iTunes 11.4 and El Capitan

[Fried Chicken]

I have iTunes 11.4 on my Yosemite machine. Apple tried to install iTunes 12 but I deleted that disease before it could even begin to infect my iTunes Music Library.

Now another round of updates is on the way; does iTunes 11.4 work with El Capitan? I intend on updating and immediately deleting the garbage infection that is the newer version of iTunes and sticking with my trusty iTunes 11.4.

But; will it work?

 

[beebarb]

@Fried Chicken

The issue that caused some people's iTunes libraries to be mangled, has long been fixed, so there's no longer any good reason to treat iTunes 12 like it were the plague.
The stock version of iTunes for El Capitan is 12.3, so it's possible that no older version can be installed.

Also, as a stock Apple app, it is likely protected by System Integrity Protection, and can't be removed.

 

[fisherking]

you want to run OS X, and not keep up on apple apps? good luck. at some point, you're gonna have to move forward, or go back to yosemite (or whatever). or look at the Big Picture: itunes will continue to play your music, sync your idevice...so, consider moving forward. or, enjoy the struggles you're gonna encounter; trying to keep one foot in the past while stepping into the future. what's wrong with itunes 12 btw?

 

[Fried Chicken]

If it were up to me I would be running snow leopard.

 

[fisherking]

If it were up to me I would be running snow leopard.

what's stopping you? i know people still on 10.6.8 (a great moment in OS X history)... again, what don't you like about itunes 12?

 

[Fried Chicken]

what's stopping you? i know people still on 10.6.8 (a great moment in OS X history)... again, what don't you like about itunes 12?

My late 2012 iMac doesn't support Snow Leopard. My old iMac and Macbook have snow leopard.
Also apple is no longer providing security updates for Snow Leopard and iMessage isn't available on snow leopard; neither are the latest safari releases.

I don't like the look or feel of iTunes 12. I don't like the lack of a sidebar (I know you can sort-of get a sidebar); it's way buggier than iTunes 11, I like seeing text rather than icons, iTunes 12 is also slower.

So my question still stands: is iTunes 11.4 compatible with El Capitan?

 

[beebarb]

So my question still stands: is iTunes 11.4 compatible with El Capitan?

Essentially, no.

 

[Fried Chicken]

Essentially, no.

Why? iTunes 11 runs fine on the latest Yosemite; why shouldn't it run on El Capitan?

 

[fisherking]

My late 2012 iMac doesn't support Snow Leopard. My old iMac and Macbook have snow leopard.
Also apple is no longer providing security updates for Snow Leopard and iMessage isn't available on snow leopard; neither are the latest safari releases.

I don't like the look or feel of iTunes 12. I don't like the lack of a sidebar (I know you can sort-of get a sidebar); it's way buggier than iTunes 11, I like seeing text rather than icons, iTunes 12 is also slower.

So my question still stands: is iTunes 11.4 compatible with El Capitan?

give it time, and you'll get used to the look and feel. and seems faster here (i used to watch album artwork load...now it's all there when i open the app). and how is it buggy?

 

[Fried Chicken]

give it time, and you'll get used to the look and feel. and seems faster here (i used to watch album artwork load...now it's all there when i open the app). and how is it buggy?

This isn't a solution.

 

[Shirasaki]

Why? iTunes 11 runs fine on the latest Yosemite; why shouldn't it run on El Capitan?

Well, you can set a small partition, install el Capitan, disable system integrity protection, and try to bring iTunes 11.4 back, and then, see if it works.
Then you can decide if you need to move back to Yosemite or older version, or stick at el Capitan if iTunes 11.4 is still compatible.
I hate iTunes 12 interface at some point as well but I need to get used to it. And old iTunes will not be able to perfectly manage new iPhone iPad etc so you will still need to use new version if you want to use new iPhone iPad or whatever.

 

[fisherking]

This isn't a solution.

no, it's an option...

 

[beebarb]

Why? iTunes 11 runs fine on the latest Yosemite; why shouldn't it run on El Capitan?

As I already said, El Capitan's stock version is 12.3, any other app that may depend on iTunes will likely expect to find 12.x or newer on El Capitan.

Forcibly introducing a version released prior to El Capitan into the system, could break things.

 

[Fried Chicken]

As I already said, El Capitan's stock version is 12.3, any other app that may depend on iTunes will likely expect to find 12.x or newer on El Capitan.

Forcibly introducing a version released prior to El Capitan into the system, could break things.

I'm perfectly willing to accept this.
There are very popular threads about installing El Cap on unsupported hardware, I'm just wanting to know if old versions of software will run on El Capitan.

 

[Shirasaki]

Well. Installing is of course impossible. But if you can find a way to extract iTunes app folder outside install package you can have a try. And if you can find a system with iTunes 11.4 installed, you can copy that app folder and see if it is allowed to run under El Capitan.

 

[YMark]

Has Apple released a bigger POS than iTunes? How many years has this poor excuse for an application been around and it still sucks. In fact it gets worse every release.

 

[redheeler]

So my question still stands: is iTunes 11.4 compatible with El Capitan?

I tried running the copy of iTunes 11.4 on my Snow Leopard partition in El Capitan. It'll run, but brings up this message on startup, and doesn't seem to work with signing in to the iTunes store or home sharing.

As mentioned above, it might be time to move on to the newer version that ships with El Capitan.

 

[Shirasaki]

I tried running the copy of iTunes 11.4 on my Snow Leopard partition in El Capitan. It'll run, but brings up this message on startup, and doesn't seem to work with signing in to the iTunes store or home sharing.
View attachment 590087
As mentioned above, it might be time to move on to the newer version that ships with El Capitan.

Would it be possible for Apple to detect your system version and current iTunes version, and block signing in/signing up because you use out dated software?

 

[beebarb]

Would it be possible for Apple to detect your system version and current iTunes version, and block signing in/signing up because you use out dated software?

From a technical perspective, yes. It is possible for them to do that.

I'm not sure if they'd actually do that though.

 

[redheeler]

Would it be possible for Apple to detect your system version and current iTunes version, and block signing in/signing up because you use out dated software?

It gave me the same "A required iTunes component is not installed" in the error message, so that's probably not the reason why.

 

[Shirasaki]

It gave me the same "A required iTunes component is not installed" in the error message, so that's probably not the reason why.

But such error messages, uh, what should I say, are sometimes meaningless at this point. We can say necessary components are missing preventing users from login in. We can also say this is because iTunes 11.4 cannot determine its current state and give this error message as a respond.

Let me make an assumption. If all required components can be installed on a Mac running El Capitan and rootless is disabled during installiation, would iTunes run seamlessly on that Mac?

 

[cbrand493]

I can't believe you're getting all hung up over an iTunes update. Had it been some mission-critical piece of software for your job, I could understand your rage over it being incompatible. But the fact that it's an iTunes update which has no real impact on your life is actually hilarious. If this is your only problem in life you need to leave the house more. The rage is real.

 

[redheeler]

Let me make an assumption. If all required components can be installed on a Mac running El Capitan and rootless is disabled during installiation, would iTunes run seamlessly on that Mac?

It's possible. I only tried running the app with no library left from newer versions, and didn't attempt a full install and overwrite of the newer iTunes.

 

[SDAVE]

Just upgrade and figure out how to work around some of the problems. Apple dumps stuff all the time - they're very pragmatic.

 

[sibcc]

My late 2012 iMac doesn't support Snow Leopard. My old iMac and Macbook have snow leopard.
Also apple is no longer providing security updates for Snow Leopard and iMessage isn't available on snow leopard; neither are the latest safari releases.

I don't like the look or feel of iTunes 12. I don't like the lack of a sidebar (I know you can sort-of get a sidebar); it's way buggier than iTunes 11, I like seeing text rather than icons, iTunes 12 is also slower.

So my question still stands: is iTunes 11.4 compatible with El Capitan?

I have iTunes 11.4 running on EC. It's been working fine with my 2.5TB lossless music collection. You'll likely run into problems at some point if you want to sync with an iDevice or use the store. I agree with you wrt the aesthetically pleasing but functionally dumb UI on the 12 series. You'll need to muck about with Pacifist and be somewhat proficient at the command line to make the switch. You'll find "howtos" on the web.

Oh, you'll need to bring all your music back into the iTunes catalog. The first thing I change is to not let iTunes move my music into its arcane directory structure.