iTunes 12.4 Update to Feature Minor Redesign With New Sidebar, Improved Navigation

[gnasher729]

It seems people are slagging Apple off left, right and centre at the minute. What's wrong with it?

If you could do a better job, by all means, go ahead and apply for a job. I expect to see your work next year.

What a bloody stupid attitude.

I am a software developer. It's hard to write software that works well. It is a lot lot easier to see that it doesn't work well. I am not a user interface designer. It's hard to create a user interface that works well. It's a lot easier to use a user interface and figure out that it is rubbish. Because by definition, a user interface that I can't use _is_ rubbish. There's no discussion about it.

Apple has enough money to pay good software developers and enough money to pay good user interface designers. The ones working on iTunes, Music and Books (I include them all three because I use all three to _listen_ to things) have created three monstrosities. But usually that kind of thing doesn't start with the user interface designers, unless you hire them and then let them do what they want without any control. It starts with management which knows what _they_ think customers should want but are entirely clueless about what customers _actually_ want.

 

[Thunderhawks]

So, now I have to click twice to change between Music and podcasts. GREAT.
¬¬

It's part of an upcoming exercise program. You'll lose 0.00000001 calorie immediately
by clicking twice.

But then, the effort may just wear you out for several days.

 

[jonnysods]

I'm on vacation and don't have much Internet to get this update.

I hope it's improved some things that have bothered me for a long time about iTunes. The more they tweak it, the more complicated it becomes to use. Apple prided themselves on simplicity, iTunes 12 does not create an intuitive easy to use/navigate media app.

 

[RedOrchestra]

It starts with management which knows what _they_ think customers should want but are entirely clueless about what customers _actually_ want.

Exactly what TC told the ever breathless Apple family -

" We are going to give you things you can't live without that you just don't know you need today."

 

[Tech198]

ok for the redesign

"sidebar" could be miss-interpreted.. "added" sounds more like a new feature.... Rather i would have said "bought back" because that's what Apple are doing throughout. Up Next redesign, i guess Apple got a lot of complains because no one moved the mouse pointer "into" thr play view window to reveal Up Next icon...

"Why the hell would anyone do that. Its a play view... mouse pointer shouldn't be there. it's only there for "viewing" only purposes, not to fiddle with

No one bothers to click and see what things do ? That's how 90% of my work gets done

 

[Liam555]

I just hope they clean up the movie section of iTunes.

 

[ButteryScrollin]

No it doesn't? It just has library navigation above some smart playlists. Apple Music is going to be mixed in seamlessly in each menu - as it should be.

whats this then?

 

[Ed217]

I just wished they would make it work better. I have to Force Quit it almost every time it is opened. Been that way for quite a while.

 

[GIZBUG]

Get rid of the bloat, and make iTunes "fast" again.
This update can't come soon enough

 

[RuffyYoshi]

#makeitunesgreatagain

 

[JPSaltzman]

What has happened to Apple's UI team : (

They're all "Un-Imployed" (I know it's spelt wrong; but it makes a better joke if you say it out loud!)

 

[tkermit]

Anyone else wondering how you'll be able to switch between views within playlists now that the options have moved to the sidebar?

 

[2457248]

if i can't hide it, then it'll just waste space on my screen.
maybe i'm one of a kind, but the current Music Library sorted by artists, is the best itunes has ever achieved. easy to scroll, fast to pick a song, recently added on top, big artwork where needed, compact enough.

then, they hadn't nailed it with playlist, which awkwardly duplicates the whole library, instead of showing only what it says it should: playlists.

then again, plug in your iphone and welcome back to 2004...

i must say: i ONLY use itunes for listening to my own ripped music and uploading it to the iphone. no movies, no podcasts, no apple music, no radio, no store, no whatever. this way it is fast.


edit, maybe OT: i miss a button to go to the currently playing track, it was there on the top bar some versions ago, now i can't find it anymore.

 

[TEG]

I still miss the old interface, it was easy to walk people through over the phone, now it is nearly impossible.

 

[ConnYoungy]

NO!
I definitely do NOT want a persistent sidebar, i very much enjoy my albums taking up 98% of the screenspace.
Replacing the music/video/app icons with a dropdown feels totally like a "what else can we tinker with to make it different" king of decision

edit: I also don't see how any of these changes actually make it easier to use

 

[Otaviano]

This rumor is a great big disappointment. I had hoped they would surprise us at WWDC with stand alone apps for Podcasts and Film & TV.

But he at least we are getting the sidebar back.

 

[rizzo41999]

Pumped about sidebar

 

[BrettApple]

Take me back to a simpler time.

Really though, I'm happy for any improvement. But I don't think this is quite enough. Maybe there's hope for iTunes 13...

 

[Lucky736]

Now if we could only make the rest of the apps look like they did a few years ago and leave some of the gimmicky BS to third party apps like it was, instead of feeling the need to add every feature not everyone wants to the OS, then we'd have a winning recipe again.

 

[malexandria]

I'm always lery of iTunes "Updates." It NEVER gets BETTER. Usually WORSE. I wish they would make it easy to split libraries. I have a 1TB SSD MBP and it'd be nice if I could actually run my music off it, but I can't because my movie files are 10 TB.

 

[rudychidiac]

Oh dear God finally.

 

[512ke]

iTunes is like Microsoft Word. New versions aren't better, just more complicated.

 

[rybak17]

For those of you who likes the old iTunes, it is still possible, I have version 9.2 and it still works.

Only caveat is that it will not read your newer iTunes library so you need to start from scratch.

http://downloaditunesfree.com/itunes-9-2-1-for-os-x/

Extract iTunes App with Pacifist, it should work, if you install it using the installer it will install other files which are not really needed for a music player.

Works ferst iTunes from OS X Tiger (Intel) ;-)

 

[BeefCake 15]

yawnnn, more bloatware on an already bloated software....

You just wasted the complaint you had saved up for the WWDC

 

[hojx]

The sidebar has always been persistant as long as you stuck to Playlist view...? No?