I seem to have several problems with iTunes, and they're all related to me being left behind in Apple's scheme of upgrades. First of all, I like my iTunes exactly the way it is now. I'm running iTunes 7 and I have a big library of music files and some video files. It's fast, it doesn't crash, the iTunes Store is easy to use, and the software plays my files very reliably.
A few weeks ago, Apple upgraded the iTunes Store. All of sudden, I'm not able to download videos. Apple insists that I upgrade, to iTunes 9. I don't want to upgrade to iTunes 9, but okay, I don't seem to have a choice. But I can't install it. Why can't I install iTunes 9? Because it requires OS X 10.4.11 or newer version of OS X. I don't have 10.4.11, and after the last attempt to install an OS update, I'm never trying that again on a system that I need for work.
So, I grabbed a laptop that was running 10.4 and installed iTunes 9. What a mess. It takes a long time to start the iTunes software, the interface looks ugly, and the main window doesn't fit my screen anymore without horizontal scrolling. I tried the iTunes Store and found that the pages have been changed. Instead of the clean interface that appears in the old iTunes software, I'm stuck with a cluttered front page that Beachballs my system. The Store also requires horizontal scrolling to reach the drop-down menu buttons, the text is hard to read, and I can't find a way to resize the list columns so that the titles aren't cut off. Did I mention that it is very slow?
The Store no longer caches previous pages, so if I go back to previous pages, iTunes 9 reloads the whole page all over again, resulting in more unnecessary network usage and Beachballing. The new iTunes 9 also seems to want to start downloading all purchases immediately, something that iTunes 7 didn't do. I checked the iTunes 9 options and the option to download on-demand seems to be off, so how do I stop iTunes from downloading individual files immediately? I also don't understand how to refuse HD video downloads. Before the iTunes Store was upgraded, there used to be an option to download Standard Definition only. I'm using the option to only play Standard Definition in iTunes, but how do I refuse the HD download? I really am not interested in 1.3+ GB downloads for entertainment purposes, and while I suppose that I can start the download and then delete it, that's more unnecessary steps for something that I didn't want in the first place. I accepted it last week and the HD downloads tied up my network connection for a whole day, only to be thrown out because I want to watch videos in a small window while I'm working. Even Standard Definition looks fine when I view it full-screen.
Why don't I upgrade to OS X 10.6? Because it requires an Intel CPU, and I don't have an Intel CPU.
I did actually try to buy a new computer from Apple this month, but ran into another mess. No 10.6 pre-install! The system comes with 10.5 and then it's up to the user to install 10.6. After looking through the problem reports here, I'm glad that I didn't buy that computer. I don't need any more computer problems, or frustrations related to downloading and installing patches, or waiting for somebody to release a patch so that my software will work again. I intended to wait until the second quarter of next year before buying a new computer, and hopefully by then the bugs and related incompatibilities would be fixed. In the meantime, my old Mac is running fine, it gets my work done, and it doesn't crash.
I really don't understand why more and more software suddenly requires OS 10.4.11, 10.5, and soon 10.6, when the software doesn't do anything much more than it did before the patch updates that suddenly won't run on older OS X versions. It was funny on the Microsoft side, when all these years of pushing users to upgrade to newer versions of Windows suddenly became the problem of users not being able to use Vista and demanding XP instead. Is it really necessary to make older systems obsolete with minor software updates? What exactly does OS X 10.4.11 do that OS X 10.3 or even 10.4.1 does not do? Playing music files can't be that complicated, and even some of the videos that I downloaded the week before the Store upgrade now require iTunes 9. It's the same video! I'm guessing that Apple removed the option to download Standard Definition, and that's why iTunes 9 is now required to download videos, but that's also stupid. Why can't things be left alone when they are working fine?
A few weeks ago, Apple upgraded the iTunes Store. All of sudden, I'm not able to download videos. Apple insists that I upgrade, to iTunes 9. I don't want to upgrade to iTunes 9, but okay, I don't seem to have a choice. But I can't install it. Why can't I install iTunes 9? Because it requires OS X 10.4.11 or newer version of OS X. I don't have 10.4.11, and after the last attempt to install an OS update, I'm never trying that again on a system that I need for work.
So, I grabbed a laptop that was running 10.4 and installed iTunes 9. What a mess. It takes a long time to start the iTunes software, the interface looks ugly, and the main window doesn't fit my screen anymore without horizontal scrolling. I tried the iTunes Store and found that the pages have been changed. Instead of the clean interface that appears in the old iTunes software, I'm stuck with a cluttered front page that Beachballs my system. The Store also requires horizontal scrolling to reach the drop-down menu buttons, the text is hard to read, and I can't find a way to resize the list columns so that the titles aren't cut off. Did I mention that it is very slow?
The Store no longer caches previous pages, so if I go back to previous pages, iTunes 9 reloads the whole page all over again, resulting in more unnecessary network usage and Beachballing. The new iTunes 9 also seems to want to start downloading all purchases immediately, something that iTunes 7 didn't do. I checked the iTunes 9 options and the option to download on-demand seems to be off, so how do I stop iTunes from downloading individual files immediately? I also don't understand how to refuse HD video downloads. Before the iTunes Store was upgraded, there used to be an option to download Standard Definition only. I'm using the option to only play Standard Definition in iTunes, but how do I refuse the HD download? I really am not interested in 1.3+ GB downloads for entertainment purposes, and while I suppose that I can start the download and then delete it, that's more unnecessary steps for something that I didn't want in the first place. I accepted it last week and the HD downloads tied up my network connection for a whole day, only to be thrown out because I want to watch videos in a small window while I'm working. Even Standard Definition looks fine when I view it full-screen.
Why don't I upgrade to OS X 10.6? Because it requires an Intel CPU, and I don't have an Intel CPU.
I did actually try to buy a new computer from Apple this month, but ran into another mess. No 10.6 pre-install! The system comes with 10.5 and then it's up to the user to install 10.6. After looking through the problem reports here, I'm glad that I didn't buy that computer. I don't need any more computer problems, or frustrations related to downloading and installing patches, or waiting for somebody to release a patch so that my software will work again. I intended to wait until the second quarter of next year before buying a new computer, and hopefully by then the bugs and related incompatibilities would be fixed. In the meantime, my old Mac is running fine, it gets my work done, and it doesn't crash.
I really don't understand why more and more software suddenly requires OS 10.4.11, 10.5, and soon 10.6, when the software doesn't do anything much more than it did before the patch updates that suddenly won't run on older OS X versions. It was funny on the Microsoft side, when all these years of pushing users to upgrade to newer versions of Windows suddenly became the problem of users not being able to use Vista and demanding XP instead. Is it really necessary to make older systems obsolete with minor software updates? What exactly does OS X 10.4.11 do that OS X 10.3 or even 10.4.1 does not do? Playing music files can't be that complicated, and even some of the videos that I downloaded the week before the Store upgrade now require iTunes 9. It's the same video! I'm guessing that Apple removed the option to download Standard Definition, and that's why iTunes 9 is now required to download videos, but that's also stupid. Why can't things be left alone when they are working fine?