Full FeediTunes is Apple’s worst consumer product
It’s likely Apple’s most installed piece of software. It’s also buggy, bloated, inconsistent, bloated, slow, bloated, and bloated. It goes by the name of iTunes, and if you own an iPod, or even if you don’t, it’s not to far fetched to assume it’s on your computer right now.
On Windows, iTunes has always been a joke. It’s no secret that Apple isn’t the best at developing speedy optimized Windows applications. iTunes takes the better part of a minute to load on Windows, and when combined with the insane idea that Windows should provide absolutely no visual feedback that an application is launching, it creates quite an annoyance when you’re not sure if it’s just being its normal, slow self or if you somehow missed the icon when you clicked.
On a Mac, the story should be different. The iPod and iTunes were originally made for the Mac, and so it should be Mac optimized. But it still takes fifteen seconds to open and be functional, and that’s after it has already been opened and quit, so it opens faster due to having some data in cache. The problem with iTunes is that features are constantly added onto it, but it is never cleaned out. Apple needs to do to iTunes what it is doing to Mac OS X with Snow Leopard, and clean out all the unneeded stuff in the application.
What problems do you find with iTunes? Or am I just crazy? Sound off in the comments below.
Product [iTunes]
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I disagree with you. iTunes seems to have improved with the years not become worse. If iTunes takes a while to load on a PC, it’s more likely to be the machine and it’s clunky OS and not the application.
on February 10, 2009 at 10:31 AM - LINKiTunes opens from cold in under five seconds on my MacBook Pro and is rock solid even though the library it contains is huge.
You’re point about “Apple not being the best in developing it’s software so it runs on windows” got me thinking. Who is good at adapting Apples own software so that it runs on windows? Can you do it any better than Apple?
And to answer you last question, yes, I think you probably are.
Yep- Macbook Pro here, with 6 seconds load time, not 15.
I think iTunes is one of my most favourite apps on my Mac, and one I use on a regular basis, either for accessing my own library or visiting the iTunes store (especially now the UK has only just started to get HD tv shows!).
Improvements? I think your library artwork ought to keep loading in the background once the window appears, to stop the scrolling being so jerky to begin with (artwork is loaded as they appear as it is atm). Other than that, there are small design flaws I wish would be sorted out, but nothing major- such as tv shows seasons listed seperately in grid view rather than all together under one title.
I love it otherwise.
on February 10, 2009 at 10:47 AM - LINKNO! The Apple TV is Apple’s worst consumer product! Your comments on iTunes are way off.
on February 10, 2009 at 10:55 AM - LINKI think you’re wrong.
For a free application, iTunes is great. Yea, it may be a bit bloated, but overall it works well, has plenty of features, and is one of the best jukebox apps out there.
on February 10, 2009 at 11:16 AM - LINKTook 9.6 secs on my iMac 10.5, which I have not found to be too slow. I use iTunes almost daily to check up on new apps for my iPod touch in the App Store.
on February 10, 2009 at 01:45 PM - LINKThis is the most ridiculous post I have ever seen here. Appletell.com used to be better before.
on February 10, 2009 at 11:19 PM - LINKThis is a joke, right? Seriously! .... isn’t iTunes the number one music reseller in america today? do you call that a failure? Seriously! I’m sure iTunes is not perfect and if you have huge music library and videos of course it’ll take a bit to open but Seriously! This post makes me feel stupid for spending time reading it.
on February 10, 2009 at 11:25 PM - LINKOk, you all seem to have largely missed the point here. iTunes is a great program; there is no other like it. And no doubt it is successful. But the point of this article is to say that the way it is built needs cleanup. It’s framework could use a good dusting, so that the outer shell looks nice and works snappily. Because right now, it doesnt. Freezing while an iPod connects, jittery scrolling while album art loads, etc. It’s the little things.
on February 10, 2009 at 11:41 PM - LINKNo Adam Fisher-Cox,
on February 11, 2009 at 01:40 AM - LINKIt’s you that have missed your own point. iTunes is just fine and you have shot yourself in the foot with this article and now you are regretting it. You say it needs a clean up. Why? Do you get paid to whine like this or is i a personal thing?
I agree with Carlos, this is a ridiculous post, Appletell.com used to be much better before.
I think you are being a little too harsh on him. I have already said your library is a little jerky to scroll through the first time you do so as it loads the artwork as you go instead of straight away and in the background.
on February 11, 2009 at 02:25 AM - LINKI also think podcasts need to be looked at. If you look at them in grid view then click on one to check out the list of episodes, you still have an arrow to pull down or hide the list- why? It isn’t needed.
Also, there is a bug with podcasts where I tried to download all new episodes and keep ones I hadn’t watched- but then the whole list of episodes wasn’t listed at all. Only when I went back to default settings for them could I see the whole list (including old episodes).
Now syncing with the iPod is another thing that could be improved. I remember syncing my old mp3 player with WMP when I had my PC laptop, and I could drag individual tracks to the device and they would sync- in other words, if you changed something on the track like a tag or artwork, it would then change it on the device even though you manually dragged it over. This is impossible to do with iTunes- you have to create a playlist and then choose to automatically sync with that instead of manually dragging to the iPod directly. I know it’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s something that can be improved for ease of use.
I am sure there are other little things that I haven’t thought of yet. I don’t agree with the time iTunes takes to load as I said before (mine takes around 5-6 secs- not 15), and I do think iTunes is an excellent app. But there is definite room for even more improvement.
I do think the problem with this article, looking at it again, is the title. If it were called “iTunes needs a clean-up” or something similar it would be ok. But to actually state that it is Apple’s worst consumer product is completely wrong. It hasn’t even got a question mark at the end, and so it is an actual statement rather than a question. To say such a thing, then say that the article is about the “little things” that could be cleaned up, and that it is still a “great program” doesn’t really make sense and sounds hypocritical.
on February 11, 2009 at 03:37 AM - LINKI think that’s why people are getting a little heated, right?
Or because people like being loud on the internet. I stand by the title. I can’t think of another product, even Apple TV, that is as bogged down as iTunes. Apple TV may be feature limited, but it does what it says it does without being slow.
on February 11, 2009 at 08:22 AM - LINKWow, what a heated topic this has become. I just opened my iTunes in just under 5 seconds from a cold start, that’s good enough for me!
Adam, could it be that you may possibly just need to do a little house cleaning on your computer instead? I find none of the issues that you described on my end, I love iTunes, no issues here!
on February 11, 2009 at 05:17 PM - LINKOf course it would run faster on a fresh install or something, but none of my other programs have problems being snappy, and I can say that through quite a few Macs and installations, iTunes has consistently been a slow and relatively unresponsive application.
on February 11, 2009 at 05:19 PM - LINKMy G5 opens iTunes in just under 5 seconds. Maybe Microsoft is responsible for the poor performance of iTunes on PC. I only go to the iTunes store to sample music before I snagg it from Frostwire, so I miss a lot of the bloated part. I utilize torrent sites to download all of my movies and tv shows. I do have to wait until the day after airing to DL tv shows, and most movies are available before they are released or while they are in theaters.
Now if I could get Autodesk Maya 2008 to open in less than 40 seconds I’d be a happy camper.
on February 12, 2009 at 07:15 PM - LINKMicrosoft can’t be responsible for the slowness of an application they had no hand in making.
on February 12, 2009 at 07:16 PM - LINK@MentalRay:
on February 12, 2009 at 07:26 PM - LINKWas it really necessary to gloat about your illegal activities? You know some of us actually want to stay on the right side of the law.
Im with Adam. iTunes on my Mac works like a champ with a 60,000 song library. On Windows at work I’m lucky to get it to open at all.
on February 18, 2009 at 12:00 AM - LINKIf iTunes stops responding when your iPod is connected, you might have a few more issues to worry about than how bloated it is. ITS FREE. Seriously.
on February 19, 2009 at 03:04 PM - LINKI could care less if iTunes takes 2 seconds or a full minute to load. Is there anybody who comments at these types of sites who is an ordinary home computer user and not a tech dork who sits around with a stop watching timing how long a program takes to load? Go drop a load in the john while that 30 second load is happening, if your time is worth that much.
I like the comment that we shouldn’t complain because iTunes is free. Cigarette butts on the street, space junk falling out of the sky and roaches in your kitchen are free too. Are you kidding me with this “free” bit? It’s “free” because it’s a loss leader for Apple, just like free deals on toilet paper at your grocery store. I assume that the “free” person has never spent any money downloading Mac format-only songs from the iTunes store. File the “free” comment in the same place as that coupon for buy-one-get-one-free roll of Nice ‘n’ Soft TP.
I just would like iTunes with Mac to work. Download, load time, opening time - who cares except for some gimlet-eyed tech blivit? It’s not just Mac with a PC that screwing up, but you’d think that was not the case. Apple is working to fix their PC problems but are not acknowledging the problems with their own machines. Mac for iTunes is screwy too.
iTunes has gotten so buggy in regards to AIFF format discs! Crashes, freezes ups - whatever you want to call them. I read the iTunes supporting comments and they sound like they are from the Apple Worshipers of the Universe who only use the MP3 format as Apple commands. If iTunes isn’t going to support the AIFF format, they should just come out and say it. AIFF sounds better than MP3 to some of us.
Non-dorks of the world unite! Complain to Apple about iTunes for Mac being buggy and undependable.
Download conscious dorks of the world, you are already united. You may go back to sniveling about the whole minute you wasted waiting for an application to load. The loading time has become more important time than the function of the application to you. You are free to snivel at will.
on February 22, 2009 at 03:43 PM - LINKYou seem angry. And yet, you are agreeing with most of everything I’ve said. Re-read please.
on February 22, 2009 at 04:32 PM - LINKYou are correct. I was too busy ranting to “download” your eloquent words. We do agree.
on February 22, 2009 at 09:59 PM - LINKI disagree. iTune’s bloated yes, but what else are you going to use? It’s not their best piece of software, but again it’s free. You should be thankful you don’t have to use WinAmp or windows Media player. Sure there’s more out there but really? DUUUUUUdGUy, It’s a software that the can sell music on, and you can use there media devices (that i think you would probably have to buy, or they get a dollar somewhere) just like when they lowered the prices for the iPhone, they were making money off of what it did, and the more they sold, the more it would do. Seriously, it’s marketing genius, not worst consumer product.
on June 29, 2009 at 03:22 PM - LINKI’m not going to get into specifics. But put it this way. I got the iPhone 3G shortly after it was launched in the UK, and I love it. But when my contract is over with O2, I will almost certainly not upgrade to whatever iPhone is available at the time - simply because the iTunes software. I detest it.
on August 8, 2009 at 05:13 AM - LINKHas anyone stopped to think about this? Yes, iTunes is free, but anyone wishing to use the iTunes store has no other option than to use the iTunes software.
So although it’s technically free, it’s as much a responsibility for Apple to keep on top of it as it is any shopkeeper to ensure his door works properly (for want of a better analogy). Saying it’s free is no excuse for them to consistently force people to have to install bloated software which, by the way, also installs several other apps and services, whether you need/want them or not.
If Apple would allow other softwares entry to the iTunes store there would, within a couple of months, be a barrage of competing applications available with different approaches and styles, etc., and I’m in no doubt that most of them would perform better than iTunes on Mac & PC alike, including the inevitable FREE open source options.
I’d like to see everyone defending it so vehemently then.
on August 28, 2009 at 10:59 PM - LINK