iTunes 11, good or bad?

[adent1066]

I was so hopeful for iTunes 11 to be great. I use iTunes all the time, so when I saw the new layout, I thought it looked promising. I absolutely love the Up Next feature.

However two huge problems for me.

1. Both my iPhone 5 and iPad 2's Remote App no longer can sync to my iTunes to control it. (I'm running Win 7) The problem is not the app since it can control my Apple TV without issue.

2. Wifi sync no longer works. This is probably a related issue to the first one.

The device list never shows up, I've tried everything. Apple please fix this !!!

[Macphee]

I do like the speed, but not the arrangement. Also, every time I go back to a list, it starts over from the top. It did lock up on me, first time ever!

[D-a-a-n]

From a distance, it looks graphically polished. But I find it to be quite inconsistent at times.
Here's an example: in the mini player, hover over and press the arrow icon, then in the "Add to" option, I think the arrow should be moved a few pixels to the left, and the hover color is also ugly. (Same for the main menu color). I know I'm nitpicking but it's just these things one wouldn't except from Apple..

[TurboOne]

Taking away cover flow, was a very bad decision , guess its time to find a better player that syncs with my android....

[DarrenUK]

iTunes 11 is really great, looks much better and works much quicker. BUT, since I've upgraded to iTunes 11 iTunes Match no longer works properly. Hopefully it will be fixed real soon.

[Wicked1]

Not to found of it, but not the worst upgrade in the world, that would be left to Windows 8, I will just not do it

However going back to iTunes 10, but have to do a system recovery to get there on my 2012 MBA

[BRLawyer]

Originally Posted by urkel

Just because it performs flawlessly for you doesnt mean it does the same for everyone else. I guess you live in a bubble if you think that the world unanimously feels iTunes is "flawless" and has no room for improvement but for the last decade then a steady pattern of complaints have come around so it's not hard to see where the software was improved and where it remained the same:

Fixed:
Speed: iTunes is a bloated mess that has been overrun by features which resulted in a sluggish experience for many users. [iTunes 11 drastically improved the speed]

Photo sync through iPhoto/Aperture: Larger libraries often had issues with new folders appearing in the sync list, duplications or wasted data space due to poor thumbnail management. So far this area seems much better but that may be due to the latest Aperture update.

Windows Version: iTunes 10 was Garbage. Surprisingly, iTunes 11's performance improvements are most noticeable on my 10yr old Windows machine that I use as an iTunes server for my 2 AppleTV's.

Not Fixed
App Store: The app store is (still) a joke. Its slow and cumbersome and by having an iTunes ONLY interface then often times its incredibly inconvenient. [iTunes 11

iOS Product Sync: Many people report issues with wifi sync where files simply dont get transferred/updated or products drop off the devices list. Ive got 4 iOS products that randomly are able to connect so I still rely on wires in order to get a connection

File Location Awareness: The inability for a modern application to not automatically know when a file gets added, renamed or deleted is ridiculous. For example, my iOS Applications folder contains 718 items but my iTunes Apps only list 600. So there's 100+ duplicates taking space on my SSD which requires me to manually find each duplicate and delete it. Folders should be monitored by the software, not given a grey exclamation point when a file(s) is missing. (And the "search for all missing files" option rarely works).

File Management: Apple removed "Display Duplicates" which is frustrating because of how much manual file management is required. Also, Apple actually gave us a "Home Movie" category which is amazing. But they failed to give a Home Movie category in the sidebar which means files are still mixed.

iTunes Match: No OPTIONS for updating metadata with iTunes version, random file duplication (both server side and locally), no re-matching of songs that are clearly the iTunes database. I paid for year2 of iTunes Match but its incredibly disappointing when Apple ignores a product once the hype wears down. Match needs a big update, especially since its a pay service.

iTunes Server: This is more of a gripe that is felt most by AppleTV users, but iTunes should be a standalone file server built into their Airplay products. Plug in a hard drive into an Airport Extreme/Time Capsule and allow that to serve media to the aTV. But as it is now then I require a computer on 24/7 just to transmit local media to a device 2ft away from it. (Yes, the cloud is a solution when dealing with 6MB music files but when dealing with 6GB HD movies then its incredibly inconvenient)


We need iTunes 11 because the old version was aging poorly and updates are good when they address important issues. Unfortunately this is not the "major overhaul" we were expecting since most of the issues people had were not addressed and some features people like were removed. Its a decent update, but its just not the kind of Apple stuff that Apple should be proud to brag about.

So from your gigantic list of THREE positives TWO don't apply to me and my iMac 27 (don't do Windows and have no speed issues) and the third isn't even clear...against at least SIX "unfixed" negatives.

And you still want me to upgrade? No, thanks.

[Mr. McMac]

Has anyone installed iTunes 11 on their PC's yet? Any bad experiences I should know about before I take the plunge? So far the Mac version's been great.

[muffysimba]

Originally Posted by skitzogreg

Hit the play button again (pause is hidden).

No, I'm talking about ending a song. I know you can pause a song, but how do you shut a song off?

----------

Originally Posted by teleromeo

Hit the space bar or use the play/pause button on your F8 key.

I'm talking about bringing a song to an end, not just pausing a song.

[Spectrum Abuser]

I didn't see anything wrong with the last version, but it's a free update so I installed it.

[tkermit]

Originally Posted by muffysimba

no, i'm talking about ending a song. I know you can pause a song, but how do you shut a song off?

⌘.

[1millionbucks]

So many haters in this poll.... XD

[PurdueAV2003]

I have a problem with the way iTunes 11 handles TV shows and subscriptions. I have a subscription to The Daily Show and Colbert Report, besides hundreds of episodes of other shows stored on my computer. When you click on the thumbnail for the show, not only does it show you the episodes you have downloaded, but all of the episodes I've ever purchased. That's hundreds of episodes MORE! What's worse is that they are sorted from oldest to newest with no way to change the order. If you want to do that you have to go to list view, which shows you every TV show you have on your computer or the Cloud, and scroll until you find the episodes you want to watch or, when you're done, delete. This interface may work if you have a couple series with a handful of episodes, but when you have many series with hundreds of episodes stored, it becomes a chore to use. I managed to go through and clean things up by hiding episodes in the Cloud, but this is still a pain to deal with. Especially, since it worked so well in the older version. You just had to double-click on the thumbnail for a particular show and you could sort or delete episodes for THAT one show, rather than having to filter through all of them.

[RollTheBeats]

I really hate it and I'm reverting back to 10.7. They removed the option to have the column browser aligned to the left. I now only have the option of having it aligned top which makes no sense at all, it's unintuitive, inefficient and it's a really poor use of screen real estate.

Also, the new search is awful, I find it virtually unusable. It doesn't return results for any info stored in the comment tag and I much preferred the old search whereby the results where displayed in the main window. The old search was more simple and efficient.

[urkel]

Originally Posted by BRLawyer

So from your gigantic list of THREE positives TWO don't apply to me and my iMac 27 (don't do Windows and have no speed issues) and the third isn't even clear...against at least SIX "unfixed" negatives.

And you still want me to upgrade? No, thanks.

Um. Who are you and why would I care if you upgrade?

[panzer06]

Initially hated it but once I figured out how to put back the sidebar and status bar I was fine. I hate that full screen crap!

Cheers,

[aaronvan]

My reply would be "meh" if that was an option. Don't hate it, nor do I love it.

[Waterdweller]

I personally like some of the cosmetic changes...but its impossible to listen to my music using home-sharing ...plays 1or2 songs and then hangs up the program...have to "force quit" iTunes...didn't have this problem with iTunes10...so i would NOT upgrade until they fix these problems

[Bluebird61]

I am not moved very often to post on a forum but after downloading iTunes 11 this weekend I am so upset that I feel the need to vent!
After two days of trying to get iTunes back to a usable system I fail to see a single advantage in this upgrade.

The mini player has lost its ability to display the track time and position (Yes, I know, I can click on the album art work - but before I didn't have to!)
The mini player now doesn't scroll the track name so on a long title you can't see all the details (Yes, I know, I can click on album art work - but before I didn't have to!)
In the main iTunes window I used to have (on the left hand side) a pane which gave me access to everything: Music, TV, Movies, Store, and all my playlists - this has now gone. (Yes, I know, I can still access these place using the playlist button, the songs button or the store button, but before I didn't need to!)
The literature tells me I see more of my music - but on old iTunes I could see 44 tracks on a playlist now I see 35 (Yes, I know, I can scroll, but before I didn't have to!)
And the bugs -
not updating play count and last played date because of a default setting by Apple in my preferences (thanks to the guys who helped me fix this!)
not displaying track title in the mini player if your (default) setting is tab through all controls!
At least I have fixed these FUNDAMENTAL bugs. But what still isn't fixed is losing position in playlists / songlists. - Go to Songs - choose a genre/artist/album and start playing. If you now decide to go and look at a playlist and then come back to Songs, your position is lost and you have to choose genre/artist/album again to get back to where you were!

This is just why I left the MS world all those years ago. Geeks tinkering with something that works and forcing the user community to spend days getting back to where they were happy in the first place.

Seriously I am pleased that many on this thread seem happy with the upgrade - it just completely eludes me. And I will never again download a new version of anything from Apple. I wait wait until version 3 like I used to with MS.

I still think Apple hardware products are fantastic but their reputation for software has been severely dented in my opinion!

[globalist]

Originally Posted by quaffa

I'm happier with iTunes 11 now...

I've got rid of the damned thing and reverted back to 10.7.

Happy days...

Right on. I did the same. As someone put it, the 11 is such a dumbgrade ...

Also, noone mentioned they also removed the hybrid view (icons + list) for Apps?

[InuNacho]

The lack of Coverflow and the album artwork alone makes me want to switch back to 10. I loved those two features, it felt like I was looking at the CD cover and iTunes was just my big collection of digital CDs which of course it is.

[thewalshter]

Yes it is very poor no cover flow or album art to the left, makes editing tags more difficult. Just had Itunes running for 3hrs and it has decided to use 90% CPU fans running at 4000rpm had to kill program, not happy.

[InuNacho]

Originally Posted by thewalshter

Yes it is very poor no cover flow or album art to the left, makes editing tags more difficult. Just had Itunes running for 3hrs and it has decided to use 90% CPU fans running at 4000rpm had to kill program, not happy.

Huh, I just noticed that everything's slowed down a bit since I updated.

[localhost8080]

i think its really good, its fast, which was my main annoyance with 10.7

one thing im missing is the cloud podcast sync thing - where your itunes will be updated if you subscribe to a new podcast in your iphone or ipad and vice versa

hopefully this comes soon in 11.1

[deze]

What happened! to the animated EQ in iTunes 11?
I have illustrated above but in its own container.
I really miss it...