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iTunes will never work well

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Re: iTunes will never work well

#261

Post by Marazan »

tomasandrle wrote: post #174

It must be really hard to maintain and add features to such a huge old application. Platforms have changed underneath it, the devices and services it connects to have come and gone, Objective C has changed a lot as well. And then there's the Windows version... Still, iTunes is crap. I hated it so much that I wrote my own music player for iOS, just to avoid using iTunes for putting music on my phone [1]. My guess is t…

People have been saying that for years (the dismantling of iTunes is near) yet Apple keep on shoving more shit into it.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#262

Post by Marazan »

massysett wrote: post #215
tomasandrle wrote: post #174

It must be really hard to maintain and add features to such a huge old application. Platforms have changed underneath it, the devices and services it connects to have come and gone, Objective C has changed a lot as well. And then there's the Windows version... Still, iTunes is crap. I hated it so much that I wrote my own music player for iOS, just to avoid using iTunes for putting music on my phone [1]. My guess is t…

I think Apple would have split up iTunes long ago if it were only a Mac application, but they don't want to distribute a bunch of smaller Windows apps.

I really don't think they would. iTunes has been awful for pretty much the entirety of it's existence. It's not Windows stopping it being magically wonderful.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#263

Post by mgkimsal »

Klathmon wrote: post #247
TorKlingberg wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could they drop the iPhone sync app completely? These days the iPhone should be able to do all the syncing it needs directly against the internet.

isn't itunes still needed in some "recovery" situations? Like fixing a bad update, backing up/restoring a phone, and (not quite along the same lines, but important to me) allowing install of in-dev applications. I guess some of those could be handled by going into an apple store, but I'd still be a bit peeved if they removed the lifeline to my phone as a cost cutting measure.

a dedicated "update/restore" client makes more sense, in that case. Not saying it can't also be bundled in itunes, but something with, say, a bit more diagnostic view when run separately would be nice/useful, and not stop the general purpose use cases in iTunes.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#264

Post by the_other »

creshal wrote: post #241
the_other wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can set your dock to auto-hide, and run three parallel screens, you probably don't need any of the other assistance you're looking for.

Why? Are people only allowed to have multiple screens after passing some OSX geek initiation rite?

Sure, people can have as many screens as they can manage. I still think it's reasonable to assume that if you know how to configure a system to spread your desktop over three screens and to hide the widget that gives you the feedback/discoverability then you can use the skills that got you there to get you out of your predicament.

If your argument is that the dock is the wrong place for that feedback because it can be hidden, or that the disc/drive icons should always be closer to the dock, then we have a table laid for a good discussion.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#265

Post by asveikau »

massysett wrote: post #215
tomasandrle wrote: post #174

It must be really hard to maintain and add features to such a huge old application. Platforms have changed underneath it, the devices and services it connects to have come and gone, Objective C has changed a lot as well. And then there's the Windows version... Still, iTunes is crap. I hated it so much that I wrote my own music player for iOS, just to avoid using iTunes for putting music on my phone [1]. My guess is t…

I think Apple would have split up iTunes long ago if it were only a Mac application, but they don't want to distribute a bunch of smaller Windows apps.

Is that so? Some years ago I remember some rando's blog post that seemed to completely invent this narrative from thin air, and it got repeated a lot by Apple fans who have never built Windows applications and probably grossly overestimate its cost. This seems like a pretty lame excuse for one of the world's most powerful companies to not do something it would otherwise want to do.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#266

Post by jsymolon »

nasduia wrote: post #246
striking wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their reputation stemmed from the days where everything was discoverable. Want to delete a file? There's a trash can glued to your dock. Need to perform a function but don't know the name? Look it up in the Help menu's search box. Now, though, they've done the Windows 8 thing of overloading gestures and hiding behaviors. Want to see your notifications? Two-finger swipe to the left, starting from the edge of the touch…

Wanted to eject a disk back then? Drag it onto the trash can. Not the most clever ui decision in the days when formatting floppy disks was a common task.

Sounds like a "fail safe" operation.

Eject is a lot safer than format.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#267

Post by andruby »

ForFreedom wrote: post #250

One of the features I hate in iTunes is adding music to the library. When adding songs it should create a shortcut from the music folder that is being added from rather than creating a copy of the songs in its folder. When creating a copy into the iTunes folder the storage space on the macbook is lowered.

That is why this is a setting that you can change:

In iTunes Preference, under "Advanced", simply uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" and you'll have the exact behavior you want.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#268

Post by barneybooroo »

firasd wrote: post #53
jsz0 wrote: post #39

I'm having a hard time understanding these tweets. Playing a song and adding songs to 'up next' are two different things. That dialog box has saved me multiple times. What's wrong with it? It only occurs when you are telling iTunes to do conflicting things that it cannot resolve by itself. It's a better outcome than clearing a playlist someone may have spent a lot of time working on. Software update and login dialogs…

Okay. So I’m no UX expert, just a developer and I’ve also worked in product management. I think at some point, if you work in this field, you have to develop instincts around the design and experience of things. A modal (i.e. app-​locking) dialog that says “contacting the iphone software update server”, which is current behavior and not changed as far as I can tell, is so far out of the realm of acceptable in my view…

The Microsoft AutoUpdate client on OSX is a beautiful mess for this.

doing anything else

> Microsoft AutoUpdate starts bouncing in the dock

> Modal "There are no updates for your Microsoft software at this time." dialog appears.

Seeing as half of the updates it receives are FOR THE UPDATE CLIENT, it's incredible this behaviour hasn't been fixed in the last eight years.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#269

Post by TorKlingberg »

Klathmon wrote: post #247
TorKlingberg wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could they drop the iPhone sync app completely? These days the iPhone should be able to do all the syncing it needs directly against the internet.

isn't itunes still needed in some "recovery" situations? Like fixing a bad update, backing up/restoring a phone, and (not quite along the same lines, but important to me) allowing install of in-dev applications. I guess some of those could be handled by going into an apple store, but I'd still be a bit peeved if they removed the lifeline to my phone as a cost cutting measure.

I have been using TestFairy to try in-dev applications. It has been fine without iTunes, but I don't develop on iOS myself.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#270

Post by slfnflctd »

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)

This is one of those simple things I was happiest about when I finally moved from iOS to Android. Look, it's an operating system which actually allows you to move any files you want back and forth like with any other external storage! What an amazing innovation! How did they do it?! It was like having handcuffs removed.

There are many other reasons, but this is probably my biggest issue with iOS (well, this and all the hours of my life iTunes wasted while I wrestled with it to attempt something simple, such as its constant, needlessly slow & complex updates). It's intentionally broken to inconvenience us in the hopes of making more money unethically. I shudder in revulsion.

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