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Why Do People Hate iTunes so Much?

My girlfriend is not a computer wiz and she keeps telling me she hates iTunes, only because of all the syncing to her iPod. She finds it quiet confusing.
- Add Music to iTunes
- Create Playlist
- Put music into that playlist
- Plugin iPod
- Select iPod
- Select Music
- Select Playlist
- Sync

Too much hassle for her.

Same with her friends though, I had to show them how to put Music on the iPhone, simply because they all find it very confusing to sync with iTunes.

They are all used to the old style... hook up the MP3 player to the computer and drag and drop the mp3 files into the Music folder of the mp3 player - done.

I myself love iTunes but I understand why most people hate it because of the syncing.

The one thing I do not like though, is the fact that it's only one way syncing.
 
Glumpfner said:
My girlfriend is not a computer wiz and she keeps telling me she hates iTunes, only because of all the syncing to her iPod. She finds it quiet confusing.
- Add Music to iTunes
- Create Playlist
- Put music into that playlist
- Plugin iPod
- Select iPod
- Select Music
- Select Playlist
- Sync

Too much hassle for her.

Same with her friends though, I had to show them how to put Music on the iPhone, simply because they all find it very confusing to sync with iTunes.

They are all used to the old style... hook up the MP3 player to the computer and drag and drop the mp3 files into the Music folder of the mp3 player - done.

I myself love iTunes but I understand why most people hate it because of the syncing.

The one thing I do not like though, is the fact that it's only one way syncing.
Click to expand...

It does seem confusing when you describe it like that. Alternatively, you could describe it this way:

1. Drag and drop music into iTunes or purchase from iTunes store.
2. Plug in iPod/iPhone.
3. Unplug iPod/iPhone when syncing is completed.

Fewer steps than your drag and drop approach.
 
Glumpfner said:
Same with her friends though, I had to show them how to put Music on the iPhone, simply because they all find it very confusing to sync with iTunes.

The one thing I do not like though, is the fact that it's only one way syncing.
Click to expand...
It's not that complicated. You don't have to create a single playlist if you don't want to. You just have to click on 'Sync everything.'

Also, if there's something on your iPod that is not on your computer, iTunes will ask if you want to sync it to the machine.
 
My biggest fight with iTunes is that despite my repeatedly telling it "hey, I'm going to organize my own music files how I want them, please don't duplicate everything," it seems to keep "forgetting" that setting, and I suddenly end up with a plethora of duplicate files.

Also, I don't keep all my music on my laptop. I like to swap stuff out on a regular basis. iTunes does NOT have the smart ability to go through your media library and add new things that are in the folder (but not necessarily loaded into iTunes yet) and remove missing files. THAT alone is what makes me REALLY miss WinAmp.
 
iTunes is fine, runs like crap on Windows - but always has. The Mac version is fine and is actually speedier since 9.x.

As for FLAC...it is the lossless standard, and I use it myself. I simply use XLD to convert them to highest-bitrate VBR AAC. I could use Apple Lossless but I just don't find enough difference in the quality of the files to justify a 3X space premium. FLAC is fantastic for storing the raw material as it is open source and works on every platform. Apple Lossless seems too proprietary for me (at least AAC is playable on many platforms now.)
 
macrazee said:
Apple Lossless seems too proprietary for me (at least AAC is playable on many platforms now.)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's kinda annoying that I can't access my Apple Lossless files from the Zune* software on my Windows bootcamp partition. It probably doesn't play FLACs either though. No problems with AACs on the other hand. Even Paul Thurrott seems to think now that it's the "one true music format", just like he came to the conclusion that H.264 is the "one true video format"... ;)


---
* (not such a bad program, by the way, and you don't need a zune to use it)
 
Why?

Because its poor software. I would bet that iTunes, directly and indirectly, is the biggest profit maker for Apple.

Given that most people have multiple devices, multiple computers, Mac's, PC's, etc the fact you cannot have more than 1 person access a library at one time is a problem.

It's slow, downloads are slow, downloads fail. Its wording for syncing devices is amazingly confusing at times.

Its just crappy software and Apple could address the issues but they do not.

I bought a new CD last night and 4 out of the 12 downloads failed and had to be retried.

There are some things it does great, but so many things it fails at.

Considering it is Apple's premier piece of software I'd just expect more.
 
I dont get why people hate iTunes so much, I personally love it! I got it before i even knew what an ipod was as i thought it was a great way to sort and organise all my music
 
Use a GREAT media suite like J.River Media Center (for Windows Only :() and you wouldn't have to ask this. Once you use a fully featured program to manage a large media library, it is hard to look at iTunes as anything more than a simple 'player' program.

iTunes is 'better' in OSX than it is in Windows thanks to the applescript hooks, but falls far short of what it could be. The only reason it is so successful is that it is the only supported way of syncing to i-devices like the iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone.
 
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