iTunes... (rant)

[Hex]

[font="Calibri,Arial"]Over christmas, I got my new iPod Touch. It is a really cool, well-designed piece of kit as are most Apple devices and programs. However, to use it I have to go through the horror of iTunes. It totally spoils Apple's reputation and is the worst designed and least user-friendly program I have ever come across.

On Christmas morning, I had to activate my iPod to use it. So I go to iTunes and it prompts me to register for the iTunes store. Problem #1. Registering to use my paid for gadget is not a way to impress me.

So I go through all the steps and as it asks for ridiculous amounts of personal information (No other MP3 Player manufacturer has ever asked me for any phone numbers, or my address). Problem #2. I don't like giving out personal information unessecarily.

Then it asks for a credit card. Problem #3. I'm 15. It's not even ****ing legal for me to have a credit card so why the **** is this nessecary. (You have to be 18 to have a credit card here) I'm never going to be using the iTunes store for music, as I have plenty of CDs at home. the only use I have for it is cover art (which WMP does without registration) and freebie apps.

So after getting my dad to enter his CC details, I start to put music on my iPod. So I point iTunes at my music folder (2k+ songs, 20GB of space used). it offers to convert my WMAs to AACs for the iPod. I accept as it sounds convenient.

2 hours later. Problem #4. Songs are all added to iTunes, I think.

So I start copying them. I don't have much time so I pick my favorite albums to start with. I then stumble onto Problem #5. Half of them aren't there. I double check the folders and find something strange. All the ones in WMA format have been transcoded to AAC but it hasn't added a single MP3.

So I add the folders manually. It doesn't go in. Problem #6. I try again. Still doesn't go to the library. I try dragging it to the iPod. An error pops up. It says "The files were not copied as they will not play on your iPod". I stare at problem #7 in shock. I look through it then find the only difference between them and the MP3s iTunes create. It is this: Mine are higher quality (320kbps as opposed to 192kbps).

I mean seriously, come on. My €50 MP3 player from 5 years ago could play them, my €200 MP3 player from 3 years ago and it's telling me my cutting edge iPod that cost €400 can't?! Despite the fact that the Apple website says it can.

So I copy what I can then move onto videos. Video number #1. Plays fine on VLC and WMP on my computer. On iTunes and the iPod, the audio is high pitched and too fast. Problem #8

Video Number #2. 300, the movie. iTunes doesn't like the format either so I get the dvd and rip it again in a format iTunes does like. Turns out it's too high quality for the iPod so I use iTunes Create iPod Version. 2 more hours of Christmas day wasted. Problem #9.

I start to use my laptop for other things now. I leave iTunes on to charge the iPod. My new laptop is grinding to a halt. I check for the problem (#10). ITunes decided it has to "Determine gapless playback information". It has decided it needs both processor core's full power and all 4GB of RAM to do this rendering my new games unplayable at the same time. I watch it for 10 minutes. 22/1800 songs done. Great. I click the X button to stop it.

Two minutes later and the laptop slows to a halt again. Problem #11 It has restarted determing gapless playback information. I turn off iTunes and plug my iPod into my Xbox to charge from that instead as having it in my computer won't let me close iTunes. Problem #12

Now normally, you'd be hard pressed to find someone to bash Microsoft faster than me or praise Apple/Linux/Everything over Microsoft more than me but in this case, Windows Media Player is clearly superior to iTunes. For the past 5 years, EVERYTHING has just worked for me with WMP 8,9,10 & 11 and I've never been prompted to register for anything.

In future apple, when I buy your products, I will first make sure that it doesn't require the crapware that is iTunes and lets me use something else instead.

tl;dr version
I spent most of the morning on christmas day trying to get my iPod to work because iTunes is crap.
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[Butterfly Mage]

Well... you know that you can sync an iPod with RealPlayer, right? There's a free software add-on that allows RealPlayer to recognize an iPod. Now, it won't sync as fast as iTunes, but Real is a heck of a lot less invasive than iTunes.

You can also sync an iPod with Rhapsody. However, you won't be able to sync "rented" music to the iPod, only paid-for music. Still, it's less invasive than iTunes.

 

[Fire2box]

I had problems with my Ipod when I first got it but after like a week of tinkering with it I got it to finally work normally. Now the problem with my Ipod is that it doesn't shut off when I command it to (holding down the pause button.)


I planeed on getting a bigger Ipod classic anyways, not to mention my Ipod is the Ipod Photo so it can't play video at all, though I think in terms of spec it should be able to.

 

[DannyTheNinja]

Right now, as far as I know, iTunes is the only application that can sync the touch on 2.0 firmware. I use Mac OS X on my hackint0sh laptop to do it, just because iTunes on Windows is definitely worse than crapware... you might want to consider doing the same if you have a processor with SSE2 and a little bit of extra time and disk space.

--Danny :ninja:

 

[starshine]

I have iTunes on my windows, and I don't have any problems with it, other than slowing down my computer a bit.

 

[mizzycub]

I have not touched iTunes with a bargepole, and even before reading this I have had no intention of doing so. I have promised myself never to use an iPod, and this has just confirmed to me that this has been the right decision.

 

[Emileigh]

I've been using itunes for like 3-4 years now. I never had a problem with it before. But I don't understand why it would convert your songs and not put them in your library...when I had to restart my whole computer it converted them and put them all in the library.

I also don't like the credit card thing during the registration, I find it pretty ridiculous really.

 

[Vladimir]

Yeah, I heard a lot of complaints about iTunes, although I've never used it myself.

But every MP3 player has downsides. I got a Sony Walkman for Christmas, and it is only compatible with specific MP4 formats, with video and audio size limits. And it's not compatible with Linux.

You get used to it after a while (I hope).

 

[Hex]

I've been using itunes for like 3-4 years now. I never had a problem with it before. But I don't understand why it would convert your songs and not put them in your library...when I had to restart my whole computer it converted them and put them all in the library.

[font="Calibri,Arial"]It added the WMAs it converted. It didn't add the MP3s.

But every MP3 player has downsides. I got a Sony Walkman for Christmas, and it is only compatible with specific MP4 formats, with video and audio size limits. And it's not compatible with Linux.

You get used to it after a while (I hope).

The problems are with iTunes. The iPod itself is fine. Except it has all the problems of your MP3 player aswell. It doesn't like M4v even though it claims to be compatible so I have to convert my videos (a mix of avis and m4v/m4a mp4s) to h264/aac mp4s.[/font]

 

[Elizabeth]

I wouldn't use iTunes for the longest time (well, a few years anyway), after using a much earlier version that worked all right, but was too much of a resource hog for my computer then to handle. And then I got a Zune, and I had to use their software anyway... It worked all right at first, but then after upgrading to 3.0, I think, I had to completely uninstall it and reinstall it multiple times, because it would either refuse to let me make playlists, or it would only sync certain songs, no matter what I tried. By then, I was almost out of room on it anyway, so I decided to get a bigger capacity iPod, which, of course, meant using iTunes again. It has yet to give me any major, and only a few very minor, problems, and I would recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat over Zune's software.

That being said, I have no idea why you've had so much trouble with yours... That definitely sucks, and would put me off of a program, too. Mine had no problem with MP3s of varying bitrates, though I don't know if any of mine are quite as high as that. So, anyway, this is a pretty useless post of mine, but I'm sorry you had all that trouble.

 

[Fire2box]

I have not touched iTunes with a bargepole, and even before reading this I have had no intention of doing so. I have promised myself never to use an iPod, and this has just confirmed to me that this has been the right decision.

But you will use a Mac I am sure simply since you follow what other people tell you.

 

[BromeTeks]

And this is why I stick with windows media player based MP3 players. Though I will admit that I am willing to try out Linux... does anyone know if it's possible to run Linux without removing Windows Vista (despite its suckyness, It does play video games well) from my laptop?

 

[Grutzvalt]

The credit card is obvious. It's INCASE you want some music from iTunes. I also got an iPod Touch for Christmas, but I got an iTunes giftcard, which is what you give it instead of a credit card. I have everything converted to MP3 already (SoundTaxi un-DRMs music like that). I had absolutely no problems with iTunes.

 

[Hex]

And this is why I stick with windows media player based MP3 players. Though I will admit that I am willing to try out Linux... does anyone know if it's possible to run Linux without removing Windows Vista (despite its suckyness, It does play video games well) from my laptop?

[font="Calibri,Arial"]Look up dual-booting for whatever distro you plan on using. You need to be confident reinstalling windows however to do this in case something goes wrong. Alternatively look up VMs (Virtual Machines) to run Linux as a Windows program. VMware is one of the most popular.[/font]

 

[dampatnight]

Those iPods are nice, but iTunes really sucks. Apple has nothing despite good desgin :/

I'm still looking for a good MP3 player. Should be browsable by folders from the computer and play ogg files... not much available with these restrictions. Maybe something that runs rockbox firmware.

 

[Elizabeth]

I'm still looking for a good MP3 player. Should be browsable by folders from the computer and play ogg files... not much available with these restrictions. Maybe something that runs rockbox firmware.

Try looking at Cowons. I don't know about Rockbox, but I know they can handle ogg files, and most any other format, and I'm pretty sure they do folder view. A lot of people also consider them to have some of the best sound quality in the MP3 Player world, and some of them have SD card slots.