First look: Apple's overhauled iTunes 11

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  • Reply 61 of 242
    So how do I get rid of the black background in the grid now? It was nice in iTunes 9/10, but in this version 11, the text is a mess and hard to read. There is no option for Preferences/General/Grid View anymore. I can't find anyplace else to change the background color. Any ideas?
  • Reply 62 of 242


    Not bad. After going through visual options, turning sidebar back on, and getting rid of the icons in favor of list view it's actually useable. Perhaps it's because of my familiarity with DOS, but I've always preferred list view over icons. My brain doesn't organize in icons, so it all looks like a jumble mess to me.


     


    Anyway, seems to be loading faster, and that annoying lag that was prevalent everytime I plugged in my iPhone or iPad seems to be gone completely, which I appreciate.

  • Reply 63 of 242


    Originally Posted by Kavok View Post

    So how do I get rid of the black background in the grid now? It was nice in iTunes 9/10, but in this version 11, the text is a mess and hard to read. There is no option for Preferences/General/Grid View anymore. I can't find anyplace else to change the background color. Any ideas?


     


    Wait, I have a white background.


     


    Maybe it keeps the setting you had when you switched, meaning if you edit the plist manually, you would be able to change it (if it's there).


     


    WAITAMINUTE I didn't have a white background in the old one. So it changed my setting. How's yours black? Was yours white before? 

  • Reply 64 of 242
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member


    So far my biggest gripe is the lack of easy access to Playlists, which has prompted me to turn the sidebar back on. If someone uses iTunes to focus on one specific type of media, this will vastly simplify their experience. They made an odd choice of hiding the playlist button for all except for music. That button then in turns shows all playlists for Music, Movies, Podcasts, etc. What they should have done is logically shown a playlist button if you have playlists for the associated media type.



    That said, I like the unified top of iTunes, which is pretty much identical in most aspects to iOS.


     


    Maybe with some future tweaking I won't have to rely on the sidebar.

  • Reply 65 of 242
    Will the miniplayer show the track's progression (time elapsed & time remaining of a song). I really like that on the current iTunes but I don't see it on the picture of the new miniplayer? Instead all I see are bigger play controls. Also, the volume controls are missing - I also like them. I know I can control the system's volume with the keyboard but contolling just the iTunes volume is very useful too. What about the name of the track playing? It's nice to see a small pic of the album art though. So, I'm not impressed at all with the new look of the miniplayer if this is what it will look like.
  • Reply 66 of 242
    2oh12oh1 Posts: 503member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DJRumpy View Post


    The randomize button is identical to what you get in iOS. It's to the right of the playback timeline (top center of the GUI) directly after the track 'end' time.



    Yes, I know, but the playlist order doesn't change to show the shuffled song order anymore.  I'm currently listening to a smart playlist with over 3,000 songs.  With iTunes 10 and previous, you could see the shuffled song order.  That's gone in iTunes 11...  unless I'm really missing something here.

  • Reply 67 of 242
    I agree that it's snappier. Also cleaner. Nice update.
  • Reply 68 of 242


    So Album view stands out as a prominent feature. Too bad iTunes can't find art for 90% of my collection and half of what it does find is utterly and completely wrong.


     


    Oh wait, I know the problem: I'm not supposed to have any music that wasn't purchased from iTunes.

  • Reply 69 of 242

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 2oh1 View Post


    I feel like I'm missing something really basic here.  I'm playing a playlist.  I click over to another playlist.  Where's the option to return to the currently playing playlist?





    Hover your mouse over the song name at the top. A small right arrow fades in. Click it, select 'Go to <current song>'. Takes you to the current playlist.

  • Reply 70 of 242


    Originally Posted by Bregalad View Post

    So Album view stands out as a prominent feature. Too bad iTunes can't find art for 90% of my collection and half of what it does find is utterly and completely wrong.


     


    Oh wait, I know the problem: I'm not supposed to have any music that wasn't purchased from iTunes.



     


    And none of these albums have their artwork available anywhere else on the face of the Internet?

  • Reply 71 of 242


    iGripes:



    > The gradient on the top center display is hurting my eye. Cant see the song name as well as earlier. The antialiased font here (Helvetica I think) is worse than the Lucida Grande earlier.

    > The background and font color choice in the app store makes reading the app category VERY hard.

  • Reply 72 of 242
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member


    FYI, the new Home Movie option is another media type under your library, which is a welcome addition. You can tag a movie as a 'Home Movie' instead of just 'Movie'. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to show up under the sidebar list of categories under Library, but it does access them from the new horizontal 'Home Movie' button.

  • Reply 73 of 242
    2oh12oh1 Posts: 503member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by spacerays View Post




    Hover your mouse over the song name at the top. A small right arrow fades in. Click it, select 'Go to <current song>'. Takes you to the current playlist.



    Yeah.  I found that.  A one click button is now buried in a menu only shown when you hover over the top window (whatever that area is called).  Bummer.

  • Reply 74 of 242
    noirdesirnoirdesir Posts: 1,027member


    There is one thing I already deeply miss:


     


    Live updating of the list or icon view while typing in a search. To me that was how I selected any music 95% of the time. Yes, there is the pop-up but it is not the same. When I search for an artist, I focus on the artist list while typing. Having the rest disappear while you type is really the best way to focus on something, not a new window popping up which has a different layout than the list (or grid) of artist.


     


    The same in any other asset library application. In Mail, I type a search term into the search box and don't watch the list of suggestions, I watch the list of e-mails until as it narrows down enough that I can spot the e-mail I am looking for. By searching the system should remove visual clutter until you can find what you are looking for, it should not add visual clutter with a pop-up window.

  • Reply 75 of 242
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 2oh1 View Post


    Yes, I know, but the playlist order doesn't change to show the shuffled song order anymore.  I'm currently listening to a smart playlist with over 3,000 songs.  With iTunes 10 and previous, you could see the shuffled song order.  That's gone in iTunes 11...  unless I'm really missing something here.



    You can view the next 20 tracks by clicking the playlist button right to the right of the randomize button. Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but it gives you a decent glance at upcoming tracks.

  • Reply 76 of 242
    2oh12oh1 Posts: 503member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by noirdesir View Post


    There is one thing I already deeply miss:


     


    Live updating of the list or icon view while typing in a search.



    Whoa.  They removed the ability to search within a playlist?  Yikes.  That new search popup is a huge step backward.

  • Reply 77 of 242
    noirdesirnoirdesir Posts: 1,027member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Bregalad View Post


    So Album view stands out as a prominent feature. Too bad iTunes can't find art for 90% of my collection and half of what it does find is utterly and completely wrong.


     


    Oh wait, I know the problem: I'm not supposed to have any music that wasn't purchased from iTunes.





    No, if you have shown the capabilities to get music from other sources, googling for the album art should be something very easy for you (and over the years there have been little tools like Fetch Art that should have helped you with this).

  • Reply 78 of 242
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member


    Hmm.. the Home Videos isn't really a new Category in your LIbrary. They still show up under 'Movies', so I'm not sure what value it has. Was really hoping they offered a new category. If someone can come up with a reason for this one I'd be curious about it. About the only benefit I see is that it just has a different Media Kind for smart lists which might make some easier, but other than that, not very useful.

  • Reply 79 of 242
    noirdesirnoirdesir Posts: 1,027member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 2oh1 View Post


    Whoa.  They removed the ability to search within a playlist?  Yikes.  That new search popup is a huge step backward.





    Yeah, instead of being limited to the context, the search tool has become dumb again and instead of finding something in the context you are in (eg, a playlist), it now throws mobile apps into the search results. Apparently some people are too dumb to switch to the Apps section when they want to find an app.

  • Reply 80 of 242
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by noirdesir View Post




    Yeah, instead of being limited to the context, the search tool has become dumb again and instead of finding something in the context you are in (eg, a playlist), it now throws mobile apps into the search results. Apparently some people are too dumb to switch to the Apps section when I want to find an app.



    Click the dropdown in the search field and deselect 'Search Entire Library'

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