5 Tips to Make iTunes 11 Look Normal Again

Nov 29, 2012 - 108 Comments

So you got iTunes 11, launched it for the first time, and now you’re wondering where everything is and why it looks so different? You’re not alone, any time an apps user interface is redesigned it’s sure to leave some people confused as things are switched around, hidden, and adjusted. If you’re a creature of habit like me, you’ll want to make iTunes look “normal” again, that is, more familiar to what we’ve long become accustomed to with the past versions, and here are five simple tricks to do just that.

iTunes 11 looking normal again

Show All Your Music Again by Sorting by “Songs” Instead of Albums

The new album view looks cool and all, but it can make it harder to browse music because it shows less music on screen. This is a super easy one to change, just click the “Songs” tab across the top and you’ll see a familiar list of music again. Phew!

Change iTunes 11 UI Sorting

Show Sidebar to See Playlists, iPhones, iPads, and the iTunes Store

This is probably the most important thing to change immediately, because for whatever reason Apple hid the sidebar by default and if you’re accustomed to seeing it all the time, that’s really silly. Showing the iTunes sidebar again is simple, and you’ll immediately be able to see all your playlists, iOS devices, and other stuff again:

  • From iTunes, pull down the “View” menu and select “Show Sidebar”

Show iTunes 11 sidebar

Show Status Bar & How Many Songs in iTunes Library Again

The status bar in iTunes tells you how many songs are in a library, what the playtime is, and how much space it takes up. This is useful knowledge particularly if you’re trying to stuff an album or two onto a pretty full iPod or iPhone. Showing the status bar again is easy:

  • Pull down the “View” menu and select “Show Status Bar”

Show iTunes status bar

Show Podcasts Again

If you subscribe to podcasts in iTunes and listen to them frequently, you probably want quick and easy access to them from the sidebar. You’ll have to check this option in the preferences:

  • Open iTunes Preferences and click on the “General” tab
  • Check the box next to “Podcasts” under Library

Show podcasts in iTunes 11

Lose the Color Scheming in Album View

iTunes 11 changes the background color of the display window depending on album artwork. If you prefer your UI’s to be nice and simple, disabling that feature is easy:

  • Open iTunes Preferences and choose on the “General” tab
  • Uncheck the box next to “Use custom colors for open albums, movies, etc”

Stop iTunes changing the background colors for albums

Got any other tricks to make iTunes 11 look familiar again? Let us know!

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in iTunes, Tips & Tricks

108 Comments

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  1. GruntNoNeck says:

    Thank you. You solved my problem within a minute by suggesting that I sort by song rather than by album. I was ready to uninstall iTunes.

  2. Remo says:

    I’m Still Running 10.7

    I Love My Cover Flow, I Love That I Can Click On Album Art And View My album FULL SIZE…

    I LOVE The OLD iTunes “I REFUSE To upgrade”…

    The New iTunes is Like Going to To FUDGING AMAZON…

  3. Ari says:

    Thank you for the tip on changing my color back to basic. It worked perfectly. You guys rock!

  4. Dave says:

    Opened up my music after the new itunes update and more than 1/2 my songs are gone. Terrible system. I just want all my music in alphabetical order…Time to rebuild the old phonograph, get some nice speakers, amplifier, and some vinyl. At least those big records were yours and you could store or share them with anyone you want. Then for portable use a sony walkman was not that bad.

  5. Dirk says:

    To get back to a black background enter this in Terminal:

    defaults write com.apple.iTunes high-contrast-mode-enable -bool TRUE

  6. rocketmouse says:

    THANK YOU!
    When I got back here from the hospital (in another state) “something” insisted I download and install the new iTunes before I could use it. (Oh man, I’ve forgotten what it was already–I don’t recommend breaking *anything,* in-state or out….) But then I couldn’t figure out the new look, and I’d forgotten the side bar was called that and not side menu. None of my searches panned out, except this one, of course. Thank you again!

  7. Sam says:

    Sorry it took me 5 months to find this. Awesome help here, because iTunes 11 sucks. I wish technology companies would innovate their technology instead of mucking around with UIs. Users like consistency and the radical changes that Apple put into 11 as an “improvement” were flat out #fails.

    Thanks!

  8. christine says:

    Why are the icons so huge? can I make them smaller again?

  9. Madeleine says:

    Thanks so much for this! I was so confused for ages :)

  10. TheGooch says:

    The “songs” tab solution given here really isn’t a solution. You have to do it every time that you restart iTunes. I’d like to make it the default as most of my songs are singles and it’s rare that I have 3 songs from the same album.

  11. Tracy says:

    This may have been covered but I don’t have time to read through everything. The problem I am having is that any time I am on my iPod itself and then click back to the music on the computer, it goes back to the top of the screen and I have to scroll down or search for the last artist and it’s so annoying. I wish it stayed where I left it. Is there any way to disable this?

    I hope I make sense.

  12. Crispytwo says:

    Thank you, thank you, for all the great tips and for your user friendly site, OS X Daily! Wish I’d found you a long time ago.

    Of all the things that Apple could be improving, the upgrade to iTunes 11 was the very last thing on the list for me. iTunes has evolved to be the hub, the umbrella for so many functions, including commerce with Apple. With the addition of iTunes Match(what a colossal joke, they can’t even get the Beatles songs to the correct albums!), iCloud so all your devices can sync to become the exact same thing; revamping the ‘look’ plus adding some new and stupid features, like “Up Next” (who cares), has just been infuriating!
    It’s like someone coming into to your meticulously arranged office in the middle of the night and totally revamping it.
    Apple, get the current functions to work optimally before you go changing the furniture around for the sake of, let’s decorate, let’s reinvent the iTunes look. Really? Yes you did. There are professionals in media that use iTunes, because it ‘was’ straight forward with a clean/simple way to organize. Now? It’s bubble gum, it makes me think of bubble gum when ever I need to use it.
    This site, OS X Daily, is the best thing I’ve come across since, maybe ever. Keep up the good work, and a sincere thanks to your ability to communicate so clearly. Cheers

  13. Anon Ymous says:

    Anyone else frustrated by the search? I went to “Songs” view to get back the old iTunes feel. But when I search for music, I seem to have no choice but to play it. Often I just want to search out the file in my iTunes to look at it, edit it, etc. But when you click on the search results, it switches away from “Songs” view.

    Such an awful awful update. This is almost as bad as the loss of control over applications getting brought to the front. (I know which order I clicked the applications and do not need Mac to bring them to the front automatically. ERG!!!!)

    • iTunes, I am disappoint. says:

      I was really irritated by the new search function also. Luckily I found a way to make the results show up like they used to.

      After you type in your search, hit ‘enter’ and it will show the results normally.

    • iTunes, I am disappoint. says:

      Actually I just found a better way!
      Click on the small arrow next to the magnifying glass and un-check the option ‘Search Entire Library’.

  14. Karen says:

    Thanks – the only post I could find on Google that explained how to get the left hand tool bar to show again – and so simple to do.

  15. sally says:

    I just want the “now playing” artwork that shows in bottom left corner back…. can anyone please help?

    cheers

  16. Stinky McGhee says:

    I just got an iPod touch, my first Apple device ever. I’m glad that I was able to expense it and not have to purchase it myself. I would have taken it right back. I’ve had an Android phone for over a year.
    The ONLY reason I got the iPod is for business reasons. My company has an app in the (cr)App store and I have to test and demo to clients.
    I must say that the Apple cult is everything I knew it would be. The Apple sycophants are more obsequious than I imagined. The “geniuses” are about 50 points shy of retarded on an IQ test.
    What do I hate so much? The simple fact that I cannot (or have not yet figured out) how to stop iTunes from opening every time I plug my iPod into my computer.
    To be sure, Windoze and Microsloth have definitely pissed me off in the past, but this is NOT a good first experience with (cr)Apple.

    • The Lizard says:

      Easy to do that. Plug in your iPod, click on the iPod icon in the left tool bar, click on summary. On there it will give you Options. Un-check the box that says “Open iTunes when this iPod is connected”

  17. Paul says:

    Just to say, thank you so much for this. What a joke that Apple just changed all the existing preferences – I see no reason for doing this!

    Given how the company supposedly is the pinnacle of usability, simply changing all settings without any request or permission from the user does not seem fair or right at all!

  18. Scot says:

    This (the new iTunes UI) is what happens when you put 16-year-old’s (or the intellectual equivalent) in a “grown-up” job. It’s a good thing Apple’s marketing to 10-year-old’s is so strong. If they had to rely on the quality of their product they’d be sunk.

  19. Lars says:

    I personally hate the new iTunes layout. Why? When I updated my iTunes account to the new layout all my purchases were lost. Its ridiculous. I am done with all apple products.

  20. Enrico says:

    Generally I’m a guy who adapts to everything, but this time I do not like the way Jonathan Ive (I suppose he is now also responsible for the aesthetic of the software) has provided some elements of the new version of miniplayer. In addition, on the toolbar the button for his openness seems to me … censored … I think it’s just horrible.
    I tried to make a sketch of how I’d like it to be.

    http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/131/itmod.jpg

    How does that sound?

    (I apologize for my English by Google)

  21. KB says:

    Does anyone know how to make the new ITunes open multiple windows. You used to be able to launch a new playlist in a window by double-clicking it. Now double-clicking a playlist is the same as hitting ‘play.’ wtf?

  22. keith says:

    The new Search Function is really aweful. Forcing you to use the AUTOFILL search slows any PC down and should be an EASY and OBVIOUS option to change.
    I’m sorry to see the Apple begining to ROT.

  23. Gianluca says:

    Any idea how to get coverflow back without downgrading to 10.7?

  24. The Lizard says:

    Does any know how to display exact time on the bottom status bar for a playlist? It will show exact time for anything less that 1 hour, but anything over an hour it rounds it off – 1.2, 3.5 hours etc. (the entire library rounds off to days).

    It would be nice to have exact hours/mins/secs like the previous versions.

  25. Andy Lewis says:

    Just gone back to version 10.7.

    Most of the changes I either like, or can put up with. The deal-breaker was the lack of multiple windows. I do a lot of playlist organisation, and without multiple windows open, the process is fiddly and nigh-on unbearable.

    Oh – and the search runs very sluggishly for me, when compared to iTunes 10.

  26. MacEfficient says:

    You know your redesign is a complete failure when the entire world wants to return to the previous look.

    There are those of us in the world who aren’t “creatures of habit” (bloody condesending) but rather have a life and want software to work and be “user friendly” rather that spending hours figuring out where the hell everything went and why is it so hard to find the stuff I paid for now.

    Apple = itards

  27. Chris says:

    I concur on the MIA iTunes DJ. Up Next is not a replacement for how I used iTunes with iTunes DJ all of the time. I would be happy with 11 if iTunes DJ was brought back or the same functionality added to Up Next. Now I’m forced to downgrade back to iTunes 10.7 or just stop using iTunes for music.

  28. icebreaker says:

    Why is everyone complaining? I just turned the sidebar back on. Only the mini player is a fail because you have to hover over it to see the controls.

  29. Sean says:

    I can’t believe no one has mentioned the demise of iTunes DJ yet. That was the one killer feature that set iTunes above the rest and made it the player of choice for parties. I can’t begin to describe my disappointment that it is gone. Guests now have permission to skip songs, change volume control and can no longer vote songs higher in the playlist. Not cool.

    • Ron says:

      I totally agree…. I used iTunes Dj at parties all the time.
      I was able to set the playlist I wanted iTunes Dj to play and set the playlist I wanted my guest to select from via IRemote.

      I had applescripts designed to change these playlist at different time of the day via ICal…… all gone. Worthless scripting now.

      When Itunes changed from ver9 to 10 all my automator scripts to auto run iTunes broke. Now this with applescripts and the missing Itunes Dj….. This is why I’m starting to hate Apple software. They should add features not take feature away…

  30. Mr J says:

    Thanks for those useful tips.

    Sadly, the miniplayer is a shadow of its former self, and where is the pretty coverflow?

    Overall, I’m not impressed with iTunes 11 for practical reasons.

    There’s so much change for the sake of it (like the current iPhoto) and I just hate seeing functionality disappear.

  31. JFC says:

    It would be nice to be able to open a play list in a new window again, but I might have missed something. Otherwise iTunes 11 is OK.

  32. Addy Nguyen says:

    iTunes 11, found by myself: Drag items, mini slide bar will pop out, easy to move to a playlist :)

    http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/4221/screenshot20121202at125.png

  33. matt says:

    I just used Pacifist.app to reinstall iTunes 10.7 and undo all changes made by iTunes11. Couldn’t live without Album List view.

    iTunes 10.7 is still fast and stable for me and don’t understand all the complaints around it. I have about 15GB of music, 20GB of podcasts (incl. video), and 400 apps all managed by iTunes 10.7 without a hiccup.

  34. Tom says:

    I don’t have any problems trying a new or different GUI and I’m not having any problems navigating iTunes 11, but I DO miss CoverFlow. It took a lot of getting used to, but once I did, I loved it. All the keyboard shortcuts that I use still work. I will try Onyx to darken the UI though. Too bright white for me. Thanks for the tip Tinky. (I should’ve thought of that!)

  35. markjuk says:

    Hi there, anyone know how on playlists view, to get rid of the top playlist title bar? i can’t see why it is neccessary since the name of the playlist is displayed in the left hand colum anyway. i’d prefer to just have away with this title row so that more of the actual song rows could be visible on the screen

  36. Martin says:

    I think it is superb. For once an update that allows me to do things a different way. I have no problem with downloading album artwork like other users. Put the menu on the left as normal and it functions like before. Well done Apple, not only is the functionality better but it looks better too.

  37. Michael K says:

    I think its awesome & with Jony Ive as head of human interface, it will only get better!!

    For all those who don’t like it, feel free to use all the other 999,999,999 gazillion players out there or better yet create your own player and let us download it…..se how it measures up!!

    • diselsamm says:

      If you are interested, you can give yourself a try to Plex, if you figure how to use it. Completely different user experience, elegant design (in my opinion), works with your apple remote, free. Oh, by the way, it can play .flac files as well. Last time I checked, iTunes did not manage to play my flacs.

  38. Extensor says:

    There are a few inconsistencies that need to ironed out but I am loving the new iTunes.

  39. diselsamm says:

    If you feel stuck with the iTunes 11 and want to downgrade to iTunes 10.7, and have a Time Machine, here is a solution I found in a forum. I tried it, and it works, essentially working the problem with the iTunes error 42408.

    Here is the solution, thank you Cthulhu:

    Cthulhu
    Re: can I downgrade to itunes 10 from 11?
    Nov 30, 2012 9:34 AM (in response to Pehtis)
    Awesome! That did the trick for me.

    Here are the exact steps I took, and ITunes 10.7 is working great for me

    1) In the terminal, I ran:

    sudo rm -rf /Applications/iTunes.app

    2) Also in the terminal:

    open ~/Library/Music

    3) I used Time Machine to restore the following files:

    Album Artwork/
    iTunes Library Extras.itdb
    iTunes Library Genius.itdb
    iTunes Library.itl
    Previous iTunes Libraries/
    iTunes Music Library.xml

    I suspect this was not really required, I could have just copied an old library from Previous\ iTunes\ Libraries/, but I am just telling everyone exactly what I did since it worked.

    4) Back in the terminal:

    open /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks

    I used Time Machine again to restore the following files (thanks Pehtis):

    AirTrafficHost.framework
    CoreFP.framework
    DeviceLink.framework
    iTunesAccess.framework
    MobileDevice.framework

    5) I downloaded iTunes 10.7 from http://appldnld.apple.com/iTunes10/041-7195.20120912.d3uzQ/iTunes10.7.dmg

    6) I installed iTunes using what I just downloaded, and made a copy for future use.

    That’s it! Purchased movies and songs work fine, my iPhone syns fine – everything is perfect. I also have no intention of upgrading until they give me back my miniplayer with the progress bar, song name, volume (without opening Airplay – ***?) and such, and restore the other missing features in the larger player windows. I keep saying every update from Apple is the worst ever, so why I ever clicked on “Update” for iTunes without checking the forums is a mystery.

    I think I am going to make the App Store an Applescript that pops up a dialog and says “Think about what you are doing,” and then opens the App Store. Ug.

  40. entrada says:

    My question is where did all the “purchases from the cloud” come from? My album view showed dozens of albums I had never heard of with a little “cloud” icon in the corner. I found that in preferences I could uncheck the box that said “show purchases from the cloud” and these disappeared. But where did they come from?

  41. Tinky says:

    A new and handy feature in iTunes 11 is you can right click on a song and choose a playlist to add it to instead of dragging it to the list.

  42. Tinky says:

    I use Onyx to switch iTunes to a black background. In Onyx, look under Parameters > iTunes and switch on “high contrast” mode. Works fine on iTunes 11.

  43. Derick says:

    Nothing else matters compared to how much faster iTunes 11 runs than prior versions. Night and day on my 2008 iMac. It’s a pleasure to use.

  44. Tom Swift says:

    I love iTunes 11. Very quick.

    One fear I had before it was released was that it would not be compatible with Snow Leopard on my 2008 MacBook. But it works very well. No problems with installation nor operation.

    Only change was the Duplicates function. It’s gone. But I’m sure someone will find a workaround.

  45. Nick says:

    I wish there was a keyboard shortcut for “Play Next.”

  46. Fred says:

    I cannot see track progression in the mini player? What a tram smash of an update :(

  47. Oscar says:

    I like the new iTunes except i can’t have the grid view i’v had since day one and grown attached to–anymore

    Just want to have artists with the album cover (not all the albums because i got 1500+ albums)

  48. Herrin says:

    Excellent. Thanks for the quick tips.

    Took me 2 minutes to get it all back to some kind of normal.

    Why Apple feel like they have to change things so much is beyond me. Have they reduced the memory load of iTunes yet? I know it does a lot of things but surely they could speed it up a little. Even on a quad iMac it’s a bit sluggish.

    Anyway, didn’t come here to have an itch. Just sayin thanks!

  49. AS says:

    Is there a way to change the background color into a darker one?

  50. me says:

    I miss having the album artwork on the left side of the screen when using the column browser. Now it seems I can only see the album artwork if I sort by “album” and not “songs”. Other than that it seems zippier and does not warrant a fraction of the amazing vitriol and profanity being thrown around. Calm the hell down people, Jesus Christ. “Dog-sh*t eating lunatics”? Get a hold of yrself.

    • Josh B. says:

      The missing album artwork column in Song view is something which is greatly annoying to me as well. Call me old school, but I’m used to identifying the cassette’s and CDs in my collection by the covers. If I’m looking for a specific song, seeing the artwork next to the listing helps decide which version I’m looking for, especially if it is one of the more popular songs that were covered by multiple artists.

  51. munchkin says:

    Thank you!!!
    I was so pissed when I saw it first time, and hated it. I was missing sidebar, it was terribly annoying. Stupid me, I didn’t check menu to get it back. ;)

  52. Peter says:

    The white background color is AWFUL in the TV and Movie view. The darker background was much more appealing. I also hate the new TV episode view. When you opened a season in version 10, you got a simple list that was visible without scrolling. Now, in 11, you get this complete waste of space between text and you have to scroll on a 27″ monitor to see all the shows. What the F were they thinking?

  53. Niladri Haldar says:

    Apple bringing about its downfall….. since Late Steve, a bunch of dog-sh*t eating lunatics have joined the company.
    Where’s the Cover Flow and full screen Cover flow gone, huh?
    How about changing that ridiculous Visualizer for a change, duh….?
    freaking Apple….

  54. Peter says:

    Nice to know you can show the sidebar in iTunes 11, but the loss of Cover Flow means I will stick with iTunes 10.7 for as long as I can. I preferred the partial list view with Cover Flow on top so I can enjoy the album art work and see the list. Removing Cover Flow was a mistake, and I don’t think it has anything to do with that old lawsuit, because the judge reversed the decision.

    • z says:

      I ‘liked’ things the same way – partial list view with Cover Flow… but I install the stupid ‘update’ without knowing that Cover Flow was removed. It also used to be nice to drop my pdf’s into iTunes and sort them with the partial list and cover flow too. Now the only chose is list with no pics or tiles where the text is to small and cut off to read.

      I uninstalled v11 and put v10 back in. It flashes an error warning when v10 starts now, but it seems to work.

      To me this ‘update’ is nothing but the removal of items and adding a more detailed mini player and an info strip to the tile view, which is nice… but it is not the way I (and apparently others) want it to work.

  55. Rory says:

    Love the new changes. Particularly good is the “up next” feature! I’ve been using spotify recently with its queue button and found it really annoying that iTunes didn’t have an equivalent.

    Apart from that I think it looks way better. Currently I’m using the artists layout (before I would have coverflow ordered by date added).

    • Rory says:

      I think a feature that’s missing is having tabbed browsing in the iTunes Store rather than having to go back and forth.

  56. albert says:

    When I am in the albums view and check the songs out for each album they are not listed sequentially from song 1 to…..12 but they are listed in random order. Also the search feature in the songs view does not bring up you searched artist/song to the exclusion of all other items. I also tried to double click on the iTunes title bar to minimize but that feature is not working. I may re-clone my hard drive and bring back 10.7; there frequently are numerous bugs for early adopters, I should have known better.

  57. David says:

    Another ho-hum update. The changes are pretty much all form and no substance or, as we say in Texas, “all hat and no cattle.” At least Apple left a path to basically put it back the way it was before the update unlike some of the apps (iMovie for example) in iOS 6 that are not backwardly compatible with iOS 5.

  58. stefan says:

    after a few tweaks and the tips listed here, I am actually quite happy with the new iTunes. Really glad to see the coloured side bar icons back (they must have some internal battle like the fairies in Sleeping Beauty – ‘make the blue’ ‘make them grey’ ‘make them colourful’…) So – re they gonna change Aperture, iPhoto and the Finder now back to colour as well?

    Missing the little square cover in the bottom on list view though. Otherwise. good!

    • I just saw the screenshots above with coloured icons and did a double take. Considering the amount of wrangling/hacking that I personally did to get them back, I’m so relieved I can’t even tell you. No more mucking about with the icons.rscs files.

  59. Hy says:

    Gone: Cover flow (I didn’t use it though).
    Gone: The graphical representation of the sound that appeared after clicking the progress bar when playing a track (I used that a lot).

  60. Sheryl says:

    I really like the look and functionality of iTunes 11. Surprised by how different it looked, I first tested how (and whether) my most used functionalities would work: all good. I did opt to Show Sidebar again and Hide Movies in Cloud and Hide TV Shows in Cloud, but I find the new interface clean and easier to read.

  61. Mike V says:

    I think overall the new is an improvement but I really miss Cover Flow, which may be a patent related thing??? From the Wikipedia entry on Cover Flow:
    ‘In April 2010, Apple was granted a design patent on the Cover Flow interface.[6]
    On 1 October 2010, Apple was ordered to pay $625.5 million to Mirror Worlds LLC for infringing utility patents relating to Cover Flow.[7][8] On April 4, 2011, Judge Davis reversed the judgement.[9]
    With the release of version 11, Cover Flow was removed from the iTunes interface.’

  62. Arturo says:

    I can’t search anymore songs or albums in any of my “iDevice” connected to iTunes into the search bar in the right top corner. It seems that the search is performend only in the iTunes Library and not within the devices themselves……any suggestions to solve mi issue ?

  63. Winifred P. Serpetine-Belt says:

    Good lord what will you people do when OS X and iOS merge in to one thing across machines a devices? I thought Mac users were more opened minded to improvement. These comments are pathetic.

    • Bingo says:

      “Mac users were more opened minded to improvement…” First: Who says this is an “Improvement?” I guess a “pathetic” person might say that.

      This sounds very much like the idiots who claim “Libruls” are not very “tolerant” to the people trying to take away Rights.

    • Mark says:

      The problem is that IT’S NOT AN IMPROVEMENT! I was fine with the last few updates but this one is a complete failure.

    • Extensor says:

      You have people that are set in their ways and you have people with open minds, who like to experience new things.

  64. Dorbus says:

    I actually like the new interface quite a bit

  65. pob says:

    At times like these it makes you want to abandon Apple for good.

    Please hire someone with some common sense!

  66. JohnM says:

    I immediately like this version (11) of iTunes better, I’m not going to change anything – the last versions are the one that the weak GUI – well done Apple.

  67. Sascha says:

    Does anyone know how to change the colored icons in the sidebar to grey colors like in iTunes 10?

    • Ha, that’s funny. We just spend 2 years trying to get them back to colour both in iTunes and the OS (Lion and Mountain Lion). I think you’re the only person who likes the grey.

      • lawrence_n says:

        As someone who is colour blind the grey icons actually worked better for me but I’m sure I’ll get used to the colours back again. After all, it is only a minor thing and there’s more things in life far greater to worry about don’t you think?

      • Michael Gabrieli says:

        I’m not color-blind and I like the grey as well. Makes the album art stand out.

  68. Sufjan says:

    Right off the bat I don’t like the fact that in order to download missing album art work a person must share their entire library with Apple. Are you serious?

    • Matt says:

      That has always been a requirement, it shares the library information so it can match albums to artwork to know what album art to download.

      • Sufjan says:

        Absolutely NOT true. Apple has never required you to allow them to have access to your “entire” library to download artwork automatically – only on an album by album basis when added. Not all of us download iTunes stuff. I have over 750 full albums in which none are from Apple. If so, this new iTunes 11 would not have in preference “share details about your library with Apple.” They excluded album artwork unless you click on this option. Why? So Apple can entice more people to click on such option for marketing purposes. Hey, I am all about marketing and companies selling more and making more $$$ but to deny people something basic as artwork is a little ridiculous unless they “give up” their music library.

        • Hall says:

          You do NOT have to share your library data in order to get album art. I just imported a song into iTunes, removed the album name, and it was unable to match it. I then added the album name back and it found a match and added the artwork. I do NOT have the option checked to share my data.

    • Mike V says:

      Not true, find an image you want as album art save it and follow these steps:

      1. click on tracks you want add album art for
      2. Click on ‘get info’ , message appears ‘Are you sure you want to edit info for multiple items?’ click yes, a panel appears.
      3. in the bottom right hand corner there is a square into which your chosen .jpg can be dragged
      4. Result =Album art

  69. Binkley says:

    Huh – I must be in the minority. After using it for a couple hours, I LOVE the mini view, and think the overall UI (I prefer the “Song” view) is a vast improvement.

    Diffrn’t strokes I guess.

  70. Munas says:

    I would replace Normal in this title with something different. New or different does not mean not Normal.

    • Andrew says:

      Groan. That has to be the most politically-correct comment I’ve ever seen anywhere.

    • Extensor says:

      You are correct Munas. Another way to put it is not normal but the old way.

    • Michael Gabrieli says:

      Actually, if you stop for a moment and think, you will realize that “new and different” *does* mean not normal. The very core of what is “the norm” lies in what is of long-standing sameness, there is no other way for a norm to exist. When something changes, what had been normal is precisely what is being changed. Perhaps a “new normal” will establish itself. Perhaps the old norms will reestablish themselves. Either way what was “new and different” and what was “normal” were never one and the same.

      There is a common bias whereby that which is “not normal” is necessarily bad. This is of course ridiculous and should be countered. But it’s no reason to pretend that the word “normal” is in and of itself altogether bad and objectionable. You have to mind the context.

  71. Dave says:

    Select Podcasts on the sidebar and select the “List” tab to view like iTunes 10.7

    Also, I have renamed a lot of songs to help me identify songs with explicit lyrics, iCloud therefore thinks that my previous purchases are not in my library and all my previous purchases show up in my library as well.

    This is cured by either of the following ways;

    1. Just sign out of iTunes store.

    or..

    2. Go to your iTunes account and hide ALL purchases, long winded, but worth it.

    Is Apple moving iTunes more towards a “Spotify” style service?

  72. Apple has stated many times that touch screen Macs are not in the works….

    I have sent a lot of feed back to Apple regarding their usability decisions in that last couple of years….while they have made some significant advances, they have also made some terrible blunders. Many indicative of poor usability studies and bad conclusions.

    • karmic says:

      Apple (Jobs) also stated that iPods were too small to put video on, PowerPC chips were the future, and a 7 inch tablet was not in the works.

  73. rono says:

    How about changing the icon to a purple one that is consistent with iOS?

    http://mantia.me/icons/stores/

  74. Matthew says:

    The mini player is a UI disaster, have to hover before anything is accessible? Then things are popping up left and right? Guess that means no touch screen Macs are coming anytime soon!

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