Why all the iTunes hate?

[GodlessAstronomer]

Note: this thread does not belong in All Things Apple as it applies only to the Windows version of iTunes. I want opinions from Windows software users.

I just bought an iPod Touch and consequently had to install iTunes. I used iTunes a long time ago (maybe 3-4 years ago) and back then it was horrible software. As well as that, people can't get enough of saying how much iTunes sucks balls, so I was dreading installing it. But honestly it seems like pretty decent software to me. It's snappy on my (admittedly very quick) machine, it's easy to navigate and the store is awesome.

I've only been using it for a day now so maybe there are limitations I'm going to bump into, but so far so good. It's not the best software I've used but it's certainly not the nightmare I was expecting from internet comments.

So, why all the hate? What don't I know about this software? Am I inadvertently locking down my music collection to a proprietary format or some gay shit like that? I'm genuinely curious, because there is a major discrepancy between my limited experience and the vitriolic opinions I read online. Is it mostly residual hatred from the old days of shitty Apple software, or what?

The only major thing I've noticed is that when iTunes has to convert some file it creates a duplicated in the Music\iTunes folder, meaning that I get double-ups when I use Windows Media Player, but I'm sure there is a work around for that. Also I really, really wish they would just make it look like a real Windows app instead of this grey Apple BS.

 

[nickbits]

i hate it, but not as much as i used to. my only real complaints now are:
it won't sync to a folder structure, i have to use itunes folder watch.
too much integration with the itunes store.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

I also don't like how long it takes to load, and the fact that you can't easily backup and restore / move itunes libraries. I've had a few issues which screwed up libraries!

 

[vj8usa]

I liked it for its layout and used it for a while back under XP. I tried to use it again when I switched to Vista, but their Vista version was HORRIBLE. Something in the way the window was rendered made it unbearably slow, and scrolling through a playlist was a nightmare.

Granted this was over a year ago now, and it sounds like they fixed that issue (considering you say it's very snappy for you) but I never touched it again after that (I switched to foobar, and I love it). It was also a resource hog, and used a ton of RAM/took a reasonably long time to launch for a music player.

 

[Rubycon]

Horrible bloatware.
One should NOT be REQUIRED to install software to use the phone's internal storage. It should be drag and drop like plugging in a flash drive.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

One should NOT be REQUIRED to install software to use the phone's internal storage. It should be drag and drop like plugging in a flash drive.

Couldn't agree more with this. I resisted the iPod Touch for years for this very reason but at the end of the day it's the best MP3 player and is priced very nicely too. I would prefer a Zune HD but they're not available in my country (despite being announced as going international several months ago).

 

[PowerEngineer]

What annoys me about iTunes is that it doesn't seem to handle multiple accounts under Vista or Win7 very well. I get all sorts of iTune pop-up boxes on my logged-on account when she runs iTunes under her limited account (apparantly because I installed it?). Bleh!

 

[lopri]

Rip a CD, transfer MP3's to an iPod. Try retrieving the songs from the iPod on a different system.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

The most annoying thing by far about iTunes is that it tries to INSTALL safari and other apple junk when you update it.

 

[dguy6789]

As stated above, Itunes is hated because:

1. It's artificially made mandatory for Ipods and such
2. It's Apple and Apple is bad
3. Itunes from a software standpoint used to be very bad and people who tried it once and stopped remember this.

 

[kalrith]

Horrible bloatware.
One should NOT be REQUIRED to install software to use the phone's internal storage. It should be drag and drop like plugging in a flash drive.

This. Whether you like iTunes or hate iTunes, it shouldn't be a requirement in order to use their product.

 

[lsv]

This. Whether you like iTunes or hate iTunes, it shouldn't be a requirement in order to use their product.

It's bloatware, I couldn't even navigate panels on a 5 year old PC because the software required so much to just run... Need Itunes slim or something.

 

[corkyg]

I don't hate it - I simply won't use it because, like QuickTime, it tries to take over my system.

 

[Qbah]

I have a fresh Windows 7 installation, my iTunes library is around 50GBs and damn, it's slow. Sometimes it thinks for a few seconds when I want to scroll the list (so it "hangs" for a moment), takes ages to start and be ready and even then it's far from snappy. It's so much worse than anything else it's not funny. WMP12 works like a dream compared to iTunes. Unfortunately, I have an iPhone and it's the only way to work with the device.

Also, another thing, you need to have iTunes installed to use the iPhone for tethering... You can't just download stand-alone drivers for it, you need to have iTunes. Not to mention, if you have a fresh copy of Windows and attach your iPhone, the system will recognize it as an iPhone but still won't allow you to use it as a modem. Only when you install iTunes (which you need to download from the Web, but can't access it cause you don't have iTunes... this is crazy!). I put up with it because I have to (and it's the easiest way to purchase music). But in general it's a piece of shit and lacks everything I am looking for in a modern application (fast, snappy and not a cluster-fuck in general).

 

[coolVariable]

Horrible bloatware.
One should NOT be REQUIRED to install software to use the phone's internal storage. It should be drag and drop like plugging in a flash drive.

This.
And its bloated, slow, spyware/crapware, ....

 

[CrimsonWolf]

It's fine overall.

My big bitch is that the Apple Software "update" has to do a full blown 100+ MB reinstall for every minor update. That isn't really an update, is it?

 

[Emulex]

yeah its really crap - even on the mac. they need to detach itunes from the iphone.

 

[pcgeek11]

I hate all words for devices that start with a lower case i. Or has rotten apples on them, really who would want an apple that someone has already bitten. Not i.

pcgeek11

 

[cronos]

bloated + proprietary (only works nice with apple stuff as mentioned above) + horrible library features

 

[JimKiler]

iTunes is awesome! It allows you to import your music in multiple formats WITH error checking and you can even convert your digital files to other formats.

I like the visual look by albums or artists but where iTunes could be improved is to embed those images into the files like mediamonkey.

I think iTunes no longer duplicates songs if you re add the same folder. Granted, I never let it manage my music. And WMP will create all those darn desktop.ini files in each folder.

I like iTunes but unless they continually revise it something better will come along.

 

[disports]

I like it for what it does. I just hate all the unnecessary software that it installs. I always end up uninstalling bonjour and apple mobile. I also disable ipodservice.exe and ituneshelper.exe. Of course it's slow when adding multiple libraries but I'm fine with that. Agreed with the updating that CrimsonWolf mentions. One option I hated with other media software players was when opening a single mp3 (i.e. podcast), it would get rid of my entire library (winamp does this) leaving only the opened mp3. Unless there's an option to change that, I'm stuck with itunes. If there was another media player that has the features as itunes, but isn't itunes, I'd be open to hear it!

 

[Chiefcrowe]

try this, its supposed to be great!

http://www.mediamonkey.com/

 

[disports]

I think I tried mediamonkey out before. I forgot what I hated about it lol :X

 

[Rottie]

if you guys really HATE itunes then time to ditch your ipod touch and iphone.

 

[lxskllr]

if you guys really HATE itunes then time to ditch your ipod touch and iphone.

I never got one. I'm livin' large with the Apple free lifestyle :^D