RANT: The worst part of switching to Mac OS X is iTunes

mdk · Post by **mdk** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:53 pm

jonny72 wrote:They might not be open formats but there are open source encoder / decoders for AAC and Apple Lossless.

and how were they created?

Not really sure what the benefits of an open format are, other than creating another useless codec which does nothing different to existing codecs.

you cant think of any benefits of an open format?

jonny72 wrote:You get the industry standard lossy (MP3) and lossless (WAV) codecs, plus AAC (which gives far better quality vs size than MP3) and Apple Lossless (which gives good compression ratios). What is it you need that this doesn't give you?

ogg, flac and wavpack would be good.

Add on the fact that the Apple codecs won't suddenly disappear and / or go out of development - something that is a major problem with open source codecs.

i would be interested to see your evidence of how an open source codec going out of development caused a major problem.

i think you're just regurgitating some vague notion you got via the internet about problems with open source software in regards to applications. some types of software dont require continual maintenance, upgrades and modifications.

all a codec requires is either a spec or a reference implementation, preferably both. once those criteria are fulfilled then the matter of how and where the codec is used / re-implemented will decide its popularity.

you can look at any compression scheme to see how these things change over time : DEFLATE (aka zip), bzip2 etc.

All this crap is just blatant Apple bashing without any foundation.

all this crap is trying to stop blind fanboyism from encouraging developers to stop restricting what can be done with my data and where it can be used.

ReasonliveUSER · Post by **ReasonliveUSER** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:22 am

yea I-tunes i the rainbow flag in software. the only reason I use it is bcuz it works well with m-audio's torq program. a itunes playlist will appear within the program other than that I would have been uninstall that blasted program. I rarely update itunes bcuz sometime I had issues with my ipods after receiving new versions

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:36 am

Traktor supports itunes playlists. This might be a clue on how seriously (important?) the industry takes itunes.

Some of the arguments on here are like complaining Window's free fax viewer application doesn't have the same editing features of Photoshop.

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:46 am

ive never understood the hate for itunes. its resource needs on a modern machine are negligible, and Ive yet to find a more powerful database manager for 10k mp3s.

yeah it would be could if it supported other formats, but for the moment im happy with high bit rate mp3. when i can be bothered im going to start reencoding all of my CDs in FLAC, archive them, and then just encode to whatever the format of the time is.

songbird is looking good, but its a long way from being stable.

mustgroove · Post by **mustgroove** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 6:58 am

Is there any script available which will auto-add tracks from specific folders? Kind of a makeshift "smart folders" functionality?

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:47 am

mustgroove wrote:Is there any script available which will auto-add tracks from specific folders? Kind of a makeshift "smart folders" functionality?

have a look here http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/

stonee · Post by **stonee** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:57 pm

I really think some people here haven't explored Itunes all that much. I also think some people are expecting to much from the program.

I couldn't work without it.

I let it organize my music so if i need to find something, I got to the itunes music library folder, and I can find it instantly.

you can drag and drop songs right from itunes into ableton, warp it, then save it, and it will save your analysis file in the library for future dragging and dropping. this means if your djing, you dont have to dick around with looking through live's browser for music. just go to itunes, type your search, and within seconds you have your song, warped and ready to go.

you can encode mp3/aiff/wav/aac from itunes. I've always found apple's compression to be pretty decent.

extensive batch id3 tag editing.
shift highlight an album you uploaded with no artist name, right click, get info, then update that shit. you can add album art to your album. you can even add the bpm of the song for anyone using tractor or serato or such.

it also does a fantastic job of burning cd's.

the itunes visualizer is way tripper than media player.

also, you can choose to have music compilations kept in the same folder.

that said, i do have a couple of wishes.

the fact that you cant make folders from playlists (though, you can just drag/drop them into a folder)

compatibility for movies and other audio formats. the lack thereof is the biggest piss off of itunes.

the new visualizer is cool for the first couple of minutes, but after a while, its just balls flying around...

take the time to explore the preferences and I think you'll be suprised.

Silverfish · Post by **Silverfish** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:51 pm

If it would just watch my damn music folder, I'd be happy, and really wouldn't bitch about too much else. However, the way it is now, if I don't proactively organize my music upon download, it leads to a huge mess of links with a "!" beside them.

The other worst part of Mac OS X is the reality distortion field that leads to rampant fanboyism. iTunes is not a perfect tool. Mac OS X is not a perfect tool. A hammer, while an excellent tool, is also not perfect. However, I may continue to request that the people that make my tools improve upon them in the future. I think that's what this is about.

Quit sucking Steve Jobs' teat.

telekom · Post by **telekom** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:13 pm

beats me wrote: Some of the arguments on here are like complaining Window's free fax viewer application doesn't have the same editing features of Photoshop.

LOL!

I agree with the comment about the itunes store being crap as it has no option for uncompressed files - if I'm buying an album and paying the same price as a CD, I want the option of having full spectrum 44.1 16 bit audio - not some crappy mp3 ripped by a half-asleep studio apprentice (not that all mp3s are crap - just that some stuff I bought from itunes is poor quality).

jonny72 · Post by **jonny72** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:01 pm

Silverfish wrote:If it would just watch my damn music folder, I'd be happy, and really wouldn't bitch about too much else.

Time to stop bitching: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/folderaction01.php

jonny72 · Post by **jonny72** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:10 pm

stonee wrote:that said, i do have a couple of wishes.

the fact that you cant make folders from playlists (though, you can just drag/drop them into a folder)

A script to do that: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/s ... ereiwantit

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:41 am

jonny72 wrote:
stonee wrote:that said, i do have a couple of wishes.

the fact that you cant make folders from playlists (though, you can just drag/drop them into a folder)

A script to do that: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/s ... ereiwantit

You see, for me the thread is over, this was said already a few times and people complaining about something they don't even know how to use.

It's a bless iTunes is scribtable.
Learn the apps, then complain.

Silverfish · Post by **Silverfish** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:49 am

I'll quit bitching AS SOON AS THE SCRIPT WORKS!!!!

I tried it once before and it didn't work, and I tried again just now and it won't work. This shouldn't be hard. lol... Thanks for the suggestion though. Maybe you can help me get this working..

Reasons the script may not be working:

1. The music folder I want it to watch is on an external drive formatted in NTSF (or whatever PCs use... But, with some Mac hackery I'm able to read and write from the drive).

2. I can't figure out Apple scripts...

Thoughts?

jonny72 · Post by **jonny72** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:26 am

Were you able to enable folder actions on the external drive?

Silverfish · Post by **Silverfish** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:42 am

I believe so. If I'm not mistaken, it should be as simple as right clicking on the folder I want to enable, and then assigning a script, correct?

I've tried test folders on both the internal HD and the external, and neither will work reliably. One time it will see a single file, the next it won't see anything. And if I try a folder of music, such as an album, no dice.

I looked at the script to see if maybe wanted to know the specific name of the folder, or something similar, and it didn't appear that anything needed to be changed.

Thanks again for your help on the matter. I sincerely appreciate it. See what bitching does?