How to open a playlist in a new window in iTunes 12.6 on macOS

AppleInsider

With the release of iTunes 12.6, Apple has restored the ability to open a playlist in a new window on macOS --- here's how to do it.

Somewhere along the line, Apple decided that a single window to rule them all was the way to go in iTunes. While that still remains the fact in Apple Music, for your own local collection and playlist generation, the ability to open a new window is back.

Control-click on a playlist in iTunes 12.5

How to do it is simple. Either control-click or right-click on the playlist you want to open and select Open in New Window. The playlist you've selected will pop up, ready for manipulation!

We opened 10 windows with playlists without difficulty, and was able to drag tracks at will between the windows. It's not clear why the ability was removed, or why it was reinstated -- but we found the restoration welcome, especially on large screens.

emoeller

About time.  I complained about this several versions ago when it was removed....

tape

oh thank jebus.

mtbnut

iTunes is an unmitigated disaster. It's about as intuitive as Microsoft Access. 

lmagoo

As much of an Apple fan am I but....I'm sorry iTunes can't hold a candle to Roon...it's not even in the parking lot let alone Ballpark! Roonlabs.com check it out!

kenneth1975

Cool. 👍🏿

evilution

iTunes isn't intuitive and hasn't been for many years. It needs to be rewritten from scratch with the modern day Apple thinking.

bb-15

Good news. In the past I almost always used separate windows to move music around in iTunes.

lkrupp

mtbnut said:

iTunes is an unmitigated disaster. It's about as intuitive as Microsoft Access. 

Try thinking for yourself instead of parroting tech blogs. iTunes is just fine for most users, millions and millions of users. 

hagar

lkrupp said:

mtbnut said:

iTunes is an unmitigated disaster. It's about as intuitive as Microsoft Access. 

Try thinking for yourself instead of parroting tech blogs. iTunes is just fine for most users, millions and millions of users. 

Glad you still like it, but I don't know anybody who uses iTunes because he thinks it's a great piece of software. Only because it's needed to sync/configure iPhones. Some friends that tried the Apple Music trial used it but quickly moved away because it was too confusing / crashed at startup / songs were deleted from iCloud / etc. So no... it's not "just fine" for most users. I use it because I have Apple Music, but I'm definitely not a fan of the confusing interface.

command_f

I dislike Apple's "one window to rule them all" strategy for a couple of reasons. Several windows (think Inspectors) allow you more efficiently to use display space because you can stack windows but still see the important bits of larger underlying windows, allowing bigger windows (e.g. when displaying text). It also negates the benefits of using more than one physical display because a single window is limited to a single display 😖

rcfa

There is some hope that Apple reverses course on its policy of oversimplification and idiot-proofing-to-the-point-of-uselessness.

Hope to see more of these sort of reversals.

Maybe Photos will gain an expert mode, that restores missing Aperture functionality?

john.b

lmagoo said:

As much of an Apple fan am I but....I'm sorry iTunes can't hold a candle to Roon...it's not even in the parking lot let alone Ballpark! Roonlabs.com check it out!

Crikey, that's one expensive application!

bloodshotrollin'red

The revised MiniPlayer window is bloody disgusting. Each time Apple redesign the MiniPlayer it gets worse. The system-wide title bar double clicking removed from iTunes is an omission worthy only of Windows and Linux apps.

alexmac

ITunes is not a disaster but IMHO is the worst Apple software. It is not coincidence that almost everybody would pick it out as the worst. 

mfryd

The multiple window feature was likely removed as multiple windows don't really work on the iPad/iPhone.  Apple is primarily a phone company, and the focus of their software development is making software that works well under iOS.

nickat11

Is there anyway to revert back to the 'edit in the current itunes' like before? I don't like the new one because when making playlists I have to mess around making windows smaller and its very inconvienient.