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Apple Delays Simpler and Cleaner iTunes 'to Get It Right'

Posted by timothy on from the what-kinda-reason-is-that? dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "iTunes has been criticized in the past for being slow and growing increasingly unwieldy as more and more media types have been added to what used to be simply a music player. Apple announced iTunes 11, the latest version of the program, at its iPhone 5 event in September and said the update would be released by the end of October, but Apple's deadline for the upgrade has slipped. 'The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right,' Apple told technology site AllThingsD. 'We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.' The update is said to be the most significant upgrade to iTunes in the 11-year life of the program, which has grown from a simple music player to the most powerful retailer in the music business — and a force in the movie, television and e-books businesses — and, on Apple's PCs, the portal to its app store."

6 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Good for them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As much as I dislike Apple, kudos to them for admitting the new iTunes isn't ready and postponing the release rather than pushing out potentially buggy and incomplete software. Too many software companies will just shove whatever they have finished out the door, whether it works or not.

    (Although it is possible to err on the opposite side. See Duke Nukem Forever)

    1. Re:Good for them by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They could have admitted this before they started bolting on stuff. It's needed a complete overhaul for a very long time. If people weren't forced to use it, most probably wouldn't.

  2. Re:Apple wants to get it right? by dyingtolive · · Score: 5, Funny

    He very clearly wants to purchase DRM from the Apple store with no monetary cost. How it boosts sales is anyone's guess.

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    Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
  3. Interface? Give me cleaner code by sandytaru · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My issue with iTunes was never the interface. It was usually pretty intuitive. My problem was the lag - the program was always clunky and slow to respond, and on my laptop would sometimes lock up completely. The stability issues didn't seem to affect my workstation, but it was still rather laggy. I don't ask for much out of my software, but a quick response from the program interface is one thing. That's why I've stuck with Winamp over the years and just manually managed my music collection.

    --
    Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
  4. Not surprised by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You should be lucky to get itunes11 in November, it takes Apple 2 weeks to update one webpage.

  5. get it right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple,

    I don't have and don't want an iPod, so don't make me install an iPod service.
    And get rid of whatever the hell Bonjour is. I don't use it, and I don't care what it is, but iTunes goes ape shit if it's gone.
    And get rid of the updater service. I don't trust you to ship an update that doesn't bork my music collection. I've been burned by you guys on that too many times.

    In short, get rid of anything that runs in the background. The only Apple binary I ever want to see in ProcessExplorer is iTunes.exe.

    -Anonymous Coward