[arnsaks]

Bravo! I've had the same thoughts, but I thought I was Neanderthal in my thinking. Thanks for confirming that even us long time Mac users know what's right.

[richsadams]

nomster, on 12 April 2012 - 11:17 PM, said:

The one person I know who moved from iPhone to Android surprised me by saying one of the main things he missed was no equivalent to iTunes for Android which would just sync all types of content in one go.

I think having all media synced via one application makes sense - but I often wonder how newcomers deal with so many things hidden away in categories on left and then a tabbed window - a redesign might be worthwhile but abandoning the all-encompassing nature of iTunes would introduce more complexity to managing an iOS device - so I doubt that Apple would want to do that.

Back when Verizon didn't carry the iPhone my wife wanted a "smart phone" and opted for a Motorola Droid. Not a bad phone or even OS, but I can certainly identify with the poor Android folks that would like an iTunes-like app for syncing music, photos, videos, etc. I told my wife that now that she had a "smart phone" that she no longer needed to carry around her iPod and her Droid to listen to music...I could move the music and videos on her iPod to the Droid. What a nightmare that turned out to be. After downloading and trying out multiple apps on both my computer as well as her phone I finally found a combination that worked. However it was very cumbersome and painful.

Being quite familiar with computers and even iOS (iPad and iPhone) now it really makes me appreciate the simplicity of iTunes, at least for syncing music, photos, etc. "Set it and forget it" for the most part.

That said, I heartily agree that iTunes needs to be divvied up into different applications dedicated and focused on a few specific tasks. Some folks may only need "iTunes" while others may only need "iBiz" and others something else. Or maybe as suggested a single app would work with a redesign allowing users to select specific uses and perhaps disabling others, I don't know. But keep it to a minimum and simple though because I certainly wouldn't recommend going down the "you're on your own" Chinese menu Android path.

This post has been edited by richsadams: 16 April 2012 - 08:34 AM

[prouser1]

Despite one or two posters saying "I have no trouble" and sarcastically adding that their Mac must be magical this article is spot on. iTunes has become blotted and many aspects of it have become complicated and/or confusing. Of course you can get it to work and of course many aspects of it are also excellent but it is no longer the simple, "just works" design has always been the back bone of Apple's success.

[d4nelli]

When you are the only player in town and your customers have all your devices, there is a tendency to become complacent. We've seen this before. I think iTunes is a laggard of an application that is more problematic then ease of use. When managing TBs of music files, it fails miserably.

[Bryan]

I'm really surprised that people are having any of the problems with iTunes that are listed in the article or the comments. I've never seen any of these. It's probably the only piece of software that always works the way it's supposed to. By far, it is Apple's best product. The way it syncs all content is it's strongest asset. I plug my iPhone in, it's automatically updated, and off I go, what could be simpler?

[zamiraMin]

Why that complicated? I just use Noteburner to convert the iTunes purchases and rentals to any devices I want, it's super convenient!

[GXGOW]

I hope they will do that in iTunes 11.

[Bronco]

Many times I just wish that after I plug my iPhone into my iMac, it would just show as an external hard drive and I could drag files in and out in Finder and, obviously, use it as an external hard drive.

[richsadams]

Bronco, on 17 April 2012 - 09:05 AM, said:

Many times I just wish that after I plug my iPhone into my iMac, it would just show as an external hard drive and I could drag files in and out in Finder and, obviously, use it as an external hard drive.

I don't have time to look right now, but there are several apps that do that.

This post has been edited by richsadams: 17 April 2012 - 09:17 AM

[NormM]

KPOM, on 10 April 2012 - 07:10 AM, said:

say you would like to have music and videos from your home Mac on your iPad, and iBooks content from a different Mac or PC onto that same iPad. You can't do it. As soon as you attempt to sync iBooks to the second PC/Mac, it erases all your music and videos that you copied over from the first PC/Mac.

If you have iTunes Sharing turned on, you can see content on other PC's in iTunes and copy media and apps back and forth by dragging and dropping. Since books are so small they're probably the easiest to copy. But I there obviously should be less clumsy solutions.

[johnmerkler]

I've heard it said that Jobs considered iTunes the "Microsoft" killer app. Once you're on, you never get off. Seems like it's almost there. I agree that it has gone WAY beyond being simple app, now it's more like a lurking monster. We just 'won' an iPad at an industry event and my wife has found it wonderful to use as a image display for her presentations. However, as her in-house I/T lacky, I've weathered my share of 'sync' issues....as well as the dreaded erase and 'sync.' Apart from that, it takes FOREVER to sync high quality images -which will only get worse with the new display's. I wish they'd kill the current version, and as Jason indicated, create some fast, simple dedicated apps to chose from.

[jgvp]

You know there has to be something wrong going on in this iTunes conglomeration when you wish to order a movie to view on your AppleTV and it asks " do you wish iTunes to remember your ID and Password ?" When you answer "Yes" each time you imagine you have the problem solved only to run into the same routine the next time you order another movie. I personally get so frustrated by it that Apple misses out when I no longer bother to use AppleTV for my movie rentals.

[k88dad]

NormM, on 17 April 2012 - 10:56 AM, said:

KPOM, on 10 April 2012 - 07:10 AM, said:

say you would like to have music and videos from your home Mac on your iPad, and iBooks content from a different Mac or PC onto that same iPad. You can't do it. As soon as you attempt to sync iBooks to the second PC/Mac, it erases all your music and videos that you copied over from the first PC/Mac.

If you have iTunes Sharing turned on, you can see content on other PC's in iTunes and copy media and apps back and forth by dragging and dropping. Since books are so small they're probably the easiest to copy. But I there obviously should be less clumsy solutions.

Another, more low-tech, solution is an inexpensive USB flash (thumb) drive to move things between the computers. Both solutions do require that the receiving computer is authorized to play the other's content.

[NightshadesMac]

MacPower, on 10 April 2012 - 05:12 PM, said:

I find that only the geeks have these problems with iTunes. The average mac/pc user connects their iOS device to iTunes, drags a few tunes and vids over maybe shop for some music a video or an app or two and they're done.

That isn't necessarily the case. I'm not a geek but I've uncovered problems caused by iTunes evolution to its current state. I've learned where most of the land mines are and try to avoid them but they are there. Perhaps I'm somewhere between the average user and a geek but I too feel that iTunes needs a massive overhaul. It has taken on too much and has lost it's intuitive ease of use. I won't make recommendations for what Apple should do in specific. I don't work for Apple and they don't do focus groups and their philosophy is more, "The user doesn't always know what's best so we'll tell you how it's going to be done".

Still, it's time for a re-think. If Apple is good at one thing it's taking an idea and making it better and it's time they applied that magical touch to their own ideas because anything can grow beyond your intent, given enough time.