“It’s been two years since the last major update to iTunes, with changes I called “the most radical alterations to the program’s interface since its inception.” I could use those same words to describe iTunes 12, which features yet another interface overhaul,” Kirk McElhearn writes for Macworld.
“But the other shock is that iTunes 12 is light on new features, just a Recently Added section in some views, and a new Get Info window, along with some minor changes to device syncing,” McElhearn writes. “It almost begs the question: Without new features, is it really necessary to alter the look and navigation of iTunes every couple of years?”
McElhearn writes, “iTunes 12 feels like essentially the same app as iTunes 11, only less intuitive.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Rate iTunes 12’s user interface in our poll.
iTunes needs to die. It’s a glorified media file manager. The Finder should take over that roll.
I disagree. If you have a lot of items in your media collection a media manager is necessary, just one that is more intuitive and less buggy than iTunes.
The v12 interface is a Hot Mess
Rarely have I hated any app as much as I hate iTunes 12. As far as I’m concerned, it is an absolutely wretched makeover, and I will never upgrade my main Mac to Yosemite if it means using iTunes 12.
They finally incorporated more fields into the get info section of movies. I can now add director! They need to include film house it was made with and actor fields. And then of course a way to organize by director and actors in Apple TV. Would be awesome.
Has anyone else figured out how to turn the Column browsing mode back on when going through your music library????
For Column Browser to appear or be invoked you have to be under Playlists in Music. Then under View you’ll see Column Browser or simply click Command-B.
Bring back the unified Libraryninstead of having to click the category to then see the respective library.
Devices listed in the Library no longer highlighlited if clicked on ( you’d see Device’s Info in previous versions). Now one must choose iDevice icon above Library. Odd odd odd.
At least the sidebar is still available albeit requiring sleuthing to find it at first.
There is a noticeable feature improvement when switching among Apps, Playlists and the iTunes Store. It remembers where you were in each department instead of erasing what playlist you were in when you went to the store or apps sections. That is great. But you still can’t open a playlist in a separate window like you used to be able to do with a double click on any playlist.
why is iTunes still managing my phone and the apps on my phone?
the new version does seem faster with a lighter footprint than the old so I like that but I don’t understand why the interface needs to keep “evolving”
For Christ’s sake bring back the option for dark background
My eyeballs can’t take this bright white much longer!
I would love any activity windows that show up and block me from working the app to vanish and instead take place somewhere in the interface, as in the left lower corner in Mail.app for instance.
Why hasn’t this been made so since a decade.
stupid change to the way tv seasons are shown from the previous version. this version improves it slightly, but still have to see every episode from every season on any series. NCIS at 11 seasons requires scrolling quite a ways to see the current season. Also there are no longer easy to see episode descriptions… they were there in 11. Totally backward “upgrade” for TV episode interface.
12 was bad enough that I restored 11 from backup. (That, by the way, is harder than you’d think!) Go to the Apple Store and look at 12 before you waste your time “up”grading. You are welcome.
Don’t knock until you have used it for a few days. I work in IT and was using it to setup some new iPads. I hated it at first. Then once I started getting more into it, I was really surprised. It made my workflow so much quicker. I love it now. It would be hard to go back to the old iTunes.
I absloutely LOVE iTunes 12’s interface. The first time I used it, I thought “Finally, Apple got it right. It only took 12 versions!” I think that more people will grow to like it once they acclimate.
iTunes is so unintuitive these days I hardly bother with it. Keep an old MacBook Pro as the jukebox and that’s it.
Apple ________ introduces new look, less intuitive interface.
Been going on for years now.
I would have preferred if they had put in some effort in making iTunes match work properly.. resetting of the song plays and last played date with iTunes match enabled is irritating.. And iTunes match starting everytime I start iTunes is sure irritating.. A separate application for iTunes match would have been have been very welcome. A kitchen sink is missing in iTunes, iTunes 13 will have it.. Talk about bloat ware.
The last REAL iTunes was 10.7. After that it was more of a store portal than a useful application. I believe 10.7 was the last version where you could run multiple windows…..like a real application.
The new look is growing on me a little, but I would have liked it better if Apple had just made it more Yosemite-like and left it at that. I hate what they’ve done with the sidebar.
88 minutes.
After that, better.