Rant: iTunes? No thanks!

[widebody911]

Apparently I'm too old.

My wife gave me an iPod a few years ago, so of course I had to install iTunes. I don't know what went wrong, but as soon as I installed it, my PC blew up - had to wipe it and do a fresh install. She has bugged me for years to use the thing, as my M3 has an iPod cord.

Fine. I'll try it again.

After dicking with it for an hour or so, it still doesn't want to work (Win7-x64) - iTunes simply doesn't see the device. When I plugged it in the first time it disconnected all of my USB devices (keyboard, mouse and wifi) so I had to hard-reset.

This UI is the biggest lop of 5hit since... well, I don't know when. And don't get me started on all of the crap it leaves behind even after you un-install it. And for some reason, it wants me to shut down my proxy service before the components will uninstall. And it really, really wants to change all your file associations. It's like herpes for your PC.

I spend 8 - 16 hours a day troubleshooting computers; I don't want to do it at home, too.

Thanks Apple, but I don't feel the need to get into your walled garden that badly. I own some Apple stock, but I will ever willingly purchase an Apple product.

[LakeCleElum]

Feel you pain........Have had Ipods for about 7 yrs.......3,300 songs.....I rarely sync......So, when I want to do anything, I have to "Update" and the new version shows no music........Spend an hour to find it on my computer all of that....Old playlists I've spent days setting up seem to disappear.......Sucks to move pictures, books, etc........

The only thing is........My 4th Gen Itouch is the greatest thing ever.....Use it a lot when traveling out of the country and don't want to lose/damage my Iphone......Use it a lot to listen to music on my motorcycles and PU.........BUT, never again after it quits...........

[craigster59]

All of your base belong to Steve Jobs.

[Gogar]

You need to graduate from 2005 into the 2010s and learn how to create a spotify playlist on your phone and be done with it.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Seriously, dude? Your geek cred is fading fast.

Top 10 Alternatives to iTunes | iTunes Replacement

[wdfifteen]

I agree iTunes is a pain, and it seems to get worse instead of better.

[Baz]

I dropped iTunes years ago, Not only unreliable in the PC but the iPod hard drives kept breaking on me. I must have gone through 5 iPods...and they aren't cheap!

I use a Sansa 'view' now in addition to several Creative MP3 players.

[onewhippedpuppy]

As good as the i devices are, that's how bad iTunes is. I like the Apple devices because they just work, I'm not sure why they can't apply the same effort to their primary PC software interface. In our family we have six i devices, and the kids have different account settings and access for parental control. Every sync or update seems to royally screw with those settings, leaving me a few hours of work to fix each device. Sadly I keep buying them because I don't think the alternative is any better.

[Scuba Steve]

ITunes has never been supported on XP64. I found that out when I tried loading it onto an old computer at home a few months ago after the wife fried our laptop. Just another reason too migrate to windows 7 already...

My 2nd gen iPod touch keeps on going forever. I bought one in 2008 and took it all over the world work me and it just won't quit. The battery life is still just fine after being used and charged every day.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I haven't had any technical issues with iTunes - whether on a Mac or PC platform. All the issues I've has have been user related ("error between keyboard and chair") and in all cases were simply learning curve items - I just had to learn the "iTunes way" of thinking and doing stuff.

I tend to agree that this sort of cerebral reprogramming requirement is rather un-Apple. Their devices and software are GENERALLY intuitive (a few similar problems learning features of Numbers & Pages too) but iTunes is less so. Maybe their software developers are less concerned about ease-of-use by the unfamiliar than their hardware guys (?) All of the functionality is there and iTunes, Pages and Numbers (and iPhoto, etc.) are excellent - once one learns to use them and where exactly those features are.

I wish iTunes hadn't been quite so idiosyncratic and quirky but I was still able to learn it. It's really not all that bad, you just have to "un-learn" the Microsoft way that most users grew up with and have come to expect (consciously or not) as the way things should work / look / feel.

[GH85Carrera]

I have to agree the user interface for ITunes sucks. As a program it is almost as intuitive and user friendly as AutoCAD.

I have not had any issues with it working on my XP or Win7 machines.

Why oh why can't I see and edit my photo collection with it I do not understand. As a program it sucks but it does work, just very poorly.

[cairns]

My 2nd gen iPod touch keeps on going forever. I bought one in 2008 and took it all over the world work me and it just won't quit. The battery life is still just fine after being used and charged every day.

Same here. The first gen still works fine too but I don't use it anymore.

[flipper35]

It is also a resource hog.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I haven't had any technical issues with iTunes - whether on a Mac or PC platform.

+1

WTF? Never seen iTunes do THAT...

rjp

[jcommin]

I try not to feed into the Apple monster. No I-phone (I have a BB), no I-pad (nexus 7) and no iTunes (not for a very long time).

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by jcommin

I try not to feed into the Apple monster. No I-phone (I have a BB), no I-pad (nexus 7) and no iTunes (not for a very long time).

Google is a bigger monster than Apple imho. The reality is you're just picking one borg over another. Oddly enough, of the big 3, MS is probably the least annoying these days, with Apple second and Google in an increasingly scary first place.

[herr_oberst]

I like itunes; while it always sucks a little to relearn the interface, the good outweighs the bad.

The algorithm that apple uses to sort songs into playlists works to my taste....

Pandora and Spotify work, too, and I use both to find new music, but itunes is my go-to, for sure.

[sugarwood]

Do iPods still exist?
The iPod was obsolete by 2008 or 2009

[herr_oberst]

I have an ipod touch (first gen) (16GB). Great shape, cheap if anyone wants one...

[gacook]

I'll stray from the norm here...

For the most part, I hate Apple products, but I like iTunes. Will have to check out that link blueskyjaunte posted, though.