[Macworld]

Post your comments for Getting to know iTunes 11's Up Next player here

[kafkaesque]

kudos for using Blood On the Tracks in your article. using the new itunes is almost as depressing as that album ;D

[JohnParkinson]

"It lacks the ability that iTunes DJ had to choose songs at random from your music library" --- not really.

I have a shuffle, repeat-all of my music playlist constantly running in Up Next and then add specific tracks or albums I want to listen to at the top of that and it returns to the shuffling once those are finished.

[willman]

"lacks the ability that iTunes DJ had to choose songs at random"

This can be your next article. It is a little obscure, but the DJ functions are there. You need to be in your music library. Select SONGS (this will also work with VIDEO if you have any). Select one song in your music library so that it starts playing and then look at the UpNext Queue. You should see the next songs in your song according to the way they are currently listed (probably alpha). But, if you click on the random icon (just to the left of the UpNext Queue icon) so that it turns blue, you will see a random list of UpNext songs from your whole music library. Is that not DJ?

[bettercitizens]

I am still using iTunes 10 on ML. Should I "upgrade" to 11?

[jdcarms]

One frustrating thing is that when you use the remote app and select an album from the artists list everything listed after the album also gets added to up next not just the album you wanted.

[Kuril]

Quote

One frustrating thing is that when you use the remote app and select an album from the artists list everything listed after the album also gets added to up next not just the album you wanted.

Yes, it is annoying that I have to add specific albums in Album view! But I do love the remote Up Next features. I can finally,and easily, queue albums for the entire day. I use remote for iTunes on my Mac Mini and AirPlay through the AppleTV. Somehow it is more reliable than going through the ATV to get to my Mac Mini library...

[OnPoint331]

Can't decide if new itunes sucks or blows or is a combo of both.

[mrbyu]

I love the new iTunes. Way cleaner and nicer than the previous versions. I don't miss coverflow at all and I never had to turn the sidebar back, it's simply unnecessary.

[mactrance]

I still haven't figure out how to add a podcast or radio station directly to Up Next. I used to be able to do this with DJ. To listen to my new music podcasts, I created a smart play list with the new unplayed podcast and right click on the playlist title to send the entire playlist to Up Next.
The setup for the playlist is "Kind contains Audio FIle" + "Plays is 0" + "Media Kind is Podcast" with Live Updating checked.

[WynPugh]

Up Next is useful although I often end up clearing the list of any "leftover" tracks...

When are Apple going to bring back the "Composer" view? It was so useful if your collection has a lot of classical music!

[wmloving]

I have used iTunes DJ for years at my work desk and really miss it. It's removal reminds me of the demise of iMovie HD and it's replacement which is still nowhere near as good for classroom use, even after three revisions.

iTunes DJ simply worked and it's option to "Play higher rated songs more frequently" was just right. I loved how it would pull up things I had forgotten that I had. Yes, I know how a "Random Play" play list for Up Next, but I had to figure out how to create it and fine tune it. It's still not as good. You don't take away features that simply work. Apple has forgotten it's old motto of "Easy is hard" and the notion of putting the customer first.

[YosemitePaul]

How can I revert back to the previous version of iTunes?

[Catasonic]

My biggest problems with iTunes has to do with creating and adjusting playlists. I like to manually manage my playlists in ways that don't conform to generic ways.

I would like to see a way to have two columns of Playlists so that you could scroll one to the song you wanted to add and then drag across to the playlist you want. They could be contextual ways to do this but they no longer seem available. Also, you used to be able to double click to the left of a playlist and it would open in a new window, this now seems gone.

The Playlist folder is a great idea but you can't open a folder and then go down your list and drag playlists into the open window, as soon as you click on a playlist it replaces the window of the folder with the playlist window. So you have to drag all the way up to the top area in the Sidebar where the Playlist folders reside. Cumbersome.

If you wish to convert to a different format there is no obvious place that the new conversion resides except the main library and then you need to do a get info to verify which is the desired file. There should be an obvious place where the converted file goes that is easy to find.

The main library only exists if you Show Sidebar (restoring to some of the older functionality)

It seems iTunes is only for the amateur DJ or consumer and no longer is an easy solution for people who need to manage their files in a way that suits them.

It would be nice to see a make over that addressed the ability of users to move things around in their own collections easier. Maybe there needs to be an iTunes Pro?