“When the developer Erik Kemp designed the first metadata system for MP3s in 1996, he provided only three options for attaching text to the music,” Robinson Meyer writes for The Atlantic. “Every audio file could be labeled with only an artist, song name, and album title.”
“Kemp’s system has since been augmented and improved upon, but never replaced. Which makes sense: Like the web itself, his schema was shipped, good enough, and an improvement on the vacuum which preceded it. Those three big tags, as they’re called, work well with pop and rock written between 1960 and 1995. This didn’t prevent rampant mislabeling in the early days of the web, though, as anyone who remembers Napster can tell you. His system stumbles even more, though, when it needs to capture hip hop’s tradition of guest MCs or jazz’s vibrant culture of studio musicianship,” Meyer writes. “And they really, really fall apart when they need to classify classical music.”
“But as streaming services have flooded out MP3s, the situation worsened. Apple, which long paid classical more mind than other big tech companies, debuted Apple Music with dismal classical options,” Meyer writes. “And even beyond the streaming service, the new version of Apple’s signature music software seems especially broken. In the name of creating a ‘complete thought around music,’ iTunes 12 has crammed a streaming service and a media library and a recommendation service and a file store and a device manager into one interface. The sum is that nothing ‘just works’ — and MP3s especially don’t work well. I wondered: How were professional musicians handling the change? And how did they organize their music in the first place?”
Tons more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple deserves all of this and then some. This has been building for years. With each new version of “iTunes” (even the app’s name hasn’t been right for many years), we’ve had such high hopes, but all we ever get are more and more appendages bolted on to the bloated mass, when it’s exactly the opposite that’s called for!
iTunes is the Yoplait yogurt cup of UIs.iTunes is the Yoplait yogurt cup of UIs. Upside-down, inefficient, messy, unusable in spots and woefully inefficient. The foil top always tears in half; it never comes off in one piece. Trying to spoon it all out of an ever-widening cup maddeningly gets yogurt all over the spoon’s handle and your fingers. And inconvenient bumps molded into the horrid thing to go along with a wide yogurt-catching lip around the top thwart even the most determined of spoon scrapers. The amount of Yoplait yogurt thrown away due to poor packaging design could feed several impoverished nations. The amount of media hidden away, seemingly inaccessible, and lost inside in iTunes is like leftover yogurt forlornly and forever stuck in that awfully-designed Yoplait cup. What a stupid waste!
Apple, take a step back and look at the iTunes app anew. Look at it as if, say, it was a piece of Microsoft software (it certainly looks and acts like one) and approach it as if you’re about to enter the market. What would Apple do? Laugh at what a POS it is and then get to work creating a coherent, easy-to-use solution.
Just like you did with personal computers, MP3 players, smartphones, and tablets make this experience for end users again. Look at what Apple did with non-linear editing via iMovie. You made something very complex into something simple, understandable, and usable for everyone. Reinvent. Simplify. Delight us. Surprise us. That’s why you get the big money.
Give “iTunes” to another Apple team, or teams, or even bring in some outside talent, and see what their fresh eyes might imagine.
Apple, especially under Steve Jobs, has shown a great and admirable willingness to cannibalize themselves. They obliterated their iPod business with the iPhone, for one example. But, when it comes to iTunes, they seem paralyzed by fear of change. Apple paralyzed by fear is not a pretty thing and it doesn’t yield pretty things. It yields hot messes like iTunes.
iTunes screams to be broken up into separate, streamlined apps. It’s been screaming that for years. But Apple seems to be scared silly to do so — perhaps 800+ million credit cards have something to do with it — so they’ve tinkered around the edges, making questionable tweaks here an there and bolting on even more bloat.
I refuse to upgrade and lose my music. Apple has screwed up iTunes ever since 10.7 <- last good software.
If they just reinstate 10.7 it would be a huge improvement. But yes, they should re-do the whole thing and make it into different apps. Restore the full functionality but way better organized. And bring back Cover Flow. I want to see my albums. Steve loved Cover Flow and was proud to show it off.
What’s with all the negativity about the current iTunes…? 🙂 It “just works” for me. I understand it. I can make it do what I want, including using “power features” like smart playlists. The worst was iTunes 11.x (the previous major release), where it seemed to me that Apple was experimenting with getting rid of the sidebar without getting rid of it. It was “kludgy” (which is a term I usually reserve for Windows 8). People (long time users and novices) were confused by the default “new look” iTunes.
iTunes 12 brought back the sidebar and its familiarity, but streamlined. The difference is that in old-school iTunes, the sidebar was “everything.” Way back, with iTunes 1.0 (when it was a Mac OS 9 program), iTunes was primarily a music “jukebox.” Over the years, more other types of media and functionality were added… such as audiobooks, podcasts, iPods, iTunes Store, TV shows, movies, iTunes U, Internet radio, apps, etc. And the sidebar remained the access point for everything, becoming more and more cluttered and confusing (especially for new users).
With iTunes 12, the sidebar is there when you need it for it main purpose. To access and manage songs (and other media content). It is NOT there to access iPod settings or the iTunes Store or the many other functions that were shoved into the sidebar before. And iTunes now works with ONE type of media and functionality at a time, instead of having a cluttered screen that applies to all types of media and functionality. First choose what you want to do in iTunes from the horizontal bar that goes across the screen. The iTunes screen becomes optimized for that media type or function.
Try this… Click Music in the horizontal “access bar.” In the middle of that bar, click Playlists. And to the right, toggle the view to show Songs. That screen, with a simple sidebar along the left side of window and a simple sortable list of songs to the right IS classic iTunes. That’s close to how the earliest versions of iTunes looked and worked. That’s how my iTunes screen is set most of the time, except when accessing newer features like iTunes Store and now Apple Music (and the sidebar goes away because it’s not needed).
SO, instead of generalizing and whining about iTunes (because everyone else is doing it), reply back with specific complaint(s) about current iTunes design and functionality. 🙂
I’ll start myself… You can’t open a list (like a playlist or main library list) in a separate window like in versions before iTunes 11. That was a useful “power feature.” With the new Split Screen feature of El Capitan, it would be great If I could show a playlist as a separate window on half of my screen (making it more narrow) and the main iTunes window on the other half.
In fact, Apple can make this a Full Screen mode only feature, if the reason for not allowing a secondary window is because of Full Screen mode complications. When iTunes is in Full Screen mode only, have a command (in iTunes) that splits the screen to show any media item list separately on right side of screen.
– the sidebar used to make sense. Apple has now fucked it up by creating inconsistent views for everything. You can’t see in one view everything you have, nor rapidly switch to stuff like audiobooks, because Apple buried it.
– by attempting at every turn to force users into the Cloud, it’s harder than ever to manage what music you own, what music is rented, and so forth. There is a difference, and Apple doesn’t seem to get that.
– Apple used to make controls visible at all times — perhaps underintensified if not applicable. On a Mac, there is plenty of screen space to still do so. But now it’s all gray wasted space with hard-to-read labels. Three clicks or multiple key clicks are necessary to access simple functions, like editing metadata. What’s with the MS-like total reliance on right click contextual menus, Apple?
– user options aren’t even close to being intuitive. Is there a reason View Options is so convoluted?
– search is bag of hurt. can’t even do decent filtering because there is still no advanced search. So you rely on a complex list view — which Apple makes as hard to implement as possible if one wants a consistent look from one media to the next.
– finding anything in the iTunes Store is horrid. There are just some things i never want to see — why can’t i permanently filter them off?
– Still sharing Safari cookies, Apple? How fucking stupid is that???
– Syncing is an absolute nightmare. When it works, it’s slow. When it doesn’t, it pops up an error that nobody at Apple seems able to solve. The kids at the Apple store recommend wiping away everything and reloading — relying on you to have backed up your data, of course, because iCloud doesn’t guarantee data isn’t lost.
– Oh, did I mention how wonderful it is when plugging in an iPhone 6 that several GB of “other” was clogging the hard drive? Nobody at Apple has a clue what it is, how to identify it, how to view it, or how to manage it. When iCloud or Mac sync fucks up, it permanently eats up your iPhone memory, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it other than wipe your iPhone clean and start all over.
Apple’s iTunes is more and more like Microsoft shit software every day. There is no excuse for this incompetence at Apple. Fire away, apologists, because I am not alone at speaking the truth. If MDN chooses to delete this comment, it will only show what cowards they are when it comes to the truth about what has happened to their immaculate company.
> You can’t see in one view everything you have, nor rapidly switch to stuff like audiobooks, because Apple buried it.
I think that’s the whole point. Previously, to see songs, you clicked on Music in the sidebar, under LIBRARY. To see Audiobooks, you clicked on Audiobooks. Now, you click on Music or Audiobooks (their symbolic buttons) in the horizontal “access bar” to pick a media type. It’s still a click; it’s not “buried.”
If you want to manage your iPod, the old way was to click on your iPod in the sidebar, under DEVICES. If you were looking at your long list of playlists, you may need to scroll the sidebar to find DEVICES. Now, you click on the iPod’s symbol in the access bar. If I wanted to go to the iTunes Store, the old way was to click on iTunes Store in the sidebar. And now I click on iTunes Store, always visible in the access bar.
The conceptual difference is that everything was previously in the sidebar, “buried” there in clutter and confusion. Now, the media types and main functions are clearly visible in the horizontal access bar. You pick what you want to do in iTunes there, NOT in the sidebar. The sidebar is there to when needed to access and manage the selected media type (which was its original function), or to help perform a function (like managing devices). When it’s not needed, it is NOT always visible wasting valuable space on the iTunes window with irrelevant clutter.
Lets address a few of your “stories” shall we….
-Sidebar
go to “…” on top of sidebar–> go to “edit” –>> Add whatever you want to appear (podcasts, Audiobooks, WHATEVER!!!)
-Can’t distinguish RENTED from OWNED Music
Seems I can with “MyMusic” ……… “iTunes Store”
-Search is a “Bag Of Hurt”
“bag of Hurt” label stolen from Steve Jobs….try to use your own words……But lets address it anyway…..
BOGUS CLAPTRAP
-View Options convoluted
WTF? How? You ignoramus!!
– Still sharing Safari cookies, Apple?
Huh? So Fucking What!
– Syncing is an absolute nightmare.
No it is not. But I do agree that if you unplug your device while it is syncing that it will create something called “Other”. Solution……don’t unplug your device in the middle of a sync you stupid dork!
Paul #2, your arrogant attempt at a response doesn’t even merit further conversation with you. As an Apple user for over 25 years, and an iTunes user since version 1.0, I think I know very well how things used to work — and how they do not today. If you are happy with Apple’s MS-like trajectory, then keep cheering on everything Apple releases without any objective assessment. People who like Apple actually point out where Apple is tripping up.
One more thing: if Apple is so proud of iTunes, then why isn’t it available on the Mac App Store? Yeah, we know. It’s bundled with Yosemite, which garners a super awesome 3 stars out of 5 on the App Store ratings. That is absolutely pathetic. The kludgy mess of iTunes factors into that rating, friends. If iTunes was a standalone app and subject to any competition in the marketplace, it would be easily knocked off its pedestal. It is time for Apple to stop milking Job’s creations with lame non-productive updates and start improving fundamental performance and usability of core apps. Charge real money for good software, I will pay. This perpetual beta freeware that chains everyone to the damn iCloud is worth little more than the asking price. Many of us would switch if there was a reasonable alternative (which will arrive one of these days).
PS – poor software design is why Apple’s stock price continues to encounter headwinds. When Apple can’t even delight its longtime core user base with mandatory apps like iTunes, what hope does Apple have of making real headway in Enterprise, Small Business, Engineering, Medical, and other fields that Apple currently has ~ 0% penetration? Anyone? Hell, even many recording studios have abandoned Apple for Windows-based software. Apple dumbed down its stuff too much, and it continues to do so.
Sorry, but anyone who thinks syncing in iTunes is not completely f**ked up must have never used it.
I NEVER unplug my device in the middle, and yet it destroys the music libraries (mix of iTunes / ripped CDs) on every one of the 5 iPhones in our house with every sync. As many other people have said, and yet you refuse to believe, the advice from Apple is to wipe the content from the device and rebuild it. Don’t get me started on the mysterious “other” data that cannot be explained. This has NOTHING to do with unplugging in the middle of syncing.
I have been a loyal Apple user for over 30 years, and I can say with some authority that this is the biggest POS Apple has ever put out. Any company or person can make a mistake, but what is making people angry is that it doesn’t seem like Apple is trying to fix it.
Apple software, particularly anything that is cloud based, is really poor compared to their competition. Apple seems to have a rather cavalier attitude toward data protection in their cloud services. There are still way too many stories of document loss from iCloud Drive either because of sync bugs or an unintuitive UI that makes it way too easy to inadvertently delete something yourself.
I would gladly forgo a portion of my AAPL dividend payment if it meant that Apple would spend some R&D money on fixing this stuff.
> by attempting at every turn to force users into the Cloud, it’s harder than ever to manage what music you own
If you want to use Apple Music, which is a streaming service, you need to enable the iCloud music library. If you want to keep using your own library only, don’t enable iCloud music library. Pretty simple.
I’ve been using iTunes Match since it was available, and I don’t see this transition as being significantly different. The brilliance of Apple here is that they managed to merge the new streaming service with the old library-centric iTunes. I can add new (subscribed) songs from Apple Music to my music library, and they appear right there, along side my existing (owned) songs. I can add the new songs to my existing playlists. When they play, they are streaming from Apple’s servers (unless you downloaded a copy), but the experience is no different than songs playing from local storage. It’s supposed to be seamless when playing the ALL of your music, not a barrier between your old (owned) music and your new (subscribed) music. Other services (like Spotify) create a barrier, iTunes does not.
I still think the basic sidebar-main window configuration was iTunes’ main, most elegant strength. I see no reason why that should have been abandoned or made optional etc. Doesn’t matter how many things get added on to the iTunes ecosystem – it should all be possible to access from the sidebar-main window combo. They tried to fix something that wasn’t broken – and needlessly complicated things in the process.
I’m not going to reply to every point, because some points are related to other points… You seem to ramble. 🙂
Search works well in the new iTunes. It toggles between My Library and Apple Music, which is useful. It reminds me of Spotlight, which is meant to work without complicated “Advanced Search” options. Just type things like part of the song title and artist name, and it finds relevant stuff.
“Other” for an iOS device is data that third-party apps store on the device. For example, I use the Kindle app. Ebooks stored on the device is categorized as “Other.” Game save data would be “Other.” You can’t manage “Other” using iTunes. Frankly, since iOS 5, I’ve been treating my iOS devices as “peers” to my Mac, not subordinate devices. I only time I connect them to my Mac is for doing an occasional manual backup. Otherwise, they sync data (and backup) with iCloud (including my iTunes music library) and apps are installed directly.
> Apple’s iTunes is more and more like Microsoft shit software every day. There is no excuse for this incompetence at Apple….
Just stating something repeatedly does not make it the “truth.”
You NEED a separate window of playlists BECAUSE you don’t know how to use the latest iTunes.
Do yourself a favour and just spend a little time to learn the features of the latest iTunes.
You don’t know me, so don’t tell me I’m a novice iTunes user. I can use iTunes fine without a separate window. However, it was useful when managing playlists because I can see what is already on the playlist WHILE adding (dragging) new songs to it. Or if I was browsing the iTunes Store to buy new songs, I had a separate window open showing my iTunes music library, so I can quickly check to see if I already owned a particular song (from another source). When I manage document files using Finder, I often open TWO Finder windows; I can do it in just one Finder window, but it is more convenient in many cases to have two windows open. It’s like that…
Do yourself a favor and learn not to make stupid assumptions… 🙂
You prattling on about a separate window for playlists since the year 2000 is nauseating. You don’t know me either. But I know you are stupid because you haven’t figured out how to use iTunes properly. I don’t care how LONG you have been using it. Length of time is no indication of you being able to use it.properly………right? Now try not to think how you know better than Apple. Try, instead to think how Apple implements the thing you want to do. You will then find a WOW moment and slap your head about how stupid you have been.
You keep telling me I don’t know how to use iTunes… If there’s a way to do what I describe above with current iTunes, tell me, Paul the iTunes guru. 🙂
Bootlicker .
Hey, it’s the mini-me troll! 🙂
FYI – The MDN Take, which is typically clever and informative, is the actual bloated piece of generalized crap here. 🙂 And the comparison of iTunes to a Yoplait cup is so stupid, it’s funny.
iTunes 11 was bad. iTunes 12 is the proper correction, not continuation of bad. The only constructive part of the lengthy MDN Take (that is not an arrogant and annoying whine-festival) is the advice to separate the functions of iTunes into separate apps. But the specifics of how to do it are conveniently absent. Ironically, iTunes 12 is functionally doing what the MDN Take suggests.
It’s like the old well-remembered AppleWorks program. It was ONE app with functional modules (like Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and more) that interacted when needed. For example, you could put graphics and a spreadsheet inside a “word processing” document. The design of iTunes 12 has a horizontal bar that links the various functions together, and also separates them. If you want to access and manage songs, click on the symbolic button for Music on the bar. The iTunes window becomes optimized for that function; it’s the iTunes “Music app.” For Movies, click Movies button in the bar. Need to manage your iPod? Click the iPod’s button in the bar, and the iPod’s settings and management screen appears. It’s the “Devices app.”
This “modular” approach provides the same benefits as completely separate apps. Click on a button for a media type or function, and the iTunes window is optimized for that purpose. No need to launch five (or however many) separate apps. And it makes future upgrades easier. Lets say the “Connect” part of Apple Music is not very popular. Apple can just remove it (and maybe replace it with something new) without functionally affecting the other existing parts of iTunes.
But like old AppleWorks, there’s an advantage in keeping it all together in one app. And that’s interaction. For example, if a user syncs their iPod or iOS device to iTunes, what is this brilliant approach for separate apps? A Devices app, an iOS App Store app, a Music app, a TV Show app, a Movies app, etc. And they need to be launched and running concurrently to sync with the device? How elegant and efficient…
Having separate apps for “old iTunes” and new Apple Music does not work either. Well, it would work, but that’s just a copy of Spotify and any other streaming music app. Separate. The elegance and wisdom of Apple’s approach is to value what Apple’s customers have created over many years in their iTunes library. The customer is the “curator” of their own existing music collection, and it needs to be appreciated (or you alienate the customer). The playlists, the ratings, the effort to import CDs, the careful selection of what songs to buy as albums and “a la carte”…
Apple Music is not a separate service. Subscribed songs from Apple Music can be added directly to the customer’s existing iTunes library, and it mostly looks and acts like any other song. The subscribed songs can be placed on existing playlists, mixed in seamlessly with owned songs. The user experience is the same, whether the song is streaming from Apple’s servers or playing from local storage. THAT is valuing what the customer has created. THAT is what the competition cannot match, or even attempt to copy. SO, don’t think off Apple Music as something that can be separated into its own app. It will ONLY succeed BECAUSE it is designed as an integral part of iTunes.
Don’t you have a hobby? A dog? A girlfriend? OK, no girlfriend? get out in the sunlight once in a while. Crawl out of your mom’s basement you pompous prick.! We are tired of your arrogant, thoughtless rambling.
Thanks for reading… 🙂
Long story: iTunes will not copy 240 songs to my iPod…
I have a playlist with 500 songs, iTunes updated last night (been putting it off) and it deleted the 240 songs.
My iPhone has not sync’d yet, all songs are there. But the iPod had them deleted.
Removed the playlist, re added it… Still won’t copy them. I can play them on the iMac.. Just won’t copy over. And they were on the iPod playing yesterday.
iTunes has crashed more times in the past 2 months than it ever has..
The sidebar changes still annoy’s the shit out of me. It’s better.. But still shit.
Side note.. I just looked at the iPod, many of the songs that are missing from the playlist.. Are on the iPod, just not listed in the playlist anymore.
On possibility is that your computer is not currently authorized for your Apple ID. This would be an issue, IF those 240 songs are older purchases from the iTunes Store (128 kbps) that use DRM (copy protection). If you used more than one Apple ID to make iTunes Store purchases in the past, your computer needs to be authorized for the older ones too, not just your most recent. The command to authorize is in iTunes, under the Account menu. Use that command for each Apple ID you have used to make purchases from iTunes Store, not just your most recent Apple ID.
Another possibility is that there is data corruption on your computer’s hard drive affecting those 240 songs. Or the song files may have been moved (or deleted) outside of iTunes, so iTunes can no longer find them. Try playing one of those 240 songs that do not sync in iTunes.
If you have not already, try doing a Restore on the iPod using iTunes.
Never in my life have I purchased a single song from iTunes.
Every song I have is ripped from CD.
Try again.
Figure this one out..
Yesterday, 1 album, today… 2. “get info” shows everything the exact same. Copied info from one song, pasted into another song (album/artist/year etc trying to figure out WTF is wrong) no change.
Like I said, the SONGS are ON THE iPOD… can play them just fine, just NOT listed in the playlist anymore.
Played song in iTunes. Removed same song from iTunes.. added it to iTunes again, added to playlist.. BOOM back on the iPod after a sync.
Apple has done F’d up iTunes. Again.
99% of the time iTunes works great for me, 12 has been a f’ing joke.
If problems return (or continue), and you have not Restored the iPod, do that in iTunes. This will erase the iPod and give it a fresh start with syncing. Occasionally, the database of songs on the iPod becomes corrupted so the iPod and iTunes are not “in sync” anymore on what’s there and what’s not there.
I own MANY iPod’s, including a 4th gen iPod from 2004 (replaced 20GB hard drive with 64GB compact flash card on adapter) and the first (white plastic NOT clip-on) iPod shuffle. They all sync fine with the latest iTunes; Apple even improved layout of the iPod screens in iTunes 12.
Again, you are not listening….
THE SONG IS THERE. DELETE/ADD it’s BACK….
It’s iTunes fucking up. NOT THE iPOD… it’s ONLY WITH THE iPOD. My iPad and my iPhone are perfectly fine.
The song IS ON THE iPOD, just NOT LISTED in the PLAYLIST.
The screenshot I posted above, delete one of the songs from “1” of the albums.. drag it back into iTunes and it MAGICALLY adds itself to the 2nd album.
Just scrolled through my iTunes library.. guess what? there are MULTIPLE instances of this.
restoring the iPod changes nothing, the PROBLEM is with iTunes.
I have had multiple iPods over the years, this has never happened before. the ONLY thing that has changed… I let iTunes update to 12.2 last night.
And you MAY want to do some research, this is a known issue with 12.2 (kinda why this and many other articles exist bashing Apple over iTunes 12.2 btw)
I am obviously “listening,” but not understanding… Perhaps you are not explaining it very well. 🙂
The song “is on the iPod” (so you can play it on the iPod), but it’s “not listed in the playlist”? What “playlist” is that? On the iPod? In iTunes? How is this playlist involved in syncing your iPod? See what I’m dealing with here?
So, that image you posted has nothing to do with the iPod thing? I was confused…
Did you also check the “Album Artist” field for the songs? Sometimes it’s blank. Sometimes it’s filled in, often with the same entry as the “Artist” field. But if some are filled in and some are blank (or different) for songs on an album, iTunes might consider the one album to be separate albums.
Select all of the songs on the album at the same time (it may help to use the simple “Songs” list view), and do a Get Info on the selection. What you do on that Info window affects the entire selection. (Re)-enter the Artist, Album Artist, Album in this Info window so that they match precisely for all songs on album.
Song was DELETED from the playlist ON THE IPOD.
SONG STILL ON IPOD.
Playlist on my iMAC STILL at 500, zero change. iPhone and iPad both sync’d now, both fucked.
Delete song from iTunes library, re add it to iTunes library, re add it to playlist.. magically back on iPod after sync.
Image I posted, basic example of what iTunes did to FUCK UP MY LIBRARY.
That album was correctly listed prior to the update, before the iPhone sync’d I verified it was all on one album.
Perform sync.. Now I have two Albums.
“Did you also check the “Album Artist” field for the songs? ”
Again, you are not listening.
I DELETED 1 SONG FROM 1 OF THE DUPLICATE ALBUMS, ADDED IT BACK TO ITUNES AND IT MAGICALLY WENT TO THE CORRECT ALBUM. Or in other words with ZERO CHANGE TO THE FUCKING SONG/FILE iTunes FUCKED IT UP THE FIRST TIME.
pretty much ALL of the 240 songs that are gone from the playlist… look like that image, iTunes fucked up and split the albums. With ZERO CHANGE ON MY END I can delete/add the same song and it will show up correctly.
Again for the slow… THERE IS NOTHING WRONG OR MISLABELED WITH MY MUSIC, APPLE FUCKED UP AND IS SORTING THE MUSIC WRONG. (Ripped music for the most part, reading that *some* are having this issue with purchased music)
READ the article I posted, Read the article MDN referenced… APPLE HAS FUCKED UP AND IS CHANGING YOUR MUSIC FILES.
You really need to:
A. realize Apple has fucked up iTunes. (You defend iTunes yet do not understand that MANY are complaining about Apple CHANGING SONGS that Apple has no reason to change.. Ripped songs NOT purchased from Apple)
B. QUIT TROLLING.
Pretty sure you are guilty of both.
Wow. If this is how you treat strangers who are just trying to be helpful, I feel sorry for your “friends” (assuming you have any)…
“Wow. If this is how you treat strangers who are just trying to be helpful, I feel sorry for your “friends” (assuming you have any)…”
Nah, this is how I treat people who are ignorant.
EVERY TIME anything iTunes related comes up, YOU come out with the same old bullshit. USER problem, not Apple.
People tell you, and show you that you are wrong… and you keep at it trying to explain to them that they are too stupid to understand iTunes.
Word of advice, next time iTunes has a problem…. STFU and quit trying to “help” others… look at this thread, YOU are the constant in the arguments.
WTF does that tell you?…. not that you are trying to help others.. it shows you are annoying the fuck out of others.
“Especially because there is no reason for iTunes to change tags or artwork; none at all.”
Exactly. THIS is one of the problems with 12.2
THERE IS NO REASON FOR APPLE TO CHANGE OUR TAGS/ARTWORK. AT ALL.
The 240 songs.. a quick look, i’m finding many of them to be CHANGED BY iTUNES. THIS is the reason those 240 are not on the iPod, and oddly it’s currently only effecting the iPod..
Enough already. Heads need to roll. Year after year after year it’s the same old story, Apple can’t do services. And it’s not just iTunes or Apple music. This company’s value will be cut in half again if they aren’t careful. It’s like Microsoft is doing their services. Oh wait, it would at least be half ass then!
Weird. I have never had a problem with iTunes and my library. A user since the first iPod photo. I have numerous macs and even use it on my one Windows laptop. I do think the interface for music is takes a little getting used to. If there were separate apps it would be underwhelming seeing that Google play keeps similar things all grouped together on the Play store.
Why is the order (left to right) in iTunes 12.2.1 on my Macs: My Music, Playlists, For You, New, Radio, Connect, iTunes Store, but on my iPhone, the order in the “Music” app (not “iTunes”) is: For You, New, Radio, Connect, My Music? At least Apple should start both with “My Music” consistently, even if they can’t even manage to make a “Music” app for Macs, yet.
Petitioning General Mills and Yoplait USA: Protect wildlife – remove the inside flange from Yoplait containers.
Since 1978, when they first appeared on grocery store shelves, General Mills’ Yoplait yogurt containers have been killing wildlife, perhaps thousands of animals each year.
Tempted by the sweet smell, animals stick their heads inside the conical-shaped containers to lick the bottom, and they get stuck.
It’s not so much the “vercon” shape of the cup or the size of the opening (5.25″), but the thin lip, or flange, at the top that angles in, not out.
I agree that iTunes is a mess, but the main problems discussed in the article are really due to the MP3 file format and CDDB, and the Apple Music and iTunes Match services. If you use AAC or Apple Lossless format, never enable Apple Music or iTunes Match, and also carefully edit the metadata from CDDB when you import a CD, you can avoid most of the issues discussed in the article, even in iTunes 12.
But how does one avoid Ive’s ugly grey interface with hidden functions requiring complex Windows-like keystrokes to do things that used to be simple and intuitive?
Gee and auramac — screw you both. Paul and most reviewers out there are correct. iTunes is less user friendly than ever before. It’s a bloated mess. If you professional Apple apologists can’t see that, you’re fucking blind. Apple software today doesn’t even follow the many important GUI design requirements that Apple used to enforce for Mac software. This is not progress, it is stupid change to satisfy a designer’s whims. iTunes is in desperate need of division into multiple separate programs.
Gee — it is funny you should recommend that Paul go use Windows. Can’t speak for him, but a lot of us do support several platforms. That makes me more knowledgable than you about Apple’s competition. MS may have some dumb design choices, but let me tell you, Apple is not moving the goalposts on any of its freebie apps. Windows may be the rotting corpse of Microsoft’s cash cow, but you gotta wake up and realize that iTunes is Apple’s cash cow, and it’s severely diseased. Cook thinks that everyone wants to be on this fucking iCloud 24/7 and you can’t barely use anything without it breaking down. iTunes has been in decline since version 10 because that was the last time people at Apple realized that people still like to manage their own files on their own Macs.
And it really isn’t just iTunes that has been slowly rotting, iLife has been quietly killed and replaced with useless partial solutions. iWork is now just betaware imitations of Google Docs. And let’s not even get into the shite that is Maps.
Apple needs a software chief that doesn’t have his head stuck up Cook’s ass.
I dream of going back to iTunes 10. That was the last working version of iTunes.
I dislike how they’ve tried to dumb iTunes down whilst largely keeping the features intact. iTunes should do more than the iOS apps, it should almost be for power users, or it should at least be able to be used by power users. I have a load of playlists that I have edited over the years so that I have a constant supply of fresh music that I enjoy, but managing them and knowing where everything is has become so difficult that I hardly use it anymore. It’s not massively complicated, but it seems like there are three or four different layouts fighting for control, none of which do everything.
Apple may deserve this, but there is no small amount of media echo chamber here. Lazy people picking a trend to comment on instead of writing something interesting.
I think Apple traditionally has had a hard time dealing with massive amounts of media that’s easily accessible, or found. It’s one of the reasons I still buy eBooks on Amazon instead of iBooks. Apple is so set on making it pretty that little can actually be displayed or easily found. All of this stuff needs a rethink.
Whaaaaa! My iTunes doesn’t follow MY every move. As if everyone on the face of the Earth should have a customized piece software to work exactly the way they want it to.
Honestly… Getting sick and tired of USERS and CONSUMERS demanding way too much than any sinlgle piece of software could ever provide. Try writing an application and listening to the moronic complaints you’ll get when your app doesn’t dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s” the way everyone expects.
How about this… use the software in a way that BEST suits your needs.
Been using iTunes since version 1.0 and, yes, there have been many changes, but I’ve never had a serious problem that prevented me fro listening to my music.
And by the way, feel free to down vote… Here’s my vote for you morons… ,,|,.
Gee, because why should a paying customer of a premium product expect to get what they want?
You can’t expect every possible feature to be included or to be perfect, but the expectation that the whole package generally doesn’t suck is not unreasonable.
Does seem to be some echo chamber stuff going on. I have found Radio *far* better than before and a complete replacement for Pandora. I would have had to pay Pandora $10/mo for ad free, I might as well pay Apple. I get a *lot* more value.
For You has gotten better and better. There are more and more playlists and individual albums that make me feel like I’d like to click on them right away.
Must admit that I don’t use New, but then, no one ever accused me of being a “new” kinda person. Likewise with Connect. I guess the problem is that most of the people I’m trying to connect with are dead.
I have found that playing through my iPad using AirPlay while I do “real work” on my Mac has worked out great. And I can take the iPad with me to the couch and leave the real work where it belongs.
I can’t remember the last time i used iTunes on a Mac without enduring recurring spinning beach balls. On a Mac Pro, this is absolutely unacceptable.
Fire Ive, fix the interface, and give power users back the ability to manage their own collections. All media rentals need to be moved into a completely separate program(s).
I own my music. Most of it is legally ripped from CDs, very little purchased online. I like playlists. I would really like to be able to manage them and sync them to my devices again. But Apple makes it harder with each iTunes iteration.
It’s so true. I can’t figure out how iTunes works anymore so I use Spotify. Apple is ruining themselves.
Horrors: Comparing iTunes to Yoplait! OMG MDN, you’re right.
I can’t agree with the article author that “nothing ‘just works'”. But it certainly is now a fact that everything has a higher learning curve for the newbie and that iTunes has some remarkable PITA to use features that require remarkably oblique thinking to comprehend. IOW: There really is considerable Clunkiness and decay of Ease of Use dumped into iTunes with every new generation. Nearly every new feature is guaranteed to have some new ‘gotcha’ bug.
Analogy: Combing Cthulhu’s beard of tentacles. Good luck with that.
I want an alphabetical list of every artist in iTunes
store so I can at random and at my leisure access
every one and see what I like. How do I do that?
Anybody know?
Bring back Scott Forstall and let him kick ass in the software division, and keep Jon Ive out.The decision to release Apple Maps early was Tim Cook’s idea.
iTunes is beyond hope. Apple seems to think that it is okay to use it as a way of dragging users too the Apple store, while making the basic functionality hard to use.]
So stop whinging. Just use Clementine instead.
It is free
It “just works”
It is intuitive, yet powerful and full featured
It is everything iTunes ought to be (and was when it was first released)
I refuse to upgrade and lose my music. Apple has screwed up iTunes ever since 10.7 <- last good software.
If they just reinstate 10.7 it would be a huge improvement. But yes, they should re-do the whole thing and make it into different apps. Restore the full functionality but way better organized. And bring back Cover Flow. I want to see my albums. Steve loved Cover Flow and was proud to show it off.
What’s with all the negativity about the current iTunes…? 🙂 It “just works” for me. I understand it. I can make it do what I want, including using “power features” like smart playlists. The worst was iTunes 11.x (the previous major release), where it seemed to me that Apple was experimenting with getting rid of the sidebar without getting rid of it. It was “kludgy” (which is a term I usually reserve for Windows 8). People (long time users and novices) were confused by the default “new look” iTunes.
iTunes 12 brought back the sidebar and its familiarity, but streamlined. The difference is that in old-school iTunes, the sidebar was “everything.” Way back, with iTunes 1.0 (when it was a Mac OS 9 program), iTunes was primarily a music “jukebox.” Over the years, more other types of media and functionality were added… such as audiobooks, podcasts, iPods, iTunes Store, TV shows, movies, iTunes U, Internet radio, apps, etc. And the sidebar remained the access point for everything, becoming more and more cluttered and confusing (especially for new users).
With iTunes 12, the sidebar is there when you need it for it main purpose. To access and manage songs (and other media content). It is NOT there to access iPod settings or the iTunes Store or the many other functions that were shoved into the sidebar before. And iTunes now works with ONE type of media and functionality at a time, instead of having a cluttered screen that applies to all types of media and functionality. First choose what you want to do in iTunes from the horizontal bar that goes across the screen. The iTunes screen becomes optimized for that media type or function.
Try this… Click Music in the horizontal “access bar.” In the middle of that bar, click Playlists. And to the right, toggle the view to show Songs. That screen, with a simple sidebar along the left side of window and a simple sortable list of songs to the right IS classic iTunes. That’s close to how the earliest versions of iTunes looked and worked. That’s how my iTunes screen is set most of the time, except when accessing newer features like iTunes Store and now Apple Music (and the sidebar goes away because it’s not needed).
SO, instead of generalizing and whining about iTunes (because everyone else is doing it), reply back with specific complaint(s) about current iTunes design and functionality. 🙂
I’ll start myself… You can’t open a list (like a playlist or main library list) in a separate window like in versions before iTunes 11. That was a useful “power feature.” With the new Split Screen feature of El Capitan, it would be great If I could show a playlist as a separate window on half of my screen (making it more narrow) and the main iTunes window on the other half.
In fact, Apple can make this a Full Screen mode only feature, if the reason for not allowing a secondary window is because of Full Screen mode complications. When iTunes is in Full Screen mode only, have a command (in iTunes) that splits the screen to show any media item list separately on right side of screen.
John Martellaro hits the obvious issues:
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/review/apples-itunes-12-is-apples-worst-software-ever-should-be-withdrawn
but wait, there’s more:
– the sidebar used to make sense. Apple has now fucked it up by creating inconsistent views for everything. You can’t see in one view everything you have, nor rapidly switch to stuff like audiobooks, because Apple buried it.
– by attempting at every turn to force users into the Cloud, it’s harder than ever to manage what music you own, what music is rented, and so forth. There is a difference, and Apple doesn’t seem to get that.
– Apple used to make controls visible at all times — perhaps underintensified if not applicable. On a Mac, there is plenty of screen space to still do so. But now it’s all gray wasted space with hard-to-read labels. Three clicks or multiple key clicks are necessary to access simple functions, like editing metadata. What’s with the MS-like total reliance on right click contextual menus, Apple?
– user options aren’t even close to being intuitive. Is there a reason View Options is so convoluted?
– search is bag of hurt. can’t even do decent filtering because there is still no advanced search. So you rely on a complex list view — which Apple makes as hard to implement as possible if one wants a consistent look from one media to the next.
– finding anything in the iTunes Store is horrid. There are just some things i never want to see — why can’t i permanently filter them off?
– Still sharing Safari cookies, Apple? How fucking stupid is that???
– Syncing is an absolute nightmare. When it works, it’s slow. When it doesn’t, it pops up an error that nobody at Apple seems able to solve. The kids at the Apple store recommend wiping away everything and reloading — relying on you to have backed up your data, of course, because iCloud doesn’t guarantee data isn’t lost.
– Oh, did I mention how wonderful it is when plugging in an iPhone 6 that several GB of “other” was clogging the hard drive? Nobody at Apple has a clue what it is, how to identify it, how to view it, or how to manage it. When iCloud or Mac sync fucks up, it permanently eats up your iPhone memory, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it other than wipe your iPhone clean and start all over.
Apple’s iTunes is more and more like Microsoft shit software every day. There is no excuse for this incompetence at Apple. Fire away, apologists, because I am not alone at speaking the truth. If MDN chooses to delete this comment, it will only show what cowards they are when it comes to the truth about what has happened to their immaculate company.
> You can’t see in one view everything you have, nor rapidly switch to stuff like audiobooks, because Apple buried it.
I think that’s the whole point. Previously, to see songs, you clicked on Music in the sidebar, under LIBRARY. To see Audiobooks, you clicked on Audiobooks. Now, you click on Music or Audiobooks (their symbolic buttons) in the horizontal “access bar” to pick a media type. It’s still a click; it’s not “buried.”
If you want to manage your iPod, the old way was to click on your iPod in the sidebar, under DEVICES. If you were looking at your long list of playlists, you may need to scroll the sidebar to find DEVICES. Now, you click on the iPod’s symbol in the access bar. If I wanted to go to the iTunes Store, the old way was to click on iTunes Store in the sidebar. And now I click on iTunes Store, always visible in the access bar.
The conceptual difference is that everything was previously in the sidebar, “buried” there in clutter and confusion. Now, the media types and main functions are clearly visible in the horizontal access bar. You pick what you want to do in iTunes there, NOT in the sidebar. The sidebar is there to when needed to access and manage the selected media type (which was its original function), or to help perform a function (like managing devices). When it’s not needed, it is NOT always visible wasting valuable space on the iTunes window with irrelevant clutter.
Lets address a few of your “stories” shall we….
-Sidebar
go to “…” on top of sidebar–> go to “edit” –>> Add whatever you want to appear (podcasts, Audiobooks, WHATEVER!!!)
-Can’t distinguish RENTED from OWNED Music
Seems I can with “MyMusic” ……… “iTunes Store”
-Search is a “Bag Of Hurt”
“bag of Hurt” label stolen from Steve Jobs….try to use your own words……But lets address it anyway…..
BOGUS CLAPTRAP
-View Options convoluted
WTF? How? You ignoramus!!
– Still sharing Safari cookies, Apple?
Huh? So Fucking What!
– Syncing is an absolute nightmare.
No it is not. But I do agree that if you unplug your device while it is syncing that it will create something called “Other”. Solution……don’t unplug your device in the middle of a sync you stupid dork!
Paul #2, your arrogant attempt at a response doesn’t even merit further conversation with you. As an Apple user for over 25 years, and an iTunes user since version 1.0, I think I know very well how things used to work — and how they do not today. If you are happy with Apple’s MS-like trajectory, then keep cheering on everything Apple releases without any objective assessment. People who like Apple actually point out where Apple is tripping up.
One more thing: if Apple is so proud of iTunes, then why isn’t it available on the Mac App Store? Yeah, we know. It’s bundled with Yosemite, which garners a super awesome 3 stars out of 5 on the App Store ratings. That is absolutely pathetic. The kludgy mess of iTunes factors into that rating, friends. If iTunes was a standalone app and subject to any competition in the marketplace, it would be easily knocked off its pedestal. It is time for Apple to stop milking Job’s creations with lame non-productive updates and start improving fundamental performance and usability of core apps. Charge real money for good software, I will pay. This perpetual beta freeware that chains everyone to the damn iCloud is worth little more than the asking price. Many of us would switch if there was a reasonable alternative (which will arrive one of these days).
PS – poor software design is why Apple’s stock price continues to encounter headwinds. When Apple can’t even delight its longtime core user base with mandatory apps like iTunes, what hope does Apple have of making real headway in Enterprise, Small Business, Engineering, Medical, and other fields that Apple currently has ~ 0% penetration? Anyone? Hell, even many recording studios have abandoned Apple for Windows-based software. Apple dumbed down its stuff too much, and it continues to do so.
Sorry, but anyone who thinks syncing in iTunes is not completely f**ked up must have never used it.
I NEVER unplug my device in the middle, and yet it destroys the music libraries (mix of iTunes / ripped CDs) on every one of the 5 iPhones in our house with every sync. As many other people have said, and yet you refuse to believe, the advice from Apple is to wipe the content from the device and rebuild it. Don’t get me started on the mysterious “other” data that cannot be explained. This has NOTHING to do with unplugging in the middle of syncing.
I have been a loyal Apple user for over 30 years, and I can say with some authority that this is the biggest POS Apple has ever put out. Any company or person can make a mistake, but what is making people angry is that it doesn’t seem like Apple is trying to fix it.
Apple software, particularly anything that is cloud based, is really poor compared to their competition. Apple seems to have a rather cavalier attitude toward data protection in their cloud services. There are still way too many stories of document loss from iCloud Drive either because of sync bugs or an unintuitive UI that makes it way too easy to inadvertently delete something yourself.
I would gladly forgo a portion of my AAPL dividend payment if it meant that Apple would spend some R&D money on fixing this stuff.
> by attempting at every turn to force users into the Cloud, it’s harder than ever to manage what music you own
If you want to use Apple Music, which is a streaming service, you need to enable the iCloud music library. If you want to keep using your own library only, don’t enable iCloud music library. Pretty simple.
I’ve been using iTunes Match since it was available, and I don’t see this transition as being significantly different. The brilliance of Apple here is that they managed to merge the new streaming service with the old library-centric iTunes. I can add new (subscribed) songs from Apple Music to my music library, and they appear right there, along side my existing (owned) songs. I can add the new songs to my existing playlists. When they play, they are streaming from Apple’s servers (unless you downloaded a copy), but the experience is no different than songs playing from local storage. It’s supposed to be seamless when playing the ALL of your music, not a barrier between your old (owned) music and your new (subscribed) music. Other services (like Spotify) create a barrier, iTunes does not.
I still think the basic sidebar-main window configuration was iTunes’ main, most elegant strength. I see no reason why that should have been abandoned or made optional etc. Doesn’t matter how many things get added on to the iTunes ecosystem – it should all be possible to access from the sidebar-main window combo. They tried to fix something that wasn’t broken – and needlessly complicated things in the process.
I’m not going to reply to every point, because some points are related to other points… You seem to ramble. 🙂
Search works well in the new iTunes. It toggles between My Library and Apple Music, which is useful. It reminds me of Spotlight, which is meant to work without complicated “Advanced Search” options. Just type things like part of the song title and artist name, and it finds relevant stuff.
“Other” for an iOS device is data that third-party apps store on the device. For example, I use the Kindle app. Ebooks stored on the device is categorized as “Other.” Game save data would be “Other.” You can’t manage “Other” using iTunes. Frankly, since iOS 5, I’ve been treating my iOS devices as “peers” to my Mac, not subordinate devices. I only time I connect them to my Mac is for doing an occasional manual backup. Otherwise, they sync data (and backup) with iCloud (including my iTunes music library) and apps are installed directly.
> Apple’s iTunes is more and more like Microsoft shit software every day. There is no excuse for this incompetence at Apple….
Just stating something repeatedly does not make it the “truth.”
You NEED a separate window of playlists BECAUSE you don’t know how to use the latest iTunes.
Do yourself a favour and just spend a little time to learn the features of the latest iTunes.
You don’t know me, so don’t tell me I’m a novice iTunes user. I can use iTunes fine without a separate window. However, it was useful when managing playlists because I can see what is already on the playlist WHILE adding (dragging) new songs to it. Or if I was browsing the iTunes Store to buy new songs, I had a separate window open showing my iTunes music library, so I can quickly check to see if I already owned a particular song (from another source). When I manage document files using Finder, I often open TWO Finder windows; I can do it in just one Finder window, but it is more convenient in many cases to have two windows open. It’s like that…
Do yourself a favor and learn not to make stupid assumptions… 🙂
You prattling on about a separate window for playlists since the year 2000 is nauseating. You don’t know me either. But I know you are stupid because you haven’t figured out how to use iTunes properly. I don’t care how LONG you have been using it. Length of time is no indication of you being able to use it.properly………right? Now try not to think how you know better than Apple. Try, instead to think how Apple implements the thing you want to do. You will then find a WOW moment and slap your head about how stupid you have been.
You keep telling me I don’t know how to use iTunes… If there’s a way to do what I describe above with current iTunes, tell me, Paul the iTunes guru. 🙂
Bootlicker .
Hey, it’s the mini-me troll! 🙂
FYI – The MDN Take, which is typically clever and informative, is the actual bloated piece of generalized crap here. 🙂 And the comparison of iTunes to a Yoplait cup is so stupid, it’s funny.
iTunes 11 was bad. iTunes 12 is the proper correction, not continuation of bad. The only constructive part of the lengthy MDN Take (that is not an arrogant and annoying whine-festival) is the advice to separate the functions of iTunes into separate apps. But the specifics of how to do it are conveniently absent. Ironically, iTunes 12 is functionally doing what the MDN Take suggests.
It’s like the old well-remembered AppleWorks program. It was ONE app with functional modules (like Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and more) that interacted when needed. For example, you could put graphics and a spreadsheet inside a “word processing” document. The design of iTunes 12 has a horizontal bar that links the various functions together, and also separates them. If you want to access and manage songs, click on the symbolic button for Music on the bar. The iTunes window becomes optimized for that function; it’s the iTunes “Music app.” For Movies, click Movies button in the bar. Need to manage your iPod? Click the iPod’s button in the bar, and the iPod’s settings and management screen appears. It’s the “Devices app.”
This “modular” approach provides the same benefits as completely separate apps. Click on a button for a media type or function, and the iTunes window is optimized for that purpose. No need to launch five (or however many) separate apps. And it makes future upgrades easier. Lets say the “Connect” part of Apple Music is not very popular. Apple can just remove it (and maybe replace it with something new) without functionally affecting the other existing parts of iTunes.
But like old AppleWorks, there’s an advantage in keeping it all together in one app. And that’s interaction. For example, if a user syncs their iPod or iOS device to iTunes, what is this brilliant approach for separate apps? A Devices app, an iOS App Store app, a Music app, a TV Show app, a Movies app, etc. And they need to be launched and running concurrently to sync with the device? How elegant and efficient…
Having separate apps for “old iTunes” and new Apple Music does not work either. Well, it would work, but that’s just a copy of Spotify and any other streaming music app. Separate. The elegance and wisdom of Apple’s approach is to value what Apple’s customers have created over many years in their iTunes library. The customer is the “curator” of their own existing music collection, and it needs to be appreciated (or you alienate the customer). The playlists, the ratings, the effort to import CDs, the careful selection of what songs to buy as albums and “a la carte”…
Apple Music is not a separate service. Subscribed songs from Apple Music can be added directly to the customer’s existing iTunes library, and it mostly looks and acts like any other song. The subscribed songs can be placed on existing playlists, mixed in seamlessly with owned songs. The user experience is the same, whether the song is streaming from Apple’s servers or playing from local storage. THAT is valuing what the customer has created. THAT is what the competition cannot match, or even attempt to copy. SO, don’t think off Apple Music as something that can be separated into its own app. It will ONLY succeed BECAUSE it is designed as an integral part of iTunes.
Don’t you have a hobby? A dog? A girlfriend? OK, no girlfriend? get out in the sunlight once in a while. Crawl out of your mom’s basement you pompous prick.! We are tired of your arrogant, thoughtless rambling.
Thanks for reading… 🙂
Long story: iTunes will not copy 240 songs to my iPod…
I have a playlist with 500 songs, iTunes updated last night (been putting it off) and it deleted the 240 songs.
My iPhone has not sync’d yet, all songs are there. But the iPod had them deleted.
Removed the playlist, re added it… Still won’t copy them. I can play them on the iMac.. Just won’t copy over. And they were on the iPod playing yesterday.
iTunes has crashed more times in the past 2 months than it ever has..
The sidebar changes still annoy’s the shit out of me. It’s better.. But still shit.
Side note.. I just looked at the iPod, many of the songs that are missing from the playlist.. Are on the iPod, just not listed in the playlist anymore.
On possibility is that your computer is not currently authorized for your Apple ID. This would be an issue, IF those 240 songs are older purchases from the iTunes Store (128 kbps) that use DRM (copy protection). If you used more than one Apple ID to make iTunes Store purchases in the past, your computer needs to be authorized for the older ones too, not just your most recent. The command to authorize is in iTunes, under the Account menu. Use that command for each Apple ID you have used to make purchases from iTunes Store, not just your most recent Apple ID.
Another possibility is that there is data corruption on your computer’s hard drive affecting those 240 songs. Or the song files may have been moved (or deleted) outside of iTunes, so iTunes can no longer find them. Try playing one of those 240 songs that do not sync in iTunes.
If you have not already, try doing a Restore on the iPod using iTunes.
Never in my life have I purchased a single song from iTunes.
Every song I have is ripped from CD.
Try again.
Figure this one out..
Yesterday, 1 album, today… 2. “get info” shows everything the exact same. Copied info from one song, pasted into another song (album/artist/year etc trying to figure out WTF is wrong) no change.
Like I said, the SONGS are ON THE iPOD… can play them just fine, just NOT listed in the playlist anymore.
Played song in iTunes. Removed same song from iTunes.. added it to iTunes again, added to playlist.. BOOM back on the iPod after a sync.
Apple has done F’d up iTunes. Again.
99% of the time iTunes works great for me, 12 has been a f’ing joke.
If problems return (or continue), and you have not Restored the iPod, do that in iTunes. This will erase the iPod and give it a fresh start with syncing. Occasionally, the database of songs on the iPod becomes corrupted so the iPod and iTunes are not “in sync” anymore on what’s there and what’s not there.
I own MANY iPod’s, including a 4th gen iPod from 2004 (replaced 20GB hard drive with 64GB compact flash card on adapter) and the first (white plastic NOT clip-on) iPod shuffle. They all sync fine with the latest iTunes; Apple even improved layout of the iPod screens in iTunes 12.
Again, you are not listening….
THE SONG IS THERE. DELETE/ADD it’s BACK….
It’s iTunes fucking up. NOT THE iPOD… it’s ONLY WITH THE iPOD. My iPad and my iPhone are perfectly fine.
The song IS ON THE iPOD, just NOT LISTED in the PLAYLIST.
The screenshot I posted above, delete one of the songs from “1” of the albums.. drag it back into iTunes and it MAGICALLY adds itself to the 2nd album.
Just scrolled through my iTunes library.. guess what? there are MULTIPLE instances of this.
restoring the iPod changes nothing, the PROBLEM is with iTunes.
I have had multiple iPods over the years, this has never happened before. the ONLY thing that has changed… I let iTunes update to 12.2 last night.
And you MAY want to do some research, this is a known issue with 12.2 (kinda why this and many other articles exist bashing Apple over iTunes 12.2 btw)
I am obviously “listening,” but not understanding… Perhaps you are not explaining it very well. 🙂
The song “is on the iPod” (so you can play it on the iPod), but it’s “not listed in the playlist”? What “playlist” is that? On the iPod? In iTunes? How is this playlist involved in syncing your iPod? See what I’m dealing with here?
So, that image you posted has nothing to do with the iPod thing? I was confused…
Did you also check the “Album Artist” field for the songs? Sometimes it’s blank. Sometimes it’s filled in, often with the same entry as the “Artist” field. But if some are filled in and some are blank (or different) for songs on an album, iTunes might consider the one album to be separate albums.
Select all of the songs on the album at the same time (it may help to use the simple “Songs” list view), and do a Get Info on the selection. What you do on that Info window affects the entire selection. (Re)-enter the Artist, Album Artist, Album in this Info window so that they match precisely for all songs on album.
Song was DELETED from the playlist ON THE IPOD.
SONG STILL ON IPOD.
Playlist on my iMAC STILL at 500, zero change. iPhone and iPad both sync’d now, both fucked.
Delete song from iTunes library, re add it to iTunes library, re add it to playlist.. magically back on iPod after sync.
Image I posted, basic example of what iTunes did to FUCK UP MY LIBRARY.
That album was correctly listed prior to the update, before the iPhone sync’d I verified it was all on one album.
Perform sync.. Now I have two Albums.
“Did you also check the “Album Artist” field for the songs? ”
Again, you are not listening.
I DELETED 1 SONG FROM 1 OF THE DUPLICATE ALBUMS, ADDED IT BACK TO ITUNES AND IT MAGICALLY WENT TO THE CORRECT ALBUM. Or in other words with ZERO CHANGE TO THE FUCKING SONG/FILE iTunes FUCKED IT UP THE FIRST TIME.
pretty much ALL of the 240 songs that are gone from the playlist… look like that image, iTunes fucked up and split the albums. With ZERO CHANGE ON MY END I can delete/add the same song and it will show up correctly.
Again for the slow… THERE IS NOTHING WRONG OR MISLABELED WITH MY MUSIC, APPLE FUCKED UP AND IS SORTING THE MUSIC WRONG. (Ripped music for the most part, reading that *some* are having this issue with purchased music)
READ the article I posted, Read the article MDN referenced… APPLE HAS FUCKED UP AND IS CHANGING YOUR MUSIC FILES.
You really need to:
A. realize Apple has fucked up iTunes. (You defend iTunes yet do not understand that MANY are complaining about Apple CHANGING SONGS that Apple has no reason to change.. Ripped songs NOT purchased from Apple)
B. QUIT TROLLING.
Pretty sure you are guilty of both.
Wow. If this is how you treat strangers who are just trying to be helpful, I feel sorry for your “friends” (assuming you have any)…
“Wow. If this is how you treat strangers who are just trying to be helpful, I feel sorry for your “friends” (assuming you have any)…”
Nah, this is how I treat people who are ignorant.
EVERY TIME anything iTunes related comes up, YOU come out with the same old bullshit. USER problem, not Apple.
People tell you, and show you that you are wrong… and you keep at it trying to explain to them that they are too stupid to understand iTunes.
Word of advice, next time iTunes has a problem…. STFU and quit trying to “help” others… look at this thread, YOU are the constant in the arguments.
WTF does that tell you?…. not that you are trying to help others.. it shows you are annoying the fuck out of others.
http://www.macworld.com/article/2943723/why-you-might-not-want-to-upgrade-to-itunes-12-2.html
“Especially because there is no reason for iTunes to change tags or artwork; none at all.”
Exactly. THIS is one of the problems with 12.2
THERE IS NO REASON FOR APPLE TO CHANGE OUR TAGS/ARTWORK. AT ALL.
The 240 songs.. a quick look, i’m finding many of them to be CHANGED BY iTUNES. THIS is the reason those 240 are not on the iPod, and oddly it’s currently only effecting the iPod..
Enough already. Heads need to roll. Year after year after year it’s the same old story, Apple can’t do services. And it’s not just iTunes or Apple music. This company’s value will be cut in half again if they aren’t careful. It’s like Microsoft is doing their services. Oh wait, it would at least be half ass then!
Agree with your every word.
Same goes for the ghastly mess called Photos.
Weird. I have never had a problem with iTunes and my library. A user since the first iPod photo. I have numerous macs and even use it on my one Windows laptop. I do think the interface for music is takes a little getting used to. If there were separate apps it would be underwhelming seeing that Google play keeps similar things all grouped together on the Play store.
Why is the order (left to right) in iTunes 12.2.1 on my Macs: My Music, Playlists, For You, New, Radio, Connect, iTunes Store, but on my iPhone, the order in the “Music” app (not “iTunes”) is: For You, New, Radio, Connect, My Music? At least Apple should start both with “My Music” consistently, even if they can’t even manage to make a “Music” app for Macs, yet.
Ask ken1w, he will tell you how you are incorrect in your thinking.
iTunes must die! Long live iTunes!
Petitioning General Mills and Yoplait USA: Protect wildlife – remove the inside flange from Yoplait containers.
Since 1978, when they first appeared on grocery store shelves, General Mills’ Yoplait yogurt containers have been killing wildlife, perhaps thousands of animals each year.
Tempted by the sweet smell, animals stick their heads inside the conical-shaped containers to lick the bottom, and they get stuck.
It’s not so much the “vercon” shape of the cup or the size of the opening (5.25″), but the thin lip, or flange, at the top that angles in, not out.
https://www.change.org/p/for-35-years-yoplait-cups-have-been-killing-wildlife
This problem can also be solved by properly disposing of your Yoplait cups. Garbage is a big problem and it is made worse by those that litter.
I agree that iTunes is a mess, but the main problems discussed in the article are really due to the MP3 file format and CDDB, and the Apple Music and iTunes Match services. If you use AAC or Apple Lossless format, never enable Apple Music or iTunes Match, and also carefully edit the metadata from CDDB when you import a CD, you can avoid most of the issues discussed in the article, even in iTunes 12.
But how does one avoid Ive’s ugly grey interface with hidden functions requiring complex Windows-like keystrokes to do things that used to be simple and intuitive?
Time for you to switch to Windows 10 where the world is perfect and everything “just works extremely well”!
You will LOVE Zune’s superior quality music interface and design!
You will never want to be screwed by Apple again!
Blaming Ive? For what- your own stupidity?
Gee and auramac — screw you both. Paul and most reviewers out there are correct. iTunes is less user friendly than ever before. It’s a bloated mess. If you professional Apple apologists can’t see that, you’re fucking blind. Apple software today doesn’t even follow the many important GUI design requirements that Apple used to enforce for Mac software. This is not progress, it is stupid change to satisfy a designer’s whims. iTunes is in desperate need of division into multiple separate programs.
Gee — it is funny you should recommend that Paul go use Windows. Can’t speak for him, but a lot of us do support several platforms. That makes me more knowledgable than you about Apple’s competition. MS may have some dumb design choices, but let me tell you, Apple is not moving the goalposts on any of its freebie apps. Windows may be the rotting corpse of Microsoft’s cash cow, but you gotta wake up and realize that iTunes is Apple’s cash cow, and it’s severely diseased. Cook thinks that everyone wants to be on this fucking iCloud 24/7 and you can’t barely use anything without it breaking down. iTunes has been in decline since version 10 because that was the last time people at Apple realized that people still like to manage their own files on their own Macs.
And it really isn’t just iTunes that has been slowly rotting, iLife has been quietly killed and replaced with useless partial solutions. iWork is now just betaware imitations of Google Docs. And let’s not even get into the shite that is Maps.
Apple needs a software chief that doesn’t have his head stuck up Cook’s ass.
I dream of going back to iTunes 10. That was the last working version of iTunes.
When was the last version that let you open multiple windows into your music?
That was the last really working version for me.
I dislike how they’ve tried to dumb iTunes down whilst largely keeping the features intact. iTunes should do more than the iOS apps, it should almost be for power users, or it should at least be able to be used by power users. I have a load of playlists that I have edited over the years so that I have a constant supply of fresh music that I enjoy, but managing them and knowing where everything is has become so difficult that I hardly use it anymore. It’s not massively complicated, but it seems like there are three or four different layouts fighting for control, none of which do everything.
Apple may deserve this, but there is no small amount of media echo chamber here. Lazy people picking a trend to comment on instead of writing something interesting.
Yes, and others like MDN just panicking over the bad press. Relax.
I think Apple traditionally has had a hard time dealing with massive amounts of media that’s easily accessible, or found. It’s one of the reasons I still buy eBooks on Amazon instead of iBooks. Apple is so set on making it pretty that little can actually be displayed or easily found. All of this stuff needs a rethink.
Whaaaaa! My iTunes doesn’t follow MY every move. As if everyone on the face of the Earth should have a customized piece software to work exactly the way they want it to.
Honestly… Getting sick and tired of USERS and CONSUMERS demanding way too much than any sinlgle piece of software could ever provide. Try writing an application and listening to the moronic complaints you’ll get when your app doesn’t dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s” the way everyone expects.
How about this… use the software in a way that BEST suits your needs.
Been using iTunes since version 1.0 and, yes, there have been many changes, but I’ve never had a serious problem that prevented me fro listening to my music.
And by the way, feel free to down vote… Here’s my vote for you morons… ,,|,.
Gee, because why should a paying customer of a premium product expect to get what they want?
You can’t expect every possible feature to be included or to be perfect, but the expectation that the whole package generally doesn’t suck is not unreasonable.
I just pushed play and music came out… so something just worked.
Even Microsoft software can do that.
Does seem to be some echo chamber stuff going on. I have found Radio *far* better than before and a complete replacement for Pandora. I would have had to pay Pandora $10/mo for ad free, I might as well pay Apple. I get a *lot* more value.
For You has gotten better and better. There are more and more playlists and individual albums that make me feel like I’d like to click on them right away.
Must admit that I don’t use New, but then, no one ever accused me of being a “new” kinda person. Likewise with Connect. I guess the problem is that most of the people I’m trying to connect with are dead.
I have found that playing through my iPad using AirPlay while I do “real work” on my Mac has worked out great. And I can take the iPad with me to the couch and leave the real work where it belongs.
I can’t remember the last time i used iTunes on a Mac without enduring recurring spinning beach balls. On a Mac Pro, this is absolutely unacceptable.
Fire Ive, fix the interface, and give power users back the ability to manage their own collections. All media rentals need to be moved into a completely separate program(s).
So your suggestion is that users should play music, and then start a completely different application – to play more music.
No, not to PLAY, but to MANAGE.
I own my music. Most of it is legally ripped from CDs, very little purchased online. I like playlists. I would really like to be able to manage them and sync them to my devices again. But Apple makes it harder with each iTunes iteration.
It’s so true. I can’t figure out how iTunes works anymore so I use Spotify. Apple is ruining themselves.
Horrors: Comparing iTunes to Yoplait! OMG MDN, you’re right.
I can’t agree with the article author that “nothing ‘just works'”. But it certainly is now a fact that everything has a higher learning curve for the newbie and that iTunes has some remarkable PITA to use features that require remarkably oblique thinking to comprehend. IOW: There really is considerable Clunkiness and decay of Ease of Use dumped into iTunes with every new generation. Nearly every new feature is guaranteed to have some new ‘gotcha’ bug.
Analogy: Combing Cthulhu’s beard of tentacles. Good luck with that.
I want an alphabetical list of every artist in iTunes
store so I can at random and at my leisure access
every one and see what I like. How do I do that?
Anybody know?
Bring back Scott Forstall and let him kick ass in the software division, and keep Jon Ive out.The decision to release Apple Maps early was Tim Cook’s idea.
iTunes is beyond hope. Apple seems to think that it is okay to use it as a way of dragging users too the Apple store, while making the basic functionality hard to use.]
So stop whinging. Just use Clementine instead.
It is free
It “just works”
It is intuitive, yet powerful and full featured
It is everything iTunes ought to be (and was when it was first released)
Quality content is the important to be a focus for the users
to pay a quick visit the web page, that’s what this web page is providing.