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Apple Plans End of iTunes

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Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#101

Post by derp_dee_derp »

biql wrote: post #57

> The company is launching a trio of new apps for the Mac – Music, TV, and Podcasts – to replace iTunes. Nice. It's always better to have multiple programs each dedicated to a specific task than one that tries to be everything.

not nice.

Apple is very open about their long term plan to convert to a media and services company. Their business plan is to 1) get you to change over to these 3 new apps now when they are free, 2) convert each to a paid monthly subscription plan once enough people use them.

so soon you'll be paying for 3 things instead of being able to use iTunes like it is now.

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#102

Post by ken »

chrisseaton wrote: post #23
kvark wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority here, I never understood why music players shifted towards iTune-ish style of owning and re-categorizing everything in their own way... I mean, OS has a file system, why not just rely on it? Throw some searchable tags in, and you get the same abilities but without obscurity.

Because despite what everyone thinks again and again, music is not hierarchical, as a file system is. Does my album go under the composer, the conductor, the orchestra or the soloist?

Same as any other document on my disk: it doesn't matter. Just dump everything in there and let Spotlight index it.

(That's basically what iTunes does now, except the exact behavior is hidden behind a mysterious "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" checkbox, and the index is stored in big opaque XML files rather than Spotlight.)

My email has hierarchical folders, too, but I don't know anyone who worries about the folder structure of their email. All messages are indexed, and search is quick, so there's not much point.

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#103

Post by jjdjr0odo7 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #23
kvark wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority here, I never understood why music players shifted towards iTune-ish style of owning and re-categorizing everything in their own way... I mean, OS has a file system, why not just rely on it? Throw some searchable tags in, and you get the same abilities but without obscurity.

Because despite what everyone thinks again and again, music is not hierarchical, as a file system is. Does my album go under the composer, the conductor, the orchestra or the soloist?

Why can’t it read what’s what and generate a map without all the mv’ing?

The answer is probably in the realm of “That’s how we wrote desktop apps back then.”

Files are not real things. Just identifiers for an organization of bits that sound like a Neil Young sing when played through the correct decoder.

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#104

Post by altmind »

scarface74 wrote: post #28
kvark wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority here, I never understood why music players shifted towards iTune-ish style of owning and re-categorizing everything in their own way... I mean, OS has a file system, why not just rely on it? Throw some searchable tags in, and you get the same abilities but without obscurity.

No you don’t. With iTunes you could have smart playlists like “create a list of all of the songs I haven’t played in X days”. Normal people didn’t want to tag songs and use the filesystem. Do I really need to bring up the “No Wireless. Less Space than a Nomad. Lame.” Meme and how geeks didn’t get the iPod? https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...

“create a list of all of the songs I haven’t played in X days” - this can easily be done in winamp. they got full query language that can be saved as a playlist. i even think they got this as one of pre-sets.

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#105

Post by lucisferre »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #98

Hallelujah. iTunes is the single worst piece of software I have ever used. It’s the only software I’ve seen bring someone to literal tears. And it’s done that to more than a couple of family members. May it rot in hell forever.

> iTunes is the single worst piece of software I have ever used

I mean sure it's bad, but I find it hard to take this statement literally for any HN reader.

*Note that is not a comment about HN UX, just that anyone who uses software and technology extensively has to have used some pretty terrible software products in their lifetime.

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#106

Post by rusk »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #76

Hm, I wonder if I'll still be able to sync music and podcasts to my iPod. My 10-plus-year-old iPod is rock solid technology, hardware and software, just keeps on working. At this point it feels like some retro SF alternate vision of the future we could have had, with simple easy to use things that never broke.

It might be the excuse I need to try out rockbox … https://www.rockbox.org

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#107

Post by koyote »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #76

Hm, I wonder if I'll still be able to sync music and podcasts to my iPod. My 10-plus-year-old iPod is rock solid technology, hardware and software, just keeps on working. At this point it feels like some retro SF alternate vision of the future we could have had, with simple easy to use things that never broke.

Do you walk with your iPod in your pocket?

The reason I am asking is because I am surprised yours has lasted so long. I had two and they broke within two years due to the mechanical hdd inside. (the headphones also broke, within a month each time; really put me off buying Apple products again)

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#108

Post by benj111 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #23
kvark wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority here, I never understood why music players shifted towards iTune-ish style of owning and re-categorizing everything in their own way... I mean, OS has a file system, why not just rely on it? Throw some searchable tags in, and you get the same abilities but without obscurity.

Because despite what everyone thinks again and again, music is not hierarchical, as a file system is. Does my album go under the composer, the conductor, the orchestra or the soloist?

How do I organise my album collection? Alphabetically? By genre? Year? Record label?

You can organise your collection how you like. There is no right answer (although its obviously by genre).

If you're indecisive then just dump everything into one huge flat file, or just add links.

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#109

Post by yomly »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #38
mrgalaxy wrote: post #7

> Apple has pushed the iPad as a laptop replacement for years. But many pro users have noted that while the hardware is capable enough, the software is still behind. As other HN users have noted in the past, until Apple gives me access to a terminal where I can run the command line tools required for my work, I have absolutely zero interest in replacing my laptop with an iPad.

I go back and forth on this. On the one hand: if Apple really wants the iPad to be a laptop replacement, there needs to be a way to do everything that a laptop can do. It doesn't have to be the same way; it might be a new way that requires a learning curve. (A lot of the "iPads suck because I can't do my work" articles I've seen really mean "iPads suck because I can't do my work the way I expect to be able to do it."…

On a plane, I have a terminal on my laptop. Mosh? Less likely...

Re: Apple Plans End of iTunes

#110

Post by asveikau »

scarface74 wrote: post #100
asveikau wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting aside what has been mentioned elsewhere on the thread (m3u playlists, hardlinks) or similar technical solutions... You really think the iTunes filesystem layout is what made iPod successful? Not, say, the fact that it was solid hardware, good UI, etc., from a desirable brand? The comment was saying, my read of it anyway, is they didn't appreciate that it would slurp up and rename the files you give it.

You want normal people to use hard links? But iTunes didn’t “slurp up and rename files” unless you enabled the option for it to manage your underlying file.

> You want normal people to use hard links?

You miss the point with this question. A media player managing playlists certainly can. Or it can manage m3u files. Or it can put them in an sqlite db. Or ...

You posed as an intractable problem unless we adopt iTunes thinking.

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