Apple to restore duplicate song search in forthcoming iTunes 11 update
Though the ability to identify duplicate songs has disappeared with the release of iTunes 11, Apple is said to be working on reinstitution the feature in a future update.
The departure of the duplicate song finder in iTunes 11 was noted as a "drawback" in Walt Mossberg's review of the software. But the Wall Street Journal tech columnist also noted that Apple officials indicated to him the function will "soon be restored in a minor update of the program."
In previous versions of iTunes, users were given an option called "Display Exact Duplicates." This feature would help users to clean up their music library by displaying songs that had multiple copies.
While that feature will reportedly return to iTunes 11, other functions removed from the latest update are not returning. That includes browsing album covers through the Cover Flow carousel, a feature that Apple told Mossberg was considered useful by "too few users."
Mossberg also experienced some album covers that were missing in the album view option in iTunes 11. He was told by Apple that this "rare bug" has already been solved, and will be fixed in a minor update that will arrive soon.
Apple is also said to be aware of a bug that can prevent Apple TV users from wirelessly streaming cloud-based movies to the set-top box. A fix for that issue is also said to be on its way.
iTunes 11 was released last week, bringing with it an overhauled user interface that aims to be cleaner and less cluttered than its predecessor. Despite a new look and feel, many of the features found in previous versions of iTunes remain or can be restored, such as the dedicated sidebar.
The departure of the duplicate song finder in iTunes 11 was noted as a "drawback" in Walt Mossberg's review of the software. But the Wall Street Journal tech columnist also noted that Apple officials indicated to him the function will "soon be restored in a minor update of the program."
In previous versions of iTunes, users were given an option called "Display Exact Duplicates." This feature would help users to clean up their music library by displaying songs that had multiple copies.
While that feature will reportedly return to iTunes 11, other functions removed from the latest update are not returning. That includes browsing album covers through the Cover Flow carousel, a feature that Apple told Mossberg was considered useful by "too few users."
Mossberg also experienced some album covers that were missing in the album view option in iTunes 11. He was told by Apple that this "rare bug" has already been solved, and will be fixed in a minor update that will arrive soon.
Apple is also said to be aware of a bug that can prevent Apple TV users from wirelessly streaming cloud-based movies to the set-top box. A fix for that issue is also said to be on its way.
iTunes 11 was released last week, bringing with it an overhauled user interface that aims to be cleaner and less cluttered than its predecessor. Despite a new look and feel, many of the features found in previous versions of iTunes remain or can be restored, such as the dedicated sidebar.
Comments
I've already downgraded.
I think you hit the nail on the head. They only way to remove/prevent bloat is to remove features not widely used.
Add to that, the focus is now on full screen, and that view is less useful in Full Screen, IMO
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Though the ability to identify duplicate songs has disappeared with the release of iTunes 11, Apple is said to be working on reinstitution the feature in a future update.
This sentence is the main one that appears on the home page, not sure the terminology for that, however it is important to note the grammatical error [reinstitution] as opposed to [reinstituting]. Just FYI. Also, I feel like that would be beneficial, especially with a library that has resulted from importing many actual albums, and CD's to the point of filling a 2TB hard-drive, being able to identify when a song is duplicate is important, whether it be by rhythm analysis or by song-title. As long as the option to chose which one, or if both are kept before the song is deleted.
I'd like to see better aesthetics in the top main control bar.
If you compare iTunes 10 and iTunes 11 side by side, you will notice that the aesthetics are much nicer in 10.
The top control bar looks very busy if you have AppleTVs with the airplay button thrown in there similar to the iPad.
The new LCD also looks so busy that you have to be careful when you drag the window not to push a button or pull down a menu by mistake.
The controls no longer look consistent with other Mac applications such as Safari, the Finder, Mail client etc...
The Mac OS X controls should have their own unique aesthetics and not simply made to look like the iPad or iPhone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by F1Turbo
Lack of gapless playback option is my biggest concern. That's a step way back in terms of functionality.
I'm pretty sure I still have that.
I really wouldn't want to see that unless one is using the Side Bar. Still, I think it's nicer when it shows up at the top. You can double-click the small album cover to get a larger one with controls.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chabig
I'm pretty sure I still have that.
It's half working... Any songs that were already setup will still do their Gapless thing, but anything you add from here on out will not have the option to use Gapless playback, and you may not change the Gapless settings on already setup content.
Let's hope they are still working on it.
Any feature that is missing will eventually be added back in, they released this build with all of the essentials and now have time to catch up. I hope they decide to add coverflow back, not everyone's cup of tea but I loved using it.
Personal opinion and not universal. I myself prefer the new look.
Again, opinion only.
More folks are likely concerned with getting what they need to get done and not how the controls look. So this 'issue' of the computer looking too 'device' hasn't and won't concern them
This is kind of obvious isn't it? I mean there are so many things missing from this iTunes and so many obvious "placeholders" in the design for more features or more control that it's pretty obviously a beta of a whole new version. The sad little dialogue box for the view options for instance is totally, obviously, completely not finished at all. Most of the things they took out are sadly things that I used a lot, but as with all Apple software, they wont' tell us why they took these things out, or whether they will eventually find their way back. The customer just has to deal with it and hope for the best. That's just the way Apple works.
A few things I noticed missing:
- Coverflow
- Black background option
- Genre Art for movies and TV shows (also can no longer be set by user)
- Sorting of TV shows is borked (again)
- Cover art of TV shows for individual seasons (no longer shows)
Also, I gave it a good try the last few days, but I must say the new UI is both more confusing and just generally sucky. There are all kinds of dumbass fails all the way through the new software. For instance to see what's on your attached devices you have to click a button (labelled "iPod" or "iPhone etc.), but this same button ejects the device if clicked slightly differently. There are lots of little places where you can get stuck and your only option is to back out and start looking all over again.
IMO this is pretty obviously a 64bit (finally) beta of a whole new product and won't be much fun to use for at least a few versions. iTunes is a very important product for Apple so they probably have like five developers working on it, but even so it will take some time before it's all working again because at Apple, it isn't done right, until it's been done very very slowly with as few developers working on it (between fishing trips) as they can possibly manage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleSauce007
I'd like to see better aesthetics in the top main control bar.
If you compare iTunes 10 and iTunes 11 side by side, you will notice that the aesthetics are much nicer in 10.
The top control bar looks very busy if you have AppleTVs with the airplay button thrown in there similar to the iPad.
The new LCD also looks so busy that you have to be careful when you drag the window not to push a button or pull down a menu by mistake.
The controls no longer look consistent with other Mac applications such as Safari, the Finder, Mail client etc...
The Mac OS X controls should have their own unique aesthetics and not simply made to look like the iPad or iPhone.
I agree. While aesthetics can be subjective and individual, that gigantic square window in the title bar is just ugly no matter how you look at it. It's kind of a poor design for other reasons too, but I can't imagine what they could do instead, so maybe they just ran out of ideas also.
It's intended to be like the display on a physical media player, so it's skeuomorphic, but perhaps because they are sensitive to all the nerd complaints about skeuomorphism, they have tried to turn it into something else, but it's sort of stuck half-way now. It no longer looks like a display from a real-world media player machine, but it's not strictly a programmatic thing either. It's sort of neither. It looks especially ugly and especially out of place on a 30" monitor as do most of the new features in iTunes 11.
If you use it full screen on a 30" display, almost all the views in iTunes 11 leave the right hand side of the screen (40% roughly), as a plain white square that cannot even be changed. This is hideous to say the least. I think they were so focussed on making the UI work on a small screen that they didn't have time to make it look good on a larger one.
The whole iTunes 11 product seems aimed at a 1024x768 resolution which is the only way it really looks any good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
I really wouldn't want to see that unless one is using the Side Bar. Still, I think it's nicer when it shows up at the top. You can double-click the small album cover to get a larger one with controls.
But that extra window either is floating to the side of the main iTunes window and thus by default showing distracting background below and above that square album art window or it is floating above the main which means it disappears behind the main window every time you interact in any way with iTunes by clicking in its main window.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
If you use it full screen on a 30" display, almost all the views in iTunes 11 leave the right hand side of the screen (40% roughly), as a plain white square that cannot even be changed. This is hideous to say the least. I think they were so focussed on making the UI work on a small screen that they didn't have time to make it look good on a larger one.
The whole iTunes 11 product seems aimed at a 1024x768 resolution which is the only way it really looks any good.
Nobody forces you to switch iTunes into fullscreen mode on larger monitors. In fact, a lot of applications don't make much sense in fullscreen mode on 20+" monitors. That does not make them badly designed apps. Would you ever complain that a text editor looks weird when used in fullscreen mode on a 30" monitor?
Your point is probably that things like album view would look good if they filled a 30" monitor. I am not so sure, already on a 20" monitor album view looks like a bit too much information.
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
If you use it full screen on a 30" display, almost all the views in iTunes 11 leave the right hand side of the screen (40% roughly), as a plain white square that cannot even be changed.
Well, that's just wrong. Outright.
The whole iTunes 11 product seems aimed at a 1024x768 resolution which is the only way it really looks any good.
iTunes and Aperture are the only applications I have take up my entire screen. They both work marvelously that way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lamewing
How about adding the cover art back to the bottom left corner when viewing in list view (and have sidebar open). I am not the only person who feels this way. Check out Apple's own forums. Rookie move, Apple, Rookie move.
I've already downgraded.
Too trigger happy, lamewing.
When you play a song click once on the thumbnail in at the top of iTunes (or in mini player) and the album art will pop up like a quickview image. This image will update as the songs change. You can also control the music by mousing over the image.
Pipped by Solip!
Originally Posted by paxman
Too trigger happy, lamewing.
What do you expect from him?