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ATM: itunes replacement on a Windows 11 PC

by 17 Comments

Similar problems to @geedubyapee but not quite the same. I was happy using Itunes (I know – I’m an amateur). Then Apple decided to do me over – crash Itunes saying it needed updating, but would not let me (because Windows 11) and made me update to 3 new apps (music, Tv, sync). which are rubbish.

The music app is set up for Apple Music streaming, which I dont want to do – I want to play my extensive library of downloaded MP3s and FLACs. I liked being able to have playcounts, and a list of files not a mosaic, so I could sort by bit rate/play count/ etc. etc. This new impossibly slow app deliberately pushes you towards streaming. I just dont want to.

Does anyone on the massive have recommendations for a piece of software that would let me do what I could do on Itunes (and ideally retrieve my carefully curated playlists)?

ATM: iTunes help needed

by 14 Comments

Don’t just say”use something else”. Here is the issue: I have my music loaded on to an old laptop using iTunes. I have this library, together with loads of playlists, synced with Apple Music (via iCloud). This has worked reasonably well over the years, meaning I can play my music on my iPad and also over my Sonos speakers. Now, my ancient laptop is on its last legs, so I thought that I’d copy the music files over to my slightly newer laptop via an external hard drive. This was completed eventually. After syncing this ‘new’ iTunes with iCloud, I eventually got all the music, and playlists, visible – and the tracks play when selected. The issue is that all the entries for the music show the ‘download’ icon. As the files are present on the laptop I would have thought that they were already downloaded, so I fear that I may not have set up the new library correctly. I had copied the files to ‘Music’ in the ‘iTunes Media’ folder. So, the questions are: a) does anyone know where I should have moved the files to, and b) how would I download the marked files anyway, other than » Continue Reading.

iPod / iTunes problem

by 56 Comments

iPod headache!

For years I’ve been using an iPod classic linked to an old version of iTunes on an old laptop which I kept separate from the newer model I used for work. Old laptop has finally died and I’ve meanwhile upgraded my work model, so now managing music through recently downloaded iTunes on the one I’ve had for about six years.

The problem I’m finding is when I connect the computer and iPod and try to organise tracks that are on the latter it only shows me the track title, no other information, which makes it really difficult to locate and reorganise tracks. Also, it seems to have duplicated some albums on the device but not all.

I can’t find any information to resolve this through Google searches and various forums, and suspect it’s down to Apple making it difficult for people to use its old devices. But if anyone can shed any light on the problem it would be appreciated.

itunes help – keeps forgetting my media folder location

by 20 Comments

I realise some people are going to say ‘what itunes, still’, but for those who do any chance of some advice? Yesterday I opened it as normal and it had changed Edit/Preferences/itunes media folder location from my hard drive to C: and thus could not find any songs as they are all on the hard drive. changing it to the external hard drive in this dialogue box doesn’t work, and everything I close and reopen it it resets to the C:UsersmoseleymolesMusiciTunesiTunes Media instead of the desired F:Back Up Feb 2011Music which is where all the music is. Can anyone help a brother out here? A quick google suggests resetting the Music Library – but that’s not the problem it loads all the playlists, just won’t look for the music in the right place.

A farewell to itunes

by 131 Comments

It has been fairly heavily trailed that Apples is going to sunset the current itunes programme, and split out music, TV/film and podcasts into separate apps, as already happens on ios. So how we are feeling – good riddance to what is a pretty bloated piece of progamming, or oddly sentimental about the potential end of such classics as ‘View as artists’ ‘Create new smart playlist’ and ‘sort by songs’. Having gone through the near-death experience of losing a decade’s worth of playcounts I am kind of more relaxed about it in terms of stats. However, it’s still insanely useful for those of us who burn CDs – and can’t help feeling that will go too. There are many around here who still use ipods, and I wonder what it will mean for them.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/apple-itunes-wwdc-2019-iphone-ipod-streaming-music-a8939566.html

ATM – can’t burn audio CDs on PC?

by 12 Comments

A technical query here for you geniuses of The Massive. My PC has suddenly decided to stop burning audio CDs – I’ve tried both iTunes (my usual method) and Windows Media Player, and in both cases, the burn seems to go OK for 10-15 seconds before the programme completely hangs with no error messages, and I have to shut down the programme via task manager to use the PC again.

It doesn’t seem to be a problem with the drive, as I can listen to and rip audio CDs, and also burn data CDs (and I can watch, rip and burn DVDs, no problem), it’s just burning audio CDs which is the problem…

Any easy solutions or even troubleshooting tips would be appreciated – thank you all!

Aaaagh iTunes (again)

by 15 Comments

OK – trying to add/delete music on mu iPod Touch – I delete it from the IPod through the Mac but its still there later on the iPod (but doesn’t show in the Mac). Tried syncing it after deleting but now if I delete anything through the Mac iTunes tries to autofill my iPod and I don’t know how to stop it! Can anyone help me?

Aaaagh iTunes!

by 7 Comments

Help! iTunes library – if I want to look at my library organised by artist I get multiple entries for certain artists – it seems to that certain albums/tracks as being by different artist even though I’ve tried just copying and pasting the artist name to avoid any silly mistakes re spacing etc – for does it seem to have anything to dos with file type, genre or anything else I can think of. It works fine under the other hearings, it’s just under ‘artist’ it goes crazy – and when I want to browse by artist through the Apple TV certain albums don’t show up at all. It is infuriating. can anyone help?

Aah! Help! iTunes victim plea

by 7 Comments

Help – something’s happened to my Mac and my entire iTunes, all 25,000 items, have disappeared. They must be there somewhere cos they’re using up the usual 260+ gb in storage, but I can’t find them in the library. It’s blanks apart from some stuff that was purchased through iTunes. tried doing a restore from Time Machine but I don’t have enough storage space… I think it’s just looking in the wrong place, or something. Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated….

Music management for mac?

by 5 Comments

Can anyone recommend an iTunes alternative music management tool for mac that doesn’t require pretending to still use windows? Preferably free/cheap. After my iPod classic died last week I’ve followed the recommendation of others here and gone for a fiio x3. I think the sound is definitely miles better – assuming I have not brainwashed myself. Although I am still getting used to the different buttons and slightly slower response times the only big downside at the moment is that each time I add an album (as I have been in the habit of doing 3 or 4 times a week)it updates the whole library and with 110g that can take half an hour. May need to time my updates a bit better. This has encouraged me to look at managing the library better. Music monkey sounded the trick but running on mac looks unduly complicated. What do other mac users here use as an alternative to iTunes? Is it worth the effort?

ATM iPhone 6 help

by 3 Comments

I have a new work phone, an iPhone 6S. I need to keep it synced to iCloud for Contacts, E Mail, Calendar entries, that sort of thing. My wife already has an iPhone, so all of her Contacts and Calendar entries were showing up in my phone, and vice versa. I have now set her up with a separate iCloud id, which has fixed her being able to see my Contacts and Calendar – but I can still see hers. I have now turned off Contacts & Calendar on her phone from syncing, but it hasn’t made any difference. In short, my phone has iCloud set up on the main iTunes id, with my work e-mail as a sub account. My wife’s is set up on the main iTunes id for music & photos but everything else is set to a different iTunes & Cloud id. Why am I still seeing her Contacts & Calendar on my phone?

Apple Music – your verdict?

by 7 Comments

Like many of you, I’m sure, I’ve signed up for my 3 month free trial of Apple Music and Mr Ian Tunes will be banking on me, and millions of others forgetting to cancel so he gets his £9.99 a month. So far, I have to say I’m a bit underwhelmed. The catalogue seems comparable to Spotify, and works well enough, sounds fine..once you’ve found it. The interface is confusing – took some time before I figured out where you go to stream music (Radio? For You? New?). However I was interested to see the additional whistles and bells that might give it the edge over Spotify, Deezer or just good old YouTube.

The ‘Connect’ feature seems like a complete white elephant. I presumed it would find bands I’ve already got in my library and give me access to the latest news and exclusives – but of the 1,300 artists it seems only Animal Collective, Underworld and..er..The Lancashire Hotpots wish to ‘connect’ with any content. For the time being this doesn’t look like it’s going to squash Facebook or Twitter as the way for bands to ‘reach’ you.

There is a recommendation engine » Continue Reading.

Spotify premium vs itunes on iphone

by 9 Comments

Quick check in with others. I’ve lost my mp3 player, and in its absence have finally started using my iphone 5 as a music player when out and about. Having demo-ed both spotify premium (ie offline) and itunes it seems that Spotify drains the battery at a significantly slower rate, but that itunes gives a slightly better sound quality. Would others agree?

The Last of Last FM? Whither us scrobblers?

by 6 Comments

Recently the Last FM community has been gnashing its teeth over the latest itunes update, which moves it to 64-bit and renders it impossible to scrobble to last fm from via its itunes plugin.

What you say? Last FM is a music database website with desktop clients and plug-ins that enables you to consolidate your playcounts from itunes, windows media player, Spotify etc into one place. It’s clearly been struggling recently to sustain itself and the itunes issues shows no signs of being fixed anytime soon though there are unofficial work-arounds in the forums.

I love last fm, wish it well, but can’t help feel it’s time may be drawing to a close. So, should I start to think about somewhere else to scrobble to – their word for recording playcounts. And, crucially, who offers a migration function for the 20,000 odd scrobbles on my last fm profile?