Rant: Can we fix iTunes now, please?
iTunes: now with 100% more everything.
You know how sometimes you get a huge mound of dishes piled up in the kitchen sink, and then something starts to stink, and it takes a long time to realize where the stink is coming from, but eventually you wash every dish and scrub the whole thing out and it takes maybe a day or two, but you're finally fresh and happy again? OK, well, iTunes is a kitchen sink full of crud, and it stinks. Apple? You need to clean that bad boy out. Trust me. We'll all feel better.
Listeners of Buzz Out Loud will have heard this rant earlier this week, but I'd like to expand on it a bit here, because iTunes is a program that a lot of people use, and it's turning into a bit of a national nightmare. Let's indulge in just a list, off the top of my head, of the tasks this former jukebox software now has to perform:
- It organizes your music and syncs with your
iPod
- It's a music player
- It's a video player, which necessitates that it come bundled with QuickTime
- It indexes and delivers both audio and video podcasts
- It's a storefront that sells music, TV shows, movies, audiobooks, iPod games, and music videos
- It rents movies (and handles the requisite DRM-checking and so forth)
- It's cell phone syncing and management software
- It's the
iPhone/iPod Touch App Store, handling registration, syncing, and sale of those apps
- It's a veritable set-top box, syncing content with Apple TV for playback on TV
This is one program we're talking about, here. As a result, iTunes 7.7 is a 60.5MB file. Last time I did a fresh install, about a week ago, it took me 30 full minutes to download it, complete a full registration procedure (when all I was after was iPod syncing), get it installed, index my entire universe of music and its entire universe of online content, and get it up and running. When my husband recently bought an iPod Touch, it took him 45 minutes to update iTunes, re-register, and connect the new iPod.
On top of that, with so many functions and so many possibilities for bugs, it seems like there's a new iTunes update every week. And every update is mandatory, no matter how old your iPod or how uninterested you are in access to the iPhone App Store or how unlikely it is that you'll ever download or play a QuickTime video via iTunes. It'll keep bugging you until you upgrade, or maybe stop syncing your two-year-old iPod, and when you finally do upgrade, you'll have to restart, because, I assume, iTunes has about as many functions as an operating system and has its tendrils in almost as many system files.
Yes, you can get by without iTunes if you just want media playback. I use VLC and I won't load iTunes unless I absolutely have to. (I've had the laptop I just installed it on for almost six months, and I only downloaded the darned thing so I could get at Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.) And I know there are plenty of alternative apps I can use to manage my iPod. That's not the point.
The seamless iTunes integration used to be the best thing about the iPod. And until people (bless you, Joss Whedon, but you're one of them) stop doing "iTunes exclusives," I'm going to need it or some other program for downloading those videos. I shouldn't have to live in fear of loading it, because it takes so long to launch, it's so bloated, and it's almost certain to drop an update grenade in my lap. iTunes has become anathema to Apple's simple and elegant persona, and it's time for a fix.
May I suggest, for example, iTunes Lite? Give the iPod masses a slimmed-down version for managing just the device and their music, and give them an online interface for the iTunes Store. Or start carving out features to trim down the program overall. The iPhone does not need to be managed by iTunes. It's a cell phone. Get it a separate sync program that includes the App Store and let it call (pun intended) iTunes for music the way iMovie does. Build a separate media player so we don't have to get QuickTime along with iTunes.
I know Apple thinks it's keeping things simple by offering one program with one-stop shopping. But instead, they're creating bloatware that, increasingly, people don't want to use for any shopping. Apple, get out your scrubbing bubbles. It's time to save iTunes.
As host of the Buzz Report video series, Molly provides a fresh and funny perspective on the latest consumer electronic products to hit the market, as well as commentary on the stories and development that she thinks are truly buzz-worthy. She is also co-host of Buzz Out Loud, CNET's "podcast of indeterminate length," which entertains listeners with a funny and skeptical take on the day's technology news. Her other podcast, Gadgettes, is proof that girls can be geeks too. 
But you are correct. iTiunes needs to be modular.
Serious, I don't update unless its a security fix because of the issues of having to reboot..
NO PROGRAM UPDATING SHOULD EVER NEED A RESTART... If it does, they you have programed WRONG.
Seriously, NO PROGRAM SHOULD EVER NEED TO REBOOT A COMPUTER WHEN UPDATING.
If your program is hooked into the system that deep, then your programing wrong..
Even AV engines only need to reboot... sigh.. why not just a restart of the service?
Seriously, windows needs a complete re-build to fix this junky thing. Only the kernal update should need a reboot.
Also, when I connect my iPod Touch, it takes a couple of minutes for iTunes to even recognize that it exists! And while iTunes is playing its guessing game on which iPod is connected, it just stops completely until it finds it. (Just a note: my iPod 5.5G is seen by iTunes as soon as it's connected)
And see wikipedia for a comprehensive iTunes version history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_version_history). Hardly weekly updates. I know that's not the point, but it bugs me when people get bent out of shape and so badly maul the facts.
And about 30 minutes for a download; it takes me two hours to download a new version of iTunes. Get some patience.
It organizes your music and syncs with your iPod
Reasonable.
It's a music player
I suppose you want to listen to your music in an external player, causing more desktop clutter?
It's a video player, which necessitates that it come bundled with QuickTime
iPods play video if you haven't noticed, see above, and realize that music and video go together, necessitating one unified library.
It indexes and delivers both audio and video podcasts
See above. Also, if you'll keep your podcasts in one place, why would you get them from another source, considering you want to update your podcasts and get new ones when recommended, you would not want to open a new application to do this.
It's a storefront that sells music, TV shows, movies, audiobooks, iPod games, and music videos
Hey, a piece of jukebox software is where you are importing all your content, not having another app do it and then import it, complicating things for the consumer. If you want to say the consumer may not want to buy content from iTunes, consider this, 5% of music is sold on iTunes without DRM exclusively.
It rents movies (and handles the requisite DRM-checking and so forth)
See above.
It's cell phone syncing and management software
For once, I as an apple fanboy must agree.
It's the iPhone/iPod Touch App Store, handling registration, syncing, and sale of those apps
Hey, you are implying it's a store, psychologically implanting the idea of clutter when in fact the store is on the internet. What registration are you referring to? As for syncing, see above.
It's a veritable set-top box, syncing content with Apple TV for playback on TV
Come on, you are just forming an image of something new in readers' minds. iTunes' relation to Apple TV is basically that of an iPod. Things like Youtube and Flickr from the Apple TV have nothing to do with iTunes.
I hope that I have enlightened you.
Sincerely yours,
Noiselull
Maybe your problems stem from Apple trying to port their software to a flawed operating system. If you hate iTunes that much, buy a Zune. (Sorry to hate on Windows, but hey... one rant deserves another.)
Second, I didn't have to restart my computer to load the "monstrous app" either. I listen to all of my music in itunes because its really easy. I do use vlc, mostly to watch videos and movies, but I use itunes for everything else.
I suggest if you want to complain about itunes and how "bloated" it is, you should first use it on its native operating system. I mean, really, microsoft doesn't even offer the real wmp for OSX simply because itunes is so freaking good.
Peace
If no one has figured out Apple purposely adds all these services to the Windows install because they want to make the app bog your system down. Cause they know 90% of iPod owners dont have a mac, and are basically tethered to iTunes. I would say 85% of iTunes users are Windows users and the program purposely sucks to get people to switch to a Mac. It wouldn't bother me, if I could build my own computer and install OS X on top of it. Apple would do so much better if they just went after Microsoft and not also HP, DELL, Gateway, Lenovo, and the likes.
- by knightracer July 31, 2008 4:13 AM PDT
- I forgot my biggest gripe is that it uses upwards of 350 MB of ram to manage my large music library. The only thing I've bought recently on iTunes is Dr. Horrible, and that's only because it was available to be legally purchased anywhere else.
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