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My biggest hope was: Make iTunes (mac) not suck. It's on a short list of the worst software I use every day. Just bringing down the spinny beach balls after eve

My biggest hope was: Make iTunes (mac) not suck. It's on a short list of the worst software I use every day. Just bringing down the spinny beach balls after every action would have gone a long way. I don't blame the vast majority of people who seem to be avoiding it altogether, I'll have to follow shortly.

M4v3R 13y ago
Maybe you have a huge library, or maybe some other problems. Either way, I'm not experiencing beach balling so much (except when connecting devices to sync them) and I use iTunes exclusively as my audio player.
- jacquesc 13y ago
  Yep, the syncing devices is where the beach balling usually happens for me as well. Sometimes 5-10 seconds. Also when updating the metadata on songs.
kylec 13y ago
It still makes no sense to me why, on the Mac, everything is glommed into a single app. For years I've been hoping that Apple breaks it apart into separate music, video, app store, and device syncing/management apps. Why should I be locked out of playing music or a video just because I'm restoring my iPod, and iTunes decides that it wants to present a modal progress bar until it's done?
- dhruvmittal 13y ago
  I've been hoping that they might roll the iOS app store into the Mac App Store, and consolidate it all under the App Store banner.
tolmasky 13y ago
Its kind of amazing that just 2 years ago iTunes was one of my most used apps, and today its not even in my dock anymore. The combination of the horrible design/implementation you describe alongside the conceptually poorer model as compared to spotify means I literally never use it.
- eridius 13y ago
  > * conceptually poorer model as compared to spotify* What, you mean the model where you actually own your music, and artists make money when you buy more? As opposed to Spotify where you own nothing and artists make no money?
  - nodata 13y ago
    I think he means that Spotify is a better model for him.
  - talkingstove 13y ago
    Seems like a fair tradeoff to trade actually owning 8 songs a month for access to millions of songs to me (obviously this is a matter of personal taste). Spotify seems more fair to me than iTunes when it comes to the actual model of the business. With Spotify, the artist is paid according to how much I listen to it, so a song I play constantly is rewarded more than a song that I listen to once or twice. With iTunes, these songs would be rewarded equally. The actual money seen by the artist may tilt towards iTunes currently, but that could just be inertia as the music industry is changing.
  - tolmasky 13y ago
    Yes, that's the model I mean. Sorry if it's not working for the other side (I have no idea since I am the consumer, not the producer), but its clearly (to me) an easier to use system than "purchasing" music: 1. I don't need to worry about "backing up" my purchases or buying increasingly bigger hard drives to store content that I am usually only using ~1% of (which while arguably not a problem in desktop land, is certainly an issue in mobile land). iTunes match was kind of too little too late to finally solve this issue (And on a recurring fee ends up defeating the purpose of the whole "own your music" trope). Not to mention the absurdity and waste of millions of people keeping the same data over and over again. 2. Discovery is greatly facilitated when the friction of a purchase is removed. iTunes Radio, et al don't come close to just seeing a friend listening to something, trying it, listening to it on repeat 10 times, then deciding to listen to more from that artist. 3. If I'm not at my computer I can still log into Spotify website and listen to "my music" no matter where I am. 4. I can send songs to my friends without paying for them again. Go watch some young kids. They go to YouTube for their music. Whether you like it or not this is the model of the future.
WizzleKake 13y ago
I had to give up on iTunes. I liked its default look from 10 years ago. Right around the time that Apple decided to crash-land iPhone synchronization functionality into iTunes they started changing the UI... seemed like they would make it look a little different every release. For a while it was easy enough to make it look like it used to, but a few releases ago I just threw my hands up and switched to beets + mpd.

M4v3R 13y ago

Maybe you have a huge library, or maybe some other problems. Either way, I'm not experiencing beach balling so much (except when connecting devices to sync them) and I use iTunes exclusively as my audio player.

jacquesc 13y ago
Yep, the syncing devices is where the beach balling usually happens for me as well. Sometimes 5-10 seconds. Also when updating the metadata on songs.

kylec 13y ago

It still makes no sense to me why, on the Mac, everything is glommed into a single app. For years I've been hoping that Apple breaks it apart into separate music, video, app store, and device syncing/management apps. Why should I be locked out of playing music or a video just because I'm restoring my iPod, and iTunes decides that it wants to present a modal progress bar until it's done?

dhruvmittal 13y ago
I've been hoping that they might roll the iOS app store into the Mac App Store, and consolidate it all under the App Store banner.

tolmasky 13y ago

Its kind of amazing that just 2 years ago iTunes was one of my most used apps, and today its not even in my dock anymore. The combination of the horrible design/implementation you describe alongside the conceptually poorer model as compared to spotify means I literally never use it.

eridius 13y ago
> * conceptually poorer model as compared to spotify* What, you mean the model where you actually own your music, and artists make money when you buy more? As opposed to Spotify where you own nothing and artists make no money?
- nodata 13y ago
  I think he means that Spotify is a better model for him.
- talkingstove 13y ago
  Seems like a fair tradeoff to trade actually owning 8 songs a month for access to millions of songs to me (obviously this is a matter of personal taste). Spotify seems more fair to me than iTunes when it comes to the actual model of the business. With Spotify, the artist is paid according to how much I listen to it, so a song I play constantly is rewarded more than a song that I listen to once or twice. With iTunes, these songs would be rewarded equally. The actual money seen by the artist may tilt towards iTunes currently, but that could just be inertia as the music industry is changing.
- tolmasky 13y ago
  Yes, that's the model I mean. Sorry if it's not working for the other side (I have no idea since I am the consumer, not the producer), but its clearly (to me) an easier to use system than "purchasing" music: 1. I don't need to worry about "backing up" my purchases or buying increasingly bigger hard drives to store content that I am usually only using ~1% of (which while arguably not a problem in desktop land, is certainly an issue in mobile land). iTunes match was kind of too little too late to finally solve this issue (And on a recurring fee ends up defeating the purpose of the whole "own your music" trope). Not to mention the absurdity and waste of millions of people keeping the same data over and over again. 2. Discovery is greatly facilitated when the friction of a purchase is removed. iTunes Radio, et al don't come close to just seeing a friend listening to something, trying it, listening to it on repeat 10 times, then deciding to listen to more from that artist. 3. If I'm not at my computer I can still log into Spotify website and listen to "my music" no matter where I am. 4. I can send songs to my friends without paying for them again. Go watch some young kids. They go to YouTube for their music. Whether you like it or not this is the model of the future.

WizzleKake 13y ago

I had to give up on iTunes. I liked its default look from 10 years ago. Right around the time that Apple decided to crash-land iPhone synchronization functionality into iTunes they started changing the UI... seemed like they would make it look a little different every release. For a while it was easy enough to make it look like it used to, but a few releases ago I just threw my hands up and switched to beets + mpd.