Latest iTunes update the worst ever (for us): here's why

[mhschmieder]

It won't be long before all of the common tools on our computers are 100% useless to professionals.

The latest iTunes update takes away the song play cursor, which has long been the main reason I even use iTunes in the first place.

After much searching, I found that this feature can now be found in a separate Window (decoupled from the main iTunes window, and not dockable, therefore easily getting hidden), by checking the "Mini Player" Menu Item under the "Window" Menu.

Initially, this window goers to a phone-friendly view (in other words, overly-tall with each line being tall due to images), which is primarily focused on "radio-like" interaction with playlists and shuffle.

If you drag this window to be wide enough to have a usable song tracking cursor, the unwanted song list details below the song play controls usually go away, eliminating the distraction and clutter.

Are performing and composing musicians the only people left who have a regular need to be able to start a song at an arbitrary time stamp? I need this while learning songs for bands I play in, as well as when reviewing and comparing mixes, as I have long used iTunes primarily for that.

Perhaps this represents a change to the underlying QuickTime shared toolkit that is used for most audio stuff on the Mac?

To add to my annoyance, Apple also took away the ability in Preview to invert black-and-white images. My bandleader sends the playlists out as white on black (for phone users, but I don't have a phone), and I'd like to print them.

I know that's an unrelated gripe, but it just seems that we are fighting against the tide, as people who use computers to do actual productive stuff instead of just for personal entertainment.

Such an ironic statement too, considering we are generating entertainment content!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Maybe a player other than Apple to access the library? Is there one out there? Maybe there should be?

[cuttime]

Perhaps I misunderstand, but I see it here on the latest version?



and under Preferences>Advanced there is an option to keep the Mini Player on top of other windows. This is the desktop we're referring to, right? v. 12.6.2.2

[stubbsonic]

Many years ago I changed the default app for ALL audio files to QT pro. I can even stretch the play strip across the screen for more precise cueing. I never looked back.

[dix]

Perhaps I misunderstand, but I see it here on the latest version?



and under Preferences>Advanced there is an option to keep the Mini Player on top of other windows. This is the desktop we're referring to, right? v. 12.6.2.2

Nothing seems different to me either. ...that said, I'd love to have an alternative to iTunes that's like the old old version iTunes that allowed you to have playlists in separate windows. An app dedicated to organizing audio tracks (without any sales component) would be useful for audio pros and music enthusiasts with large "old-school" digital music libraries.

[mhschmieder]

To cuttime and others, that isn't even remotely what the new interface looks like on my system. Did you do the 12.6.2.20 update last week?

Thanks for the hint on the Preference panel though, as I didn't notice the "stay on top" mini-player pref when I checked earlier, as it's a new feature and I hadn't grasped the terminology yet at that point.

[mhschmieder]

Odd -- now that I have set that preference, the empty middle section at the top now presents the cursor, with the visual listed above, and also now an image icon from the album.

You have to START the song before it shows up and becomes available. That too is a problem for me. It's at least two extra steps, and also eliminates my ability to not get confused by hearing parts of a song I didn't intend to and thus lose my aural continuity.

Maybe it'll just take a few more odd combinations of actions and settings to get iTunes back to my preferred operating mode. It seems like it is having a bootstrapping issue due to Apple suddenly changing the way we think we SHOULD be using the product.

[cuttime]

Did you do the 12.6.2.20 update last week?

Yes. Now I'm really confused. Perhaps downloading and reinstalling iTunes would help. I've done that before without any ill effects to my library. If you can, post a screen shot, as there might be a view setting somewhere that I'm overlooking.

[mhschmieder]

Well, like I said, it bootstrapped itself to a more usable state, but it definitely was quirky at first, and we tend to do things by rote with stuff like iTunes so it generally isn't user error when it initially changes in a big way -- just as with some of their other updates last year.

It seems that once again though, it is possible to get back most of the functionality one wants after Apple does an extreme makeover of the GUI, but it's a bit too late now to do screenshot comparisons of the previous update.

They did warn that this one was somewhat of a biggie, in the release notes, which I foolishly skimmed rather quickly. In fact, macOS 12.6 in general seems a significant release with surprises.

Perhaps they are trying to minimize the shock when High Sierra arrives, by integrating as many low-level infrastructure changes as they can ahead of time, and in many cases that might actually outright require differences in how and when features are accessed, being that the underlying file system of 12.7 will be completely different.

It mostly annoys me that companies take an attitude of one shoe fits all, and assume that no professionals use computers anymore for actual work. This is not speculation either, as I have spoken with some high-up people who were guests of weddings that bands I am in were hired to play. But now I have yet another inside contact in the form of my most recent boss, so I may drill her (or kid her) about the priorities of UX people.