Can iTunes suck anymore than it already does?

[Cave Man]

Jesus, I'm at my wit's end. I've been an Apple user since the early 1990s and I have to say the company is going downhill. I don't know if they've just lost their mojo, are too extended with all the crap they're getting into, if they're paying too much attention to iDevices, or just don't care about anything but the Almighty Dollar.

But iTunes is an unmitigated disaster. I just ripped a DVD that my kid got for his birthday using Handbrake's Apple TV preset and iTunes is either rejecting it, or putting it someplace ambiguous. I searched for it in the iTunes search box but nothing there. I am about ready to chuck the Apple TV and iTunes altogether. I am not used to feeling like this about Apple.

/end rant

 

[ravenvii]

iTunes had always sucked. This is nothing new.

 

[Cave Man]

But until 12 it had been manageable. Now it's not.

 

[ixxx69]

Jesus, I'm at my wit's end.

I feel the same way. It's been going downhill for a while now... I think it started around 10 or 11. 12 is a whole new level of unusable, which really sucks for me because I'm fully invested in the Apple ecosystem.

There have always been haters, but I've been using it for 10 years and actually thought iTunes was great in the early days, and "good enough" up until a couple years ago. The new UI is just horrendous... I literally have to google how to do simple things like playlists... and then I forget and have to google it again. It's completely unintuitive, they've hidden some of the most basic elements of the UI.... arrghh... now you've got me started...

I'm open to hearing the alternatives. I already switched to Downcast for podcasts, and while not perfect, it's mostly been a relief. I've looked at some of the music alternatives, but having a difficult time finding seamless integration with both my Macs and iPhone/iPad. And I use an ATV3 for all my tv watching.

/rant

 

[priitv8]

If you don't see it in "Recently Added" smart playlist, then it was not imported.
I've yet to see a HandBrake export, that iTunes didn't like.
You can't find it via search box if metadata is not set as it won't search filenames, imho.
HandBrake sets no useful metadata afaik.

 

[paulrbeers]

Jesus, I'm at my wit's end. I've been an Apple user since the early 1990s and I have to say the company is going downhill. I don't know if they've just lost their mojo, are too extended with all the crap they're getting into, if they're paying too much attention to iDevices, or just don't care about anything but the Almighty Dollar.

But iTunes is an unmitigated disaster. I just ripped a DVD that my kid got for his birthday using Handbrake's Apple TV preset and iTunes is either rejecting it, or putting it someplace ambiguous. I searched for it in the iTunes search box but nothing there. I am about ready to chuck the Apple TV and iTunes altogether. I am not used to feeling like this about Apple.

/end rant

If you didn't tag the movie it will end up in home movies instead of movies.

 

[Boyd01]

Relax…. I have ripped over 500 movies and 500 TV shows over the past year with virtually no problems. As paulrbeers said, it will appear under "home movies" unless you take specific steps to avoid this. But it's no big deal either way, just find it in home movies and use get info to change to a movie and the genre of your choice. Even a Cave Man should be able to do that.

I use a program called IDentify to tag movies before I put them into iTunes, it makes things very easy. There are other apps for this too.

Now I still have plenty of gripes about iTunes though. Maybe I am just missing something, but when playing a full screen movie, the only way I can find to exit (without minimizing) is to click the little (x) in the upper left corner of the screen. That can be a pain since the menubar pops up to hide the (x) when you mouse up there sometimes. Why isn't there a command key to close the full screen window?

Also, why did they do away with the ability to have multiple playlists open in separate windows? It was a lot easier to manage playlists that way.

Yesterday I freaked out because all my playlists vanished. Took me awhile to figure out that I'd inadventently clicked on "hide", since that button vanishes unless you mouse over it. I never realized you could even hide playlists before. Almost seems like their goal is to dumb down Mac apps to the same point as iPhone apps.

Nevertheless, I use iTunes for all my content with a Mac Mini as a server and a MacBook Air and two Apple TV's. It does most of what I want, but it could be better.

 

[AFEPPL]

Does "Identify" allow you to tag/edit/set an age restriction for movies?
(apple does it for purchased content - but I'm wanting to do it for RIP'd movies).

 

[MizMamie]

I just ripped a DVD that my kid got for his birthday using Handbrake's Apple TV preset and iTunes is either rejecting it, or putting it someplace ambiguous. I searched for it in the iTunes search box but nothing there.
/end rant

The rip should be in the destination file you specified in Handbrake. When you find it, open it with QuickTime and then do File/Export to iTunes. Now the movie will be in iTunes - but in the Home Movies folder. Right click on the movie to Get Info, and click on the Options tab. You can now change the type from "home movies" to "movies".

 

[Cave Man]

If you didn't tag the movie it will end up in home movies instead of movies.

Yes, I discovered that highly unpleasant phenomenon when I "upgraded" iTunes many months ago. But it's not there either. Of course, the main benchmark is that it does not show up on our Apple TV. That tells me it's not in iTunes, despite dragging and dropping it several times in an attempt to get it to show up.

 

[Lord Hamsa]

Yes, I discovered that highly unpleasant phenomenon when I "upgraded" iTunes many months ago. But it's not there either. Of course, the main benchmark is that it does not show up on our Apple TV. That tells me it's not in iTunes, despite dragging and dropping it several times in an attempt to get it to show up.

Dragging and dropping where?

I also join in the recommendation of using Identify, Subler, or MetaZ after Handbrake so you can be sure of it's metadata tagging.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I realized I wanted nothing to do with iTunes when I heard that the iTunes development team listened to Spotify while working on iTunes.

Now I have an older version that I keep around for my iPods, but otherwise I guess you could say Apple convinced me to switch to Spotify.

I will say, though, that as far as modern media players go, iTunes is great for just playing a few mp3's... Just nothing else. The latest version (12 I think?) is just impossible to use, and -this coming from someone who doesn't use it much- has so many bugs it's insane.

 

[priitv8]

Does "Identify" allow you to tag/edit/set an age restriction for movies?
(apple does it for purchased content - but I'm wanting to do it for RIP'd movies).

Yep, as long as you set your metadata right.
I use free program Subler to do the metadata on my movies. Set the content rating of your movie and iTunes/TV will do the rest, once parental controls are enabled.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I keep finding mine in 'Home Videos'.

I'm having a war with the iBooks app on my iPads.

I have nearly 60 'updates', and can't get a damn one of them to download, and can't get other content not already on the iDevice to download to it either. I touch the cloud, it shows 'DOWNLOADING', then back to iCloud icon, then touch it again, 'DOWNLOADING', then back to iCloud icon.

This is happening on the iPad that I had 'reset' at the Apple store in October now that once *did* work perfectly.

Damned most irritating app I've ever known. I have plenty of space... Now since they broke (really) iBooks off on their own lily pad, it's been hell to get to work right. ARGGGGGGGGGG Like why couldn't they have left it alone, and have my iMac be the local repository for the 'stuff'. Doing updates on iBooks would be 'simple'... Apparently far too simple...

 

[dwsolberg]

The question has been asked before, and with each new version of iTunes, Apple always responds with a resounding "Yes!".

All kidding aside, the app has so much sprawl, it's very difficult to manage. It just does too many things.

 

[Zxxv]

You'll probably find it in iPhoto

 

[Darryl.Jenks]

I admit to being a noob, but I'm not a troll. What is the reason for everyone's hatred of iTunes? I use it to sync my iPhone and have ripped all of my physical media to it, and so far I don't have any problems. Is it something a more sophisticated user would notice, but a novice simply wouldn't encounter?

I'm a novice user and just don't understand, and I'm seeking some enlightenment.

 

[Boyd01]

As I said above, I don't "hate" iTunes. There are just a number of little annoyances. When they take away features in an update (like no playlists in multiple windows), that is especially annoying. But if you're new to iTunes you wouldn't be aware of that.

 

[cynics]

Dragging and dropping where?



I also join in the recommendation of using Identify, Subler, or MetaZ after Handbrake so you can be sure of it's metadata tagging.

He probably means just dragging and dropping into iTunes. That is typically the method I use, always works. It will create a nice folder and file in the iTunes media section of the HD.

Like mentioned they initially goto home movies until edited.

 

[roadbloc]

iTunes can easily suck more. Each release has been progressively worse and bloated since Version 4. Based on that pattern, iTunes 13 will be even worse.

 

[Lord Hamsa]

He probably means just dragging and dropping into iTunes. That is typically the method I use, always works. It will create a nice folder and file in the iTunes media section of the HD.

I usually drop new files into the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder - that's pretty foolproof too, and you can do it while iTunes isn't even running (it will process them next time it starts if it wasn't running).

 

[26139]

Dunno

I admit to being a noob, but I'm not a troll. What is the reason for everyone's hatred of iTunes? I use it to sync my iPhone and have ripped all of my physical media to it, and so far I don't have any problems. Is it something a more sophisticated user would notice, but a novice simply wouldn't encounter?

I'm a novice user and just don't understand, and I'm seeking some enlightenment.

Dunno, man. I've been an iTunes user since they first released it. My Mini stores all my shows/movies, my MBP has my music.

Sure, each new version has introduced a UI quirk or two, but it stores, organizes, and plays my media. Seldom crashes. Is free.

Also, not sure why the OP is blaming iTunes because the Handbrake file he ripped isn't there. Was it supposed to be added to iTunes?

My semi-expert analysis is: PEBKAC.

 

[Darryl.Jenks]

As I said above, I don't "hate" iTunes. There are just a number of little annoyances. When they take away features in an update (like no playlists in multiple windows), that is especially annoying. But if you're new to iTunes you wouldn't be aware of that.

Thanks for the reply. I used the word "noob," but I should have said "novice" to be more accurate. I'm not new to iTunes at all; been using it since ~2004. Again, I'm not trying to troll anyone, but is there a better program for buying, storing, burning and syncing music and video to Apple devices, strike that, any phone-like device?

 

[26139]

Nope

Thanks for the reply. I used the word "noob," but I should have said "novice" to be more accurate. I'm not new to iTunes at all; been using it since ~2004. Again, I'm not trying to troll anyone, but is there a better program for buying, storing, burning and syncing music and video to Apple devices, strike that, any phone-like device?

No, but that is also part of the problem. There's no competition for iTunes, so Apple doesn't NEED to make it awesome, they just need to have it work.

 

[Darryl.Jenks]

No, but that is also part of the problem. There's no competition for iTunes, so Apple doesn't NEED to make it awesome, they just need to have it work.

You have a point.

Let me ask another way: what's missing? What could/should it do that it doesn't?

ETA: I suppose it's just OP's hyperbole that's sticking in my craw. An "unmitigated disaster?" I mean, I know using iTunes is much worse than being told you have inoperable eyeball cancer, but c'mon...