Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I really don't understand all the bitching about iTunes. So far about all any of you have said is that it's bloated and sucks. That doesn't really say much. Well on my iMac it loads in about 1 second. All the music I purchased is there, and it works fine for me.

This is a place for people to come and bitch. I have a 30,000 / 200gb song collection of local song files and maybe a few dozen purchased albums. Everything works fine, no performance issues. My qualms come from UI inconsistencies but that's just me being a designer by trade. If you're viewing in Playlist view the interface is the same it has been since 2007 so even those complaints are mostly unwarranted.

If I must bitch, the iOS app constantly displaying "only showing music on this iPhone" banner is one of the most heavy-handed design decisions I've see. Let me choose to not have cloud music streamed to my phone, don't try and dark-pattern me into it. Also losing the ability to customize your bottom row with genres/ albums/ etc really sucks.
 
He's barely competent as software VP. Scott Forstall needs to return and set things straight!
Forstall? The one who was screwing everything up before he left? The one who refused to apologize for the Maps fiasco? The one who was spending more time trying to consolidate power than make iOS a better platform?

Who knows, maybe he'd return a better manager. I think Jobs was better after he returned to Apple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bob24
Forstall? The one who was screwing everything up before he left? The one who refused to apologize for the Maps fiasco? The one who was spending more time trying to consolidate power than make iOS a better platform?

Who knows, maybe he'd return a better manager. I think Jobs was better after he returned to Apple.
iOS was better engineered and designed under him. Do you seriously believe Craig and Jony are doing a better job than he did?
 
They really should separate it into 2-3 apps:

1. Music Storage
2. Music Streaming
3. Music Store

Jumping too fast to conclusions. I download the apple music playlists for my trips on the plane / in he car ! 2 apps ?? Must be kidding . The difference should be , as is, almost indistinguishable .
 
Is it just me or does it seem like Apple are listening more to customers and feedback, it also seems like they are giving customers what we want (within reason).
 
  • Like
Reactions: eyeseeyou
There are many 'normal' Apple employees that also think software quality has improved. Because it has in the metrics they are looking at (which outright crashes seem to be an important part of). It is just that their metrics don't include all areas and it is those areas they don't include that have caused grief with users.

I like that thought however let me add one point to it: if the metrics used to measure are not what the user is measuring then there is either a set of missing metrics or Apple is looking at the wrong set of metrics.
[doublepost=1455391348][/doublepost]
I have had apple devices since the first iPod... This music app now is really great in my opinion. I can reliably hold all 20k of my own music, and store locally anything I listen often to. I can tell one of my smart playlists to be cached offline and when anything is added to it? It is automatically downloaded.

I have all of my smart playlists auto updating when I star a song, and organized into genres. And when I add music it is filtered into a new music playlist.

And when a brand new album comes out? I have access to it immediately.

Apple Music had its rough spots at launch and for a while. This last update has cured all of my gripes and it is BY FAR better than any "iPod only" interface for people who refuse to come up to date with technologies.

All of this for the price of an album a month. Easy. I feel like you might need to try a bit harder to use what you have.

But for someone like myself (50GB library) iTunes and Apple Music are very poor pieces of software.
[doublepost=1455391667][/doublepost]
...

Personally I planned on paying for Apple Music when it launched ... and then had it utterly destroy my Library. (I can't exaggerate how beyond repair it was. I had to dump the whole thing and restore from Time Machine, I couldn't even use Apple Music on my phone because it refused to download all of the content I wanted to have. Which makes no sense. I have a 64 gig iPhone, I don't want to waste my limited data plan and battery constantly downloading music I've already listened to before!

....

i hear you ... thank god for backups and off line copies.
 
I have never plugged my iPad into iTunes, and have a bunch of apps installed on it. I use the App store app on the iPad to install apps. Do you actually use Apple products?

You miss his point. The flexibility is missing.
Can you go into safari/chrome on your mac, or chrome/edge/FF... on your windows machine, or... drop into the the app store and remotely install an app on your iPhone or any/all your iDevices?

It is about ease and flexibility. iTunes isn't.
[doublepost=1455392064][/doublepost]
So basically, Apple’s making so much money that they’re in denial over how bad the software has gotten.

It has become more about "attraction" and far less about "usability". :(
 
If a single iTunes app wasn't expected to do 8 million things, it wouldn't be nearly so bloated.

I agree with one of the above posts: there should be a few different apps that each handle a specific task.
1. A music app (iTunes)
2. A movie/TV show app (iVideo?)
3. A book/audiobook app (iBooks)
4. An iOS management app that handles what we now think of as syncing through iTunes.

Apple always argues that their stuff is "simple" to use, yet when I try and tell an old person that their iTunes MOVIES are under the icon that looks like a musical note, I can hardly blame them for being confused. To be clear, I do think that Apple's stuff is easier to use than the competition's, but it has some very obvious flaws like this that contradict their message about how they think through every facet of their products.
 
Nnnn it doesn't ACTUALLY do that unless all your purchased music is already in their library. If it actually did what you just wrote here, I'd be a happy subscriber and Spotify would be €14.99 poorer each month.

It definitly does. Import a CD to your iTunes library and Apple Music will upload it to your cloud library (similarly to iTunes Match). You can also add an album from Apple Music to the same cloud library by clicking on the "+" icon when viewing that album. Those two albums will be part of the same library, available through the exact same UI, and synchronised across all your devices.
 
It definitly does. Import a CD to your iTunes library and Apple Music will upload it to your cloud library (similarly to iTunes Match). You can also add an album from Apple Music to the same cloud library by clicking on the "+" icon when viewing that album. Those two albums will be part of the same library, available through the exact same UI, and synchronised across all your devices.
This with a caveat: works only for albums present in Apple Music. AND also correctly uploaded to Apple Music. And possibly completely totally different from anything at all in Apple Music, because a remix CD single will not work, and neither will live recordings unless present at AM already.

Challenge: I dare anyone here to upload Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II to an iDevice correctly, i.e. with 8:07 album version instead of 3:56 version of "Sentinel". Apple Music will TELL you it's 8:07, but it won't be. Regardless of whether you upload it from your collection or AM it will be "matched" to incorrect 3:56 single edit (but displayed as 8:07). The one thing I haven't tried is buying the one song from iTunes Store on the iDevice, so maybe that's how one goes around it. But I assure you that you can't upload this CD correctly no matter what you do. I now have "Sentinel" and "Sentinel (album version)" in my Music app, both display 8:07 and play 3:56.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EwanMcTeagle
It has improved measurably. One item tossed out was that iOS 9.0 had fewer crashes than any release of iOS 8. They attributed that improvement to the success of the beta program.

Sad metric.
The number of Safari, Springboard, and OS crashes are down from iOS 8 to iOS 9. The number of niggling glitches, core OS function issues, core app issues, and GUI issues is up from iOS 8 to iOS 9.
Not sure if this is a winner from an OS stability and quality perspective. YMMV.
 
Yes. People are serious about their music. And iTunes ****ed up my entire collection two times. I will never again let a program organize any of my files.

To be fair, I really like the way iTunes does its organization. However, to blame the software is pointless. It doesn't have a mind of its own. When people tend to blame software, it's because they don't know how to use it to its fullest potential, become frustrated, and just throw the blame on it.
 
...
In the podcast they mentioned thinking about the experience, not the services, and that iTunes was on a multi-year improvement path. I think it is unlikely that any modular app approach is forthcoming, but a streamlining and simplification is likely. The problem with Music is combining the past, present and future into an integrated experience.
...

Not sure what you are trying to say... Combine for an integrated experience? :confused:
When software on an OS (iTunes or AM) has difficulty handling my long term music library yet several competitors have no issue at all (both store and play) something is ... wrong. Then add in video, series, TV, books, and apps, the issues keep growing. Integration doesn't appear to be working well anymore.
If you cannot simplify the over all (still tied to my credit card), break it into manageable sections and update each "function/module/app".
Just saying ...
 
Last edited:
Whenever you design new systems, especially complex ones, you have to take a preemptive strike.
The Music app is bloated, especially if your main purpose is accessing your iPod. I guess these guys collect more data about how we use the app than you can wave a stick at, future iterations will make it better experience.

For the time being though can we at least have the My Music as the first tab. Basics!
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillyMatt87
"Refreshed version" what does that even mean?

Car analogy:
i-fixed-it-again-09.jpg
 
Thats a very Microsoft way of doing things IMO, they should just concentrate on making iTunes 100x better than it is currently - I see no problem having everything in one app.

I don't see an issue with that either IF Apple can pull it off. Personally I feel the one-shot streamlining of iTunes not a manageable process. They may well have to break it up to fix.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jamescobalt
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.