iTunes 12.6.5.3 on MacOS Catalina 10.15

[waz0wski]

I find it disappointing that the Music app in 2025, is STILL considerably worse than iTunes, when it comes to responsiveness and functionality for searches in a large music library.

So Apple wanted to get rid of iTunes because it was "too bloated"? Yet, it performs significantly better than Music, even now years later.

Same. I got a "new" machine with Sequoia and begrudgingly gave the Music app a try with a moderately sized music collection and it fails to correctly add files, the navigation is clunky, and album art has a mind of its own. It really doesn't seem to be aimed at playing your own media collection.

I'm giving Strawberry a try - it's a throwback to Amarok 1.x if anyone used it on Linux/OSX in the past

 

[Airsculpture]

From the developer of Retroactive:
"If you connect an Apple device to your Mac, and see "iTunes cannot read the contents of the device. Go to the Summary tab in device preferences and click Restore to restore this device to factory settings":
You may have installed iTunes with Retroactive 1.4 or earlier.
Once you reinstall iTunes using the latest version of Retroactive, iTunes should be able to read the contents of your device as expected.
At the end of the installation process, Retroactive will ask you about iPod syncing. If you need to sync with iPod devices, click "Enable Full Disk Access"."
https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive#syncing-with-a-device

Same. I got a "new" machine with Sequoia and begrudgingly gave the Music app a try with a moderately sized music collection and it fails to correctly add files, the navigation is clunky, and album art has a mind of its own. It really doesn't seem to be aimed at playing your own media collection.

I'm giving Strawberry a try - it's a throwback to Amarok 1.x if anyone used it on Linux/OSX in the past

For the Mac version can you buy outright or do you have to subscribe monthly for Strawberry ?

How are you finding it ?

I've currently stayed on 13.7.2 because .3 doesn't work but at some point I'll be looking at a new iMac so wondering whether Strawberry may be a solution on the new one instead of the god awful Music app.

 

[waz0wski]

I did a one-time purchase not a subscription - happy to support the developer

I like it but I was also a huge fan of the old Amarok, it worked great with large collections and supports formats like FLAC no problem. The interface hasn't diverged too much given nearly 20 years

2008 Amarok 1.4

2025 Strawberry 1.2

 

[bogdanw]

Alternative to iTunes/Music for Offline Music https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/alternative-to-itunes-music-for-offline-music.2280883/

 

[Airsculpture]

Thanks for that and aware of some of them. Use Colibri and tried a lot of the others.

All have issues really, either they are just players or when they are also libraries, they have issues like missing artwork or unrecognised files or not registering metadata.

Plus the need for Home Sharing without duplicating effort.

 

[kowalsky]

Hi
Any of you know what is happening with iTunes 12.9.5 and MacOs Ventura?

I can't open it anymore. It doesn't matter if I disconnecte my external hard drive where my main library is, or if I press the "option" key to create a new library.

Today I just realised that it won't open anymore. This morning I connected my iPhone 15 Pro with iOS 18.3.1 to copy some albums from my iTunes library (as I usually do every now and then) and my iMac with Ventura 13.7.4 asked me to download some software in order to communicate with my iPhone. I don't know if that's the reason why this unexpected issue.

Anyone is experiencing the same problem?

Cheers!!

 

[bogdanw]

Any of you know what is happening with iTunes 12.9.5 and MacOs Ventura?

If you have installed iTunes with retroactive, follow the steps from https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-12-6-5-3-on-macos-catalina-10-15.2184518/post-33709318

This morning I connected my iPhone 15 Pro with iOS 18.3.1 to copy some albums from my iTunes library (as I usually do every now and then) and my iMac with Ventura 13.7.4 asked me to download some software in order to communicate with my iPhone.

iTunes can no longer read iOS devices on macOS 14.7.4 and above.

 

[kowalsky]

If you have installed iTunes with retroactive, follow the steps from https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-12-6-5-3-on-macos-catalina-10-15.2184518/post-33709318


iTunes can no longer read iOS devices on macOS 14.7.4 and above.

OMG!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much!!
I ran every line with "sudo" at the beginning and it worked. Now I can open iTunes 12.9.5.5 again.
The only annoying issue is getting this -42408 error every time I open iTunes. Any way of getting rid of it??

I hope my iPhone with iOS 18.3.2 will be able to load albums from my iTunes library.

 

[kowalsky]

Update

Ran each line with Sudo and it worked.

I do however get "Unknown error -42408" every time i open iTunes now.This is followed by -11571 error.

Anyway of getting rid of this ?

I am getting these two same error messages. Did you got rid of them? How?

 

[kowalsky]

If you have installed iTunes with retroactive, follow the steps from https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-12-6-5-3-on-macos-catalina-10-15.2184518/post-33709318


iTunes can no longer read iOS devices on macOS 14.7.4 and above.

I guess you typed 14.7.4 by mistake and it’s actually 13.7.4 because that’s my Ventura version and even though iTunes is working again it doesn’t recognise my iPhone 15 Pro.

It’s a pity because my main reason for getting a 512Gb device was to fill it with hundreds of lossless albums from my huge iTunes library.

Maybe it’s time to give up and start using Music instead. Last night I made some tests and the Ventura version is not that bad compared to the one in Catalina. I still prefer iTunes, but in a few months I’m planning to buy a new Mac and with current machines with Sequoia there’s no way of using Retroactive so… bye bye iTunes.

Cheers!!

 

[bogdanw]

I guess you typed 14.7.4 by mistake and it’s actually 13.7.4

I'm sorry, yes 13.7.4. The same is true for 14.7.4 & 15.3.1.
iTunes 12.9.5.5 is still working in Monterey 12.7.6.

 

[rotoyouoio]

TIMMY! truly turned the company into a bunch of faqqots replacing innovation with degradation or stealing ideas and implementing them through his most loved hole.

don't those "geniuses" understand that people are reverting to itunes because they're doing something wrong? how do they fix it? ban through code signing the old app. ffs.

music's library mode is a pita compared to itunes.
apple lossles music is a joke, for it is always downsampled.

anyway. the main issue with otooling itunes instead of patching system's blacklist plist is that apple remote doesn't work.

btw, don't think i posted the blacklist patch. sip partial disable is required. updates wipe this.

for this to work itunes.zip must be present in /applications/ and disk1s1 be the same in your case

mkdir ~/livemount
sudo mount -o nobrowse -t apfs /dev/disk1s1 ~/livemount
sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Delete :LaunchOverrides:com.apple.iTunes' /Users/user/livemount/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/Exceptions.plist
sudo bless --folder ~/livemount/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot
cd /Applications
unzip -o iTunes.zip
sudo reboot