iTunes 11.4 and El Capitan

[Shirasaki]

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. 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.

If it is possible to make sync working for iOS 9 in iTunes 11.4?

 

[beebarb]

If it is possible to make sync working for iOS 9 in iTunes 11.4?

I don't think so, iTunes has to be updated to properly support sync with the latest iOS as far as I know.

 

[Shirasaki]

I don't think so, iTunes has to be updated to properly support sync with the latest iOS as far as I know.

Well, if there is a user running snow leopard, and he has bought an iPhone with iOS 9 updated, he should be able to give us the answer.
I don't want to spend time on fighting with aesthetic issues.
I am also an iTunes 11 user, under Windows, when syncing iOS 7 and 8 devices. I miss the day sidebar is on by default.

 

[Partron22]

does iTunes 11.4 work with El Capitan?

Yes.
I'm running iTunes 10.4.1 under El Capitan. It works beautifully. I briefly tried 11.4, and that worked to too. Turned out I didn't like the iOSification, single window, small artwork and the lack of cover flow, so I went back to 10.4.1.
Of course the store won't work under 10.4, and I presume 11, so you have to keep two copies of iTunes around, and two distinct music libraries, one for each version.
After deleting iTunes 12, by booting off a different disk before trashing, I rebooted, and installed 10.4 on my El Cap disk, used this script to rescue most of my library info (Move Track info (playcount etc) from one iTunes Library to another.) and went with it. Named the App "myTunes", and the Library folder "myTunes". That done, and running, I made a a small secondary library "testlib12" for iTunes 12 to mess with, and reinstalled iTunes 12. This left iTunes 10.4.1 intact and functional, and when I option click on iTunes 12 I can choose my little 12 library, and have have access to iTunes store etc. There are some quirks, but I run 10.4.1 on El Capitan 99% of the time. There's another thread in Mac Apps and Mac App Store with some more detail.

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

This dialog can be dismissed, either manually, or by script, it's simply telling you that the store code in your lower version of iTunes is outdated. That's why you keep a copy of iTunes 12.whatever around too, so you can do modern store and sync stuff when needed. I just use the old iTunes for what it's better at than 12, playing my music.

 

[Shirasaki]

Yes.
I'm running iTunes 10.4.1 under El Capitan. It works beautifully. I briefly tried 11.4, and that worked to too. Turned out I didn't like the iOSification, single window, small artwork and the lack of cover flow, so I went back to 10.4.1.
Of course the store won't work under 10.4, and I presume 11, so you have to keep two copies of iTunes around, and two distinct music libraries, one for each version.
After deleting iTunes 12, by booting off a different disk before trashing, I rebooted, and installed 10.4 on my El Cap disk, used this script to rescue most of my library info (Move Track info (playcount etc) from one iTunes Library to another.) and went with it. Named the App "myTunes", and the Library folder "myTunes". That done, and running, I made a a small secondary library "testlib12" for iTunes 12 to mess with, and reinstalled iTunes 12. This left iTunes 10.4.1 intact and functional, and when I option click on iTunes 12 I can choose my little 12 library, and have have access to iTunes store etc. There are some quirks, but I run 10.4.1 on El Capitan 99% of the time. There's another thread in Mac Apps and Mac App Store with some more detail.
This dialog can be dismissed, either manually, or by script, it's simply telling you that the store code in your lower version of iTunes is outdated. That's why you keep a copy of iTunes 12.whatever around too, so you can do modern store and sync stuff when needed. I just use the old iTunes for what it's better at than 12, playing my music.

I feel curious about how long have you taken to find out all of these.
I may stick to using iTunes 12 or later version, but if I don't need to spend that much time (say weeks), I would like to have a try. However I guess in future Mac OS X update, those versions will just become impossible to install.

 

[Partron22]

I feel curious about how long have you taken to find out all of these.
I may stick to using iTunes 12 or later version, but if I don't need to spend that much time (say weeks), I would like to have a try. However I guess in future Mac OS X update, those versions will just become impossible to install.

I admit to getting a little obsessive about the issue: iTunes and Yosemite, How low can you go? (answer is iTunes 9.2.1). Also I took a few days to figure out the best version for all the Macs in the house; I've got a 2005 mini in the basement.

The downdate part is pretty easy, just figure how to delete the latest version. It turns out I didn't need to use Pacifist. Run the installer for the version you want, and reboot. That'll mess your library and playlists pretty bad but the script I linked to above can provide a fix for that.
Tricky part comes when you try to use the iTunes store. See this post.
That's why I'm still running two versions of iTunes on my networked elCap Macs.

Not for the faint of heart, but not too bad either if you remember to do plenty of iTunes folder backups before starting.
Incidentally, all versions of iTunes share a single prefs file, so it's quite possible to start up 12.3 while your prefs are pointing at an 11.4 iTunes library. When that happens, just quit, and replace the new iTunes Library.itl with the last version that Apple has moved to your Previous iTunes Libraries folder. Then start up with the version of iTunes you want, holding down the option key to pick library as needed.

I think downdating like this will continue working until such time as Apple makes major changes to the format of the prefs file.

 

[Fried Chicken]

So iTunes 11.4 works wonderfully on El Capitan, I've written a thread describing how to keep your iTunes 11.4

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-11-4-and-el-capitan-it-works.1926239/

 

[technologybob]

@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.

is there a way to STOP itunes 11.4 from AUTOMATICALLY updating to the NEW version?

 

[technologybob]

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.

i got the same message..... i didnt care about signing into the itunes store & it worked fine. what I dnt like is the AUTOMATIC update which gives you the much unwanted 12 version.

 

[StructAural]

If it is possible to make sync working for iOS 9 in iTunes 11.4?

No. The &*(%*^&@*(&^I*$&)!!!!!s

 

[Partron22]

is there a way to STOP itunes 11.4 from AUTOMATICALLY updating to the NEW version?

Yeah. Just go to System Prefs - App Store and uncheck "automatically check for updates".

If it is possible to make sync working for iOS 9 in iTunes 11.4?

I've not found one. That's one of the reasons I keep a copy of 12.3 around, as well as 10.4.1. When I need 12.3 features, I have access to them via option clicking into 12.3