iAvoid
It looks like the day has finally arrived.
I have been using iTunes for almost 20 years. When Apple released Apple Music in 2019 or so, I resisted making the change. It was a little easier for me because my main computer was still my old Mac from 2011. I have a newer Mac, but I still relied on the old one for maintaining my music and movie libraries.
I spent years accumulating the media I have on there. Thousands of hours transferring CDs and DVDs and BluRays. I never trusted that Apple wouldn't change something at some point so that only music specifically downloaded from their store would be allowed in their App. It was one of the motivators behind my continuing to use the old Mac for my iTunes.
I am sure there are other apps out there I could use. I know Taco does. I just loved the original iTunes (not so much the many updates to it before it was finally retired). All I wanted was a simple application that would sync with my iPod/iPhone and allow me to carry my music around with me. The movie feature on the Apple TV was just a bonus later on. The music was always my priority.
Well, I was having issues syncing videos I took of the turkeys yesterday off my phone so I decided to run the latest update to it. I was unable to do so like I usually do through iTunes, so I just did it manually on the phone itself. Well, once it was done that was it. The phone would no longer show up in iTunes when plugged in. The Mac could still see it though, as it showed up in Photos. The outcome seemed clear at that point.
Transferring the library per say wouldn't be difficult. It's all on a USB external drive, so it's just a matter of plugging it into the new computer. Though I've tried that and the library did not show up. I hesitated to do much else, as I don't want to screw up my existing library. I've needed to order a new, larger USB drive anyway so I just did that. I'll try to be patient and wait for that to come next week before doing anything more. Though, I won't be able to sync my phone going forward.
Copying my library to the new USB will probably take about 3 days, as my iTunes library is almost 8 terabytes. So, we are looking at a few weeks before this project is done. Though it really does need to happen, as sooner or later my old Mac will surely die. It's going on thirteen years old. I have plenty of backups. Though my one backup drive recently got full, and the other has been acting a little sketchy.
When it comes to technology, I really do resist change. I held onto Windows XP forever. I had clients with Windows 7 I resisted upgrading to 10 until it was past the time to do so. Every new operating system is worse than the last. These companies take what worked fine and completely turn it on its head for no reason other than to confuse the average users, who I have to deal with daily.
When it came to Apple and iTunes first coming out, I resisted for months. I remember when the iPod came out and what a cultural thing it was. But, I resisted because I didn't want to be a sheep, following the herd. But, in the end iTunes was exactly what I had needed my entire life. We used to have parties where I'd be running cables for audio down hallways to be able to have music throughout, then the iPod came, and Apple TV and all that. I really think it was the movie 'Blade: Trinity' that finally got me on board to get an iPod. Because there was a scene where the chick in it was making a playlist before going out to kill some vampires.
I made a playlist myself, right after getting my first iPod that is still there to this day. Called 'Music To Slay By'. It was back when vampires had really started to become a thing. And it was fun to do such things. I *LOVED* making playlists, and still do. It was such an upgrade from making mixtapes when I was younger. I loved having music in my pocket. Though, even back in those early days, the iPods I could afford couldn't carry my whole library. I even transferred all my CDs TWICE, because my first import I didn't know what I was doing and the size of the files completely filled my old, junky computer. So I had to redo it all making the files more compressed.
We used to drive around in our cars in the 1990s, first with those cassette holders and then with the giant CD folders, where we were carrying around a hundred some discs in the car. And we would never just listen to an album, we'd be constantly changing the CDs to listen to new mixes and stuff. It is so funny to think back on it. If someone had broken into the car, all my music would have been gone. Then came along this little piece of technology and there I was holding all my music in my pocket.
It is so quintessentially "2000s" thinking back on this all. It really was unlike anything that had come before. A technological revolution. And even though I was slightly late on it, I was still a part of it.
I think I read that the old iPods won't work on Apple music. A very sad thing. I may try plugging my old one into my old Mac, just to see if I can sync it up still. It's the nostalgia that makes me resist this change I think. The minute I heard that were coming out with Apple music, I remember cringing. I had hated all the changes over the years they made to iTunes. I loved the old look and functionality of the original program. It felt old school and rudimentary. I never needed it to be anything more than what it was: A utilitarian software to do the basics. Let me save my music all in one place and let me make playlists in order to have fun with it.
I don't need books. I really didn't need movies. I don't care about podcasts. Please, don't constantly ask me to sign into the Apple store. I don't want to buy music from you that I can't own physically. Let me import what I have and leave me alone. And I know that Apple won't. And I still believe some day they will decide that you can only listen to music on their devices they know you downloaded from them. There's no altruism in this corporate game.
I suppose as long as my old Mac runs, I'll still be able to access the music the old way. When it stops, and if Apple Music doesn't work out right, it looks like I'll have to shop for alternatives. Though I won't be going back to CDs and cassettes in the car. I don't like change, but it is inevitable and I knew this was coming.
Music was so exciting back in the 2000s. Having this new method of listening to it made it all new to me again. Walking around in this sort of narcissistic world where I was playing my own soundtrack everywhere I went. Playlists for running, playlists for Halloween, playlists for commuting, playlists for hating that bitch that I worked with, Miss Managed. I wasn't always good about keeping track of what years some of the playlists were made in, but I have vague memories of such. And so some of them are true time capsules of where I was mentally and emotionally at those stages in my life. It could be compared to a journal in the very loosest sense. As the music says much about what was happening at those times.
Apple is a horrendous mega corporation, but they provided the tools that were quite revolutionary for a major portion of my life. Not only for myself, but for society at large.
I watched a YouTuber last night, an older guy. And he was talking about how music today sucks and how impersonal modern music streaming is. And I get what he is saying. I understand being able to interact physically with records, tapes and CDs. And having to work to earn money to buy them, versus having a subscription to a service that has tens of millions of all the songs ever recorded. And music itself becoming somewhat of this background thing. The excess of having it all making it somehow meaningless.
I never felt that way about my iPod or my digital music. I have Spotify because of the Sparrow, but I resist using it except in extreme situations. I don't care to give Spotify money for every listen. I don't care to give most artists money for streaming. No matter how little the amount may be. I've always felt that I'd pay to own a record or CD if I felt the music was worth owning. The idea of not having the music, or some service taking it away at their whim, has always bothered me. Again, it is a motivator behind resisting this latest change from Apple.
I've learned to appreciate silence more these days. Listening to nature outside instead of having headphones on. But, I could never drive in a car without music. I am not just sitting behind the wheel to go from point A to point B. I am looking to have an experience, a musical experience, every time. With the windows down when possible and the tunes playing to my mood. Sometimes when you get older you look back and think how things were better before. And in some cases, they inarguably were.
I have been using iTunes for almost 20 years. When Apple released Apple Music in 2019 or so, I resisted making the change. It was a little easier for me because my main computer was still my old Mac from 2011. I have a newer Mac, but I still relied on the old one for maintaining my music and movie libraries.
I spent years accumulating the media I have on there. Thousands of hours transferring CDs and DVDs and BluRays. I never trusted that Apple wouldn't change something at some point so that only music specifically downloaded from their store would be allowed in their App. It was one of the motivators behind my continuing to use the old Mac for my iTunes.
I am sure there are other apps out there I could use. I know Taco does. I just loved the original iTunes (not so much the many updates to it before it was finally retired). All I wanted was a simple application that would sync with my iPod/iPhone and allow me to carry my music around with me. The movie feature on the Apple TV was just a bonus later on. The music was always my priority.
Well, I was having issues syncing videos I took of the turkeys yesterday off my phone so I decided to run the latest update to it. I was unable to do so like I usually do through iTunes, so I just did it manually on the phone itself. Well, once it was done that was it. The phone would no longer show up in iTunes when plugged in. The Mac could still see it though, as it showed up in Photos. The outcome seemed clear at that point.
Transferring the library per say wouldn't be difficult. It's all on a USB external drive, so it's just a matter of plugging it into the new computer. Though I've tried that and the library did not show up. I hesitated to do much else, as I don't want to screw up my existing library. I've needed to order a new, larger USB drive anyway so I just did that. I'll try to be patient and wait for that to come next week before doing anything more. Though, I won't be able to sync my phone going forward.
Copying my library to the new USB will probably take about 3 days, as my iTunes library is almost 8 terabytes. So, we are looking at a few weeks before this project is done. Though it really does need to happen, as sooner or later my old Mac will surely die. It's going on thirteen years old. I have plenty of backups. Though my one backup drive recently got full, and the other has been acting a little sketchy.
When it comes to technology, I really do resist change. I held onto Windows XP forever. I had clients with Windows 7 I resisted upgrading to 10 until it was past the time to do so. Every new operating system is worse than the last. These companies take what worked fine and completely turn it on its head for no reason other than to confuse the average users, who I have to deal with daily.
When it came to Apple and iTunes first coming out, I resisted for months. I remember when the iPod came out and what a cultural thing it was. But, I resisted because I didn't want to be a sheep, following the herd. But, in the end iTunes was exactly what I had needed my entire life. We used to have parties where I'd be running cables for audio down hallways to be able to have music throughout, then the iPod came, and Apple TV and all that. I really think it was the movie 'Blade: Trinity' that finally got me on board to get an iPod. Because there was a scene where the chick in it was making a playlist before going out to kill some vampires.
I made a playlist myself, right after getting my first iPod that is still there to this day. Called 'Music To Slay By'. It was back when vampires had really started to become a thing. And it was fun to do such things. I *LOVED* making playlists, and still do. It was such an upgrade from making mixtapes when I was younger. I loved having music in my pocket. Though, even back in those early days, the iPods I could afford couldn't carry my whole library. I even transferred all my CDs TWICE, because my first import I didn't know what I was doing and the size of the files completely filled my old, junky computer. So I had to redo it all making the files more compressed.
We used to drive around in our cars in the 1990s, first with those cassette holders and then with the giant CD folders, where we were carrying around a hundred some discs in the car. And we would never just listen to an album, we'd be constantly changing the CDs to listen to new mixes and stuff. It is so funny to think back on it. If someone had broken into the car, all my music would have been gone. Then came along this little piece of technology and there I was holding all my music in my pocket.
It is so quintessentially "2000s" thinking back on this all. It really was unlike anything that had come before. A technological revolution. And even though I was slightly late on it, I was still a part of it.
I think I read that the old iPods won't work on Apple music. A very sad thing. I may try plugging my old one into my old Mac, just to see if I can sync it up still. It's the nostalgia that makes me resist this change I think. The minute I heard that were coming out with Apple music, I remember cringing. I had hated all the changes over the years they made to iTunes. I loved the old look and functionality of the original program. It felt old school and rudimentary. I never needed it to be anything more than what it was: A utilitarian software to do the basics. Let me save my music all in one place and let me make playlists in order to have fun with it.
I don't need books. I really didn't need movies. I don't care about podcasts. Please, don't constantly ask me to sign into the Apple store. I don't want to buy music from you that I can't own physically. Let me import what I have and leave me alone. And I know that Apple won't. And I still believe some day they will decide that you can only listen to music on their devices they know you downloaded from them. There's no altruism in this corporate game.
I suppose as long as my old Mac runs, I'll still be able to access the music the old way. When it stops, and if Apple Music doesn't work out right, it looks like I'll have to shop for alternatives. Though I won't be going back to CDs and cassettes in the car. I don't like change, but it is inevitable and I knew this was coming.
Music was so exciting back in the 2000s. Having this new method of listening to it made it all new to me again. Walking around in this sort of narcissistic world where I was playing my own soundtrack everywhere I went. Playlists for running, playlists for Halloween, playlists for commuting, playlists for hating that bitch that I worked with, Miss Managed. I wasn't always good about keeping track of what years some of the playlists were made in, but I have vague memories of such. And so some of them are true time capsules of where I was mentally and emotionally at those stages in my life. It could be compared to a journal in the very loosest sense. As the music says much about what was happening at those times.
Apple is a horrendous mega corporation, but they provided the tools that were quite revolutionary for a major portion of my life. Not only for myself, but for society at large.
I watched a YouTuber last night, an older guy. And he was talking about how music today sucks and how impersonal modern music streaming is. And I get what he is saying. I understand being able to interact physically with records, tapes and CDs. And having to work to earn money to buy them, versus having a subscription to a service that has tens of millions of all the songs ever recorded. And music itself becoming somewhat of this background thing. The excess of having it all making it somehow meaningless.
I never felt that way about my iPod or my digital music. I have Spotify because of the Sparrow, but I resist using it except in extreme situations. I don't care to give Spotify money for every listen. I don't care to give most artists money for streaming. No matter how little the amount may be. I've always felt that I'd pay to own a record or CD if I felt the music was worth owning. The idea of not having the music, or some service taking it away at their whim, has always bothered me. Again, it is a motivator behind resisting this latest change from Apple.
I've learned to appreciate silence more these days. Listening to nature outside instead of having headphones on. But, I could never drive in a car without music. I am not just sitting behind the wheel to go from point A to point B. I am looking to have an experience, a musical experience, every time. With the windows down when possible and the tunes playing to my mood. Sometimes when you get older you look back and think how things were better before. And in some cases, they inarguably were.