[Macworld]

Post your comments for An offer of iTunes advice here

[Inkling]

Good topic. Synching Macs and iDevices is certainly getting to be a mess, with options including iTunes, WiFi and iCloud. Sometimes the calendar on my iPad is missing events. Change the synching options and suddenly events are double-entered. And where did all those extra calendars, the ones with email addresses, come from? I never created them. Bad, bad, bad.

For all to long, Apple's been patching apps like iTunes, making and ungainly, unmanageable mess that even Microsoft's Word designers would find disgusting. With Mountain Lion, Apple needs to do two things.

1. Drop the "All our users are as stupid as stumps" changes in Lion and give us the old way of saving back. The old way not only worked, it worked better.

2. Fix the muddled mess that's iTunes and synching for something well-designed and coherent.

Note the bizarre conflict between #1 and #2. With #1 and Lion, Apple forced ungainly, clumsy changes on 95% of its users in order to make life a bit easier for the really stupid 5% . While with #2, and Lion they continued to use iTunes/synching so ill-designed they confuse even experience users like me (22 years).

Apple needs to acquire a little humility and start listening to its users. Cupertino doesn't always know best.

[filebunch]

There still is an ongoing problem with anyone using the iCloud service with regards to updating play counts and last played, causing many Smart Lists to not function. Has been going on for months without a resolution.

[shawnminerg9us]

I really do like having all of the 'controls' for my iOS devices in one place (iTunes) like I do for my MacBook (System Preferences). I have an iPod Classic for massive amounts of music, an iPod Touch for game apps and audio books, an old iPad1 for my wife and my iPad(3) for all kinds of apps, web surfing and reading. Each of them has a unique position in life and as such is set up differently. I would hate to have to go to two or three or four different places to set up music, contacts, addresses, iBooks, (many of my e-books are out of copyright and come from Archive.org or Gutenberg) audio books or Old Time Radio and the pictures from iPhoto. (which I use only to get stuff onto my devices).

Yes, there need to be many changes! I'm afraid to sync my wife's iPhone3 to her PowerBook for fear she will loose her data (KNOWING it will be MY fault!!!) and I continue to sync her iPad1 to my system for the same reason. I don't think that splitting iTunes into pieces would help here. iCloud doesn't do it for me as I'm on Snow Leopard (for the Rosetta locked programs) and my wife's PowerBook, well...

(and speaking of clouds(!!!), if ANY Windoz machine can use the iCloud, why can't ANY Mac do the same! Sounds like they are trying to FORCE folks to upgrade!!! (Which I would have done gladly except for that Rosetta thing!)

One thing that I've heard from talking with Apple support is that the "Provide iTunes Feedback" option, while monitored 'diligently' by Apple folks, is VERY underutilized! AND that they DO take seriously that which is posted there... SO, if you don't like the way iTunes works, send them a line or two (maybe one 'idea' per note so you don't overwhelm them...) and let them know! If more folks complained TO Apple rather than AT Apple (or to each other), maybe things could be different!

And, while you are at it, PLEASE tell them that you want the iPad's Music screen to be returned to the way it was and still IS on the iPod Touch!!! I really hate seeing my Playlists turned into "Piles", just not sanitary!

[Chris Breen]

shawnminerg9us, on 18 April 2012 - 12:02 PM, said:

And, while you are at it, PLEASE tell them that you want the iPad's Music screen to be returned to the way it was and still IS on the iPod Touch!!! I really hate seeing my Playlists turned into "Piles", just not sanitary!

Interestingly, after we finished the podcast we started talking about the iPad's Music app off-the-air and agreed that it was pretty terrible. Ah well, we'll have to save that discussion for another time.

[rlav]

Great discussion. I'm beginning to wonder how great Apple is as a software company as a whole. iOS is clearly genius, and no doubt Final Cut (which I've never used) is hot. But when I think about most of the recent changes it's easier to come up with negatives than positives: Address Book, iPhoto, iTunes. Surely there must be more than a handful of great programmers who want to work at Apple who could resurrect some of the zombie departments?

The sound balance could do with a bit of tweeking. Chris was a bit difficult to hear even with my iPad turned up full volume.

[vincent860524]

I believe iTunes now allows you to stop syncing apps to iOS devices without deleting them first.

[varase]

Please guys - turn up the volume!

I listen to your podcast while commuting and digitally attached to my Hone Civic through the car stereo where volume levelling doesn't work, and if I crank the volume up high enough to hear all of you, Navigon shatters my eardrums with each announcement.

Puh-leeze increase the volume in your released podcasts - at least to normal music levels.

-- Thanks, Verne

[jdiver]

This topic comes up about every 12-18 months. OK there are problems with iTunes. It can be made better. And some of that is due to Apple's insistence on keeping it so simple. But there is a balance needed.

Maybe a modular approach where people can easily pick and choose what they want to manage. Much like the checkboxes to show or hide items like the DJ or Radio.

But I like having the one master program to do it all. I don't want to have separate programs for every aspect of my media and iDevice syncing. I like it all there, I keep it open all day long.

But I'd like more control over what, I sync. And even more smart playlist control. Even video playlists, so I can select a video podcast or two, a tv show, a movie, and have them all ready to play on my Apple TV for the evenings entertainment.

[johnspear]

I frankly don't understand all the fuss about iTunes. I like having a single program to manage all my media and devices. I manage my various iDevices by adding keywords to the Comments field, then syncing by means of smart playlists. Same with photos. It works well for me. What I really, REALLY miss with iOS5 is the ability to display lyrics. Many of us have complained to Apple without result. The App Store does have a nice program called Lyrics View which is very good, but I (we) don't understand why Apple did away with viewing lyrics within the Music app.

[Chris Breen]

johnspear, on 23 April 2012 - 08:52 AM, said:

I frankly don't understand all the fuss about iTunes.

It's certainly a bloated application but you can look past that if it reliably does what it's supposed to. It's when it doesn't (and that's really what we're complaining about) that you start to wonder if Apple couldn't rethink how all of this is done.

[MrMojo1]

iTunes has become bloated and needs to be trimmed down.

It works when it has to esp. if you have "simple" needs like syncing music files only but that can also be a problem when your music library grows and ends up larger than you expected (i.e. it fills up most of the space on a 2Tb drive as some audiophiles do have a big music library and use the iPod/iTouch/iPhone as their music devices).

iTunes could probably split into 2 separate versions:
1. Music - music/music PV/audiobooks/podcasts (as originally released)
2. Media entertainment - movies/tv shows/whatever doesn't fit into music

Not everyone uses the media entertainment of iTunes (I don't as I like my media files DRM free and playable also on Non-Apple devices!) so not having it could mean less bloat and more efficiency in use.

However Apple decides to upgrade iTunes, the company SHOULD consider making it more efficient and easier to use esp. if one's library is growing massive from collecting/having music/media files over the years.