Apple Releases iTunes 12.5.5 With 'Minor App and Performance Improvements'

[PizzaBoxStyle]

I started on iTunes 4.1 back in 2003. Those were the days. iPod with touch-wheel, OS X 10.3 on PowerPC iMac.

Wow almost the same for me! Same hardware, same OS, same iTunes... just minus the iPod.

At the time, we had just gotten a family iMac (lampshade style), and it shipped with some variant of 10.2.x and a version of iTunes with the purple notes icon. A few weeks after we bought the computer, 10.3 shipped and we got the upgrade via discs mailed to us, and I believe iTunes 4 came with the OS upgrade.

iTunes v4.1 was a very fine vintage.

 

[logicstudiouser]

How so? I certainly don't seem to get Genius results for any additional tracks, and iTunes long stopped offering me a Genius option for newly added tracks.

It isn't available for additional tracks (at least right now), but the iTunes interface has become more genius friendly than past iTunes 12 releases in terms of accessibility and more noticeable Genius presence from the dropdown menus, potentially meaning that a fix for newer songs is coming soon. Apple has also updated their support topic on iTunes Genius this month.
If you look for my thread on here 'iTunes Genius dead?' under the Apple Services section on page 2, I share an email followup where the issue is acknowledged and that Apple is 'investigating' to fix 'permanently'.
Based on my library assessment, Genius seems to work for tracks released up to about July-August 2015. From what I have heard from an advisor at Apple, the standard time for genius to be available is around 90 days after a song's release date.
My theory is that when Apple started using the heart symbol (summer 2015) for songs users liked, that messed up the Genius algorithm which relies on not just playlists that users creates, but also star ratings and other factors. I also think that Apple Music has been a factor in the interruption of the Genius service.
Anyway, I am optimistic they fix this.

 

[PizzaBoxStyle]

All I know is that every update seems to slow down my Mac. Sierra is totally unoptimized, brought everything to a go slow. Siri on Sierra is atrocious as well, gets 95% of my requests wrong. Why isn't Mac Siri more like iPhone Siri?

Tip to Apple, don't release software updates unless they are fully optimized, stop destroying the experience, stop destroying the hardware.
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Explain why please. I'm keen to know why the older version was much better.

Why? The user interface and utility of it.

I'm including a screenshot of our from somewhere else in the web for all to remember and examine. Very smooth and clean interface that exposed a lot of functionality (IMO).

This interface entices me even today.

 

[logicstudiouser]

Still nothing for Snow Leopard. Come on Apple surely it can't be that difficult to do.

They ditched Snow Leopard support a long time ago. The latest you can go is 11.4, which ironically is a lot better than iTunes 12.

 

[ErikGrim]

Why? The user interface and utility of it.

I'm including a screenshot of our from somewhere else in the web for all to remember and examine. Very smooth and clean interface that exposed a lot of functionality (IMO).

View attachment 685361

This interface entices me even today.

You can configure the current iTunes to look almost identical to that (minus store on bottom)

 

[arkitect]

There is a new bug, if you're not using iCloud Library, that will permanently delete tracks from your library if you remove them from a playlist.

http://www.kirkville.com/itunes-12-5-5-be-careful-how-you-delete-items-from-playlists/

Happier now.. . but not about the thing where it deletes songs from library if you remove from playlist. Grr.

Cue teeth-gritting frustration.

I'm not seeing this, and I've never had iCloud music library enabled. My iTunes version is now 12.5.5.5; I don't know if it was quickly updated by Apple.

Well I updated this morning to iTunes 12.5.5.5

I tested with a few expendable tracks and so far so good. No prompt appeared to ask me if I wanted to delete the tracks, but they were still in my main iTunes Library and most importantly, still on my drive.

For what its worth, I have never had iCloud Library activated.

However, as always, YMMV.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

For what its worth, I have never had iCloud Library activated.

No, neither have I; I dislike the rentier model.

My music - iTunes - library is on my computer - which is one of the man reasons I have always wanted a large, capacious memory on the computer itself, as my music takes up almost 100GB of memory.

 

[Guy Clark]

Why? The user interface and utility of it.

I'm including a screenshot of our from somewhere else in the web for all to remember and examine. Very smooth and clean interface that exposed a lot of functionality (IMO).

View attachment 685361

This interface entices me even today.

Absolutely. Unfortunately iTunes has had to move with the modern interface and perhaps not for the best. iTunes 10 being one of my preferred versions. That being said Snow Leopard is in desperate need of an iTunes update as currently there is incompatibility with the latest iOS devices and iOS 10.

Apple have done to Snow Leopard the same as Microsoft have done to Windows 7. Snow Leopard should have received a 10.6.9 update as Windows 7 should have received a Service Pack 2 but neither happened because it did not fit in the future road map of both corporations.

 

[arkitect]

I dislike the rentier model.

So do I! Intensely. (Though I will add that films and documentaries are another matter. Those I am happy to rent once or twice.)

My music - iTunes - library is on my computer - which is one of the man reasons I have always wanted a large, capacious memory on the computer itself, as my music takes up almost 100GB of memory.

Mine is embarrassingly large and has jumped onto an external drive.
Some days I think I should take a pruning knife to it… but I just can't bring myself to do it.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

So do I! Intensely. (Though I will add that films and documentaries are another matter. Those I am happy to rent once or twice.)


Mine is embarrassingly large and has jumped onto an external drive.
Some days I think I should take a pruning knife to it… but I just can't bring myself to do it.

And - my music library is constantly growing and being added to.

Initially, when iTunes was set up and one could download stuff (or 'buy' it - rather, rent it, but with conditional rings surrounding and constraining just what you could do with - and how often you could do it - the songs you acquired thus), the main reason I didn't succumb wasn't an innate Luddite sensibility, but that - following popular taste - they didn't actually have the sort of obscure stuff that I like and was trying to track down.)

 

[smacrumon]

Why? The user interface and utility of it.

I'm including a screenshot of our from somewhere else in the web for all to remember and examine. Very smooth and clean interface that exposed a lot of functionality (IMO).

View attachment 685361

This interface entices me even today.

Thanks! Yes, I agree, the old is simple and it's clean. I can see all the parts and instantly know exactly what each part does.

The amount of buttons going across the top, down the side, plus the many tabs and single use buttons, in the current version is really confusing, even for a power user. iTunes today is quite a victim of function creep and work arounds over the years. iTunes today is more of a pseudo-operating-system-within-an-operating-system. It loads slow, and I'd say consumes more resources than it probably should.

I suspect they (Apple) aren't fixing iTunes because it will be replaced with something entirely new, similar to how iPhoto was replaced with Photos. The name "iTunes" also doesn't really encapsulate exactly what iTunes in 2017 is about.

I say, watch this space.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

If they fixed the Wifi sync bug, then that would be amazing!

Now they just need to gut the entire GUI and make it like it was in iTunes 10, add some color like iTunes 9, fix the Audible audiobook sync bug (You have to play an Audible audiobook for it to be properly authorized, so it can sync to an iOS unit), give me more sort options for audiobooks (Smart folders!) and better view options for them, and I am good.

 

[Guy Clark]

They ditched Snow Leopard support a long time ago. The latest you can go is 11.4, which ironically is a lot better than iTunes 12.

That may be the case but iTunes 11.4 is not compatible with iOS 10.

iTunes 12 is available for Lion so why not Snow Leopard?

Lion incidentally is woeful compared to Snow Leopard. I refuse to upgrade to the bling of Yosemite, El Capitan or Sierra even though Apple are attempting to force me to do so.

Therefore I am running Windows 7 Parallels Desktop virtual environment to overcome the iTunes 12 issue. The point is that should not be necessary.

Too many Mac users bow down to the Apple Corporation dictatorship.

 

[LizKat]

There used to be a checkbox in iTunes preferences that offered "Show Apple Music features" or something like that. Now it's gone, or at least gone when I open one of my main iTunes libraries that are not associated with Apple music and look at the general preferences for the app.

Maybe Apple have found a hook to figure out when they should show Apple music layout in iTunes and when not, but I don't see how really, past having that preferences option. I'm almost afraid to open my Apple music oriented library because of what might happen when I then close the app and reopen it (using option-open) to access a different library that does not have Apple music associated with it. Or maybe they are just using iCloud music library as the hook, which would seem to pose other issues. Well what's a cloned drive for anyway LOL, once I get a spare one of those behind me I'll experiment and update this post...

 

[Jessica Lares]

Well I updated this morning to iTunes 12.5.5.5

I tested with a few expendable tracks and so far so good. No prompt appeared to ask me if I wanted to delete the tracks, but they were still in my main iTunes Library and most importantly, still on my drive.

For what its worth, I have never had iCloud Library activated.

However, as always, YMMV.

Yeah, seems like a lot of people aren't running into this bug. I'm sure there's people like me who if they lose something they're never going to find it again though. I don't think about my trash can unless I am throwing stuff away then and there and have lost the occasional file that's accidentally made it in there.

There used to be a checkbox in iTunes preferences that offered "Show Apple Music features" or something like that. Now it's gone, or at least gone when I open one of my main iTunes libraries that are not associated with Apple music and look at the general preferences for the app.

Maybe Apple have found a hook to figure out when they should show Apple music layout in iTunes and when not, but I don't see how really, past having that preferences option. I'm almost afraid to open my Apple music oriented library because of what might happen when I then close the app and reopen it (using option-open) to access a different library that does not have Apple music associated with it. Or maybe they are just using iCloud music library as the hook, which would seem to pose other issues. Well what's a cloned drive for anyway LOL, once I get a spare one of those behind me I'll experiment and update this post...

It's in the Restrictions tab too.

 

[Marx55]

And still no resume playback. Frustrating!

 

[mjfutures]

iTunes Store is painfully slow for me after these last few updates; I am completely puzzled. I had to upgrade too because of the App Store and Touch Bar Safari fixes .... Navigating to movies or music to purchase is literally 5-15 seconds of pausing.... but if I reinstall Sierra with 0 updates and use iTunes it is blazing fast... can anyone help?

 

[Analog Kid]

http://www.lairware.com/guide/fix_damaged_library.html

This will fix a broken library, BUT you'll lose date added, so any smart playlists based on that will be broken. I've had to do it a few times and it's always frustrating.

Thanks, took a few days to verify, but this seems to have done it. Because they told me all the things I can do without buying their app before advertising their app, I went ahead and gave them a sale too. Haven't tried it yet, though.