ugh!

went back to the old one.

I was worried it would enforce some dumbed-down interface on us. So upgraded a non-critical system last night.

I'm happy to say it's very easy to restore the old interface (apart from some minor cosmetic changes, which may well be an improvement). So I have my 3-column browser, plus side bar etc, just fine.

What have I missed ?

Yes, as with everything else, there's the always the theoretical worry that in future the dumbed-down interface might become mandatory, but, it doesn't seem to have happened yet.

no cover flow

ah fair enough - I never used that...

Also I'm stuck with it now. Not so easy to go back. It does something to your library on installation that renders it incompatible with your old iTunes. So I also re-installed the old library and it worked but always came up with an unknown error message on opening. I can live with that I thought, then I find that the home sharing has stopped working as well! After trying unsuccesfully for awhile to get it sorted, I gave up and re-installed the new version and Library. The home sharing all worked again and all is well except I hate the look. It seems to be designed for the iphone mafia.

At least it still has the "burn playlist to cd" option. I was worried it might lose that option.

I might be in the minority here, but this is iTunes we're talking about. Not quite a pro app like the rest. To me, it's been several major versions of way too much clutter. The moment the new version was up on the screen I felt relief at its pleasing, well-spaced UI. As far as I can tell all the functionality is there, at least for me.

It would be awful to see these kind of changes on something like FCX (wait a minute...) or the next Logic version, but iTunes? Happy to see it.

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I love technology; it complicates my life...

Didn't much like the new default look at first (which is probably to be expected), so I mostly reverted to the previous look I prefer.

There are a lot of improvements - I love the "up next" feature and always wondered why iTunes never had anything like a play queue you could easily drop tracks into - such a basic feature...

I quite like the extended album view, and the mini player functionality is nice though don't like the moving of the volume slider from the main interface to a sub-menu...

yes it is just itunes, not a pro app. But that's the point, it should look nice. If I want to flick through some albums I just want to see the sleeve, I know what's on them. One glance at a cover and I might think "yeah, I feel like some ****". I don't want to read it. Also I like the look of cover flow. There is no "improvment" in it's apperance - it just makes the desk top look like a big iphone. Like I said the iphone mafia shaping apple.

Desmond ae you saying you kept the new version but returned to an older look? If so can you let me know how plz.

Quote fletcher:

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Desmond ae you saying you kept the new version but returned to an older look? If so can you let me know how plz.

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I'm not Desmond, but to get the old look, try:

- click "Songs" instead of "Albums" in the middle of the main window just below the top

- View menu / Show Column Browser

- View menu / Show Siderbar


As already discussed, this doesn't bring back coverflow. I personally didn't see the point (but that's just me).

nah I want the cover-flow back. What's the point of having the artwork if you only ever see a thumbnail anyway. I liked flicking through the sleeves, or putting the full screen veiw option on. Maybe it's just me, but I still think it looks like crap. In fact I like it less everytime I look at it. Even don't like the search funtion. I don't want a sub-menu, just take me straight to the thing I searched for. This is an iphone app!

Quote chris...:

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I'm not Desmond, but to get the old look, try:

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Yep.

At least they put the colour icons back in the sidebar for visibility - they all went a bit monotone grey for a while, there...

Quote fletcher:

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nah I want the cover-flow back. What's the point of having the artwork if you only ever see a thumbnail anyway.

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FWIW while stuff is playing, you can click on the art thumnail next to the time progress bar at top, to get a large artwork window. (which you can make any size)

But I never bother with artwork so I can't really speak on this.

Quote:

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Even don't like the search funtion. I don't want a sub-menu,

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That is slightly annoying, but maybe I'll get used to it.

Note - you don't have to use the sub-menu. I just type my search in the box, then hit RETURN (ignoring the sub-menu) and get straight to the matching results in the main window, as previously.

I always thought Cover Flow was an incredibly elegant solution to browsing files and albums. However, I could never, ever get it to stop on the file or album I wanted. I must have twitching fingers or something... I liked the concept a lot, but it never worked well for me.

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I love technology; it complicates my life...

well to be fair I never did that, I just used to like to flick through until something caught my eye, when I wasn't sure what to play next. It's not about just looking at a big picture of whatever is playing. Also I may be wrong , but it seems random in "albums" only plays from the selected album. Random in "songs" works as before, but with only a tiny thumbnail of the art on display. I liked to have random play on, when occasionally not sure whos' playing I could just glance at the artwork and see what it was from across the room.

Bring back Cover Flow!

anyway as I'm turning into Abe Simpson I will from now on go back to my vinyl.

it's gonna cause me lots of issues

at work, our students use the album artwork at the side of the album name as a very important visual reference to songs

this has now disappeared - and can't be got back

it's a real bind to be honest - and I won't be upgrading the schools iTunes for a while



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http://soundcloud.com/seaapes

Quote Wease:

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it's gonna cause me lots of issues

at work, our students use the album artwork at the side of the album name as a very important visual reference to songs

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Artwork is still there.

Click on the art thumbnail next to the time progress bar at top, to get a large artwork window

yeah - but they need to see the artwork before they pick the songs

they use the artwork as a guide, rather than text - then they'll click through songs until they find a favorite

it helps with literacy - a pre-cursor to letter recognition

it's a shame, cuase to be honest there is not a lot more difference visually with the update apart from this one -

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http://soundcloud.com/seaapes

Hi All

I don’t know for you guys,but every time they’ve updated ITunes,I’ve lost lots of lists and ‘catalogues’ from ‘uncharted’ tracks.
In my music library,there are lots and lots of home made tracks,demos,sound bits,downloads from friends,sample libraries,effects,etc,etc,that are not issued commercially.Meaning there’s no commercial reference or art work.At the end of the update,every time,I find myself with lots of 'Track 1’,’Track 2’,and so on,except that I have literally ‘thousands' of tracks like this…So I have to catalogue them,by hear and hand,one by one…Altought updates are a good thing,I hate ITunes ones,because they change everything,and I have to do it all,again…Everytime they do it…!
Hate that!
Cheers.
Pedro

Hi Chris…

Your advice did help a bit,but it doesn’t solve all the problems that i have with the update…Thanks!
Pedro

Quote Tartaruga:

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I find myself with lots of 'Track 1’,’Track 2’,and so on,except that I have literally ‘thousands' of tracks like this…So I have to catalogue them,by hear and hand,one by on

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What exactly do you do you "catalog" these ?

Quote Tartaruga:

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In my music library,there are lots and lots of home made tracks,demos,sound bits,downloads from friends,sample libraries,effects,etc,etc,that are not issued commercially. Meaning there’s no commercial reference or art work.

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Me too, including hundreds of old cassettes I made as a kid brought into the computer, split and saved as individual tracks.

I've never had a problem, and any iTunes update from iTunes 4 onwards has never changed my stuff or lost metadata on a track. Perhaps you can describe what you are doing, because perhaps there is an issue with how you are doing this rather than the software, as such...?

Hi Chris

By ‘catalogue’,i mean putting them in a ‘list’,that doesn’t translate every time to the new version.Don’t know why...

Hello Desmond

Usually,I do nothing special,just install the new version.
I know I should have named them all,but in the beginning,there was a period in which I imported lots of CD’s(and other),and I didn’t name them(track 1,2,etc).By that time,I never thought i would end up with so much songs and tracks on my ITunes player...
Sometimes I master my own tracks and get a lot of ‘version1’,’version2’,etc.Even if this time it didn’t went that bad,in several updates,some lists just disappeared …Don’t know why.
So I thought it was because they’re not referenced commercially,and I end up with a huge list of what i mentioned before(track1,2,etc).
Some little ‘logic’ help from Chris did help.When i first posted (before Chris mentioning preferences),I thought my ‘problem’ was back again…Sorry for that…After all,this time,it did looks like all my ‘lists' are there.