iTunes 12 removal / iTunes 11 reinstall?

[mojolicious]

*sigh*

Has anyone yet tried to revert to iTunes 11? Made the mistake of updating to iTunes 12 on my Mavericks machine and then overwriting my backup, so I'm unable to simply roll back.

The deal breaker is the loss of the old video comments field, which is where I store vital bits of info on my audio files. Existing entries still show up in a 'description' field when viewing as tracks, but the field itself isn't viewable from a track's info. And if it's not viewable it's not editable.

It's déjà vu all over again: I went through the 11>10 'downgrade' before iOS7 made 11 kinda compulsory, but now can only find the most convoluted instructions for this process.

Has anyone actually (and successfully) made the 12>11 backwards step?

 

[revenire]

I did but it update automatically to 12.0 after doing so. I had automatic updates unchecked as well. Go figure.

 

[sbailey4]

you should have a folder Previous iTunes Libraries in the iTunes folder. Should be able to restore from that. At least on a windows machine. I always copy the 4 library files under the iTunes folder before upgrading then can go back if need be. Here is some helpful info. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751

 

[Riku7]

I reinstalled the earlier version once, according to a guide I found.
It worked and I successfully got (well, 10.7 actually) to work. My music and playlists too. The next morning, I woke up to that hideous red icon again. In the App Store settings, I apparently had a bit too many boxes checked....
Today I redid the whole process with the boxes unchecked, hoping that it wouldn't auto-download 12 once I restore iTunes 10.7. I got it to work, but now I'm having trouble restoring the older library file! I'm getting an error message about the library file version and the only choices are to quit or to download 12.
I just wonder what's wrong here – I already managed to downgrade and get the playlists to work once, how is it possible that it no longer will? Any suggestions of what I could try?

By the way, all you fellows who dislike iTunes 12, you might want to send feedback to Apple about it here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html
It might not do much, but at least leaving feedback is more useful than letting them assume that the update was a relatively good and well received move.

 

[mojolicious]

Sorry, have been meaning to update.

Riku7, are you trying to update (downdate?) your libraries using an iTunes Library [date].itl file from the Previous iTunes Libraries folder, as mentioned in sbailey4's post?

I managed to backtrack to 11.4 following online instructions but couldn't find a way of retaining my previous libraries/playlists etc, so gave up. Had also noted, before I began, that none of the instructions I could find were 'non destructive' of existing libraries, which wasn't the case with the 11>10 downgrade process. I wonder if this is genuinely a 'feature'?!?

I figure that 12 will be 'compulsory' very shortly (is it an iOS 8.1 requirement already?) so I'll just learn to love it.

 

[Riku7]

mojolicious, yes indeed so, I took a library file from "previous libraries", renamed it and moved. It worked on the first time, but not on the second time. Duh, if I only wouldn't have had those stupid automatic updates on!

This feels so terrible because I'm used to Apple software being reliable and nice to use.
This isn't exactly the first time when I notice the same phenomenon with modern technology: The innovation heat gets so crazy that at some point, a business starts making new stuff for their own sake, not for serving or helping customers with the problems that they're actually encoutering. "Because I've always used this service", "Because everyone else is using the newest stuff" or "Because outdated stuff is embarrassing" are not reasons good enough to make me keep up with anything at all. But the worst thing about today's business logic is that, they're doing everything they can to force you to use their newest stuff. The stuff that they make for their own businesses sake, not for the customers. Today it's difficult to get a phone without getting all sorts of useless stuff that you didn't ask for. Having watched the course of software lately, I wonder, will it eventually become impossible to use desktop computers without being forced to have everything synced to cloud servers and your computer being connected to, not just your phone, but your bed, stove and friggin' toilet seat too Upgrade or die.
/rant