBook, every upgrade to iTunes would have video playback issues until the library was deleted and re-created (backing up all your content before-hand of course). The same thing happened with the last 2 updates that were released 10.6.x and 10.7. The last 10.6.x update caused a slight drop in framerate and 10.7 caused a massive drop in frame rate on high end systems and crashed iTunes on low-end systems. It took a deleteion of the library file to get it working again. Given they're past failure to fix this issue over the last 6 years, I have no hopes of them fixing it with 11.
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Given they're past failure to fix this issue over the last 6 years, I have no hopes of them fixing it with 11.
Well, if they are past failure over the last six years, why do you think they won't be past failure this time?
Interface? Give me cleaner code (Score:5, Insightful)
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I agree. Every song I play in iTunes on a PC has at least 1 random 0.1 seconds to sometimes a whole second somewhere in the track where there is a slight stutter, pause, blip, distortion, or something. I can play music on Media Player, KMPlayer, or WinAmp using the same file and this not happening. It is small and it is subtle but it still happens.
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That Winamp which has become increasingly bloated and laggy as well? Go AIMP2 and never look back ;)
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That Winamp which has become increasingly bloated and laggy as well? Go AIMP2 and never look back ;)
Fortunately WinAmp 2.91 [oldapps.com] still runs just fine.
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My issue with iTunes was never the interface. It was usually pretty intuitive.
I wish it was intuitive to me. :-( I purchase, download, and install an app from the app store to my iPad, then start iTunes to sync the iPad, and before I get a chance to start the sync, iTunes downloads the app again, but this time, just to the Mac. Err, or something like that. Why? Why does it do that?!
Or, I delete a program from my iPad, go into iTunes sometime later to sync, and even then, it downloads the app that I just deleted and never, ever want to see again. I hated that app and deleted it for a
Re:Interface? Give me cleaner code (Score:4, Insightful)
Fixed that (Score:3, Informative)
It is said to be the most significant upgrade to iTunes in the 11-year life of the program, which has grown from a simple music player to the most unnecessary bloated piece of sh!t in history.
Not surprised (Score:5, Insightful)
You should be lucky to get itunes11 in November, it takes Apple 2 weeks to update one webpage.
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[citation needed]
Sign of the times (Score:2)
why is iTunes relevant anymore, as a music player it is awful, even as a three pane music browser its awful, as a way of interacting with Apple lecacy devices its awful. I must have used 10 different music players on the desktop [I'm using clementine] all better than itunes, and will work on linux[It didn't just work].
It should never have crossed the line into movies and apps. Googles cloud based stores do not require such arcane methods of controlling your Android devices. connecting as a Mass Storage Dev
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It neither works as a music player, or device management...it never did.
Strange, I work with dozens of people that use it for those purposes every day. Melodramatic much?
iTunes does just fine, sorry your hardware and OS are old and outdated and things lag but on my Macbook Air iTunes runs just as fast as any other app on my machine. Granted, Ping was stupid but its gone now. As to the rest of your rant, whatever. Millions of people use it successfully every single day, purchasing billions of songs and movies every year. The evidence is very much against you.
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>
Marketshare dropped 23 to 15%? You'll need to provide evidence to that instead of just running your mouth off like you have been.
Using IDC data
http://www.fonearena.com/blog/56749/idc-samsung-apple-top-smartphone-vendors-in-q3-2012-nokia-not-in-top-5.html [fonearena.com]
1Q12 23.1%
2Q12 16.7%
3Q12 15%
Burn
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Mom, is that you?
If my friends jump off a bridge, why shouldn't I?
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iTunes is "good enough" until something better is witnessed, then usually the opinion is that iTunes is "completely unacceptable" because thats how wide the gap is. I've got a nice system.. many real cores, over 3ghz, plenty of memory, and the iTunes on Windows 7 experience can be summed up as "holy fuck thats a lot of senseless interface latency.. this piece of shit makes RealPlayer look good"
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That they're able to use iTunes does NOT mean that they're able to use iTunes without problems.
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And yet millions of average people use it just fine. Maybe your issues are PEBKAC related?
Apple is a niche market, dropping from 23% to 15%. You can blame me if it make you personally feel better. itunes was part of Apple lock-in, and nothing more. Given a more open; cheaper alternative; average people[sic] have chosen to use the devices that aren't locked into itunes. It was an advantage [to apple] in the old days when the iPod was king, with a monopoly [both content and device], but now users are looking closer at Apple devices, and asking why they are paying more...for less, and itunes is par
Re:Sign of the times (Score:5, Insightful)
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We have two iPod touches, one iPod nano, 2 iPhones, and had 2 iPads. I've never had any trouble with multiple device management. Of course, I've never tried to plug 2 devices in at once. So this may be what you are talking about.
(God I sound like a fucking Apple faggot, please forgive me. In my defense, I have XP in VirtualBox running on top of Ubuntu, and only use XP to keep Itunes around. Plus I have three daughters that are almost teenagers and a wife, which is the reason I have so many idevices. An
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I'll try not to sound like a fanboi here...
I was reviewing products for CNET back when MP3 players and software was starting to take off...before Apple had anything and SoundJam was its own thing.
I remember back then it seemed like everyone had a player before the iPod. Every consumer electronic company had one, as did Intel, Virgin, Coke, Nike, etc...
The one thing most of these had in common, along with many digital cameras, was that they didn't desktop mount, but required platform specific software. In
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What an irrelevant comeback. Millions of users use iTunes just fine to buy and play back their music and to manage their iDevices. That you fail to be able to do so points squarely to PEBKAC.
I'm glad, you blame me a user, it shows Apple software "Doesn't Work". Here is the thing though right now Apple share are dropping for two main reasons "Poor iPhone launch" [leading to massive marketshare loss]and "Massive losses of iPod sales".
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So that's why Apple sold more iPhone 5s in the first weekend, 5 million, than almost any single Android phone model does over the entire life of being sold? Yeah, Apple is clearly doomed. Keep telling yourself that.
No I'm not saying Apple is Doomed. I'm saying Apple needs to do more than just repeating "magical" on stage. Apple is falling behind. The fact that we are discussing a Desktop Application should give it away. 5 Million is not a big number over a weekend phone launch. Android activates! 1.3 Million daily.
but to address your point there is nothing wrong [and get back on topic] with itunes because millions use it. Well I guess the counterargument is 5 times as many people are choosing Android over Apple. itune
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2001 to 2011 (Jobs era)
- Apple products cost more but you always had bragging rights ...
2012 (Cook era)
- Apple products cost even more but you no longer have bragging rights ... ... why can’t I get a 13” Mac laptop for under $1000 anymore? ... even iPod Touch has Retina? ... starting to feel dated ...
- Mac line is pricing itself out of existence
- iPad Mini no Retina?
- iOS 6 underwhelming
- iPhone 5 why didn’t you make the larger screen proportionally larger?
- OSX App Store and Software Upda
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Nonsense.
I've never seen a non-technical user use iTunes without running in to problems -- even performing basic functions.
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So average users are dumb yet can use iTunes better than the supposedly smart nerds who claim it's too hard to use? And that's an insult against the average user? LOL.
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So average users are dumb yet can use iTunes better than the supposedly smart nerds who claim it's too hard to use? And that's an insult against the average user? LOL.
Maybe we don't have enough Gamma waves? More neuroscience!
Final Cut Pro X (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple's dug themselves into a hole in this one. They have an app that suffers from feature creep and is a resource hog. The only way to fix both issues is a complete code rewrite and interface redesign. Best case they will successful in both areas, but people will still complain that they don't like the new UI. Worse case, they just pull a "Final Cut Pro X" and still have a memory/CPU hog that does less than before. Hopefully they chose the former, and are just taking their time to polish it up.
get it right (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple,
I don't have and don't want an iPod, so don't make me install an iPod service.
And get rid of whatever the hell Bonjour is. I don't use it, and I don't care what it is, but iTunes goes ape shit if it's gone.
And get rid of the updater service. I don't trust you to ship an update that doesn't bork my music collection. I've been burned by you guys on that too many times.
In short, get rid of anything that runs in the background. The only Apple binary I ever want to see in ProcessExplorer is iTunes.exe.
-Anonymous Coward
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Honestly, Bonjour is a great protocol idea. Avahi/Zeroconf provides this on Linux and it's an open protocol that saves the ordinary household user from worrying about things like the IP address of their printer. It's used for the iPod Touch and iPhone on iTunes, and I agree it shouldn't be forced to be installed. It's also used for sharing your music library to other computers on the network.
The real reason (Score:5, Funny)
Now that Forstall is gone, they're going to take a couple days to remove the stitched-leather look.
Tim Cook doesn't like to apologize (Score:4, Insightful)
...but he's had to do so twice in the past six months: first, for ill-advised changes in Apple's retail stores, and second, for the premature release of Maps.
Both executives whose decisions resulted in these apologies are gone.
winamp ftw (Score:2)
I like winamp. But then i've been using it for 10+ years. don't care for it playing video files, but whatever.
Of course, I do NOT buy music online. I am not giving my money to any of the media corporations. Nor would I ever buy new music from anywhere except from an artist that is selling directly. I'd rather pirate the music and donate money to the band without dealing with the corporate arm that takes most of the money.
Better late than crap. (Score:3, Interesting)
I still use iTunes. It's my favorite way to buy music. If i can't find an album there, it's probably not available for digital distribution at all. (Once or twice amazon has had an album that iTunes has not)
I don't even like to download torrents/rapidshares/whatever of albums unless they're lossless. I've downloaded too many albums with bad encodes that sound like garbage. I'll go to ebay/amazon and get a physical CD before I download some random mp3s
It's not perfect, but I still like it. iTunes is one of the few programs Ive used that actually shave bloat with later iterations. Recently they shed the quicktime requirement (Even apple admits that quicktime is a niche product now) And now they're chucking ping and other unnecessary things.
Since iOS5, apple has moved to make the iOS devices independent of PCs. You don't need a computer to use and iOS device now, and they're changing itunes to reflect that.
Que the Church Lady (Score:3, Funny)
Hey aPple (Score:2)
Can't get the 2nd FA to load, slashdotted and/or Sandy-related issues? Here's a dupe - I guess - Apple Delays iTunes Update | NBC Southern California [nbclosangeles.com]
Have been a Foobar2000 stalwart for years myself. Only use iTunes for managing iPods and only want one added feature - to be able to delete an item from a playlist and have that file deleted from the iPod too. You'd think that would be no big deal. CopyTransManager stands in for iTunes and has this feature but it's very sluggish.
Perhaps the number one reason (Score:2)
Itunes is possible the number one reason I switched back to a PC from my macbook. I simply can't stand it. It's bloated, laggy, and just a plain mess if you ever need to do anything complex to it's god-awful database. And if you wanted to offload your massive music collection to a netwroedk location....impossible. Back in the day I wanted to run itunes off a NAS drive - mother of god was that a mistake. I still am forced to use it to back up my iphone but that alone may be driving me to android - that
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Divide it up (Score:2)
I've believed for a long time now that synchronization with devices should be separated from iTunes. It made sense back in the days when you needed it to sync your music with your iPod, but with the advent of iOS and the need to synchronize more content (apps, photos, config backups, OS upgrades, etc) iTunes has become a gigantic misguided clusterfuck.
If iTunes could be reverted back to being strictly a multimedia player and store client, it would back on track. People who don't own iDevices but just want a
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Yup, and the thing is, they have the "iCloud" app that does some syncing... just not everything. It handily zaps my photos taken to my PC - I like that, but why not my videos? Why can't I use it to consolidate my backups? Why does the iCloud client not do everything the iCloud web site does?
I also want a file browser in that iCloud client to pull files off of my iPhone.
Put all the sync activities in iTunes into the iCloud client, and I think everybody is happier. iTunes as the media player and store interfa
long time (Score:4, Interesting)
They've been delaying it for a decade now.
I don't need iTunes as any sort of player (Score:4, Interesting)
I just need to manage my iPhones. I need separate profiles (since I have multiple devices) so they don't try and sync up apps with whatever the last person did. I don't need music playing when all I wanted to do was drag some tunes into my phone.
Maybe I'm using it wrong? I'm not an apple fanatic. I just needed to get into the iOS development game, and it was a good deal on a decent phone (now that the iPhone 5 is out, iPhone 4/4s is a heck of a deal if you are in a contract anyway)
Apple should have an iOS Device Manager that does all the syncing and such, and keep iTunes separate.
iTunes is Apple's cash register (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course it's a mess. iTunes is a music player, a video player, a file manager, a sync program, and a shopping cart. Quicktime is also bundled in there somewhere.
The main function of iTunes is to create a direct connection between Apple and your bank account. So Apple is unlikely to separate the shopping cart function from the other functions.
Tim Cook again (Score:2)
With an operations guy in charge, what do you expect? It's roughly equivalent to Microsoft being run by a sales guy. If you want a great show, you need a show man. Steve Jobs for example. If you want a great engineering organization you need an engineer in charge. Larry Page for example. With an operations guy in charge or any other kind of paper pusher, Apple is doomed to a long slow slide into technological irrelevance. Which is fine by me. I wish Tim Cook a long but not terribly happy career riding Apple
The last good version was itunes 4 (Score:2)
It's been nothing but downhill since iTunes 4. Every update since has progressively sucked more.
When my iPod dies, I'm looking elsewhere for a music player. The hardware is good, but using iTunes is now a miserable experience. Blechhh.
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Give us the option to buy DRM free.
Do you live in a cave? And been in that cave since the beginning of 2009?
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No. He's just moved on from the 2001 notion of multimedia that you seem to be clinging to.
Re:Apple wants to get it right? (Score:5, Informative)
AC is correct -- music from iTunes has been DRM free for years [again]. Originally it was all MP3's -- then yes, it was DRM'd AAC files.
Today it's DRM free AAC files -- that yes, have your Apple ID embedded. So what?
Even when it was encrypted it was trivial (for a geek :) to convert them to MP3's. Originally you could use your Firewire iPod connected to decrypt the files on the fly -- then Apple blocked that. Always has been possible to use something like Audio HiJack to re-record to MP3's.
Today -- just convert to MP3 in iTunes. No issue. And I keep going back to MP3 because of legacy devices connected to stereo's that only understand MP3's [original SliMP3's :-].
What the issue? Sales are up (and my stock :)
Re:Apple wants to get it right? (Score:5, Funny)
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I have little doubt that the lingering DRM on music and movies and TV shows are apple's fault though. If I remember hearing correctly, apple in fact should be commended for forcing an end to DRM on music in the first place. I think on this issue, apple is more closely aligned with consumer interests than content's interests (
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Re:Apple wants to get it right? (Score:4, Informative)
That's only true in a small number of cases. The great majority of music can be redownloaded DRM-free via either individual track re-downloads via iTunes Plus, or by subscribing to iTunes Match for one year, and letting that match and upgrade all your tracks. I believe at this point you can simply delete and redownload your track for a DRM-free version.
I hate DRM as much as anyone, but you're the dumbass for buying DRMed goods and then being pissy when only some and not all DRM was removed from them later. Apple is willing to work toward your goal, and you're pissed because they don't deliver 100%?
For clarification, I've dropped Apple from my personal device lineup now that Google has tablets that match or beat iPad. I've been enjoying using iTunes Match to match and upgrade my old music, then uploading the up-rate media to Google Play.
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iTunes Plus upgrade also doubled the bitrate (from 128kbps AAC to 256kbps AAC). This was done mostly to get the labels off their backs about it.
I have one song that just won't download anymore. All the others I've tried get silently upgraded. I have iTunes Match currently so I can't re-verify. Buying iTunes Match for one year isn't a horrible deal either. I just liked getting a quality upgrade, whitewashing my sources away (no more hard-to-explain pirate group ID3 tags, etc), and having verification that th
Re:Apple wants to get it right? (Score:4, Informative)
Just re-download it from the cloud: presto! Instant DRM Free copies of your old files...
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Re:Apple wants to get it right? (Score:4, Informative)
Just to correct the "record", such as this is. DRM-free music on iTunes launched on May 29, 2007. The Amazon MP3 store launched in beta on September 25, 2007.
You remember it the other way around because memory is an illusion.
Re:Apple wants to get it right? (Score:5, Insightful)
They should.
Also, just because google doesn't do something, doesn't mean nobody should.
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Nobody can.
Re:Apple wants to get it right? (Score:4, Funny)
it has been for like what, 6 years now?
How do I move an episode of Mad Men from iTunes to a non-Apple device?
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Well, I'm certainly glad you've cleared things up. I'll just ask the NY Philharmonic to just trundle up here to Alaska for my personal enjoyment.
What a wonderful world we could live in!
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Agreed, I feel bad anytime I have to install itunes on my gaming machine, it hits it like installing another AV almost, much more when it's actually running. VLC ftw.
Re:No more bloatware? (Score:4, Informative)
I'm hoping "simpler and cleaner" mean "less arrogant."
I have a couple podcasts I save up for when I travel. I was updating my iPod before a recent trip and noticed those podcasts weren't getting any recent episodes. Turns out iTunes stopped downloading those podcasts because I hadn't listened to them recently.
There's also the recurring issue of iTunes storing audio files where the Apple Devs want files to be stored, not where I configure iTunes to store files.
So how about a version of iTunes that will download what I decide to download, store files where I decide to store files, copy those files to my iPod, and nothing else?
I don't need some developer somewhere deciding what I should or shouldn't download or where files should be stored on my machine.
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As a sound engineer for The Arthur Askey Show, I found the reel to reel tape interface to be both intuitive and familiar. Shame running it on a 3GS is like running WoW (with mid to high level video settings) on the minimum hardware spec.
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FYI, you can move the Podcasts back into the Music app.
Install and run the Podcast app.
You'll see all your Podcasts there now.
Go back to home screen, and close app in the background as well.
Uninstall it.
Reboot*
Go back to the Music app and everything should be back the way you like it.
*Some people seem to not need to reboot.
This does NOT restore the other functions like being able to update them on your device.
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I can't get my podcasts to update on my device anyways.
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Yea, iTunes seems to be the only real way now.
Apple really dropped the ball on this one.
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I find it weird how they would make something like that App required when it got some pretty horrible reviews and everyone disliked it.
It was like the ONLY 1st party Apple app that had a consistent 1 star review; and the issues people have with it, already existed at launch, they never bothered updating it just went from Painful and Optional to Unusable and Mandatory.
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Why would they do that when they already have their own lossless codec?
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Except it barely works anymore.
I don't have high hopes that Apple will "get iTunes right". In fact, I predict a disaster that will have me looking for another entertainment hub.
iTunes has been the music player version of the large A/V companies. Mostly useless new features, and they can be summed up in the word "bloat". I stopped updating years ago, especially after a couple of spectacularly botched installation that fouled up the registry on a windows machine (had to go through and remove each and every reference to itunes, apple, and one of their protocols (can't recall the name ATM). The mac it occurred on required an OS re-install.
I have an iPod touch, and that's the only rea
Re:Apple's QC has slipped (Score:4, Informative)
In fact, I predict a disaster that will have me looking for another entertainment hub.
...And the entertainment hub that you're looking for is called Plex. Based on how you describe your usage of iTunes, Plex may fit the bill. However, its suitability for you depends on two major questions:
1.) How willing you are to jailbreak your Apple TV - or replace it with one of these [wdc.com].
2.) How much DRM'd video content you've got tying you to the Apple ecosystem.
They've got iOS,Android, and desktop apps, and they work more beautifully than I can possibly describe.
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Has *anyone* at Apple ever used iTunes on Windows? What do they do, punish poor coders by forcing them to work on the Windows code?
It's all part of the Apple experience. When it breaks, they blame microsoft.
Re: (Score:2)
There are other things to complain about. For example, when converting music, it doesn't use multiple threads. There are no single core Macs, and lots of quad core Macs. (And I checked, the OS has no problems converting multiple music files at the same time). Annoying if your iPod is set to automatically convert music to 128 kbit.