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[nVidiot_Whore]

I don't have major problems with iTunes itself.. I dislike Apple's lack of an ability to update their software seamlessly, and the load time can be really slow.

Other than that, I find it to be really high quality music management software. I like the "3 column" approach of sorting and finding music by genre/artist/album.. and it generally just works for me.

I never add anything to my various iDevices "in a hurry" though.. I keep things organized.. full library is perfectly tagged, every album has a photo.. my iPad classic with 100+GB (I think 120, maybe 160) gets the entire library.. and I have separate playlists for my iPhone(s) and iPad(s).

 

[Rocket Punch]

I find I'm getting a lot of errors when I'm ripping CDs, particularly the later tracks. I just got a new computer and I notice the ripping speed to be x16 which is great except 20% of the time I end up with errors. As in the song is truncated or scratchy.

Would this be a software issue or is there something wrong with my DVD drive, anyone experience this?

 

[mrkgoo]

I find I'm getting a lot of errors when I'm ripping CDs, particularly the later tracks. I just got a new computer and I notice the ripping speed to be x16 which is great except 20% of the time I end up with errors. As in the song is truncated or scratchy.

Would this be a software issue or is there something wrong with my DVD drive, anyone experience this?

Sounds more like a drive issue. Have you got error-correction on?

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I find I'm getting a lot of errors when I'm ripping CDs, particularly the later tracks. I just got a new computer and I notice the ripping speed to be x16 which is great except 20% of the time I end up with errors. As in the song is truncated or scratchy.

Would this be a software issue or is there something wrong with my DVD drive, anyone experience this?

It's your drive. At 16x CD read speeds, there should not be any issues.

 

[Aurongel]

For me, iTunes video playback is clunky and slow as hell. I don't think sub-720p video playback should be an issue on a core i7 machine. Windows Media Player (with K-lite codec pack) plays everything I throw at it flawlessly.

 

[Kareha]

I've dumped iTunes in favour of Foobar, and for adding music/video to my iPod Touch I use Copy Trans Manager.

 

[Enco]

I've dumped iTunes in favour of Foobar, and for adding music/video to my iPod Touch I use Copy Trans Manager.

Foobar is brilliant.

Been using it for a long, long time. Looks nice (with a mod) and is super fast. Never crashed and never been slow.

I use iTunes just to match new albums I get and then they're automatically put on my iPhone. No need for sync and minimal iTunes usage.

 

[tborsje]

really, you have no clue? this thing is hideous.

Why should anyone care what an MP3 player looks like? It's not a fashion accessory, it's a product whose sole function is playing back music, and if that Sansa functions better than an iPod than it is an objectively 'better' MP3 player.

...Or are there people out there buying MP3 players and thinking that it'll help them get laid or something?!?

 

[Glass Rebel]

Why should anyone care what an MP3 player looks like? It's not a fashion accessory, it's a product whose sole function is playing back music, and if that Sansa functions better than an iPod than it is an objectively 'better' MP3 player.

...Or are there people out there buying MP3 players and thinking that it'll help them get laid or something?!?

From what I've seen, the iPod nano absolutely is. I use one myself (for the gym though), not because I think it looks good but because I like the ease of use, the size, iTunes integration (mostly podcast stuff) etc.

 

[MIMIC]

I'm probably one in a handful of people that cares about this, but iTunes still fucks up the playcount on my iPod. Every so often, I will connect my iPod to iTunes and all of my songs will have their playcounts reset. Songs with "Last Date Played...." will have playcounts at 0 @_@

But after some successful trial and error a few years ago, discovered a hack that works as a temporary fix.....until, you know, iTunes fucks it up again -_-

 

[Kong Fisso]

So I was in this thread some pages ago to express my opinion, that itunes sucks (mostly on windows).
This was on my old laptop, where itunes would start again when I tried to close it.
Now it has been doing this shit on the windows partition on my imac as well, although not as consistently.

Just lovely. Only keeping itunes because of airplay.

 

[Hyuga]

I'm probably one in a handful of people that cares about this, but iTunes still fucks up the playcount on my iPod. Every so often, I will connect my iPod to iTunes and all of my songs will have their playcounts reset. Songs with "Last Date Played...." will have playcounts at 0 @_@

But after some successful trial and error a few years ago, discovered a hack that works as a temporary fix.....until, you know, iTunes fucks it up again -_-

Well, actually.... iTunes is a piece of crap!
Used/tried it once = never ever again

 

[brotkasten]

Is there a reason iTunes ignores the new content I copied to the music folder? It's supposed to monitor that folder, no?

 

[LCfiner]

Is there a reason iTunes ignores the new content I copied to the music folder? It's supposed to monitor that folder, no?

it doesn’t work that way.

you need to drag the music into the iTunes window and it’ll add the stuff to the library. iTunes does not monitor folders... with one special exception.

a few revisions ago, apple added a special folder that iTunes monitors. it’s called “automatically add to iTunes” and it’s located under the iTunes music folder. but i believe the music won’t stay in that folder as iTunes takes it and then places it in proper “artist > album” folder within the iTunes music library folder.

 

[Angelus Errare]

iTunes doesn't have folder monitoring (I know, wtf it's 2012). Every time you add a new folder you need to drag and drop the folder, or file -> add folder to add the songs to your library.

iTunes is way too bloated trying to be an all in one media player. Apple needs to fork that shit, make an iTunes lite that simply plays music, and then they can add in their bloated POS version that does everything else piss poorly.

 

[brotkasten]

it doesn’t work that way.

you need to drag the music into the iTunes window and it’ll add the stuff to the library. iTunes does not monitor folders... with one special exception.

a few revisions ago, apple added a special folder that iTunes monitors. it’s called “automatically add to iTunes” and it’s located under the iTunes music folder. but i believe the music won’t stay in that folder as iTunes takes it and then places it in proper “artist > album” folder within the iTunes music library folder.

I suppose the thread title is more accurate than I thought. I can't believe how much better the Zune software is.

 

[LCfiner]

I suppose the thread title is more accurate than I thought. I can't believe how much better the Zune software is.

zune’s dead, baby. zune’s dead

 

[Ether_Snake]

Send your music by email.

 

[Wrestlemania]

I suppose the thread title is more accurate than I thought. I can't believe how much better the Zune software is.

What's wrong with just copying stuff to that folder? It's not harder than copying it to your music folder, and iTunes does then filing for you.

 

[brotkasten]

zune’s dead, baby. zune’s dead

It is, but at least it works better than the laughable POS that iTunes is. I guess I have to buy an app to stream my music to my shiny new iPad.

 

[LCfiner]

It is, but at least it works better than the laughable POS that iTunes is. I guess I have to buy an app to stream my music to my shiny new iPad.

why?

if you already have a folder structure of music that you like, you can just drag the root folder of that system to the iTunes window and iTunes will add all those songs to the library. (you can make sure iTunes doesn’t make duplicates of these songs if you don’t want it to by selecting the proper options in the iTunes advanced setting) and when you get new music, you can have it downloaded to that special iTunes folder to add it in.

then use home sharing to stream everything to the ipad in your house.

it does work without the need of any new apps. i assure you. I’ve been using it for years.

 

[brotkasten]

What's wrong with just copying stuff to that folder? It's not harder than copying it to your music folder, and iTunes does then filing for you.

Because I don't even use iTunes to play music and I don't want it to touch my files in any way, just stream it from my server to my iPad and nothing else. But for that, I'd have to drag and drop new music every time I get it from somewhere that isn't iTunes. Even when I buy it from Zune, which drops the drm-free files into the same folder. It's just stupid.

why?

if you already have a folder structure of music that you like, you can just drag the root folder of that system to the iTunes window and iTunes will add all those songs to the library. (you can make sure iTunes doesn’t make duplicates of these songs if you don’t want it to by selecting the proper options in the iTunes advanced setting) and when you get new music, you can have it downloaded to that special iTunes folder to add it in.

then use home sharing to stream everything to the ipad in your house.

it does work without the need of any new apps. i assure you. I’ve been using it for years.

I know that it works, because for some reason, iTunes actually detected most of my music collection, after telling it where it's located. But some was still missing, so I thought the monitoring wasn't working anymore.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Because I don't even use iTunes to play music and I don't want it to touch my files in any way, just stream it from my server to my iPad and nothing else. But for that, I'd have to drag and drop new music every time I get it from somewhere that isn't iTunes. Even when I buy it from Zune, which drops the drm-free files into the same folder. It's just stupid.

Why not just have the Zune software and iTunes look at the same folder? Simple. I think you are making this more complicated than it really needs to be.

 

[Emily Chu]

ITunes is probably one of the biggest reasons yet why I never owned an iPad.

I know u can sync with 3rd party software but iTunes is still assery..

 

[LCfiner]

Because I don't even use iTunes to play music and I don't want it to touch my files in any way, just stream it from my server to my iPad and nothing else. But for that, I'd have to drag and drop new music every time I get it from somewhere that isn't iTunes. Even when I buy it from Zune, which drops the drm-free files into the same folder. It's just stupid.

well, this is what happens when you mix a database app from one company with a database app from another company and need to use both simultaneously.

if you want the convenience of streaming music to an ipad without using iTunes to manage your music, you’re gonna end up in this kind of situation.

at the very least, adding the current music library to iTunes is not a big deal. one drag/drop operations and you’re done. keeping it up to date while using zune as your main music player? yeah, of course that’s gonna be slightly less convenient.

 

[Gattsu25]

zune’s dead, baby. zune’s dead

Even the dead husk that is Zune is still an exponentially better media manager than iTunes is.

brotkasten, add the iTunes /music folder as one of your Zune music folders. Stop wasting your money on worthless apps. It's what I do and it works well



I set up iTunes to manage my music
I set the iTunes/"Automatically Add to iTunes" folder as my download folder for Amazon's MP3 store so all music I download is added to iTunes
I set the iTunes/Music folder to be my Zune music folder so I can use Zune to be my main music player when I am home
I set iTunes up as my source for uploading music to my Google Music account and use google music as my main music player when I am at work

The worst part of using iTunes for all of this is the fact that I have to start up iTunes for under a minute after I buy a new album off of Amazon. Fucking piece of shit software.

 

[outunderthestars]

ITunes is probably one of the biggest reasons yet why I never owned an iPad.

I know u can sync with 3rd party software but iTunes is still assery..

My hated for itunes is getting to the point that I am considering switching from ios based devices to android.

 

[LCfiner]

Even the dead husk that is Zune is still an exponentially better media manager than iTunes is.

brotkasten, add the iTunes /music folder as one of your Zune music folders. Stop wasting your money on worthless apps.

eeehhh. I used zune for a month back in 2009 when I tried out a zune HD. it’s ok and the interface is cool and flashy, but I actually prefer a lot of things iTunes does for metadata, ratings and sorting with the column browser.

 

[Angelus Errare]

My hated for itunes is getting to the point that I am considering switching from ios based devices to android.

Same...and I just got my iPhone 4S back in December, iTunes seriously annoys the ever fuck outta me, and WHY DOES IT USE SO MUCH RESOURCES?! for instance, I just checked...iTunes is currently using 375,405kb of memory...wtf are you doing?! Folding!? I mean ffs, it's using more memory than my current Firefox session.....that I've had open for the last 2 days!

edit: dropped down to 102,115kb

 

[JORMBO]

I haven't used iTunes since the original iPod. Now with my new iPad I've noticed it is still shitty and slow.

 

[brotkasten]

Why not just have the Zune software and iTunes look at the same folder? Simple. I think you are making this more complicated than it really needs to be.

But they are looking at the same folder (\\HOMESERVER\Music). I installed iTunes, told it where my music was located and it recognized most of my collection, but not all of it and when I copied new music to the folder, it didn't do anything and I thought the monitoring was broken.

eeehhh. I used zune for a month back in 2009 when I tried out a zune HD. it’s ok and the interface is cool and flashy, but I actually prefer a lot of things iTunes does for metadata, ratings and sorting with the column browser.

iTunes doesn't even do type as you search when you're in your collection. Incorrect, as I tried it again and it worked. Yay. They rest of the interface is still just a gigantic excel spreadsheet, though.

 

[outunderthestars]

Same...and I just got my iPhone 4S back in December, iTunes seriously annoys the ever fuck outta me, and WHY DOES IT USE SO MUCH RESOURCES?! for instance, I just checked...iTunes is currently using 375,405kb of memory...wtf are you doing?! Folding!? I mean ffs, it's using more memory than my current Firefox session.....that I've had open for the last 2 days!

edit: dropped down to 102,115kb

Agreed. It's even worse if you use itunes match. When my itunes decides to check my files my computer becomes totally unusable for 10-15 minutes at a time. How can Apple not have a better version of itunes by now?

 

[LCfiner]

Agreed. It's even worse if you use itunes match. When my itunes decides to check my files my computer becomes totally unusable for 10-15 minutes at a time. How can Apple not have a better version of itunes by now?

sounds awful. but I have not encountered this on my Mac at any point or on my windows machine when I load up iTunes and turned on iTunes Match.

But they are looking at the same folder (\\HOMESERVER\Music). I installed iTunes, told it where my music was located and it recognized most of my collection, but not all of it and when I copied new music to the folder, it didn't do anything and I thought the monitoring was broken.



iTunes doesn't even do type as you search when you're in your collection.

that’s not a big deal for me. I could say that zune didn’t allow for the kind of ratings granularity that I use for my smart playlists and that made it not as good for me.

anyway, based on your specific situation of having a home server setup already going, and having an ipad that you want to have music streaming to, I would say you could spend 3 bucks, get streamtome, and be set. bonus, you can also stream while out of the house and it handles video.

good luck

 

[Fugu]

I'm amazed that iTunes doesn't do folder monitoring (the drop folder doesn't count; if you remove songs iTunes won't know about it until you try to play it). That's like, one of the best features of Foobar2000.

 

[brotkasten]

ITunes is probably one of the biggest reasons yet why I never owned an iPad.

I know u can sync with 3rd party software but iTunes is still assery..

Huge mistake. You don't need iTunes to use an iPad.

 

[Gattsu25]

Huge mistake. You don't need iTunes to use an iPad.

Before iOS 5, how did people update their OS?

 

[senador]

Wow, I must read this thread to understand why people hate it. I love iTunes and have been using it for years. I use it for default means though.

Skimming and seeing people call it a "piece of shit" is lolz worthy.

 

[Yaboosh]

Before iOS 5, how did people update their OS?

Itunes. But it turns out, ios5 came out. Yay.

 

[outunderthestars]

Wow, I must read this thread to understand why people hate it. I love iTunes and have been using it for years. I use it for default means though.

Skimming and seeing people call it a "piece of shit" is lolz worthy.

It's an incredible resource hog, the store is a clusterfuck, and the general user experience isn't as polished or flexible as the rest of Apple's software.

 

[Emily Chu]

Huge mistake. You don't need iTunes to use an iPad.

wait whats the situation now ?

how are you suppose to get stuff on your computer to your ipad ?

 

[senador]

It's an incredible resource hog, the store is a clusterfuck, and the general user experience isn't as polished or flexible as the rest of Apple's software.

Like I said, I still need to read the thread. I could see not liking it but outright calling it a "piece of shit" is indeed lolz worthy and I'll stand by that.

I've only found it to be a resource hog when I leave it open for days, just like any other app I use. I'm on a Mac and up to date on everything though, perhaps its different when this isn't the case.

The store and app itself are fairly old and they've had revisions a long the way. I have small annoyances with them (why'd they take color icons away and make it less fun and harder to use?), but for the most part I find they've updated enough for me and I find it one of the easier apps to use. I can see hating it out of distaste, but I can't understand it begin a "piece of shit" other than GAF being GAF and people jumping to unnecessary conclusions.

Rumors are starting to grow of the store getting a makeover sometime soon.

I'll read the thread before replying more to get a better understanding.

 

[outunderthestars]

I'm on a Mac


I'll read the thread before replying more to get a better understanding.

No need to read the thread, that is the difference. The mac version is fine, but the windows version is a mess.

 

[Draft]

it doesn’t work that way.

you need to drag the music into the iTunes window and it’ll add the stuff to the library. iTunes does not monitor folders... with one special exception.

a few revisions ago, apple added a special folder that iTunes monitors. it’s called “automatically add to iTunes” and it’s located under the iTunes music folder. but i believe the music won’t stay in that folder as iTunes takes it and then places it in proper “artist > album” folder within the iTunes music library folder.

IMO the most egregious of iTunes' many sins. I'm stuck using iTunes because it's the only thing that can get media on or off my iPod touch. That means I'm stuck maintaining the iTunes library whenever I get music that doesn't come from Apples store or Amazon. It's a real pain in the ass. WMP updates the library automatically, and even the ancient Winamp can be instructed to actively search folders for new files. But iTunes needs to have files dragged into the music library. That is some serious late 90s shit.

 

[senador]

No need to read the thread, that is the difference. The mac version is fine, but the windows version is a mess.

Heh, kinda figured that's what I'd find. Sorry yo.

IMO the most egregious of iTunes' many sins. I'm stuck using iTunes because it's the only thing that can get media on or off my iPod touch. That means I'm stuck maintaining the iTunes library whenever I get music that doesn't come from Apples store or Amazon. It's a real pain in the ass. WMP updates the library automatically, and even the ancient Winamp can be instructed to actively search folders for new files. But iTunes needs to have files dragged into the music library. That is some serious late 90s shit.

Is there a way around that with other things though? Wouldn't other apps have to do this too? If not and they scan for it, you have to initialize that and wait for it, or have a delay on open when it does, and you could also end up with music all over the place. Neither seem ideal but it doesn't seem that bad. I have to add to iTunes myself too but it only takes seconds and doesn't bother me. Download music>drag to iTunes>iTunes copies to music location>delete download. All of which takes 5-10 seconds and I'm in business.

Something you could do is change your iTunes library location to where you'd like to keep your music, or where it goes by default, that way iTunes will already know about it. Preferences>Advanced>iTunes Media Folder. Also, consider doing File>Library>Organize to consolidate all music to one location.

 

[alr1ght]

I'm amazed that iTunes doesn't do folder monitoring (the drop folder doesn't count; if you remove songs iTunes won't know about it until you try to play it). That's like, one of the best features of Foobar2000.

Love it. It's just instantly added to my library seconds later.

 

[outunderthestars]

IMO the most egregious of iTunes' many sins. I'm stuck using iTunes because it's the only thing that can get media on or off my iPod touch. That means I'm stuck maintaining the iTunes library whenever I get music that doesn't come from Apples store or Amazon. It's a real pain in the ass. WMP updates the library automatically, and even the ancient Winamp can be instructed to actively search folders for new files. But iTunes needs to have files dragged into the music library. That is some serious late 90s shit.

Amazon automatically adds music to itunes, and as for everything else, just set your media download folder to the "automatically add to itunes folder"

Itunes has alot of problems, but I don't see how that is one of them.

 

[Diablos]

Stopped reading there. Wrong OS.

It shouldn't matter. So many people use it that there's absolutely no excuse for it to be such a bloated piece of shit on Windows.

 

[Draft]

Is there a way around that with other things though? Wouldn't other apps have to do this too? If not and they scan for it, you have to initialize that and wait for it, or have a delay on open when it does, and you could also end up with music all over the place. Neither seem ideal but it doesn't seem that bad. I have to add to iTunes myself too but it only takes seconds and doesn't bother me. Download music>drag to iTunes>iTunes copies to music location>delete download. All of which takes 5-10 seconds and I'm in business.

Something you could do is change your iTunes library location to where you'd like to keep your music, or where it goes by default, that way iTunes will already know about it. Preferences>Advanced>iTunes Media Folder. Also, consider doing File>Library>Organize to consolidate all music to one location.

There are other ways. As I said, WMP does this automatically and Winamp can be made to do it manually. AFAIK iTunes does not keep tabs on any folders (expect may this "automatically add to iTunes" one.) It only knows about music files that it has been "told" about.

So for example let's say I have an album in a folder. The file structure is d:\music\album. Drag those files into iTunes and now they're in the library. All good so far. But let's say I decide to reorganize my music. I put that album into d:\music\band name\album. Here's how the different media players handle it:

WMP: As long as WMP knows that all music goes into the d:\music folder it's no problem. It will automatically delete the library entries that point to music\album and automatically add new library entries that point to \band name\album. This is the best method IMO.

Winamp: The songs no longer work in Winamp, but there is an option to make Winamp scan the designated music folders then add new files and delete dead library entries. Not as good as WMP, but it only takes a button click (and some time.)

iTunes: The songs no longer work in iTunes. There's no way to remove the dead library entries automatically. They either have to be deleted one by one (or in a shift click batch, but that's just as bad,) or the file path of each library entry needs to modified to point to the new file location. Assuming you go with the deletion option the files have to be dragged from Windows Explorer to iTunes so that new library entries are created. It is the most manual process, the most labor intensive and easily the biggest pain in the ass.

If there's a better way of doing that in iTunes, I'm all ears. Putting everything I download in this iTunes monitored folder isn't a terrible solution, except I download way more stuff than just music files, and of course, most music downloads don't look like music, they look like .zip or .7zp or .rar or some other compression format.

 

[Tobor]

There are other ways. As I said, WMP does this automatically and Winamp can be made to do it manually. AFAIK iTunes does not keep tabs on any folders (expect may this "automatically add to iTunes" one.) It only knows about music files that it has been "told" about.

So for example let's say I have an album in a folder. The file structure is d:musicalbum. Drag those files into iTunes and now they're in the library. All good so far. But let's say I decide to reorganize my music. I put that album into d:musicband namealbum. Here's how the different media players handle it:

WMP: As long as WMP knows that all music goes into the d:music folder it's no problem. It will automatically delete the library entries that point to musicalbum and automatically add new library entries that point to band namealbum. This is the best method IMO.

Winamp: The songs no longer work in Winamp, but there is an option to make Winamp scan the designated music folders then add new files and delete dead library entries. Not as good as WMP, but it only takes a button click (and some time.)

iTunes: The songs no longer work in iTunes. There's no way to remove the dead library entries automatically. They either have to be deleted one by one (or in a shift click batch, but that's just as bad,) or the file path of each library entry needs to modified to point to the new file location. Assuming you go with the deletion option the files have to be dragged from Windows Explorer to iTunes so that new library entries are created. It is the most manual process, the most labor intensive and easily the biggest pain in the ass.

If there's a better way of doing that in iTunes, I'm all ears. Putting everything I download in this iTunes monitored folder isn't a terrible solution, except I download way more stuff than just music files, and of course, most music downloads don't look like music, they look like .zip or .7zp or .rar or some other compression format.

So your real issue is that iTunes isn't built to better facilitate piracy? Or is there a store I'm unaware of that sells albums in .rar?

EDIT: i dont mean that to sound so accusatory, i just dont understand how else that would be a real problem.

 

[Draft]

So your real issue is that iTunes isn't built to better facilitate piracy? Or is there a store I'm unaware of that sells albums in .rar?

Surprise, surprise, one of the Jobsians in here to defend the garbage iTunes with ad hominem attacks. Ever bought an album from the humble indie bundle? Ever gotten an album from a game pre-order? Ever went into the GAF thread for jazz hop? No, I doubt you've done any of those things, because they involve commerce outside of Apple's walled garden. Pack up and retreat to Daring Fireball.

EDIT: Up yours.