iTunes Debacle
I'm a big music fan but because I'm married to a sound engineer, I don't handle the technology and filing of our huge music collection. It's better if one person curates and the other just follows along - makes for less squabbles that involve "what the hell have you done with all of my 80s hair metal?!?". Anyway, MB has a large, powerful MAC desktop that he uses for audio mixing etc. and that is where our music lived and we used iTunes to manage it for expediency sake. Well, Apple users know that the company is constantly, obsessively upgrading their OS and forcing you to accept it whether you really need their bullshit tweaks or not.
MB upgraded to the latest version of iTunes but, despite its alleged backward compatability with older operating systems, it refused to work at all. The problem is the iCloud sync. We have two hard drives full of music files. Trying to sync all of that everytime you open iTunes is a little like packing the moon up into a small handbag. Anyway, MB tried to go back to the older version of iTunes but it didn't work. He uninstalled and then reinstalled the program - still nothing but a spinning process wheel. A significant hurdle here is that MB's MAC is behind by 2 OS updates. Why? Well, Apple upgrades its OS so often that music software developers can't keep up with the changes: if MB upgrades to the latest OS, none of his music editing/mixing/production software will work. We're talking about THOUSANDS of dollars-worth of broken programs, so - yeah - not an option. Anyway, we were at an impasse - we couldn't access our music library, update the content on our iPods, or even access the iTunes store, and there wasn't a good solution for it but to switch to another music player and transfer the music library over to it. It took some doing, but MB managed to do it successfully (he now uses Swinsian and likes it) for his iPod. Sadly, because mine is several years older, Swinsian was having an issue recognizing it as a legitimate player *sigh*. I like Lola and I am NOT going to buy a new player simply because the world is obsessed with fixing things that aren't broken >:/ So, what to do?
Then I had a thought... My work laptop is new - new OS, new everything - why don't I download the latest version of iTunes and transfer my music files over to a new account and that way everything will be hunky dory. Well. It's not as simple as all that. I now have iTunes (that was the easy part) but transferring the music library over is a frustrating and time-consuming task. Some of the MP3 files aren't being recognized, some content bought under MB's account needed to be authorized on my account, stuff I bought on an older version of my iTunes account had to be authorized to my current account, the new iTunes refused to port over the library in the folders we had organized so I'm redoing it manually, the Cloud sync combines ALL of the authorized music content from MB's and my account into one, undifferentiated 'My Music' library which is rage-inducing and utterly unsortable, the sync system means that if MB ever logs back into iTunes again changes I've made to folders might effect his folders.... OH MY GOD, it just goes on and on. Then there's the iCloud transparency thing (where you can 'share' your playlists publicly - ummm, no. I turned that OFF), the constant syncing, and the fact that the sorting tools probably only work for people who have small music collections - I fail to see how this 'improves' anything.
BUT I WILL BE VICTORIOUS! This is gonna fucking work. Then, I just have to reformat Lola for a PC and re-upload the music folders to her. This couldn't go wrong at all, I'm telling you >:/
MB upgraded to the latest version of iTunes but, despite its alleged backward compatability with older operating systems, it refused to work at all. The problem is the iCloud sync. We have two hard drives full of music files. Trying to sync all of that everytime you open iTunes is a little like packing the moon up into a small handbag. Anyway, MB tried to go back to the older version of iTunes but it didn't work. He uninstalled and then reinstalled the program - still nothing but a spinning process wheel. A significant hurdle here is that MB's MAC is behind by 2 OS updates. Why? Well, Apple upgrades its OS so often that music software developers can't keep up with the changes: if MB upgrades to the latest OS, none of his music editing/mixing/production software will work. We're talking about THOUSANDS of dollars-worth of broken programs, so - yeah - not an option. Anyway, we were at an impasse - we couldn't access our music library, update the content on our iPods, or even access the iTunes store, and there wasn't a good solution for it but to switch to another music player and transfer the music library over to it. It took some doing, but MB managed to do it successfully (he now uses Swinsian and likes it) for his iPod. Sadly, because mine is several years older, Swinsian was having an issue recognizing it as a legitimate player *sigh*. I like Lola and I am NOT going to buy a new player simply because the world is obsessed with fixing things that aren't broken >:/ So, what to do?
Then I had a thought... My work laptop is new - new OS, new everything - why don't I download the latest version of iTunes and transfer my music files over to a new account and that way everything will be hunky dory. Well. It's not as simple as all that. I now have iTunes (that was the easy part) but transferring the music library over is a frustrating and time-consuming task. Some of the MP3 files aren't being recognized, some content bought under MB's account needed to be authorized on my account, stuff I bought on an older version of my iTunes account had to be authorized to my current account, the new iTunes refused to port over the library in the folders we had organized so I'm redoing it manually, the Cloud sync combines ALL of the authorized music content from MB's and my account into one, undifferentiated 'My Music' library which is rage-inducing and utterly unsortable, the sync system means that if MB ever logs back into iTunes again changes I've made to folders might effect his folders.... OH MY GOD, it just goes on and on. Then there's the iCloud transparency thing (where you can 'share' your playlists publicly - ummm, no. I turned that OFF), the constant syncing, and the fact that the sorting tools probably only work for people who have small music collections - I fail to see how this 'improves' anything.
BUT I WILL BE VICTORIOUS! This is gonna fucking work. Then, I just have to reformat Lola for a PC and re-upload the music folders to her. This couldn't go wrong at all, I'm telling you >:/