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

[morcutt11]

Lipstick on a pig. iTunes needs to be completely trashed. Rebuild it into separate apps, do whatever needs to be done to allow people to use services like iCloud, Match, Apple Music, etc. without completely screwing up their music libraries and playlists. Adding a persistent sidebar isn't going to cut it; the problems run to the bone in iTunes.

 

[davemchine]

Neat.

So when's the colour and contrast going to return? This isn't the 1980s, we have wonderful things like bitmapped displays and RGB pixels now. It'd be nice if Apple realized this and started designing their GUIs with a bit of depth again.

-SC

I completely agree with this. Sometimes it is hard to tell what is what. Especially buttons like the random play button. Is it pressed or not? I can't tell.

 

[pat500000]

Apparently, Apple got lot of time in their hand.

 

[Cougarcat]

Awesome, thank you. Guess I could have googled it but still, thank you

can you do this in iOS?

No, but apparently it's going away in iOS 10.

 

[davemchine]

I don't understand why people hate so much on iTunes so much, it does the job.

The list of things wrong with iTunes is very very long. I hardly know where to start.
1) It is far to complicated. My wife can't even use it.
2) The view options are split into multiple areas that are semi hidden. You really have to hunt around to get iTunes to look the way you want.
3) Creating playlists is stupid complicated.
4) Adding content to iTunes can be unpredictable. Will the video appear in movies? Home movies? or my favorite, in Music?
5) Syncing content to an iPod or iPhone is also stupid complicated and completely unreliable.

I could go on and on. It's just weird.

 

[AdonisSMU]

I guess their ideas are over ruled by Ive?
This is a step back to normality though, it's ridiculous you have to google to find out how to use iTunes now. It used to be a lot easier, Windows is easier to use then iTunes!

EDIT:
Forstell leaving was one of the worst things to happen to Apple products. Ive doesn't have a clue sometimes, his big designer head gets in the way of usability sometimes I think.

I hope apple is doing usability testing and what not like most companies should already be doing.

 

[davemchine]

But I like having to click nondescript buttons that jump between every corner of the screen, & that have the same names but do different things based on what other nondescript thing you might have clicked on with the same name and never get the same behavior out of it twice.

Give jony another award!

You nailed it. It's crazy complicated to get iTunes to look the way you want. Splitting functions up so they appear in multiple places is not a good way to go.

 

[oldwatery]

I want a music player app...not some bloated thing that doesn't know what the hell it is. iTunes SUCKS! What else needs saying?

 

[Bubba Satori]

Eddy is working on a bigger pipeline of innovation for 20__.

 

[SMIDG3T]

your argument doesn't make any sense. i could go on and explain why, buy that would be just a waste of my time... sincerely yours
[doublepost=1462618570][/doublepost]
thank you

It would be a waste of time because nobody would understand what you'd say.

 

[Jessica Lares]

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 🙂

Nah, they moved it because it really doesn't belong in the play view. And removing the iTunes login at the side and demoting it to just the other menubar button is a business move.

So is the bringing back of the sidebar, because they want to talk you into listening into curated Apple Music playlists, and they're probably going to do something like "Smart" Apple Music playlists and automate all that stuff which will be announced at WWDC.

 

[satchmo]

The demands of an OS is certainly different from early Macintosh days. More complex tasks and feature sets, but Apple needs to break it down and simplify.

The UI needs to strike a balance between delightful discoverability and visual cues. That's what made us love Macintosh in the first place...the ease of use.

 

[robertcoogan]

What has happened to Apple's UI team : (

True enough. But there's no good to be had from complaining about it. Apple isn't going back, this is most definitely not what I am sure many long-time Apple users expected by a revolution. Apple has become the man on the screen.

 

[MacBH928]

its time to kill iTunes software, there must be a new solution to deal with Syncing - media- and the digital stores

 

[ronwasserman]

It's so - so sad to watch this company slowly lose their innovation. They'll remain huge, but their biggest accomplishments and mind boggling innovation days are over.

 

[pmau]

its time to kill iTunes software, there must be a new solution to deal with Syncing - media- and the digital stores

Right, a Store Front of anz kind should not interfere with a local Library of content.
Also, syncing a local Library should work regardless of any Store.

I'd like a Store App to buy Movies, Music, etc.
I'd like a Music App, a Movie Player Podcast App.
Look at iBooks, it is already a stand alone App.

All with Bluetooth based Remote Control via the Apple Remote.
There's no reason the Remote could not be shared.
Just select the device you want to control.

Why I would like Apple to do these?
In my experience, third party Apps are either really bad or have a strange opinion about integrating into the system.

I even think that Apple Music and Beats Radio should be separate from a managed Music Collection.

 

[Ladybug]

I'm all for the persistant sidebar but to me thats just a start. iTunes seems to get more complicated with each version Apple puts out. I'm the only one in the house that can use it and even that is questionable.

Things I'd like..drag and drop my songs directly to my device, backup that retains song names vs those long number versions that no one can recognize, and Add to my device button since syncing usually ends up deleting music on my device ...Apple needs to quit changing, moving, and hiding functions. iTunes makes no sense to me.

And before anyone says you're using it wrong, I already know this. iTunes is overly complicated now and I hate it. Whenever I managed to figure something out Apple was always quick to change it then I'm lost all over again.

 

[Futurix]

So they took the last remaining easy part of iTunes (media type switcher - aka icons) and made it less obvious? Well done!

Still hoping for 7-10 separate apps in OS X 10.12

 

[bushman4]

Sidebar is a good move as it will simplify what we currently have
With Apple allowing editablity, It has to be better than what's currently being used

 

[davemchine]

Why have a drop-down list AND a sidebar AND a top bar? Just have a sidebar that contains all the stupid things you'd put in the dropdown list, like older versions of iTunes, like this:

You are so right. I run an old version of iTunes on a Snow Leopard box and it has the interface you show. So much easier to use than what we have now. I would use the old version as my primary iTunes library but Apple tied the ability to sync to new iPhones to the new version of iTunes.

 

[trifid]

Too little too late, iTunes is a UI disaster. They put UI all over the place, navigation, views etc is a game of hide and seek. It's plain ridiculous. Making sidebar persistent and adding back buttons is a good step but still too little.

Horrible iTunes
Horrible Apple Music
Horrible Podcasts app

Not sure who is in charge of music, but someone needs to be fired immediately.

 

[Datalinks]

What has happened to Apple's UI team : (

They are busy with their new HQ

 

[davemchine]

So they took the last remaining easy part of iTunes (media type switcher - aka icons) and made it less obvious? Well done!

Still hoping for 7-10 separate apps in OS X 10.12

That's what I thought also. Why are they making it MORE DIFFICULT to switch between media types? What is the point of that?

 

[MacGod]

They need a major redesign to the application - specifically around the APPLE MUSIC portion of the interface. I love my Spotify... but use Apple Music because it is cheaper for my family to use it.

 

[ForkHandles]

iTunes started with tunes and morphed into a device that would connect your iPod to the real world.

That was great then but we have moved on and it has only ever had reconstructive surgery in a bid to keep up.

Apps, movies, stores, radios and social networking have all been introduced and most options are largely redundant for most users.

iTunes in my home is a player again and a server for the Apple TV.

My iPhone works independently of iTunes in all respects.

They have two options as far as I can tell

Change the name to iMess
Or
Split the thing into pieces and make it mirror the iOS apps. Music , Video, Apps, Podcasts and iTunesU. Then write an iSync for those who still need to sync content to their devices. This would get it content from all those apps including Photos and Books.