iOS 7 & iTunes 10.6: Moving Forward

[crazylegsmurphy]

Hey Everyone,

When iTunes 11 was released I upgraded without hesitation. About an hour later I was already searching for a way to downgrade back to iTunes 10.6. The loss of features and organization methods meant that unless Apple made some major changes, I would be a long time user of iTunes 10.6.

However, as Apple tends to do, I am now in a situation where I want to upgrade to iOS 7, but in order to continue syncing my devices, I will have to upgrade to iTunes 11.

I'm looking for alternatives.

From where I'm sitting, it seems I have the following options.

1. Never upgrade the iOS
2. Never sync my devices with iTunes (not sure what this means for music)
3. Modify iTunes 11 to suit my needs (not even sure if possible, or how)
4. Use a third party program that will support syncing

I am really hoping that you guys can give me some advice. I understand that I am creating a special case for myself, but I simply can't stand iTunes 11.

Thoughts?

 

[Joaolx]

Why not use iTunes 11? What's your problem with it?
You can make iTunes 11 look just like 10 with only a few differences. You can turn on the sidebar with all the listed stuff just like before.
I think it was pretty cool update.
But you can always use another app to sync. No big deal.

 

[Pompiliu]

From where I'm sitting, it seems I have the following options.

1. Never upgrade the iOS
2. Never sync my devices with iTunes (not sure what this means for music)
3. Modify iTunes 11 to suit my needs (not even sure if possible, or how)
4. Use a third party program that will support syncing

or
5. Buy the new 5s. it comes with ios7.

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

Why not use iTunes 11? What's your problem with it?
You can make iTunes 11 look just like 10 with only a few differences. You can turn on the sidebar with all the listed stuff just like before.
I think it was pretty cool update.
But you can always use another app to sync. No big deal.

There are a few small issues, but the biggest is that I can no longer group my albums by artist. This may seem like a small thing, but it means my music and movie libraries are one giant wall with no logical breaks.

I could go into this in great detail, but for me it just makes iTunes unbearable.

Finding another app would be great, if I could find one that supported apps, music, movies, etc.

----------

or
5. Buy the new 5s. it comes with ios7.

Getting iOS 7 isn't the issue.

 

[Joaolx]

There are a few small issues, but the biggest is that I can no longer group my albums by artist. This may seem like a small thing, but it means my music and movie libraries are one giant wall with no logical breaks.

I could go into this in great detail, but for me it just makes iTunes unbearable.

Finding another app would be great, if I could find one that supported apps, music, movies, etc.

----------



Getting iOS 7 isn't the issue.

I think you can do that. I think there is an option to make the album view grouped by artists, I have it like that, but there is also the artist view which works for me at least.
I would say it's a worthy update just for mini player but I can see your point. Some things were changed but it doesn't really matter to me.

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

I think you can do that. I think there is an option to make the album view grouped by artists, I have it like that, but there is also the artist view which works for me at least.
I would say it's a worthy update just for mini player but I can see your point. Some things were changed but it doesn't really matter to me.

Here is the difference. iTunes 11 displays all albums in a big giant grid, with no way to break up the information. The other screenshot is from my iTunes 10.6 where I can turn on "Group Albums."

iTunes 11 doesn't work for me because it takes too long to scan my music for the albums I want to listen to, and it takes away almost all other functionality for me. Plus, it looks ugly.

iTunes 10.6 means I can clearly organize my albums and find what I need.

This is one of the major reasons I don't want to upgrade, and why I'm desperately looking for alternatives. What is strange is that I can't seem to find any websites dedicated to tweaking iTunes. If I could force iTunes 11 to display like this, it would be great.

 

[Joaolx]

Here is the difference. iTunes 11 displays all albums in a big giant grid, with no way to break up the information. The other screenshot is from my iTunes 10.6 where I can turn on "Group Albums."

iTunes 11 doesn't work for me because it takes too long to scan my music for the albums I want to listen to, and it takes away almost all other functionality for me. Pour, it looks ugly.

iTunes 10.6 means I can clearly organize my albums and find what I need.

This is one of the major reasons I don't want to upgrade, and why I'm desperately looking for alternatives. What is strange is that I can't seem to find any websites dedicated to tweaking iTunes. If I could force iTunes 11 to display like this, it would be great.

Image

Image

Now I can see your problem. The alternative is probably getting a new music player and use iTunes 11 to sync, it maybe harder to find another app to sync as well as iTunes than to find a good music player.

 

[parkds]

Image

Pretty sure you can get an equivalent view by selecting the Artists view and then "All Artists". It creates it creates an alphabetized list of all artists with each artist as a header and their albums listed below. The only difference is that it lists the tracks next to the album art instead of having to select the album to see the track list. It is not quite as concise, but very similar.

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

Pretty sure you can get an equivalent view by selecting the Artists view and then "All Artists". It creates it creates an alphabetized list of all artists with each artist as a header and their albums listed below. The only difference is that it lists the tracks next to the album art instead of having to select the album to see the track list. It is not quite as concise, but very similar.

I had that view for a short while when I first updated, but found very quickly that it took just as long (if not longer) to find music due to the fact that you are basically scrolling through each album one at a time.....which can take a long time.

I realize I'm being difficult, but these "work arounds" are really frustrating. Ie been scouring the web for alternatives to iTunes, tweaks, and such...and it appears I'm either going to have to accept defeat, or simply not use my devices with iTunes ever.

That wouldn't be an issue really as the devices can work just fine free of iTunes, other than music. If I can't get music on my iphone, then that is a real issue.