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iTunes will never work well

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Re: iTunes will never work well

#141

Post by tdkl »

TD-Linux wrote: post #93

Do you still have to use iTunes to transfer music to iPhones? Can't you just copy files over and use some other playback app on the iPhone? The author sounds makes it sound like they are "forced" to use iTunes. (disclaimer: the newest Apple product I own was manufactured in 1983)

Playlist sync is the #1 thing why I use iTunes on Windows for years now with Android phone. It's easy, seamless and works. Manually copying multiple GBs and keeping playlists on both devices seems asinine.

Sadly I haven't found a Linux replacement which syncs music like this, probably no one is interested in making that works since everything is cloud nowadays.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#142

Post by Razengan »

Razengan wrote: post #46
jheriko wrote: post #11

i don't understand how apple have a reputation for good ui... all of their stuff is terrible. the main problem: zero discoverablity - i need to google how to do things, then get some snotty fanboy answer about how easy and obvious it is, but there is literally no way to infer the functionality from the design. they do love to steal context too... and interrupt your flow... ... i could go on and on, but having zero-di…

> all of their stuff is terrible. As a PC-only user since the days of DOS up till Windows 8, and having used Windows 10 after jumping ship to Macs a few hours ago, macOS has demonstrably more discoverability than Windows. One example: Just click on the Help menu, in any app, and type something like "show" or "find" or any other operation, and it will show you all the menu items which have that word in their name. Tha…

Oops, years, not hours. I should proofread.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#143

Post by masklinn »

pfranz wrote: post #66
lukevers wrote: post #5

People always bash iTunes, but I actually use it quite often and I like it. Maybe it's just me though? The only thing that bugs me, is on iOS, when I load the music app (that's basically iTunes for iOS, right?) it shows a blank page until it can connect to the their servers to grab some data. It doesn't have a problem if I'm on wifi or a fast connection, but I'm often in places where my service is shit, and I get a w…

The lack of async and modal dialogs drive me nuts with iTunes. My main gripe is syncing my ipod or phone interrupts music playback--they should be completely separate things. Ideally separate applications.

> My main gripe is syncing my ipod or phone interrupts music playback

It doesn't though. I just tried. Start playback, plug phone (keeps playing), sync (itunes still playing), disconnect, itunes has never stopped playing.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#144

Post by masklinn »

AJRF wrote: post #134

The failure of iTunes is intrinsically linked to the unsuitability of WebObjects as a modern application framework. iTunes isn’t bad because Apple is inept, far from it, but to make it fine at this point would require a rewrite and I assume at Apple there is a tradeoff between “Is this crappy to use” and “Well, does it at least work?”, with the latter being a stronger motivator (or in this case, demotivator) of chang…

AFAIK the vast majority of itunes is a regular cocoa application, what does webobject have to do with anything?

Re: iTunes will never work well

#145

Post by apenwarr »

hanklazard wrote: post #45
lukevers wrote: post #5

People always bash iTunes, but I actually use it quite often and I like it. Maybe it's just me though? The only thing that bugs me, is on iOS, when I load the music app (that's basically iTunes for iOS, right?) it shows a blank page until it can connect to the their servers to grab some data. It doesn't have a problem if I'm on wifi or a fast connection, but I'm often in places where my service is shit, and I get a w…

That must-connect-to-server-before-I-show-you-your-LOCAL!-files has really pushed me over the edge. Infuriating! I've been trying out some replacment music apps, but haven't really found any great alternatives at this point. I guess the whole thing will sort itself out when I switch to android in the next few months. Someone around here put it best a few wks ago in an iPhone7 discussion: Steve Jobs is dead.

Cesium is a really great iOS music player app. It's basically the iOS 6 UI with the bug fixes you always wanted, and none of the gunk from iOS 7 and above.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#146

Post by [deleted] »

Razengan wrote: post #46
jheriko wrote: post #11

i don't understand how apple have a reputation for good ui... all of their stuff is terrible. the main problem: zero discoverablity - i need to google how to do things, then get some snotty fanboy answer about how easy and obvious it is, but there is literally no way to infer the functionality from the design. they do love to steal context too... and interrupt your flow... ... i could go on and on, but having zero-di…

> all of their stuff is terrible. As a PC-only user since the days of DOS up till Windows 8, and having used Windows 10 after jumping ship to Macs a few hours ago, macOS has demonstrably more discoverability than Windows. One example: Just click on the Help menu, in any app, and type something like "show" or "find" or any other operation, and it will show you all the menu items which have that word in their name. Tha…

[deleted]

Re: iTunes will never work well

#147

Post by dx034 »

eklavya wrote: post #108

I don't know about the UI or anything but it's 2016 and iTunes still makes me re-download any firmware from start in case of any network issue. So if you are downloading a 2.5 gigs file and that screws up even once in that whole download at any place, iTunes says fuck you. This becomes a problem when they screw up iOS 10 update and brick your iPhone and the only way to fix it is restoring from iTunes and then iTunes…

Not only that, when I had to re-download the firmware due to the failed iOS10 update, even pausing the download caused it to restart..

Re: iTunes will never work well

#148

Post by [deleted] »

twhb wrote: post #122
jheriko wrote: post #11

i don't understand how apple have a reputation for good ui... all of their stuff is terrible. the main problem: zero discoverablity - i need to google how to do things, then get some snotty fanboy answer about how easy and obvious it is, but there is literally no way to infer the functionality from the design. they do love to steal context too... and interrupt your flow... ... i could go on and on, but having zero-di…

Speaking of, Apple is to blame for the absolute worst case of discoverability I've ever encountered: getting the iOS App Store app to list all apps labeled "Essentials". Dug around, couldn't find it. Googled it, found a few forum threads where everybody concluded it couldn't be done. Went into an Apple store, gave an employee a few minutes to figure it out, and he gave up. And yet, it's possible. Rather than just tel…

[deleted]

Re: iTunes will never work well

#149

Post by clw8 »

jheriko wrote: post #11

i don't understand how apple have a reputation for good ui... all of their stuff is terrible. the main problem: zero discoverablity - i need to google how to do things, then get some snotty fanboy answer about how easy and obvious it is, but there is literally no way to infer the functionality from the design. they do love to steal context too... and interrupt your flow... ... i could go on and on, but having zero-di…

Good to know I'm not the only one who can't figure out UIs these days. Mobile apps have all these icons that give me absolutely no idea what action will be performed. I miss the days of being able to hover and get an English description. (I guess this is where I say "get offa my lawn!")

Re: iTunes will never work well

#150

Post by f4stjack »

As far as I have used iTunes the only problem I see with it is trying to do EVERYTHING in a single package. It tries to be

- music player

- content manager (music & video)

- sync manager

- update manager

- Apple Music client

and these are the five things I can name on top of my head, without opening up the app. This is fine, but they are not honoring their boundaries. When I am listening to my music, don't mess me with the sync business. If there is a new version, put a helpful icon but only steal my focus if I click to sync tab.

It's like going to a supermarket to buy a piece of candy. Sure there are meats and potatoes on the next shelves but I need my candy. Yes I can hear you overhyped sales person about the discounts but. I. Need. My. Candy.

Also I cannot see the logic behind the Apple Music's integration with iTunes. I have tried to use AM with iTunes on windows and it is not a fun experience I can tell you. Spotify, even though people are grumbling about its ux, provides a smoother experience. Search, double click play, right click to save or add to a customized playlist. Or mess with that knob to download.

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