How much do you miss iTunes?

[return2sendai]

So, with all these nightmare stories about folk not being able to synch devices, not being able to restore purchases, not being able to locate playlists, not being able to organise music, or podcasts, or videos....the list is endless....on Catalina, just how much do you miss the much-maligned, much-critiqued, much-undervalued old application you all knew and, by turns, loved and despised, as “iTunes”?

I don’t miss it in the slightest, because I’m still on Mojave, happily syncing everything with a much-maligned, much-critiqued, much-undervalued, single click.

But how is it going for you folk on the big “C”, emotionally? How are you coping, psychologically? Because they say we regret the things we didn’t do more than we regret the things we did do. ‘They’ being Apple.

All thoughts and feelings are welcome here, at the ‘Why Is Life So Hard?’ Club.

 

[fisherking]

why do people need to be so melodramatic? this is the catalina forum, so it's (mostly) about people on catalina, discussing catalina.

if you're looking for the mojave forum, it's close by.

meanwhile, there are a lot of people who are not having those issues. and i so prefer music for music, etc. simpler, logical. plus syncing in the finder works fine here.

but happy for you that you're ok on an older OS. for others, we move forward (challenging as that often is).

 

[return2sendai]

Forward?

 

[fisherking]

Forward?

it's the direction things go in, unless you stop moving, or focus on the past. for most people, progress is a (sometimes) good thing, but, at the very least, more of an adventure... than standing still.

 

[return2sendai]

How melodramatic.

 

[Voenix Rising]

About as much as I miss Microsoft Vista! ?

 

[bhtwo]

you bet!

Im using Vox

 

[fisherking]

i use the music app... to play music. which i've organized really well. in itunes, previously.

i sync my phone. life goes on. and all is well.

 

[ritmomundo]

I reinstalled iTunes on Catalina mainly because I found the TV app lacking in certain aspects.

iTunes 12.6.5.3 on MacOS Catalina 10.15

As of Catalina 10.15.4, the scripts no longer work. iTunes can be installed with Retroactive https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive/releases Retroactive thread on MacRumors...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Bending Pixels]

not one bit

 

[Lerten]

Don't miss it at all.

Wish the new media apps on the Mac had handoff functionality, tho.

 

[bogdanw]

Why miss it when you can install it? Simplified script for iTunes 12.6 or 12.8 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-12-6-5-3-on-macos-catalina-10-15.2184518/post-28186108

 

[jz0309]

Thanks for posting the re-install links above!
I run Catalina on my MBP and Mojave on my iMac ... the TV app is not movie-friendly at all, a lot of the sections that you find in iTunes are just not there, more than half of the links in the Movie section have to do with TV+ ... and just a few days ago I tried the Music app as I was looking for specific songs and it didn't give me the 30sec preview, iTunes still does ...
Catalina works fine for me otherwise but until the above are fixed or have a solid workaround, I'll stick with Mojave on my iMac ...

 

[Timothy Leo Crowley]

haven't missed it for a second. Was happy to move on.

 

[Glenny2lappies]

Music is a big pile of 'meh'. Took a long time to sort it out and get my moderately extensive (300+Gb) collection of tracks imported as for the past 15 years I've had the files stashed in the /Sounds root directory. So it was one big hassle to get it sorted (was determined to not reset the play counts).

Now I've sorted it, it works just as poorly as iTunes did. Never been a fan of iTunes, so don't miss some of the additional crap where Apple are trying to get you to rent your music from them. The 10.15.2 build (or was it the .3) brought back the Genres, Artists and Album filters, so it looks pretty much like it did.

Do miss the Genius though. Was quite nice how you could find a seed track and let Genius find similar music.

 

[benthewraith]

Had issues with subscribing to artists in Music app, fixed by logging out and back in. The new tv app feels like a major downgrade. Finding stuff is a lot more difficult, whole genres present in iTunes now missing. Subscription stuff mixed in with stuff requiring purchase with no indications.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

1. I prefer iTunes to music for the following reasons:

a. I often use gift cards instead of my credit car to purchase music albums, and the amount of credit I have is always displayed in the iTunes window.

b. When I want to look at albums instead of songs and select "Albums," look at the songs within the albums, and then click on the "left" (<) arrow to return to the previous page, iTunes returns to "Albums."

c. I also prefer the menu arrangement in iTunes (in the iTunes window). This menu leaves the controls in my hands, while Music does the controlling for me (contents pushing by Apple:
-Library (my music in my computer)
-For You
-Browse
-Radio Store

2. Problem for me:

a. Music does not show the amount of credit I have on my account, unless I leave the window I am using to purchase songs and look at my account.

b. Also, Music does not return to "Albums" when I click on arrow for the previous window.

c. Once I leave "my account" to return to the screen I was previously using to purchase music, Music puts me smack in the middle of movies and the junk Apple is pushing. This ticks me off big time.

When purchasing music I use a new iMac that runs under High Sierra (iTunes) most of the time, and not my new MacBook Pro that runs under Catalina (Music).

I am not complaining since both apps suck, but in "my reality" Music sucks a great deal more that iTunes

 

[nickdalzell1]

Admittedly I was no fan of having to relearn how to sync ringtones or music with my iPhone connected to my Mac again, I had to research how to even do ringtones or find the options in Finder, which made me frustrated for a while.

Now that I've adjusted, I don't notice anything really 'missing'. On Catalina, the UI of Music is very reminiscent of the brushed-metal version of iTunes on my PowerBook G4, minus the actual brushed metal. I like it returning to that UI. It was very different looking in Mojave. When iTunes removed the sidebar it miffed me quite a lot. Glad to see it's back (finally)

 

[Mr Todhunter]

So, with all these nightmare stories about folk not being able to synch devices, not being able to restore purchases, not being able to locate playlists, not being able to organise music, or podcasts, or videos....the list is endless....on Catalina, just how much do you miss the much-maligned, much-critiqued, much-undervalued old application you all knew and, by turns, loved and despised, as “iTunes”?

I don’t miss it in the slightest, because I’m still on Mojave, happily syncing everything with a much-maligned, much-critiqued, much-undervalued, single click.

But how is it going for you folk on the big “C”, emotionally? How are you coping, psychologically? Because they say we regret the things we didn’t do more than we regret the things we did do. ‘They’ being Apple.

All thoughts and feelings are welcome here, at the ‘Why Is Life So Hard?’ Club.

I don’t miss it at all, for exactly the same reason you don’t.

 

[Peter_M]

This is the major reason why I haven't updated to Catalina yet. The Music app is seriously lacking for anything but simple music playback. Using this simplistic app for my 2tb music library? Forget about it.

I've only used the iOS version of Music btw. (which seems very similar feature-wise). After using it for several years, Apple STILL hasn't fixed the import function. If i copy over regular music files (including ALAC and AAC), Music is not able to import tracks as a single album, instead the tracks show up as individual albums. So basically I have to import 3-4 albums max at a time, twice, then it shows up correctly. Try doing this with 6000+ albums, like I have. This happened on an iPhone 6s and iPhone 11 connected to different mac laptops btw.

iTunes is better than just about any other serious music player out there afaik, but Apple should have kept Cover Flow, and dropped a few of the filler features included the last 4-5 years, like "heart". Personally I'm gonna stick with iTunes. If you have a slow and old machine, then it might be an issue, otherwise iTunes is very stable and responsive. Obviously turn off "Search entire library", and you're good.

PS to previous comment: The sidebar isn't gone in iTunes, it's only hidden by the default settings.

 

[cardfan]

About as much as I miss Microsoft Vista!

Ironic since Catalina is considered worse.

 

[chris4565]

I personally don't miss iTunes at all and I like that there is a dedicated Music app now. The only thing I have hoped is that the fact that there is the Music app now would result in a better performance of it. But nope, on my 2017 MacBook Pro navigating through the Music app is still equally sluggish as it was the case with iTunes

 

[Spacetime Anomaly]

I feel roughly the same. Ambivalent, at times melancholic, with a mild anxiety about death.

 

[fisherking]

for so long, there was so much animosity on the forums about itunes; how is was bloated, needing a replacement. now it's here, and people are griping... again. since it's actually gone, perhaps adapt to the replacement app(s)... they'll progress, change over time, like all apps.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

for so long, there was so much animosity on the forums about itunes; how is was bloated, needing a replacement. now it's here, and people are griping... again. since it's actually gone, perhaps adapt to the replacement app(s)... they'll progress, change over time, like all apps.

Animosity or not is something every one of us engages on now and then. This animosity is something that we express in here and other forums, just like politics and religion are expressed. What is most important for a software designer is not the "customers adapting to the application," but to create an application that adapts to the needs or wants of the customer. All the so called, "griping", is quite important to the software designer.

To me both iTunes and Music are the same, except that I like/dislike certain features in each. For example, when buying music and using the amount of credit I have on my account (from gift cards, for example): iTunes shows the amount of credit remaining on my account, so if now I buy a song I can see the change on the amount of credit displayed at the right top corner of the window. If I buy an album, or movie, I can see how much $ I have left on my account, all without having to leave this page. I have no way for me to do the same in Music, because this app does not show the credit balance unless you open your account.