iTunes will never work well • Hacker News Board

Re: iTunes will never work well

#251

Post by csydas » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:14 AM UTC

TorKlingberg wrote: post #239

tomasandrle wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Hopefuly "a bunch" could be reduced to just two: Apple Music client and iPhone sync app. The rest would be removed without a replacement (on Windows). The headphone jack removal shows that Apple is willing to make people angry about some things for a long term benefit and iTunes is imho a good candidate for the next "act of courage", heh.

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.

Maybe, but I think there's still some value to a controlled management application for either a large volume or to at least ensure that it's not a faulty wireless connection. It's a lot easier to move a few hundred gig over lightning than it is over wifi, and that first impression is probably going to be the biggest.

Then again, if they do go towards a totally wireless phone, I guess it would only be sensible to just ditch the lightning port entirely. and have a fully sealed case.

Still, I'd be pretty happy to have a stand-alone sync/management app; right now I use iTunes as an staging ground just to make sure that whatever goes on the phone looks right in iTunes first (correct tagging, correct album artwork). I don't mind it in this function, but if I could I would do away with it.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#252

Post by FussyZeus » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:18 AM UTC

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.

I've actually just moved my entire iTunes library into my ownCloud directory and let it sync to my other systems. Windows is fine with it, just point your chosen media app at the folder and it should just ignore all of iTunes' files and grab the music.

Every once in awhile I get a sync error but it never seems to affect anything and sorts itself out, going on about 8 months now with no real problems.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#253

Post by ForFreedom » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:18 AM UTC

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…

@tomasandrle How do I add music?

When I toggle "ENABLE UPLOADS", "no network available" error pops out

Re: iTunes will never work well

#254

Post by sparkzilla » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:19 AM UTC

sparkzilla wrote: post #22

I spent almost two days trying to resync my music after iTunes deleted it for no reason. It's the worst software on the planet.

iTunes is actually the main reason I am considering switching to Android.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#255

Post by tomasandrle » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:22 AM UTC

ForFreedom wrote: post #253

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…

@tomasandrle How do I add music? When I toggle "ENABLE UPLOADS", "no network available" error pops out

You need to be on WiFi. Open a desktop browser and point it to the URL that the app gives you in the Upload tab or get the Tiny Loader Mac app (http://www.catnapgames.com/tiny-loader/) to just drag & drop files and folders - it finds your phone automatically using Bonjour.

If you still have problems please msg me directly or tweet @catnapgames, thanks.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#256

Post by FussyZeus » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:24 AM UTC

f4stjack wrote: post #150

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 wi…

The disconnect between macOS and iOS is stark in this particular area. All of iTunes functions on the desktop are split into 4 or 5 apps on iOS (Music, Videos, App Store, etc.) and then on desktop you have the behemoth iTunes instead.

And yes, there's also: Backup Manager for iOS devices, and, somewhat unique to me as an iOS developer, iTunes also holds the keys for me to be able to build to my devices which is all kinds of fun let me tell you.

I hope at some point they revisit iTunes and re-do it completely but that seems like something Steve Jobs would have to push through. As much as I get annoyed with the deification of that man (frankly he as just a really good salesman, nothing more) I think a majority of long time Apple users would agree that their software has taken a hit in quality since his passing, the debacles with iOS 9 and 10 updates bricking various portions of the iPhone comes to mind.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#257

Post by ForFreedom » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:28 AM UTC

tomasandrle wrote: post #255

ForFreedom wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@tomasandrle How do I add music? When I toggle "ENABLE UPLOADS", "no network available" error pops out

You need to be on WiFi. Open a desktop browser and point it to the URL that the app gives you in the Upload tab or get the Tiny Loader Mac app ( http://www.catnapgames.com/tiny-loader/ ) to just drag & drop files and folders - it finds your phone automatically using Bonjour. If you still have problems please msg me directly or tweet @catnapgames, thanks.

Just realized that... thanks

also if you could get the app to move all music from iTunes on the iPhone to TinyPlayer it would be great.

Can I create play lists?

Re: iTunes will never work well

#258

Post by apaprocki » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:32 AM UTC

TorKlingberg wrote: post #239

tomasandrle wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Hopefuly "a bunch" could be reduced to just two: Apple Music client and iPhone sync app. The rest would be removed without a replacement (on Windows). The headphone jack removal shows that Apple is willing to make people angry about some things for a long term benefit and iTunes is imho a good candidate for the next "act of courage", heh.

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.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I still use it to sync a bunch of stuff off my NAS to my devices. I wish there was a better way to do it, but the wifi sync at home is about as good as I can get given the restrictions.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#259

Post by tomasandrle » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:32 AM UTC

ForFreedom wrote: post #257

tomasandrle wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to be on WiFi. Open a desktop browser and point it to the URL that the app gives you in the Upload tab or get the Tiny Loader Mac app ( http://www.catnapgames.com/tiny-loader/ ) to just drag & drop files and folders - it finds your phone automatically using Bonjour. If you still have problems please msg me directly or tweet @catnapgames, thanks.

Just realized that... thanks also if you could get the app to move all music from iTunes on the iPhone to TinyPlayer it would be great. Can I create play lists?

Ah, no real playlists, it's really just folders. You can swipe left on library items to "enqueue", that's about it. As for loading music you could try dragging the contents of ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music onto the Loader.. I've tested with quite large folders. Moving from the iPhone Music app is not supported, I might look into that later.

Re: iTunes will never work well

#260

Post by the_other » Mon, Sep 19, 2016, 11:33 AM UTC

jdeibele wrote: post #112

I was surprised (and pleased) to see Apple add "rename" to the file menu in Finder for El Capitan. Coming from Windows, I found the "click on a file to rename it" very unintuitive. Evidently a lot of other people did, too. Now if they'd make it so Finder always opens a window if you select Finder and a window isn't open ...

Finder includes your desktop, so technically you already do have a window open.