Curious to see what PPC (and early Intel too) users are using for their iTunes, or what you use as an alternative. I thought iTunes in the early versions was one the best simple jukebox programs ever, with version 4 probably being my favorite. I wish I could use it on my Intel Macs, but even with Rosetta there's some sound stuttering and popping, leading me to use iTunes 6 or 8 instead since these versions work okay with migrating the libraries back and forth.
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Favored version of iTunes
- Thread starter retta283
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My home is an iTunes 10.6.3 home. (two of my Macs can’t run it, but they’re outliers — a G3 and a SL-PPC build which works only up to iTunes 10.4.1.)
It has the unique distinction of running on everything I have between a G4 in 10.5.8 and an Intel Mac able to run Mojave. It has what I need to get my music management work done without interruption or fuss (including working on a whole series of AppleScripts I’ve had lying about for years for maintenance and organization. Amazingly, even in High Sierra and Mojave, the streaming radio function still works.
I understand that for folks who rely on the iTunes Music Store, that feature no longer works (no thanks to Apple), so 10.6.3 is probably not for everyone. But if one has all their music and music video content locally, it’s a fantastic version to keep around.
It has the unique distinction of running on everything I have between a G4 in 10.5.8 and an Intel Mac able to run Mojave. It has what I need to get my music management work done without interruption or fuss (including working on a whole series of AppleScripts I’ve had lying about for years for maintenance and organization. Amazingly, even in High Sierra and Mojave, the streaming radio function still works.
I understand that for folks who rely on the iTunes Music Store, that feature no longer works (no thanks to Apple), so 10.6.3 is probably not for everyone. But if one has all their music and music video content locally, it’s a fantastic version to keep around.
I like iTunes 7. Performance is good even on G3s, and it has the best looking icon imo.
iTunes 4.0.
That exact version. It can't be a version of 3.0 and it can't be 4.0.1 or above. The reason this is my favorite version is that 4.0 is the ONLY version of iTunes that Apple EVER made that allows you to stream your library over the internet. All you have to do is some port forwarding on your router. Apple quickly released 4.0.1 though and that is when it only became possible to share a library over a local network. You have to use third party software to share beyond that now.
The only downside here is that any Macs that want to play the shared library of 4.0 over the internet, must ALSO be on 4.0. So, this really only works with PowerPC Macs.
That exact version. It can't be a version of 3.0 and it can't be 4.0.1 or above. The reason this is my favorite version is that 4.0 is the ONLY version of iTunes that Apple EVER made that allows you to stream your library over the internet. All you have to do is some port forwarding on your router. Apple quickly released 4.0.1 though and that is when it only became possible to share a library over a local network. You have to use third party software to share beyond that now.
The only downside here is that any Macs that want to play the shared library of 4.0 over the internet, must ALSO be on 4.0. So, this really only works with PowerPC Macs.
I have discovered a major (to me) breakthrough with regards to iTunes 4. It turns out the early versions of 4 do not have any problems playing purchased AAC files, no authorization or conversion needed. You can even convert them to other file formats to strip the DRM out right in iTunes 4, no need for a modern machine. 4.0-4.5 play them perfect.
It was 4.6 that introduced the message "This computer is not authorized to play this copy of..." so that means only versions 4.6-4.9 are affected by this issue, a rather small number. I'll tell you right now that if I could run 4.5 on Intel I'd convert my library to it full-time, since it works with Windows shares too.
Though it is worth noting it still does not play purchased files that predate January 2009, they use a completely different file protection/format (m4p) that is impassable, luckily I only had a few of those.
It was 4.6 that introduced the message "This computer is not authorized to play this copy of..." so that means only versions 4.6-4.9 are affected by this issue, a rather small number. I'll tell you right now that if I could run 4.5 on Intel I'd convert my library to it full-time, since it works with Windows shares too.
Though it is worth noting it still does not play purchased files that predate January 2009, they use a completely different file protection/format (m4p) that is impassable, luckily I only had a few of those.
Indeed. I lost an old email address that I had with Shaw.ca, and all of my purchases from that email are as good as worthless, even that the library I'm using is the exact same one that I bought them in originally. A few of them aren't available on the store anymore.e
Years ago when I fell foul to some determination or other from Apple that I could no longer play my purchased tracks on the 'wrong' version of iTunes, I had to use some utility to play back and record them in real time (there was no conversion route) and it took days. Worth it though - no longer tied to their upgrade or fade away regime.
ahoi!
my favorite iTunes - 2.0.4, with OS 9.
They totally smashed it up in OS X.
Just listen to any mp3 with Audion, Vox or even
the -Space- Quicklock/hear (OS 10.5).
Everything sounds better than this crappy-tunes.
Even with EQ, it´s like having bubblegum in your ears.
I always wondered why, it´s the same Core Audio....
????
Never mind,
welcome to BubbleAppleGum Industries
Operating income - Increase US$119.44 billion (2022)
-
"Their Mission Accomplished, but our Beat Goes On"
PPC Punk
my favorite iTunes - 2.0.4, with OS 9.
They totally smashed it up in OS X.
Just listen to any mp3 with Audion, Vox or even
the -Space- Quicklock/hear (OS 10.5).
Everything sounds better than this crappy-tunes.
Even with EQ, it´s like having bubblegum in your ears.
I always wondered why, it´s the same Core Audio....
????
Never mind,
welcome to BubbleAppleGum Industries
Operating income - Increase US$119.44 billion (2022)
-
"Their Mission Accomplished, but our Beat Goes On"
PPC Punk
I've never noticed this. Turn off all sound enhancements and EQs, always. The only issues I've ever had with listening to music through iTunes have to do with the sound enhancement setting being bugged in multiple versions so that it was flagged 'on' no matter what.
ahoi!
Call me a moron or small-minded finicky, but after 30 years
of making and recording music/noise,
"the digital way", there are definitely differences in the sound.
I don´t trust the itunes output, for me this is not a reliable reference,
how the music should really sound finally on CD and LP.
But thats my opinion...;-)
Trust me or die, mic dropped....
Anyway, have a punkin´ day.
PowerPC Punk
Call me a moron or small-minded finicky, but after 30 years
of making and recording music/noise,
"the digital way", there are definitely differences in the sound.
I don´t trust the itunes output, for me this is not a reliable reference,
how the music should really sound finally on CD and LP.
But thats my opinion...;-)
Trust me or die, mic dropped....
Anyway, have a punkin´ day.
PowerPC Punk
Interesting, can I ask what sort of files you are listening to when you've sampled this difference? Are your files lossless or lossy? If lossless, have they been converted from one format to another? I'm genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of this for my own curiosity's sake. I remember when converting FLAC or WAV to AIFF I destroyed the audio quality in the process, which is not supposed to happen... There was probably user error on my part involved there. FLAC files sounds brilliant through VLC, AIFF converted version sounds dreadfully distorted. Lossy files are never a good reference relative to original masters.
A good way to test this is probably just to pop a CD in and use iTunes to play from the CD, comparing iTunes 2 in OS 9 to say iTunes 8 (what I use) on OS X, because that would be a dead giveaway. I admit that my ears are not as sensitive as they used to be 30-40 years ago, I mostly notice when stuff is too loud or brick walled ...
I have an email account that I've had since 1999. It was required back then that I open that account for the design courses I was taking. I never closed it. It's a long standing internet search company that has been sold a few times, but has never disappeared (and no, not Google, they weren't offering Gmail in 1999).
Despite longevity, I keep it open for a few reasons and one of those is access. At some point it occurred to me that the email address I was using for my Apple ID was the one from my ISP. Now, things can happen and someday service with my ISP may be cancelled. Where am I if that email address is attached to my Apple ID?
So, I transferred my Apple ID to that email account. I can get to that email in a variety of ways and if I should ever lose it there are likely to be much bigger problems.
I've made a similar pivot, after losing that Shaw email I immediately recovered what I could to a Hotmail account that I've had since whenever they first let you get a Hotmail back when, and I do not use ISP email as anything but a junk mail collector. I get all kinds of garbage in there, but next to no spam in the Hotmail even after 25 years. I hear that Hotmail/outlook is considered less robust than Gmail or iCloud mail but I've had no issues with it.
I’m not going to call you a “moron” or “small-minded finicky”. You like what you like and that’s all which ought to matter.
That out of the way, I’m also going to note that I have trained ears (audio engineering, former FM radio host, DJ, remixing work, sound archivist, etc.), as well.
Generally speaking, with settings left on default (no audio “enhancement”, “Sound Check”, or EQ applied), audio output from iTunes between, say, iTunes on OS 9 to iTunes 4.x to iTunes 7.x, to iTunes 10.6.3 (the last I’ll use) has not perceptibly worsened or improved when it comes to playing back 16-bit/44.1kHz, lossless audio. (This includes uncompressed WAV and AIFF, in addition to ALAC/Apple Lossless — some of the latter which was converted from FLAC which, headers aside, use a similar lossless algorithm as ALAC, but Apple being Apple….)
I also let iTunes 10.6.3 handle tracks which run north of 16-bit and 44.1 (including some 24-bit/96kHz tracks, even as these can’t be played on an iPod).
Sure, I suppose I could let something like Amarra Symphony handle them, but I’m lazy and the improvement gain isn’t enough for me to ditch managing my DJing library with iTunes. I’m not someone who has interest or cheddar to blow my largesse on five-figure turntables, amplifiers, preamps, and associated “audiophile” equipment, only to listen to the same music people have been listening to on their car FM/satellite radio for decades.
My reference tracks aren’t “wall of noise” stuff (i.e., punk, metal, grunge, chiptunes, or even brickwalled pop). Heck, I’d be fine with listing my reference tracks (as YT links, not the original lossless sources) should anyone want to tinker with them in their own testing time.
But I’m not hearing — whether on monitors, over-ear Sennheiser HD-25 II headphones, or on wired, modular earbuds (Tin Audio T2, which weren’t break-the-bank expensive in the event they get lost to damage or misplacement/theft) — perceptible differences, aside from expectations from the speakers/amplifiers I’m relying on.
I suspect here was probably some setting which caused things to go sideways, as WAV and AIFF are, in effect, two lossless uncompressed algorithms formalized by two competing companies, but which do the exact same thing. (In fact, as I recall, only the headers vary according to their respective format call-outs; the actual data containing lossless, uncompressed audio is, as I understand it, the same data stream as the pits-and-dots audio data from a Red Book CD audio source — if, say, the end-user source was a CD.)
This is also why, when using a purpose-designed audio converter like Max 0.9.1 or XLD, the conversion time, from WAV to AIFF or vice-versa, is almost instantaneous: only headers are being converted. Much the same goes between FLAC and ALAC. Apple just had to do their own proprietary thing for protecting consumer adoption of iTunes’s sake by trying (vainly) to shun FLAC (that… went well).
I've noticed that playing from another library over wifi on my i5 mini (High Sierra) is awful - or maybe it's the server - C2D mini with El Capitan. Either way the audio is degraded - sounds like the 320kbps is knocked down to 64!
I suspect it's just another bug that Apple fixed by ignoring and waiting for you to upgrade (like the malfunctioning Mac mini sd card slot....)
I suspect it's just another bug that Apple fixed by ignoring and waiting for you to upgrade (like the malfunctioning Mac mini sd card slot....)