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T Coma

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 3, 2015
670
1,257
Flyover Country, USA
I've been searching to no avail. Since inadvertently hitting the upgrade option, I'm now presented with this visually unusable screen:

Screen Shot 2016-11-03 at 7.04.28 AM.png


This view is regardless of the album choice. I'm running 10.9.5 on a 2012 iMac, and iTunes 12.5.2.35. Whichever version I had before this was quite different in appearance and ran smoothly, as well as actually being readable. Nowhere can I find any adjustment for color and all comments I've found so far indicate that "downgrading" to a usable version of iTunes is not possible.

Does anyone know of a fix?
 
Update: Just got off the phone with Apple Support. Illogical comment #1 from the tech was that iTunes 12.5.2.35 is incompatible with 10.9.5. Well, if that is the case, why was that "update" suggested and provided by Apple in the first place? I wasn't interested in pursuing that line though, I just wanted to hear a resolution. The options she gave me were to either delete iTunes and restore from Time Machine, or to upgrade to Sierra, so the OS matches the version of iTunes. I'm not updating the OS (which is a sort of baby with the bathwater answer, or something) so that leaves me with the more agreeable reinstallation of old iTunes course of action.

So I inquired with the Apple system customer service professional about how to follow that option, and her advice was to simply drag the icon to the trash. Ever try that?

Screen Shot 2016-11-03 at 11.24.37 AM.png


So the illogic continues, along with my disappointment in not only Apple customer service, but also an OS that integrates apps to the point of apparent dependency. Perhaps a reasonably logical step would be to restore the system via Time Machine to the day before my ill-fated update, but I'm not sure if I would lose anything I'd actually like to keep.
 
I just updated iTunes to 12.5.2.17 and am on OSX 10.11.6. So not the same versions, but not Sierra. Can you update your Mac to the newest OSX version (not macOS)? Mine had some updates yesterday and today.
 
What (other than steps described in this thread) exactly have you done so far? Does fullscreen mode make any difference?

Edit: And yeah, Apple Support doesn't really receive enough training. Hopefully if/when you get to a senior advisor they'll have some better suggestions. Or better yet, will gather data from your computer to analyze.
 
If Terminal rm command doesn't work for iTunes, make yourself a bootable disk, boot from that, and drag your bad iTunes into the Trash. Also iTunes helper app. That done, you should then be able to reinstall the earlier version.
There's several threads in this forum on downdating iTunes. They'll provide more info if you need it.
I got annoyed when 12 came out, and went back to 10.4.1. Still on it under Sierra. Others went to 10.7 or 11.
A search for iTunes and those versions should get the info for you.
 
mollyc: No I'm not going to change the OS now.

Goatllama: no other steps other than what I posted above. I tried fullscreen and no difference. Still can't read the track names.

Jessica Lares: the update itself was the problem. I don't recall what version of iTunes I was running previously. But it was the one with the feature that allowed me to read the track names, whichever version that was. I suppose I can try updating again, but avoiding as many updates as I can has kept my iMac (and apps) running well so far.

Partron22: ok I found a few threads I hadn't read before, thanks for the suggestion of the term "downdating." OF course, I read through those and quotes like, "mess your library and playlists pretty bad," "not for the faint of heart," and "messes with itunes store" admittedly give me pause.

My CCC and Time Machine backups are ready though, so I guess it's time to try this....

Screen Shot 2016-11-04 at 12.17.06 PM.png
 
If you're just going 12.5.2.35 to 12.5.2.25, or whatever, the library structure may not have changed at all, and everything might come through beautifully. That was not the case when I moved from 12 to 10, so I wrote an AppleScript to preserve most of the information: http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=44096
 
Apple Developer Geeks need to justify their existence in Cupertino...they look to fix things that are not broken...like iTunes....I am doing NO MORE UPDATES...PERIOD.
 
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Update:

I tried the above suggestions, among others, and I still got the following when I looked at an individual album:



Screen Shot 2016-11-03 at 7.47.25 AM.png


So I fired up the free "AppCleaner" app and unchecked the "Protect Default Apps" option. Lo and behold I was able to remove iTunes and related files. My itunes library was on a separate drive, so no music was lost. I reinstalled itunes via Time Machine (the first time i had to use it in 5 years) to the 12.5.1.21 version saved a couple weeks ago and the only music it showed was the music I bought via the itunes store. That was odd, since I changed the preferences to the library that was on the external itunes drive. I hit "add to library" in the itunes file dropdown, and was able to reaccess the ~740 or so albums in the library. At least now I can see the song names, etc.

Screen Shot 2016-11-06 at 11.09.25 PM.png


So far so good, other than about half of the album artwork is missing on the album view :rolleyes:, although it is still visible when I select an individual album. Go figure. My playlists disappeared as well.
 
There's a folder inside music/iTunes called "Previous iTunes Libraries".
You might want to try copying your current "iTunes Library.itl" file to desktop, or wherever, and replacing with an older version from inside that folder. 1)Copy, don't move. 2)you have to rename the old version "iTunes Library.itl".

That might get your artwork back.
If you go too far back in the Previous Libraries, you'll start losing links to albums you recently added.
If you know what they are, you can find them and add them again, but that quickly gets to be a PITA.
 
There's a folder inside music/iTunes called "Previous iTunes Libraries".
You might want to try copying your current "iTunes Library.itl" file to desktop, or wherever, and replacing with an older version from inside that folder. 1)Copy, don't move. 2)you have to rename the old version "iTunes Library.itl".

That might get your artwork back.
If you go too far back in the Previous Libraries, you'll start losing links to albums you recently added.
If you know what they are, you can find them and add them again, but that quickly gets to be a PITA.

Thanks again for the tip.

Something odd I've noticed over the last couple of days: every time I've opened iTunes, a few more of the albums have been populated with the album artwork. I ran both the blanket "Get Album Artwork" command, as well as clicking that option in the individual albums that were missing the artwork. In neither case did the artwork immediately pop up. This seems to be a random anomaly since all of my albums had artwork at one point. And none of these were obscure bands or albums either. I see missing artwork from Stevie Ray, REM, Ozzy, Skynyrd, Pavarotti, for example. These are albums that were ripped from CDs I purchased - no pirate copies. Hopefully a few more days and a few more reboots and the artwork will all return on its own.
 
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