The I Hate iTunes Thread

[fitbabits]

As we have an 'official' (ahem) GFWL Hate Thread, it's about time we had a thread where we can all get together and lament at how fucking atrocious iTunes is.

I've been working on an iTunes-related issue all damn day and I've come to the conclusion (again) that iTunes is just a complete cluster! It's bloated, slow, cumbersome, invasive, annoying, almost impossible to remove, and just pure shite.

[Wackman3000]

I've been itunes free for almost 5 years now, and couldn't be happier. I refuse to ever use that crap again.

[Norse]

Agreed. I love my iPad and iPhone, but iTunes is horrible. Luckily ios5 means I don't need it for my iPad anymore.

[Handmade.Mercury]

I don't really feel the slowness of iTunes, so I probably shouldn't be in this thread.

[Lance Uppercut]

Fuck iTunes. I've had it lock up on me twice already while trying to update to iOS 5. Thankfully I can do without that bullshit once I have it.

[Psykoboy2]

What were you trying to do? iOS 5 hit today and it's been VERY sluggish with anything related to iTunes and the internet.

For me, anyway.

[J Arcane]

Not exactly. For some reason after the update it started filling my iPad with a bunch of shit I deleted months ago. I had to go into iTunes and manually sort out all of my shit. It was a clusterfuck, and it got stuck in the app syncing at one point.

[Lance Uppercut]

What were you trying to do? iOS 5 hit today and it's been VERY sluggish with anything related to iTunes and the internet.

For me, anyway.

I right clicked on my iPad icon on the devices list to try and backup. Locked up twice. I eventually said fuck it and just went through with the update, looks like it'll back it up anyway before installing.

As of right now, it's still backing up.

[digitalErich]

I hate iTunes, but I still use it for pdocasts. I get hours of free content every week via podcasts and so far, iTunes rankings are the main way people land ad deals and the like.

I really hope this changes soon.

[spcialk]

i manage a 30k+ song library. iTunes is easily the worst music management software ever... except for all the other ones i've tried.

[fitbabits]

I hate your mother's cooking.

Just had to put that out there.
My mother is dead.

[Wolvie]

I once bought twenty songs on iTunes. I got three downloaded and the other seventeen just vanished from my download list. I contacted iTunes repeatedly and they never got back with me. Screw itunes, I will never buy songs from them again.

[TheKeck]

I hate itunes. I hate ipods. I hate ipods' dependence on itunes. I belong in this thread.

[Handmade.Mercury]

That would explain the bad cooking.

[Chris_D]

iTunes is mostly OK for me but it has some annoying quirks.

For example, I clicked on the page to see what apps had updates. I clicked download all. A prompt for the new iTunes terms of service popped up but I had already switched to another app. A few minutes later I realised and clicked "accept", but then iTunes said my session had "timed out". So, I did the first 2 steps again, clicked "accept", then iTunes forwarded me to a mostly blank page with the message "please attempt your purchase again". So, for a third time, I do the first 2 steps and finally manage to get the latest updates for my apps.

How did this get past the design process?

[Lance Uppercut]

iTunes has been backing up my iPad for over 2 hours now. Is this normal?

[Chris_D]

For me it usually takes a few seconds to a minute (normal) and occasionally it takes hours (not normal). I just cancel it when it starts to take an abnormally long time. Especially since I'm often trying to update it just before going out!

[J Arcane]

iTunes is awful for managing music, especially if you get your music from anywhere outside of iTunes.

I actually really like Windows Media Player on Windows 7. The fact that I can point it to my Music library and it just keeps updating itself without my having to interfere is exactly what I want, and something Foobar, Winamp, and iTunes all failed to fucking do.

Even on Mac OS X, everytime I downloaded or ripped or bought new music from somewhere else and put it in my Music folder, I'd have to go back into iTunes and point it at thhe folder and make it reload my entire bloody collection, or else it wouldn't show up. No intelligence at all.

I use iTunes because it backs up my iPad. That's pretty much it.

[evilgoodwin]

iTunes doesn't write to an mp3's id3 tags when you fill it out. So if you ever have to reimport your music back into itunes library from the ground up, you have to redo any tags that you changed.

Luckily, I found a program that does it for me.

For a company that spouts innovation (even if they consider adding features that every other phone has as 'innovation), they haven't done shit to change their software. They've done nothing to add anything new to media players. The touch ui for music on their iOS platforms is fucking primitive. Hell, people were excited when they announced "Cut and Paste" in 2009. My god damn terrible windows phone had Cut/Paste, and it was running an obscenely outdated version of Windows Mobile.

Their 'New' White iPod Touch has no real updates. They used to make you pay them money to update your firmware on the Touch while giving it to iPhone owners FOR FREE.

When upgrading iTunes automatically, sometimes it just decides to corrupt itself, forcing me to install a previous version and/or lose my entire collection of playlists, ratings, and album arts that I painstakingly built up over the years of organizing.

Plus, I couldn't watch the Avengers trailer on their website. Why?

Because I have a flash-blocking extension. Which means I can't view flash on Apple's trailer site. Hypocrisy much?

[Grifter]

I had to install iTunes on my PC again a few weeks back to help my little sister set up her own account, update her 3GS and license some apps and the damn thing froze on me 5 fucking times! I have a pretty damn fast PC with 6GB of DDR3 RAM, there is absolutely no reason why iTunes should even slow down much yet freeze. I plan on picking up another iPhone next year when the 5s are announced but I dread having to use iTunes for anything.

[Lance Uppercut]

For me it usually takes a few seconds to a minute (normal) and occasionally it takes hours (not normal). I just cancel it when it starts to take an abnormally long time. Especially since I'm often trying to update it just before going out!

I tried to cancel it just now. Locked up again. Now I have to redownload the update. I'm getting really sick of this.

[Handmade.Mercury]

Plus, I couldn't watch the Avengers trailer on their website. Why?

Because I have a flash-blocking extension. Which means I can't view flash on Apple's trailer site. Hypocrisy much?

Not sure I understand this part. What did you expect your Flash-blocking extension to do? Not work?

[evilgoodwin]

Not sure I understand this part. What did you expect your Flash-blocking extension to do? Not work?

Well, I figured since Apple is so anti-Flash, they'd use something else on their own websites, y'know? :D

[Lance Uppercut]

But the trailers on Apple's website use Quicktime, and not Flash.

[Grifter]

But the trailers on Apple's website use Quicktime, and not Flash.

I smell a conspiracy brewing. ;)

[PathMaster]

Only use it when a client needs some help with it.

[resikel]

Yeah. I don't get it. Apple does not use Flash nor does Microsoft because it's a competing product.

[evilgoodwin]

Well, maybe it didn't work because the website just sucks?

[jeffbax]

I don't have a huge problem with iTunes other than it tries to do too much in terms of managing shit that goes on an iPod.

In fact, I find it's music organization is pretty much the best I've used. It's pretty fast on OS X despite this so I don't notice it much. Most of your headache will go away if you let iTunes manage your music library itself instead of having it try to point to files all over your drive. Makes it easy to manage backups too.

I hate iTunes, but I still use it for pdocasts. I get hours of free content every week via podcasts and so far, iTunes rankings are the main way people land ad deals and the like.

I really hope this changes soon.

Try Instacast http://vemedio.com/products/instacast

[Cactaur]

When I first moved my mp3s to itunes I was appalled how they took my nicely categorized by album collection and lumped them by artist.

Tried for a while to manage manually but eventually gave up. Fine Steve, I leave it to you to sort it out.

I'd been stockholmed.

[Chris_D]

Yeah, it seems like being on OSX instead of Windows is a big deal. My performance is usually OK on my 5 y.o Macbook Pro. No excuse for Apple though.

[johnperkins21]

I refuse to purchase or use any Apple products partially due to how badly iTunes sucks. When I get iTunes gift cards, I throw them away. I don't give them to people because I don't know anyone personally that I hate that much, and I don't have Michael Vick's home address.

[Chris_D]

Send them to me!

[muddi900]

I like it when itunes automatically removes music from my library, for no inexplicable reason. It could be a whole album, or a track here and there.

[johnperkins21]

Send them to me!

Next one I get, I'll send to you. Haven't gotten one in quite a while since so many people know how much I hate Apple.

[Chris_D]

Also, you could make a contest for this thread:
Games for your iPod touch... (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=4135)

I'm sure you could make some of us jump through hoops for it :).

[MagGnome]

I actually really like Windows Media Player on Windows 7. The fact that I can point it to my Music library and it just keeps updating itself without my having to interfere is exactly what I want, and something Foobar, Winamp, and iTunes all failed to fucking do.

I should give Windows Media Player on Win7 a try. I hated the old versions of WMP, but I'm guessing it's come a long way since then. Right now I use iTunes for my music. I've only had minor problems with it, but updating it is a pain. It's worlds better than it used to be though, and I certainly don't "hate" the software. I've tried a bunch of other music players (WinAmp, Media Monkey, etc.) and they were all obnoxious in one way or another, so I went back to iTunes. Still, if I could ditch it and just use WMP that might be a good option.

[MagGnome]

I like it when itunes automatically removes music from my library, for no inexplicable reason. It could be a whole album, or a track here and there.

You just reminded me of one thing iTunes does that I absolutely hate. Sometimes it will randomly reorder tracks in my albums for no reason. I'll be listening to Queen, for example, and it will actually move the tracks around so that they are out of order. 2 will be at the top of the album, followed by 7, and 10, for example, and then the correct order will resume - 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, etc. It's really obnoxious and takes forever to fix. I have some albums that I really enjoy listening to in order, and when iTunes screws that up it does grate on my nerves.

[fitbabits]

Update time.

My problems began when I upgraded my iTunes to the latest and 'greatest' version. Since then, every time I start iTunes, it gobbles up 100% of my CPU cycles and brings my computer to its knees.

It gets even worse when I attach my iPhone or iPad (spit) and attempt to backup either. Failures all round... I've removed all traces of iTunes from my computer and reinstalled, but the problem persists.

If I didn't have to use it for work, I would keep it off my machine for good (and would not be using ANY iDevice).

Apparently this has been bothering iTunes users for a very, very long time. (http://www.google.com/search?q=apple+mobile+device+service+cpu&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&source=hp&q=apple+mobile+device+service+high+cpu&pbx=1&oq=apple+mobile+device+service+high+cpu&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=3495l3916l0l4206l5l4l0l0l0l3l341l1002l0.1.2 .1l4l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=9231f99d00f00123&biw=1142&bih=804)

[KidCactus]

iTunes doesn't write to an mp3's id3 tags when you fill it out. So if you ever have to reimport your music back into itunes library from the ground up, you have to redo any tags that you changed.
Yes it does.

The beginning of an mp3 that hasn't been in iTunes:

http://wearegamers.se/images/beforeid3.png

Same file after being imported into iTunes and tagged, now with an ID3 header:

http://wearegamers.se/images/id3.png

[JayVe]

But... it is an Apple product. It just works. If you think you are having problems with iTunes, then you are probably a 'hater'.

Nobody has legitimate issues with Apple products and services.

-- Sent from my HP TouchPad using Communities

[Lance Uppercut]

I'm gonna try upgrading to iOS 5 again *crosses fingers*

Maybe making iTunes for Windows as shitty as possible is a ploy to get those iTunes users to switch to Macs.

[fitbabits]

I'm gonna try upgrading to iOS 5 again *crosses fingers*

Maybe making iTunes for Windows as shitty as possible is a ploy to get those iTunes users to switch to Macs.
If that's their ploy, it could backfire spectacularly. People may be more inclined to ditch iTunes altogether.

[Dark Prince]

I must be one of the few that didn't have problems updating my iPhone to iOS 5 yesterday. Went smoothly and worked just fine afterwards too.

[Lance Uppercut]

So I finally got it installed, everything seems to be working ok.

Until I tried to do the new multi-touch gestures. Turns out it only works for the iPad 2. That's fucking stupid.

[resikel]

I just started using Spotify. Having my Nano plugged I just notice that Spotify can/will "Erase iPod & Sync with Spotify" if I let it.

Looks like it wants to muscle into iTunes territory.

[Handmade.Mercury]

I'm chalking up everyone's problems to user-error :p

[jeffbax]

You just reminded me of one thing iTunes does that I absolutely hate. Sometimes it will randomly reorder tracks in my albums for no reason. I'll be listening to Queen, for example, and it will actually move the tracks around so that they are out of order. 2 will be at the top of the album, followed by 7, and 10, for example, and then the correct order will resume - 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, etc. It's really obnoxious and takes forever to fix. I have some albums that I really enjoy listening to in order, and when iTunes screws that up it does grate on my nerves.

It's likely that you have other ID3 info that is causing this. 2 7 and 10 are probably grouped by something that the rest of the tracks are not, thus the separation. Check to see all the album tags are consistent.

[jpublic]

Y'know, I find this thread interesting because I've been saying something along these lines for ages.

I'd have an iPod, if it wasn't for iTunes.
I'd have an iPhone, if it wasn't for iTunes.
I'd have an iPad, if it wasn't for iTunes.

How can a company that makes such user-friendly and well-programmed software, OSes, and hardware, make such a piece of shit?

And oh my god, the Windows version makes the Mac one look like it's the pinnacle of good programming. Every single aspect of the software is poorly done. You'd think with the $70 billion they were racking up in the bank they could afford some decent Windows programmers.

[J Arcane]

As of iOS 5, iTunes is an irrelevant consideration when it comes to purchasing an iOS device.

Once it is standard in all devices (and knowing Apple, that's probably "everything sold after tomorrow"), there will be absolutely no reason to avoid them on that grounds.

[VerseD]

I use iTunes on my inherited Macbook and don't have a problem with it: nice features like Genius and album art, good aesthetics, and it runs pretty fast. I avoid the store.

For Windows, though, I stick with Winamp (http://www.winamp.com/); with the ml_ipod plugin (http://mlipod.sourceforge.net/) it has more features than iTunes -- you can rip songs off a friend's iPod, for example.

[ShortRound]

Fuck Itunes. I use Media Monkey to get files to and from Mrs Shortround's Ipod and that is it. I won't go near an Iphone with one of the reasons being I would have to install Itunes. The software is utter gash!

[JayVe]

Media Monkey isn't bad stuff. It could be more friendly, but at least has power and control.

[CES]

I'm pretty confident that everyone complaining is trying to use iTunes on a PC. That's the deal breaker.

That's interesting since I've used it since January on two seperate PC's and the only issue I had was of my own making (I didn't change the default import directory so when I switched machines all the CD's I ripped went away) Maybe I've just lucked out on the whole thing.

But to contribute to the hatefest proper, one thing that annoys me is that I can send songs to my iPhone from iTunes but not the other way around.

[Chris_D]

It did used to be OK for me on Windows XP but that was with my iPod Shuffle, about hmm, 6-7 years ago?

[CES]

It did used to be OK for me on Windows XP but that was with my iPod Shuffle, about hmm, 6-7 years ago?

The funny part about that is about that time I found iTunes to be incredibly bloated and unstable, partly because the QT builds at that time were bloated and unstable.

[Narradisall]

I've always found the best way to deal with Apple updates is to wait till 'just' before they release an update, and THEN you update the to the last update (the one that is mostly removed of all the shit) and then wait till they fix their current shitty update and repeat.