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iTunes 10.4 scrolling

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Dec 7, 2002
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Hi,

I've upgraded to 10.4 (on OS 10.6.8) and now I'm having a problem with scrolling (only in iTunes).

In previous versions, one notch of the scroll wheel would move down one line. Now a single notch does nothing and I need to spin the wheel faster than is comfortable in order for the list to move at all.

I've found another person on Apple's forums with the same problem, but no solution yet. Has anyone else run into this and does anyone know a fix?

Here's the Apple forum post:

Since the last iTunes update (to version 10.4), iTunes reacts strangely to my mouse. I use a cheap Logitech mouse with the standard drivers.
Only in iTunes any slow scrolling will not be registered at all, only when I turn the scroll wheel really fast. This is very annoying because I like to use CoverFlow to scroll through my music collection. As the mouse response is at the moment, it is impossible for me to scroll exactly one album forward or backward.
Before the update, scrolling one album on was exactly one catch of the mouse wheel.

The problem is not with my mouse, in Safari, Firefox, Finder and all other programs even the smallest scroll movement is registered.
Click to expand...

I'm using a Microsoft mouse so it's nothing specific to Logitech. I don't have any third-party drivers installed, just the Apple-supplied ones.

Any ideas? Thanks :)
 
Same problem here after installing iTunes 10.4.

I'm running 10.5.8 on a G5 Power Mac with a Logitech mouse plugged into my Apple keyboard.
 
DewGuy1999 said:
I don't have Lion yet so I can't check on this, but maybe this is an effect of inertia scrolling. Here's a blog entry about how to disable it.
Click to expand...
I thought it might be something to do with one of Lion's new features, although since it has the same effect on Leopard and Snow Leopard I'd expect that that much at least is a bug.

There's no option in Leopard though to disable inertial scrolling on my Power Mac, though (though I do seem to recall it being there on Snow Leopard on my old Core i5 Macbook Pro.)
 
Jethryn Freyman said:
There's no option in Leopard though to disable inertial scrolling on my Power Mac, though (though I do seem to recall it being there on Snow Leopard on my old Core i5 Macbook Pro.)
Click to expand...

You're right; there's an option in SL. I'll try it when I get home and report back (I don't have my mouse with me at the moment).
 
Update: It doesn't help. Apparently you can only set inertial scrolling on the trackpad.
 
i got the same prob, but in safari...i think its d/t Lion b/c after i dl it the problem started.
 
This thread is about iTunes 10.4, not Safari or Lion. If you're having a Safari problem then you should start a new thread.

Edit: It seems from the responses below that Safari 5.1 is also affected (I'm on 5.0.5 so can't confirm).
 
Last edited:
Same problem. Very annoying. Moving the scrollwheel one notch registers in every program I have tried except iTunes. iTunes makes you scroll through 2+ notches at a certain speed (too fast), at which point it scrolls through the library TOO fast. There is no way to accurately and precisely scroll through your library in iTunes.

Logitech M510 I believe.
 
It's not your imagination.

I've seen this behaviour in Safari 5.1 as well, with a different brand of mouse. Compounding the situation in Safari is that it has also lost its fluid smooth scrolling effect, so now scrolling is choppy and unrefined.

Apple has apparently changed Safari 5.1 and iTunes 10.4 to adopt a non-linear response curve to control inputs related to scrolling movements. It will affect every control device, not just those from isolated vendors.

It's designed to work better with touch-based control devices like a track pad, or Magic Mouse, but it's not so great for everyone else, because the settings are tuned for Apple's devices and cannot be changed.

If the peripheral driver for whatever control device one may be using doesn't have its own settings to allow for compensation, you'll be stuck with it.

I'm glad I haven't updated these two apps on my primary machine.
 
B Gallagher said:
Same problem here as well - running iTunes 10.4 on a fresh install of Lion. This is particularly annoying when using the album cover view (not cover flow) in iTunes.
Click to expand...

After getting around to installing Lion, I find it's evident that all of Apple's major apps have changed the way they scroll, with an acceleration curve. Safari, the Finder, etc.

It's noticeable, but not objectionable in the Finder, or in Safari 5.1, though the latter has also lost its fluid scrolling probably due to its half-baked state.

iTunes 10.4 stands out only because the effect is very exaggerated with it, almost to the point of being unusable.

Apple has either banned all 3rd party mice and non-touch input devices from the offices, or left a major bug in 10.4.

I don't see how this would go unnoticed to anyone using this version of iTunes with a scroll wheel mouse. I can crank my mouse driver's scroll speed to maximum and it's still evident that something is amiss.
 
TheIntruder said:
After getting around to installing Lion, I find it's evident that all of Apple's major apps have changed the way they scroll, with an acceleration curve. Safari, the Finder, etc.

It's noticeable, but not objectionable in the Finder, or in Safari 5.1, though the latter has also lost its fluid scrolling probably due to its half-baked state.

iTunes 10.4 stands out only because the effect is very exaggerated with it, almost to the point of being unusable.

Apple has either banned all 3rd party mice and non-touch input devices from the offices, or left a major bug in 10.4.

I don't see how this would go unnoticed to anyone using this version of iTunes with a scroll wheel mouse. I can crank my mouse driver's scroll speed to maximum and it's still evident that something is amiss.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just checked out Finder after reading your post. If I slowly move my mouse wheel 1 notch at a time, a list of folders in finder moves down the list much less than 1 folder at a time. In fact, I have to move the scroll wheel 10 times in order to completely see the next folder. Each notch registers, but moves the list 1/10th of a item at a time. Why exactly would anyone want 1 mouse click to move less than 1 item in a list of files/folders? I either want to look at the next item, or I don't. Very very strange.
 
Taank said:
Yeah, I just checked out Finder after reading your post. If I slowly move my mouse wheel 1 notch at a time, a list of folders in finder moves down the list much less than 1 folder at a time. In fact, I have to move the scroll wheel 10 times in order to completely see the next folder. Each notch registers, but moves the list 1/10th of a item at a time. Why exactly would anyone want 1 mouse click to move less than 1 item in a list of files/folders? I either want to look at the next item, or I don't. Very very strange.
Click to expand...

The principle is sound. It has been in use for a very long time to allow the relationship between input devices like mice and the screen pointer to remain comfortable to use.

Moving the pointer quickly from one side of the screen to the other would be very painful for the user if there wasn't some acceleration factor applied on top of the ratio between screen movement and physical displacement.

When the monster monitors like the 30" Cinema Display were introduced, some users found that it was difficult to comfortably cover the entire area of the desktop even with the mouse tracking settings at maximum.

The issue with iTunes 10.4, and to a lesser extent with the other new apps is that the calibration values for mice are off, and in the case of iTunes and scroll wheels, very off. With no way to adjust or completely compensate for them.

I don't have a trackpad-equipped Mac, or other touch-based input device to confirm, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that all of this stuff works better with those types of devices than with mice.

A cynic would say that this is a veiled attempt by Apple to drive those users toward MacBooks, Magic peripherals, or at the very least, a callous disregard for some users' needs, but I won't venture there.

Apple needs to fix iTunes' input responses, and tweak the stock mouse driver's calibration values to work better at the ends of the range with their new OS, and apps.
 
I figured it may be related to Lion, but I don't know why Apple would do this to iTunes on pre-Lion systems. On my Leopard desktop Mac, it's a bug and nothing more.
 
TheIntruder said:
A cynic would say that this is a veiled attempt by Apple to drive those users toward MacBooks, Magic peripherals, or at the very least, a callous disregard for some users' needs, but I won't venture there.
Click to expand...

I had that very thought. I figured mentioning it would invite comments from all the people who would come running to Apple's defense though. It's very hard to find solutions to problems on here with so many people ready to charge into conversations with their belief that Apple can do no wrong and that the user is "holding it wrong" or "using it wrong" or "if you don't like it go back to Windows".

My first introduction to this was when I had a hard time with the mouse acceleration. It's a bit of a deal for Windows users transitioning to Mac. I find it impossible to use and only moved to OS X full time when I found that setting it to -1 makes it usable to me. However, when I use the touchpad on other peoples laptops, they seem to work beautifully. I think it's pretty clear where Apple's focus lies, and the "callous disregard for some users' needs" idea is not unfounded.
 
Jethryn Freyman said:
I figured it may be related to Lion, but I don't know why Apple would do this to iTunes on pre-Lion systems. On my Leopard desktop Mac, it's a bug and nothing more.
Click to expand...

Lion is a transitional OS that bridges the gap between desktop Mac OS and portable iOS, awkwardly in some ways.

iTunes and Safari are popular, if not essential apps that Apple wants to maintain as large of a user base as possible, so backward compatibility is required. However, they also serve as subtle inducements to users to remain on the upgrade train. Safari has features that will only be evident with newer OSes, and iTunes' minimum requirements subtly advance along with new iDevices in tandem to force users to upgrade their OS.

iTunes 10.4 scrolling behavior is, with little doubt, a bug that should be addressed in one of its frequent updates.

However, it (and Safari) reflect the latest thinking from Apple, and the accelerated scrolling is very much a design choice that is reflected in all of Lion.
 
Excellent. I didn't update to 10.4.1 because of the hassle of reverting to 10.3 if it was still buggy. Now I can upgrade in peace :)

Thanks for testing it!
 
Who knows what's wrong with it. Coupled with this issue I'm tempted to blow the whole thing away and reinstall OS X.
 

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OK, fixed by redownloading and reinstalling, and I can confirm that scrolling works correctly again :)
 
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