OT: iTunes 8 is horrendous

God, just installed iTunes 8 this morning and it sucks balls.

If you haven't downloaded it yet, don't. The new "Genius" feature is utterly useless, and now you can't turn off those annoying "iTunes Store" links -- they will pepper every single one of your playlists and make your interface look like a New York apartment filled with cockroaches. It even showed iTunes links on the playlist where I put the MP3 versions of my upcoming album...why?

Oh, and for editors -- all the import options have been moved for no reason. Now you need to go into Preferences - General, not Preferences - Advanced, for choosing the import format. Just to make things confusing, I suppose.

Nice job, Apple...the last six or so iTunes upgrades have all made the software a lot worse with every step.

Forgot to mention: iTunes 8 requires QuickTime 7.5. It won't even launch unless you have it. So if you're working with Final Cut Pro and a lower QuickTime version, do not install any iTunes upgrades. It could force you to either upgrade QuickTime (potentially jeopardizing FCP operation and putting works-in-progress in danger) or lose access to iTunes.

Paul from Apple, I hope you see this...the iTunes team is writing this application right into the toilet.


www.derekmok.com

You can close the genius sidebar with the button in the lower right.

I honestly think the import function in the first preference makes so much more sense. I just can't understand why it took so long to move it.

Couldn't disagree more. I've been listening to Genius playlists every day since I installed the upgrade. It's a fantastic feature. Wouldn't go back if you paid me.

Well, at least not unless you paid me a lot.

as long as were talking about stupid itunes features, how about the one where you can ONLY make ringtones from sings youve purchased from itunes.

how very very "microsoftian"

> You can close the genius sidebar with the button in the lower right.

I know, I did. My problem is that I don't think the recommendations make sense.

There are just some things you have to do at a real music store. For example, sing a snippet of a song you heard but don't know the title/artist/album. No Genius can do this.


www.derekmok.com

But Shazam can. Have you put that on your iPhone yet? It's nearly magical.

SHAZAM is the SHIZZLE. iTunes 8 only sucks because you need it for the new iPhone update, and then you need QT 7.5.5...which might not play well with your edit system.

So have another machine for all the normal everyday crap. I had to relegate my Powerbook for this, and forgo it as a reliable on the road edit system.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

Not having an iPhone makes the new iTunes even less desireable for me. I am on the verge of replacing my cell phone, though. My current Samsung is really, really bad. The battery lasts a bit more than a day even if you don't talk on it.


www.derekmok.com

STAY....WITH...VERIZON!

AT&T sucks....well...something I can't say in public. But did when I was in high school. And it was a disturbingly funny image.

But the iPhone rocks...


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

Oh great...yet another thing to detest. Seems like they've removed the options to NOT include track numbers in the conversions. Why do these idiots keep taking options away from users' hands? Those track numbers just muck up file management -- now you'll have 5000 files with a useless "01" in the beginning -- and the information is right there in the metadata of the MP3.

I might have to ditch my iTunes library, go to my backup drive and just re-copy the old iTunes onto my computer.


www.derekmok.com

Sorry, D...iTunes 8 rocks on my end - love it.

QT 7.5.5 plays just fine with updated FCS2 & all grafix software.

AT&T (formerly Cingular) does NOT suck (at least not yet, IMHO)

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I just went back to iTunes 7.6.2 (yes, kids, drive backups work) so you guys won't have to hear me bitch about that anymore. Natch.


www.derekmok.com

I hear/feel your pain.

I don't care a rats ass about the iPhone or iTunes with the exception that every time they upgrade either one there is a strong potential that it requires an upgrade in Quicktime which also has a strong probability of screwing up FCP.

This is the problem when a toy company makes more money with the cool stuff then they make on their professional applications.

Oops, I digress...

It's nice to hear these things here first. am forwarned.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:

Apply your default audio transition instantly
with Command-Option - T !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

oh, Derek!
you ALWAYS hate the new versions


nm

God, just installed System 7 this morning, and it sucks balls.

If you haven't installed it yet, don't. The new "Apple menu" feature is utterly useless, and you can't turn it off. And MultiFinder has been completely removed. Why do these idiots keep taking options out of users' hands?

To hell with this. I'm sticking with System 6. 24-bit 4 lyfe!

> you ALWAYS hate the new versions

iTunes, yes. But QuickTime 7 beat the pants off QuickTime 6 features-wise. I think I'm pretty fair at least in terms of my own criteria. I think iTunes always screws with me because it's aimed at consumers, and consumers love shiny new crap that I don't care about. I use the most spartan "list" view for everything in iTunes (and in FCP as well -- eight years on FCP and I haven't used any of the Icon views for anything whatsoever) and I don't use Apple TV at all.


www.derekmok.com

I'm with you on the icon views in Final Cut; I didn't even know they existed until recently. But you couldn't take my Apple TV from me without a fight. I've still got a Netflix subscription, obviously, but I dread having to interact with my stupid DVD player.