Octopus Overlords

I didn't really digest the news I saw this week about Apple further separating the old iTunes music store and app from the way they do business moving forward. Anyone care to sum up how this affects the way we handle music files and devices? I have never switched to unlimited data and direct streaming of all of my music, so I still have a massive library of local files, and I'm not real excited about moving away from that.

JetFred wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:15 pm I didn't really digest the news I saw this week about Apple further separating the old iTunes music store and app from the way they do business moving forward. Anyone care to sum up how this affects the way we handle music files and devices? I have never switched to unlimited data and direct streaming of all of my music, so I still have a massive library of local files, and I'm not real excited about moving away from that.

I'm super excited to not have to deal with iTunes when trying to add music to my iPhone - it's the most awful piece of software I've ever had the misfortune of using. And it's even worse on a Windows PC.

My understanding is that iTunes will remain unchanged for Windows. On the Mac side they're splitting it into separate apps for music, podcasts and I assume video. I haven't been able to find a clear explanation of how music syncing will work after the split.

For what it's worth, I also think it's awful now on PC. It wasn't always this bad. I'm just reluctant to switch to an app that doesn't recognize my iTunes purchases from 14 years ago.

In Windows I'm sticking with iTunes until there is no iTunes. It does what I need, and it does it well enough. I don't listen to music on my phone or tablet so I don't care how it affects those things.

I've tried using other programs, notably Foobar, but I find myself spending too much time configuring the program the way I want it which sends me back to iTunes. It's like buying a game and spending more time testing the framerate with different graphic settings enabled or disabled rather than spending time playing the game.

JetFred wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:38 pm For what it's worth, I also think it's awful now on PC. It wasn't always this bad. I'm just reluctant to switch to an app that doesn't recognize my iTunes purchases from 14 years ago.

Oh it's awful on PC too - but that's expected. I assumed it would be a better product on macOS. It's not - I got a new phone a month or so back and I'm still struggling to get all my music loaded. About half the time I add an aldum it decides to split each track into its own separate album on the phone even though they're a single album in iTunes. If I remove it from the phone and then add it back it usually works properly. Usually

If you've got a Windows PC then nothing is changing. I wouldn't expect any new features (and you might save a copy of the installer somewhere just in case) but you should be able to continue using iTunes for Windows to put music on your phone.

Exodor wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 5:10 pm If you've got a Windows PC then nothing is changing. I wouldn't expect any new features (and you might save a copy of the installer somewhere just in case) but you should be able to continue using iTunes for Windows to put music on your phone.

Or just bookmark this.

gameoverman wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 5:08 pm I've tried using other programs, notably Foobar

foobar's at the point where one of the default layouts works well enough for me, now. give it another try.

I actually like Itunes. I don't stream much, so I let itunes manage my mp3's\libraries\playlists, and use isyncr to sync the playcounts\songs to my galaxy s8+

I'm hoping I can still use that as I haven't found anything else that remotely works.

The only Apple product I ever owned was an iPod that I won in a drawing. I had to use iTunes to manage it, and (worse) to interface with my PC. I concluded that while Apple makes great hardware, they really suck at software. I never bought any iSongs from the iStore, but I did need to move my MP3s back and forth. It was one of the most frustrating pieces of software I've ever used, and I resented Apple for forcing me to use it. The iPod went into the trash when I got my first smartphone, but I still hold a grudge.

Exodor wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:20 pm

My understanding is that iTunes will remain unchanged for Windows. On the Mac side they're splitting it into separate apps for music, podcasts and I assume video. I haven't been able to find a clear explanation of how music syncing will work after the split.

Yep, that's what I read too via a BBC article. There's so much hysteria though and improper reporting by many media outlets as many fail to mention the fact that it's not going away on Windows. It's all just seen as "Death of iTunes".

I used iTunes for a year or two. It was absolutely terrible software. Apple seemed to be under the impression that my computer existed only to run iTunes, and that I was happy to devote it to that and that alone. There were so many better options.

iTunes was just horrific. With every update I hated it more and more.

I was thrilled when I started using Android phones to play music instead of iPods. I then used a strange windows app called "File Explorer" to copy files from PC to phone.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 6:03 pm

gameoverman wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 5:08 pm I've tried using other programs, notably Foobar

foobar's at the point where one of the default layouts works well enough for me, now. give it another try.

I will then. It's been awhile since I last checked it out.

As I was thinking about how frustrating iTunes is, it was all put into perspective when I recalled the last time I opened Windows Media Player.

Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 11:09 pm The only Apple product I ever owned was an iPod that I won in a drawing. I had to use iTunes to manage it, and (worse) to interface with my PC. I concluded that while Apple makes great hardware, they really suck at software. I never bought any iSongs from the iStore, but I did need to move my MP3s back and forth. It was one of the most frustrating pieces of software I've ever used, and I resented Apple for forcing me to use it. The iPod went into the trash when I got my first smartphone, but I still hold a grudge.

Same exact thing with me, except the "great hardware" part I got a free iPod from a drawing at a vendor event. About once a week or so the piece of shit had to be factory reset, until after about 18 months it just stopped working. I used it with Nike+, and the dongle for that had to be replaced 3 times in that time span. Listening to audiobooks was a nightmare because there was no working fast-forward feature whenever it reset to the beginning. The crappy software was almost beside the point given the frustration with the hardware; I do recall searching for other software that could serve the purpose but I don't think there was anything.

Jeff V wrote: ↑Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:24 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 11:09 pm The only Apple product I ever owned was an iPod that I won in a drawing. I had to use iTunes to manage it, and (worse) to interface with my PC. I concluded that while Apple makes great hardware, they really suck at software. I never bought any iSongs from the iStore, but I did need to move my MP3s back and forth. It was one of the most frustrating pieces of software I've ever used, and I resented Apple for forcing me to use it. The iPod went into the trash when I got my first smartphone, but I still hold a grudge.

Same exact thing with me, except the "great hardware" part I got a free iPod from a drawing at a vendor event. About once a week or so the piece of shit had to be factory reset, until after about 18 months it just stopped working. I used it with Nike+, and the dongle for that had to be replaced 3 times in that time span. Listening to audiobooks was a nightmare because there was no working fast-forward feature whenever it reset to the beginning. The crappy software was almost beside the point given the frustration with the hardware; I do recall searching for other software that could serve the purpose but I don't think there was anything.

At the time that I won my iPod it had no serious competitors. I think MS was pushing the Zune, and smartphones weren't a thing yet. The iPod was a rugged little thing with good battery life that held a lot of songs, and nothing else did that as well, so it was "great hardware" by default. Horrible interface, though.

I had a Zune, and some other gadget from a long forgotten company that had a massive(for the day) 300GB hard drive. Neither was a good mobile device though, better suited to being connected speakers in my office or sitting on a table at the beach. When the iPod worked, it was useful, but I have low tolerance for unreliability.

I've always manually managed my music on my iPods though iTunes rather than allowing it to sync. I have a 80GB which still works but the battery runs down fast. However, I don't really use it since I've had the 160GB model for years and the battery is still very good. Never had any issues with either one but I've always had a green thumb with electronics. I also have two iPod Touch units, the first from 2011 which still works but since it won't run the newer iOS I got a new model in 2016 that will. Again, never an issue, although I manually manage my music on the Touch units too.