Tune-up for iTunes-DON'T BUY IT!!!

[Enigmafan420]

I am EXTREMELY sorry I purchased this piece of software and let it "clean" my iTunes libraary.

I listen to mainly Trance and Jazz (a weird mix I know), and this thing has completely destroyed my iTunes database. I am having to go through each CD individually to fix what it messed up.

It reassigned CD names to sometimes only 3 songs on the whole CD-making the CD appear in 2 different places in the library. Other times, it would add album artists to only SOME of the songs on the CD-Again orphaning some songs while leaving others where they belong.

I realize this software uses CDDB/Gracenote to get its song titles. That being said, Gracenote must be in complete dissarry.

I WISH I could get a refund for this piece of junk software. I do NOT recommend this software unless you have too much time on your hands and enjoy manually cleaning up what it "fixes".

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!:mad:

[Blue Velvet]

I realize this software uses CDDB/Gracenote to get its song titles. That being said, Gracenote must be in complete dissarry.

You know, it's pretty simple to check the contents of the CD against your own records and previously-imported files, and then correct them before importing them again. Don't try and blame a piece of software for your inattentiveness.

[Enigmafan420]

Thanks that was really helpful. I really don't have the time to re-import over 1,000 CDs.

The software is sold as "helpful"-it isn't. And that was my point.

[Blue Velvet]

Yeah its as simple as that you are right-when I have over 1,000 CDs in the library.

If you don't have something helpful to say-keep your opinion to yourself-you are not adding anything to the discussion.


So what? I have 800 CDs and have just re-imported over half of them recently, and I checked and re-edited the contents of the titles and so forth before re-importing them without any problems at all.

I'm sorry that your failure to do so resulted in things going awry, but blaming software for your own failures and trying to publicly persuade others there is something wrong with the software... this needs pointing out instead of unconditional sympathy.

[Enigmafan420]

Was simply trying to point out that it doesn't work as advertised. Save your money-do it yourself.

Was not looking for sympathy.

And good for you that you had time to re-import 400 CDs-I don't have time to re-import 1,000.

Not sure why you are ripping me on this-I would have appreciated knowing this before I bought it, and hopefully I can give someone else some useful advise.

[withe011]

Thanks OP. I was considering buying this for my dad's computer since his song library is a mess. I will definitely steer clear now.

[Tallest Skil]

What's wrong with just letting iTunes itself get names, titles, and artwork?

Why the crap would you need to use third-party software, anyway?

[Enigmafan420]

What's wrong with just letting iTunes itself get names, titles, and artwork?

Why the crap would you need to use third-party software, anyway?

Because sometimes iTunes doesn't do it right. Adds wrong Artist Data, wrong genre, etc.

It appears that iTunes and Tune-up are using the same database, however, as both products produce the same type of errors.

This is especially true once you get away from "mainstream" music. Both products have trouble with more obscure titles.

[Tallest Skil]

Because sometimes iTunes doesn't do it right. Adds wrong Artist Data, wrong genre, etc.

It appears that iTunes and Tune-up are using the same database, however.

Okay, so mass edit them manually. Select an entire disk, Get Info, type the title once, drag the artwork in once, and then do the names individually.

[Enigmafan420]

Okay, so mass edit them manually. Select an entire disk, Get Info, type the title once, drag the artwork in once, and then do the names individually.

That works unless you get into "DJ" mix CDs or compilations.

If one CD is all "Rush-Signals" for example that is easy.

Try it in "Deeper Shades of Euphoria"-mixed by Jay Burnett-not so easy.

BUT-you are right-that is what I will do from now on-because the gracenote database struggles with this type of CD.

[theLimit]

The Gracenote database, which is used by most CD ripping programs including iTunes, is user maintained. It contains what users have typed in manually and then submitted to the database. If you do reimport your CDs and enter the proper info, submit it so that it is in the database.

[Enigmafan420]

The Gracenote database, which is used by most CD ripping programs including iTunes, is user maintained. It contains what users have typed in manually and then submitted to the database. If you do reimport your CDs and enter the proper info, submit it so that it is in the database.

I was not aware that could be done-didn't know it was Wiki data.

I will check into that-thanks!

[dmlogs]

The Gracenote database, which is used by most CD ripping programs including iTunes, is user maintained. It contains what users have typed in manually and then submitted to the database. If you do reimport your CDs and enter the proper info, submit it so that it is in the database.

That's not totally true. I have tried submitting cd information to Gracenote and it has not worked. I submitted Artist, Album, Track Names, etc. for a CD I recorded and released myself. To this day none of that information appears on gracenote.

Also, I have tried several different software packages for auto-editing song information and getting artwork. None of them seem to work properly for me. All of them seem to mess up my entire library. I've faced the fact that if I want my library to be perfect I have to edit everything myself. Luckily I have a lot of time on my hands. Not.

[Enigmafan420]

Luckily I have a lot of time on my hands. Not.

LOL-My problem exactly-just spent FOUR hours this morning "fixing" what Tune-up did to my library last night :(

[2nice79]

Well, I listen to underground music that is not that well known as well, and I also took the time to type genres in all of my music as well that were categorized to my liking so i could make smart folders based on genre. When I used tuneup, it messed my genre category up! I was mad initially, but instead of finding a forum and bitching like you are...... I solved the problem by using the undo option on tuneup. I dont know if you have to do it on the same session or what. But if you go to tune up you will see a red arrow on the top right corner, and simply drag the music that you want changed back and presto- problem solved.
Me personally, i like tune up and have been waiting for years for something like it. Granted, some of my music gets labled wrongly- but what do you expect......it is not going to be flawless being that it resorts to such a large database to find your music that is not always distinctively different from another song. Just kind of keep an eye on it as it cleans your music. I mean, woud you really rather type in stuff yourself? I also wrote to them suggesting that they should put a feature on there that allows you to lock certain categories like in my case genre. in other words i want everything cleaned but my genre category!

dont listen to this complainer, that just wants to complain because he is negative minded and immediately assumes the worse......

[AppleMatt]

Wow. Someone posts, legitimately, that he bought software that claims to organize his library. It didn't work and he warns others. So far, he's been called 'inattentive', 'failure', 'complainer' and 'idiot'.

So what? I have 800 CDs and have just re-imported over half of them recently, and I checked and re-edited the contents of the titles and so forth before re-importing them without any problems at all.

Wow that's amazing. You = my new hero. Where can I learn to be just like you? Sign me up. I'll bring my CD's and iTunes, you bring the coffee and biscuits :rolleyes:.

I'm sorry that your failure to do so resulted in things going awry, but blaming software for your own failures and trying to publicly persuade others there is something wrong with the software

Perhaps he, unlike you (and me), doesn't want to spend hours typing this information in when he imports the CD's. And it does add up to hours. I struggle to justify doing it myself - it's not like they sound any different, or that anyone will notice I put Beyoncé as opposed to Beyonce. Don't blame him for not being like you.

The real point is...If I take my car in for a suspension repair due to my inattentive and idiotic driving, when I pay someone who holds themselves out as being able to fix it, I (rightly) expect to get what I pay for. The fact I caused the problem (via mischief or mistake) in the first place is absolutely and unconditionally irrelevant.

Have you actually run the software? Before posting I searched and downloaded this program and then run a few files over it. I completely agree with the original poster. It's awful. Even if the tagging actually worked (out of 500 files - the demo maximum - only 'definitely confirmed' 3 and had 'suggestions' for around 150), it's still awful. Your mouse lumps over the lists, many times it didn't accept user input at all. Seems to 'attach' itself to iTunes as opposed to being standalone (I therefore initially couldn't find it because my iTunes window is always maximised) which also means you can't run iTunes without also running this (slow) program. I didn't trust it to actually write the tags. It does however claim that it can undo such writes.

AppleMatt

[ziggyonice]

I'm glad the OP gave this information -- I was considering purchasing it. But after reading what's been mentioned, I'll reconsider.

[slothrob]

I'm glad the OP gave this information -- I was considering purchasing it. But after reading what's been mentioned, I'll reconsider.
Same here.

[txr0ckabilly]

I personally love tuneup. It's not as automatic you'd/I'd hoped, but if you learn the program and it's tricks, it's a real time saver.

Tip: grab 4-500 tracks and drag them into tuneup. Wait for it to look up all the tracks. Once it's done, scan through the list for complete albums. Save those only.

Now you can expand each album in the tuneup window to see what tracks are missing. If you know you have those tracks in your library, then locate those and change the info to match. Click save in tuneup and iTunes will sort them to be the complete album with the artwork. If you want ( what I do) you can then drag the the entire album back to tuneup. Tuneup will thenmake all the tracks match completely.

Tip2: the album thumbnail can be expanded to show differen versions of the album artwork so you can pick out which one you like best before saving.

You don't have to click save all. If you do and tuneup messes up the library then it kind of falls back on user inexperience.

There is a trial version you can download that will clean 500 tracks. Try before you buy before making some sweeping statement about how crappy a product is warning others not to buy.

FYI - I've got over 2000 albums. 99% cleaned with tuneup.

[Enigmafan420]

I personally love tuneup. It's not as automatic you'd/I'd hoped, but if you learn the program and it's tricks, it's a real time saver.

Tip: grab 4-500 tracks and drag them into tuneup. Wait for it to look up all the tracks. Once it's done, scan through the list for complete albums. Save those only.

Now you can expand each album in the tuneup window to see what tracks are missing. If you know you have those tracks in your library, then locate those and change the info to match. Click save in tuneup and iTunes will sort them to be the complete album with the artwork. If you want ( what I do) you can then drag the the entire album back to tuneup. Tuneup will thenmake all the tracks match completely.

Tip2: the album thumbnail can be expanded to show differen versions of the album artwork so you can pick out which one you like best before saving.

You don't have to click save all. If you do and tuneup messes up the library then it kind of falls back on user inexperience.

There is a trial version you can download that will clean 500 tracks. Try before you buy before making some sweeping statement about how crappy a product is warning others not to buy.

FYI - I've got over 2000 albums. 99% cleaned with tuneup.

I did download the trial-I didn't try to clean 500 songs-maybe about 20.

What AppleMatt said about the software being slow and unresponsive is absolutely true.

The product is sold as an itunes library cleaner-It really isn't.

Not only did it mis-identify songs that were incorrectly tagged, it changed correctly tagged songs.

Am I partially responsible for this-Of course-I didn't actually examine EACH AND EVERY CHANGE it proposed to make. That being said, I shouldn't have to.

This software is marketed for people like me who do not want to spend the time cleaning. It doesn't work as advertised and that is my point.

If you like it-good for you. But I say Cavet Emptor.

PS-Really not sure why there are a few EXTREMELY HOSTILE posters here. Two people may not agree-that doesn't mean this is a forum for name calling.

[Prenvo]

PS-Really not sure why there are a few EXTREMELY HOSTILE posters here. Two people may not agree-that doesn't mean this is a forum for name calling.

Possibly because, rather than contacting the people who make the software (god forbid), you came straight here and basically told people to not even try to get their own opinion, but to just accept that it's awful and you're right.

It's understandable that you were mad, but developers do usually care and you telling everybody - except the developers themselves - about how bad it is won't solve anything (other than cause a drop in their sales and potentially halt development)

I've tried Tune-up myself and personally hated it because it was so unresponsive, docked (badly in my opinion) to iTunes and I had to spend *quite a while* just getting it off my system. Plus it didn't work at all for me (would freeze iTunes upon music drag, then do nothing once it became responsive again). I didn't pay for it and didn't need it *that* much, so I didn't contact the developers. I know how you feel :)

[weckart]

All programs that link up to Gracenote, freedb.org or the like will have similar problems as the data they link to are only as good as their submitters.

I try to avoid letting iTunes fetch artwork or rename tags as it will do the same as this program seems to.

[txr0ckabilly]

I did download the trial-I didn't try to clean 500 songs-maybe about 20.

You tried 20 songs by an admittedly obscure artist and decided you should warn others of this faulty software? Man thanks for the informative opinion.

[rhett7660]

I haven't found a Mac program that can compete with Tag&Rename. It is windows based but it is by far the best program I have used for doing jus this. The only issue you will have is you have to re-import or re-save your files within iTunes to show the new meta.

Thank you for sharing this about Tune-Up. I was hoping for a Mac application that could switch me from Tag&Rename.

[allmIne]

OP, you've learnt your lesson - don't post a new thread on MacRumors and expect to get away without being flamed.

Another thread that'll put off anybody from trying, legitimately, to help others, or at least ensure they dot their i's and cross their t's before running the software.

Great.

The real point is...If I take my car in for a suspension repair due to my inattentive and idiotic driving, when I pay someone who holds themselves out as being able to fix it, I (rightly) expect to get what I pay for. The fact I caused the problem (via mischief or mistake) in the first place is absolutely and unconditionally irrelevant.

Great analogy, AppleMatt. :)

[Consultant]

Always look at reviews before buying something.

Yes, not sure why people would buy it, but live and learn...

For example:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/29985/tuneup

[allmIne]

Always look at reviews before buying something.

Yes, not sure why people would buy it, but live and learn...

For example:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/29985/tuneup

Wonder why so many thread respondants were all high and mighty in their put downs to the OP? Seems like he's not the only one not keen on the software. Strange.

[Enigmafan420]

You tried 20 songs by an admittedly obscure artist and decided you should warn others of this faulty software? Man thanks for the informative opinion.

Actually I did not admit to 20 songs from obscure artists, unless you consider main stream contemporary jazz obscure.

My results have been WORSE on obscure artists.

In addition-to the poster that has said I haven't contacted the publisher-how do YOU KNOW that?

This is what I mean about hostile posters.

If you are not adding to the discussion, why bother? This forum isn't supposed to be a flame fest. The fact is NO ONE HERE except me knows what I have and haven't done. I have IN FACT contacted the tech support several times with no reply.

In addition, the main issue here is that Tune-Up is sold as a wonder product. This quote is from their website:

Your music collection is a mess. TuneUp fixes it. Automagically

This is the URL that text is taken from:

http://www.tuneupmedia.com/mac/

So-again, if you don't have something to add to the conversation-why bother? And don't presume to know what I have or haven't done with Tune-Up, its technical support department, or my iTunes library.

[Enigmafan420]

Always look at reviews before buying something.

Yes, not sure why people would buy it, but live and learn...

For example:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/29985/tuneup

My Bad-For whatever reason I didn't even think about looking at Macupdate. A great resource, and one I use too infrequently...

[TEG]

While I never intended to purchase Tune-Up, I did download it, and love it. I recently combined our family libraries so we all had the same series of music. My dad had a horrible habit of changing the song information so it was nearly complete unintelligible. Thankfully Tune-Up is helping me fix this problem. I have zero intention of letting it take over my whole library, but on a song-by-song basis, it seems to work quite well.

TEG

[Enigmafan420]

While I never intended to purchase Tune-Up, I did download it, and love it. I recently combined our family libraries so we all had the same series of music. My dad had a horrible habit of changing the song information so it was nearly complete unintelligible. Thankfully Tune-Up is helping me fix this problem. I have zero intention of letting it take over my whole library, but on a song-by-song basis, it seems to work quite well.

TEG

That is good to know-and since I have paid for the unlimited use, I may try that method. I have so many songs, by doing it this way I am committing myself to a several week long project at the very least. I bought TU because I DIDN'T want to spend the time...

TEG-You really live in Langley? Great town! I am not too far away-straight across the water...

[Consultant]

Wonder why so many thread respondants were all high and mighty in their put downs to the OP? Seems like he's not the only one not keen on the software. Strange.

It's FYI on a better method.

You can interpret it whatever way you want, but I did NOT say
You are an idi0t for buying it. (and should not be interpret it as such)

I said, next time, read some reviews before buying something, as the reviews did brought up issues with the software.

My Bad-For whatever reason I didn't even think about looking at Macupdate. A great resource, and one I use too infrequently...

It helps to read up on reviews. Definitely helps if you want good software. =)

Not a face palm. Just some info that I hope is useful.

[dbell]

You know, it's pretty simple to check the contents of the CD against your own records and previously-imported files, and then correct them before importing them again. Don't try and blame a piece of software for your inattentiveness.

Subtext: Don't break our sponsors balls and tell people they have ****** software. :p

[RemarkabLee]

unless you consider main stream contemporary jazz obscure

All Jazz is obscure if you ask me... :p Oh your not asking? Fair enough ;)


Seriously though, I recommend SongGenie (http://www.equinux.com/us/products/songgenie/index.html), in my experience it works well and doesn't immediately update the iTunes library directly, giving you the opportunity to check each entry before making the change permanent. Give it a go, it may save your sanity when repairing the rest of your iTunes library.

[Mafio]

Enigmafan420 try fix tunes!!!! It's fantastic:)

I got it last week and my library it's perfect now.

Just get the trial and give it a go!

[Enigmafan420]

All Jazz is obscure if you ask me... :p Oh your not asking? Fair enough ;)


Seriously though, I recommend SongGenie (http://www.equinux.com/us/products/songgenie/index.html), in my experience it works well and doesn't immediately update the iTunes library directly, giving you the opportunity to check each entry before making the change permanent. Give it a go, it may save your sanity when repairing the rest of your iTunes library.

LOL-this is the type of flaming I am okay with :)

I will check out the Song Genie-what I am really hoping to find is something that I don't have to do a LOT of babysitting on-if I need to do a lot of babysitting, I may as well just manually do it.

[RemarkabLee]

Enigmafan420 try fix tunes!!!! It's fantastic:)

I got it last week and my library it's perfect now.

Just get the trial and give it a go!

Link?

[RemarkabLee]

LOL-this is the type of flaming I am okay with :)

I will check out the Song Genie-what I am really hoping to find is something that I don't have to do a LOT of babysitting on-if I need to do a lot of babysitting, I may as well just manually do it.

No library organiser is truly automatic if you want accuracy. Having said that, SG is the best I've seen yet. It's a free trial (no I don't work for Equinux, just a fan of their work) ;)

[Mafio]

Link?

www.fixtunes.com/ ;)

[RemarkabLee]

www.fixtunes.com/ ;)

Nice one. Cheers.

Reading, UK?

[Mafio]

Nice one. Cheers.

Reading, UK?

yep ;) lovely place...lol

[Eddyisgreat]

I have a 37 gig music library with mostly mainstream stuff, some japanese and some just plain weird. Yesterday I saw an ad for it and downloaded the trial. I tried it on 100 files, misnamed and some as just 'track 1' etc and it worked extremely well. I did do my research and checked out a few of the reviews, most simply stated that for the price it was quite steep in that your paying yearly (or once) for what is a gracenote front end, but it makes up for it by having the artist information which i've found usefull for a few of my tracks.

However, i've given it about 1000 tracks so far (bought it this morning) and the software is extremely buggy. After about 150 tracks it'll effectively quit on me. It will not let me clear out items it cannot find, and when I tell it to scan new tracks, say 100, it will automatically say "cannot be found". I'll then have to restart itunes which may or may not work.

So for me, when it works, it works ok. The random shut downs are really starting to be a bother, and i'm starting to wonder if wells fargo may help me recoup some of my costs. The trial worked great, but it didn't have the random shutdown issue even though i'm importing files in the same fashion. Perhaps this is a me issue, and if its fixable, this software will be a great tool in my box, but for now its a waste of cash.

[tuneup]

Wow so many differing opinions about our program. It’s good to hear the feedback but I want to address a few things if I can.

@Enigmafan -Sorry to hear that your experience has been less than stellar. Such being said, I'm not 100% sure what happened with your music library. When you clean files with TuneUp the user chooses which results they want to save and which ones they don't. Basically, TuneUp won't touch any of your files without you telling it to. We specifically created TuneUp this way to make sure that users didn't end up results like the ones you're complaining about. If you want to PM me, we can take care of this offline - would be more than happy to give you a refund. Additionally - TuneUp has an "Undo" feature which should be able to restore your old metadata (more about that here: www.tuneupmedia.com/forum/faq.php?faq=clean (http://www.tuneupmedia.com/forum/faq.php?faq=clean)).

@ txr0ckabilly – Thanks for the love - we appreciate it. 

@ Consultant - we've made a number of updates since the majority of those reviews were posted that have addressed 90% of these issues.

@Eddyisgreat - TuneUp's performance greatly depends on how much RAM you have available. This might be the problem? If you can PM me details, would love to send them over to our Support Team to get them sorted out for you.

Finally - We offer a pretty robust free trial (100 free song clean ups / 50 pieces of album art). If you are or were interested in buying TuneUp, I would recommend downloading the free version and making your own assessment. While I realize that the software isn't perfect, I can say that the vast majority of the feedback that we get is positive. As I mentioned to Enigmafan - TuneUp won't edit anything without you telling it to.

I'll be around if you guys have any questions, gripes, etc...

[Enigmafan420]

WOW!

I will now give kudos to tuneup software. Without my asking, they have refunded the purchase price.

It was NEVER my intention to get a refund. I certainly was blowing off steam, but sometimes you get poor software and I did not EXPECT a refund. I had just chalked another one up to "experience".

Thank you to tune-up for this.

To put my closure on this-if you have obscure music, it may just be better to do it by hand. After my rant of the other day, I did some examination of the Gracenote database (www.cddb.com) and it is clear to me that likely MOST of the errors originated from that database.

There is truth, however, to those that claim the software runs slowly or seems to quit responding. That has been my experience was well.

That being said-I did not expect a refund and feel bad about getting it. Tune-up, you did NOT have to do this-thank you! You are a class act!

[ChrisA]

I'm sorry that your failure to do so resulted in things going awry, but blaming software for your own failures and trying to publicly persuade others there is something wrong with the software....

Yes it would have been reasonable for the OP to have backed up his library BEFORE turning loose some new-to-him automation on it. In fact I'd argue it was dumb not to back it up first.

But even so a negative review is helpful to others.

[AppleMatt]

Great analogy, AppleMatt. :)

Thanks :)

AppleMatt

[wpc33]

Doug's iTunes scripts are your friends.

[Enigmafan420]

Doug's iTunes scripts are your friends.

Please-do share! I have not heard of these.

Edit: Just found this http://dougscripts.com/itunes/ Will look into these.

[Wingnut330]

Wonder why so many thread respondants were all high and mighty in their put downs to the OP? Seems like he's not the only one not keen on the software. Strange.

That type of tone can be pretty common on this forum. I love the forum and use it a lot, but there are a handful of folks that take some of the fun out of it.

Thanks OP for posting this - I was actually at the site and ready to click download. Then it hit me to do some research before I buy. I'm glad I did!

[CapNHerb]

Well my issue was that I had a ton of songs that were just track 1 through whatever and my CDs are everywhere so this program worked pretty fricken well..
well on my MacBook Pro its pretty slow but I've only got 2 gigs of ram on here...on my newly built 3.2ghz dual core w/8gigs it works awesome! It shows me where concerts are, I learn more stuff about my music than I ever have, and its added more than 300 album covers. I was kinda pissed that I didn't buy it while it was $20 instead of $30 but its worth it...I'm actually just trying to find out if its worth buying on my macs also instead of having to deal with doing it all on one computer and transferring.

btw...lmao at the guy that re-imported 400CDs

[Little HZ]

Thanks, OP, for starting this discussion. It has helped me better understand what Tune-Up does and does not do. :)

[camomac]

Always look at reviews before buying something.

Yes, not sure why people would buy it, but live and learn...

For example:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/29985/tuneup

AGREED! one star reviews = buyer beware.


also i really don't understand the hostility here either, the OP was just trying
to make a point that the software was not doing what it claimed to do. good
to know. thank you for letting people know.

[Mackilroy]

btw...lmao at the guy that re-imported 400CDs
She. ;)

I've looked at Tuneup a few times, but I don't really listen to the files that I have no idea what the names for are anyway. I might try the trial sometime though. :)

[Darkpoe7]

I have paid for the full version of this product and now i am sure that i spent my money for nothing!
It crashes every time i open it and then my computer crashes as well!!!
No way to disable it? only solution ->TRASH

Worst online purchase ever in my opinion!



Don't buy it!

[shherr]

I don't have a problem with tune up, but there is some sort of undo option if you happen to click before reviewing.