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Ask HN: Who else hates iTunes?

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Re: Ask HN: Who else hates iTunes?

#41

Post by always_good »

egze wrote: post #39

You probably meant it in a good way, but it is much better to say "Who knows a good alternative to iTunes?" or "How would you design a perfect music player?". You wouldn't want to see a post "Who else hates dzohrob's music player?" would you?

Agreed. It also anchors all the comments in the same hostility instead of a more positive, collaborative frame of mind.

Pitchforks out.

It's also funny when software developers assume that other software is somehow the result of an organization's or developer's idea of perfection and immortality instead of the result of a long line of trade-offs and suboptimal resources.

We don't want anyone to assume that about our efforts but it seems to be the default assumption of HN comments.

Re: Ask HN: Who else hates iTunes?

#42

Post by anentropic »

Are you talking about iTunes downloaded library, Apple Music Streaming, or both?

I have often fantasised about building a replacement for iTunes downloaded library

particularly one that didn't randomly duplicate and/or lose files

Re: Ask HN: Who else hates iTunes?

#43

Post by epistasis »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #32
epistasis wrote: post #12

After 15 years on iTunes, and much devotion towards keeping a clean library of music that I ripped or purchased, Apple Music ruined it for me. Especially in iOS, where it did not understand the concept of not having a constant internet connection, like it was implemented by some 21 year-old newb that had never made any production code in their life. This made Apple Music completely useless for my primary use case; dr…

Everything you said also applies to closed source software, along with SaaS offerings. We are only 1 change from having our house of cards toppled, if we depend on their being consistent. And that can change for them, say, if making X change makes them a fistfull of dollars, they will to the detriment of users. Sure, in your case, Spotify makes sense. Cool. Unfortunately, they are 1 or 2 major changes that alienate t…

Yep, always have an escape plan. This is as true for real life dependencies as it is for electronic life dependencies.

Re: Ask HN: Who else hates iTunes?

#44

Post by beams_of_light »

cletus wrote: post #40

I think hatred for iTunes is pretty much universal, particularly with tech-savvy folks. But... it just doesn't matter. It seems like one of those siren projects like online dating or a better travel site. The real problem you have is that actually owning and having mp3s (or whatever lossless alternative grabs your fancy) is (IMHO) only going to decrease and become increasingly niche. Streaming will be the majority so…

My sentiments in a nutshell. Having the ability to stream any songs I want, anytime has led to discovering more genres and artists I like, but didn't have exposure to previously. My Spotify playlist doesn't have much on it that most people would have heard before, at this point, thanks to Discover Weekly. I would hate to have to go back to curating my own MP3 library again, and be limited to files on a device I carry around with me.

Re: Ask HN: Who else hates iTunes?

#47

Post by crankylinuxuser »

egze wrote: post #39

You probably meant it in a good way, but it is much better to say "Who knows a good alternative to iTunes?" or "How would you design a perfect music player?". You wouldn't want to see a post "Who else hates dzohrob's music player?" would you?

It would be different if Apple didn't chain their mobile computer (iPhone, iPad) to this horrendous piece of software.

MTP exists for a reason, as does USB storage. But "Think Different" means doing worse and nonstandard.

Re: Ask HN: Who else hates iTunes?

#48

Post by butterfi »

I think an easier question is "Who likes iTunes and why?" I don't mean that to sound snarky, but exactly what is iTune's value proposition? I only use it to buy media from Apple, and even then I don't buy much media from Apple because I hate using iTunes.

Re: Ask HN: Who else hates iTunes?

#49

Post by barrowclift »

To offer another perspective, I prefer iTunes over the available alternatives on macOS simply because it's the only player out there that addresses my (admittedly niche) requirements:

* A nice grid view for albums, which is the only view I ever use (so the clunky UI that rightfully irritates users that need to switch views isn't a concern for me)

* A freely resizable album art player, which can still be launched by command+clicking the album art in the menu "display". Alternatively, I'd prefer something like the Apple TV's player view, but as far as I'm aware there's nothing on macOS like it.

For what it's worth, if your player supports even one of those points, it'd be an immediate purchase for me. :)

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