I used it years ago and got so frustrated I changed to Media Player, which while not perfect has always worked for me. Now I get an iPad for Fathers Day and have to use iTunes again. I hate it. Do others feel that way or am I missing something? What's the consensus on iTunes?
I absolutely, positively, REFUSE to allow Apple products in my home. I absolutely abhor the way they make you use THEIR E36 M3 for everything, and if you don't you're berkeleyed. I know a lot of people like it, but if someone were to give me an iPad...... I'd probably smash it. Or you know, return it for something I didn't hate.
It's free. Try the newest version and see what you think. If you don't like it, you get your money back.
We have a pretty Apple-heavy house. I used to have a setup that was all DIY NAS this and freeware that, and while it worked it was a pain in the ass. The Apple stuff just works together. Janel wants to show me the new trailer for Rush that was released? She pokes an icon on her iPhone and it pops up on the TV. Need to see the backed up files on the network? No problem, you can browse snapshots through an intuitive interface. When we're listening to music off the library on my laptop, the screen shows our favorite vacation shots and I can control what's going on with the iPad. Sure, it's not perfect. But the interface and interoperability is far ahead of anything else I've seen.
Which part is giving you trouble?
In reply to Keith Tanner:
I have the latest version. BTW, Media Player is also free.
EastCoastMojo wrote: Which part is giving you trouble?
The ridiculous DRM parts.
iTunes works fine for me. Works just fine with my iPad, iPod, iPhone, MacBook Pro, Apple TV, etc.
You don't need to use iTunes to own an iPad, BTW. Heck, you don't even need to own a computer.
In reply to Javelin:
iTunes music purchases have been DRM free for a while now, and I think there was a way to exchange old songs that had DRM for new stuff.
I have to admit that iTunes 11 was a huge let-down. There are places out there where you can download old versions of software like this, so I'm running 10.7 and like it better.
What parts are bothering you?
In reply to pres589:
I buy all of my music on CD (higher quality, physical backup, no DRM issues, album art, extras, etc). I have all of those CD's downloaded onto my PC. I can play them just fine off of a USB drive or an MP3 player. I can't import 90% of them to SWMBO's iTunes. Apple can blow me.
That's not DRM. That's the wrong choice of file formats.
I completely agree. iTunes sucks hard. In Windows, I've used MediaMonkey in the past as it can sync to apple devices. Much much better than iTunes. It supports FLAC, mp3, and others. It also has an transcoding addon that supports converting to AAC/alac. And it can transcode on the fly while syncing. So rip to flac for lossless storage, and convert to mp3 on the fly when syncing. I just went through organizing all of my music on CDs/old ripped wav files, misc mp3/AAC. It was awesome. Talking like 11,000 tracks of work. Highly recommended.
Javelin wrote: In reply to pres589: I buy all of my music on CD (higher quality, physical backup, no DRM issues, album art, extras, etc). I have all of those CD's downloaded onto my PC. I can play them just fine off of a USB drive or an MP3 player. I can't import 90% of them to SWMBO's iTunes. Apple can blow me.
That is EXACTLY my main problem. And any CD that has more than one artist on it gets split up into individual songs, even though the album name is the same. It sucks big time.
In reply to bravenrace:
I have a ton of compilation CDs in my iTunes and it seems to have no problem keeping them together if you sort by album. Of course if you sort by artist it breaks them up, which would be the case with any music management system.
No problems at all with iTunes here, and I buy music on CDs too.
Protip: you can use winamp to manage your music library instead of itunes.
I hate itunes too.
I hate iTunes too. Horrible, slow, bloated POS. Maybe you're an uber-hacker and don't know it? 
I use VLC.
mndsm wrote: I absolutely, positively, REFUSE to allow Apple products in my home. I absolutely abhor the way they make you use THEIR E36 M3 for everything, and if you don't you're berkeleyed. I know a lot of people like it, but if someone were to give me an iPad...... I'd probably smash it. Or you know, return it for something I didn't hate.
I have the music player for the Zune I had(Still have, but it's broke) on my laptop. Works much better than when I had Itunes, probably has something to with that simplicity thing it has going for it.
I can play my music, burn CDs for my mother and that's really all I use it for.
I saw the new version of itunes and now I refuse to update. The user interface looks so much harder to use. My ipod is an older model so I dont need to.
bravenrace wrote:Javelin wrote: In reply to pres589: I buy all of my music on CD (higher quality, physical backup, no DRM issues, album art, extras, etc). I have all of those CD's downloaded onto my PC. I can play them just fine off of a USB drive or an MP3 player. I can't import 90% of them to SWMBO's iTunes. Apple can blow me.That is EXACTLY my main problem. And any CD that has more than one artist on it gets split up into individual songs, even though the album name is the same. It sucks big time.
Identify it as a compilation. Voila.
Keith Tanner wrote: Identify it as a compilation. Voila.
You shouldn't have to though
Sorry, just trying to help. Carry on with the hate parade.
Javelin wrote: In reply to pres589: I buy all of my music on CD (higher quality, physical backup, no DRM issues, album art, extras, etc). I have all of those CD's downloaded onto my PC. I can play them just fine off of a USB drive or an MP3 player. I can't import 90% of them to SWMBO's iTunes. Apple can blow me.
That's a bit of a surprise, unless you're buying the "fake CDs" that have been sold by the music industry for a while. Like, the ones that don't even have the CD logo on it anymore because they abuse the format so badly in the interest of copy protection that they don't even play in most car CD players.
I pretty much buy no file-based digital music, with the exception of a few very obscure albums everything I have is on CDs. The only times I had issues ripping CDs into iTunes was when either the laser lens needed de-dusting or when the CD was badly scratched. Most of my CDs are older though and predate the format shenanigans.
Then again, I'm using Apple hardware, that seems to be making a difference in the sense that most people I know who have issues with iTunes are using it on Windows.
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