Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Well, it looks like Apple is finally getting rid of iTunes. Of course, because I've been such a big Apple booster over the years, they have to do it in such a way that they totally piss me off again -- kinda like what they did with eliminating the iPods, then bringing them back years later. WTF

 

I don't want or need a streaming service on my iMac or iPhone. I have literally thousands of artists, and hundreds of thousands of files on an external hard drive--nearly 2 terabytes' worth. So I'm going to move my existing library to another app and then eventually delete the iTunes app. I only want it for playing music, and I'm sure as hell not paying Apple for "Apple Music" just so I can play songs I ripped from CDs in 2008 or whatever.

 

I've downloaded a few apps, but haven't pulled the trigger on archiving stuff to them yet. I know some of you guys are much more tech-oriented than me, and probably use some of these already.

 

1) Clementine - seems to be a good one, may be more than I need

2) Vox - has been around a while

3) Nightingale - supposed to be good for people like me, who want to keep it simple

 

I'd love to get your opinion on these apps, if you have one.

 

Apple. Sigh.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm sure as hell not paying Apple for "Apple Music" just so I can play songs I ripped from CDs in 2008 or whatever.

I don’t think that is what is going to happen. It is only the name of the app that is changing, and the name change is only on Apple devices. iTunes for Windows will remain.

 

I use the “Apple Music” app on my iPod touch all the time, but not as a streaming service, only to access my own library.

 

I think you are panicking needlessly.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, that's good to know. I'm still going to transition to something else on my iMac, though. I have over 40K songs on that, but it used to be over 100K. When I upgraded from an older iMac to a newer one, I skipped a generation of OS, and now I'm on Sierra. In making that transition, I had to re-archive my iTunes, and it didn't work with the new one. So I literally had to go back and rebuild (part of) my iTunes library manually, pulling from my external hard drive. A lot of this stuff is live shows, where I actually had to go through each song and type in the song title--and that meant I had to redo all that work.

 

I just don't trust these guys to not fuck up my shit. I use the iMac for everything, not just music...which means, to me, if they unilaterally make a decision to do something with an upgrade on the OS, or God knows what, I'll run into that problem again, or a similar one. I just want something I can play tunes on, on the computer, without having to sign in using my Apple ID every time they upgrade the software. I never buy music from their store, so they have no incentive to help me if something goes wrong. In fact, when I had the previous problem, I couldn't even find an Apple "genius" who understood what I was trying to accomplish. I used to love 'em, but now I just want out.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I was a bit apoplectic about this when I first heard the news on Saturday.  Yesterday I read that if you use iTunes for Windows on your PC (like I do), there will be no changes.  Deep breaths, serenity now.

Link to post
Share on other sites

iTunes is horrible and the work of several devils.

 

i still can't get one of my ipods to actually be recognized by the software on one machine so i have to use my laptop if i want to move songs. foobar is a far better player, less bloat and all the customization you'd want if you like to tinker (or just use a skin that someone else made).

Link to post
Share on other sites

iTunes is horrible and the work of several devils.

 

i still can't get one of my ipods to actually be recognized by the software on one machine so i have to use my laptop if i want to move songs. foobar is a far better player, less bloat and all the customization you'd want if you like to tinker (or just use a skin that someone else made).

I've heard of that. What about the three I listed--Clementine, Vox, Nightingale--any of you guys have experience with them? I want to be able to drag and drop stuff easily from the existing iTunes library I've laboriously built.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've heard of that. What about the three I listed--Clementine, Vox, Nightingale--any of you guys have experience with them? I want to be able to drag and drop stuff easily from the existing iTunes library I've laboriously built.

i have never heard of those.

 

when you speak of building the iTunes library, are you mainly talking about playlists? or ratings, etc? metadata should be transferrable, i would think.

Link to post
Share on other sites

When I am on my Mac and have my hard drive attached, I use Vox and it works fine for me. Actually in the 4 to 5 years that we have had our Mac, i have never used iTunes. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I just use CDs which is nice because people are practically giving them away at estate sales.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've ripped my CD collection to a hard drive as FLAC files and use JRiver Media Center on a laptop linked to my sound system.  Works well for me.  The added bonus is there's a complementary app JRemote you can use on your cell phone (IOS or Android) that allows you to stream your music collection to your phone.  So it's your own streaming service that's never going to be messed with by the likes of Apple Music or Spotify.  I have friends who had curated playlists on earlier streaming services that disappeared when the services died.  Also, the big streaming services will routinely remove albums/artists/tracks due to licensing issues etc.  At least this way your favorite music is never going to go missing.  

Link to post
Share on other sites

i have never heard of those.

 

when you speak of building the iTunes library, are you mainly talking about playlists? or ratings, etc? metadata should be transferrable, i would think.

Yeah, mainly playlists. I have one called "New to Library," which is basically about 10K songs I haven't listened to yet. It's a beast.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 months later...

Has anyone tried to use the new Music app on an iMac desktop? I just read a review of the Catalina OS, and it's looking like some really ugly (not user-friendly) changes are here. Still using iTunes on mine, but not sure how long that will be feasible. And is there going to be an actual subscription charge going forward for the privilege of using the app? Screw that.

 

https://sixcolors.com/post/2019/06/macos-catalina-pb/

 

 

As someone who uses iTunes every day to listen to music, I’m disappointed to report that some features I use have failed to make the transition to Music. The venerable Column Browser in the Songs view, which was once the primary way users interacted with iTunes, seems to be gone. This isn’t great, because I liked having easy access to a list that let me focus down to a specific album or artist by typing a few letters. I also would often select an artist in the Column Browser, then select a few of their albums, and shuffle through them in a temporary, impromptu playlist.

 

Some of those features can be mirrored using different parts of the Music interface, but none are as fast or convenient. The Albums view will let you type the name of the album if you sort by album title, but because a single click on an album cover will take you to a detail view, you have to awkwardly click on an empty area of the album list before typing or your keystrokes won’t be recognized. (And because the albums are now sorted by title, you can’t see other albums from that artist.)

 

The Artists view will let you quickly find an artist, but you can’t select a bunch of albums. Instead, you can start playing one album and then add more to Up Next - but if you want to shuffle those albums together, you can’t. The fact is, the Album and Artist views are very nice ways to play individual albums, but as an interface to playing portions of a large library of music on demand, they fail. This is why I’ve stuck with the Column Browser all these years, and I don’t really understand why Apple feels that it needs to be removed now. Turns out that Apple didn’t need to import the Music app from iOS in order to dumb down iTunes—it’s done it the old-fashioned way instead.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Has anyone tried to use the new Music app on an iMac desktop? I just read a review of the Catalina OS, and it's looking like some really ugly (not user-friendly) changes are here. Still using iTunes on mine, but not sure how long that will be feasible. And is there going to be an actual subscription charge going forward for the privilege of using the app? Screw that.

 

https://sixcolors.com/post/2019/06/macos-catalina-pb/

I'll check it out tonight. I very rarely use the computer to play music - it's more of my main library, and I use my iphone to house whatever I want to listen to

Link to post
Share on other sites

Does anyone have advise to update my wife's iPhone 7 music, using my Windows 10 laptop?   My wife can't use her company's laptop and I have all my music library as ripped mp3's.  Is downloading iTunes on my laptop the easiest solution, or is there something more simple?  I love my Pixel.  Just plug into a USB and drag and drop.

 

Thank you

Link to post
Share on other sites

Does anyone have advise to update my wife's iPhone 7 music, using my Windows 10 laptop?   My wife can't use her company's laptop and I have all my music library as ripped mp3's.  Is downloading iTunes on my laptop the easiest solution, or is there something more simple?  I love my Pixel.  Just plug into a USB and drag and drop.

 

Thank you

updating the software? Or updating the downloaded music that she accesses and stores on her through iTunes?

 

How has she done so previously?

Link to post
Share on other sites

updating the software? Or updating the downloaded music that she accesses and stores on her through iTunes?

 

How has she done so previously?

Updating her music library on her Iphone.  She's doesn't listen to music on her computer, but via Bluetooth listens on speakers in her home office, around the house, and in her car.  I guess I'm wondering if there is any easy was to add/subtract mp3's to her iPhone similar to how easy it is on my Pixel.  We purchase CD's and rip them.  We don't buy music on iTunes, etc.  She previously had iTunes installed on her past employers laptop.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...