Don't "upgrade" to Catalina if you have a large iTunes library

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by pathosdrama, Oct 8, 2019.

  1. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    Artwork is completely messed up and the app is very slow.
    Better to wait.

    Apple should really check its quality control standards.
     
    Dan Steele, Groovy, enro99 and 6 others like this.
  2. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    Sorry for your difficulties...

    I would advise *anyone* who has a large or complex collection of music files with custom metadata and art to hold off on the macOS Catalina transition from iTunes to the new Music app.

    It’s going to be a big disruption for those of us who maintain big complex libraries of files unconnected to iCloud, for instance. Column browser is apparently gone. DJs are facing big problems coping with the changes too.

    If iTunes is how you manage a large, carefully curated music collection, WAIT. Let Mac power users and first adopters feel the pain and see if future revisions address and fix performance issues.
     
  3. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    As a general rule, it is best to leave others to be the guinea pigs. Always recommend waiting a few weeks/months before performing an update. And before doing so, create a Restore Point.
     
  4. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    I also have been getting a warning when I open WAV Editor that it will not be compatible with future, i.e. Catalina, Mac OS's.
     
  5. charlie W

    charlie W EMA Level 10

    Location:
    Area Code 254
    I bet that WAV editor is a 32-bit application and they will not run in MacOS Catalina. To the OP, if the Music app is not working, I suggest trying VOX player as a substitute.
     
  6. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    The elimination of the Column Browser is a compromise I am not willing to deal with. I will coast by as long as possible until I'm eventually forced to upgrade. They just don't (maybe they do) get how crucial a tool it is to one with 100,000+ songs in their library. I don't always know what I want to listen to. Sometimes I just want to click a genre then drill down from there. I encourage anyone else who's pissed to utilize Apple Feedback.
     
  7. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    I still have the column browser. If I click "songs" on the left pane, it brings up the traditional view with all the columns.
     
    Andrew Littleboy likes this.
  8. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    This is the first I have read of anyone using Catalina on a Mac and seeing Column Browser with the Music app.
     
    SeanRichard likes this.
  9. JakeKlas

    JakeKlas Impatiently waiting for an 8-track revival

    Location:
    United States
    I love Apple and I love my Apple devices, but... they sure know how to screw with people when they release a new OS. Every new OS brings some tweak that they think is for the best, but royally messes with lots of people, giving the impression they either aren’t totally clear on how and why people use certain features, or they don’t care because they think they have a better way.

    Eventually, we all get used to it or find workarounds, and life goes on. But initially, a new upgrade is a huge pain in figuring out where they screwed with your favorite feature.

    I’ve spent a ton of time trying to get my iTunes library just right, so yeah... a +1 for the idea of waiting.
     
  10. musicman9999

    musicman9999 VDC Vinyl & CDs

    Location:
    Braselton, GA
    Thank you for the warning.
     
  11. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    Did you try it? Unless I am misunderstanding what you mean, it looks the same to me as it did before. Here's a screen shot:

    [​IMG]
     
  12. JakeKlas

    JakeKlas Impatiently waiting for an 8-track revival

    Location:
    United States
    What’s missing in that screenshot (and what I believe is being talked about) is the three column section that goes over that which shows Genres, Artists and Albums.

    You would turn that on/off by View | Column Browser | Show/Hide Column Browser. (The shortcut is the Apple Key + B)

    I depend on that, so I hope it’s still there.
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2019
  13. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    It's gone.

    :shake:

    "As someone who uses iTunes every day to listen to music, I’m disappointed to report that some features I use have failed to make the transition to Music. The venerable Column Browser in the Songs view, which was once the primary way users interacted with iTunes, is gone. It was ugly but functional, and let me do things like quickly focus on a specific album or artist, or shuffle through an arbitrary set of albums in a temporary, impromptu playlist. All that’s left are prettier and less functional alternatives."

    macOS Catalina review: New era ahead, proceed with caution
     
  14. JakeKlas

    JakeKlas Impatiently waiting for an 8-track revival

    Location:
    United States
    :sigh:

    Bloody hell. If iTunes didn’t sync so easily with my iPhone, I’d ditch it for something that was better and could play FLAC files. I’m open to alternatives if anyone is using something they really like. I have Audirvana Plus, but I don’t think it syncs. Haven’t used it for a while though. May have to break it out again.
     
    DuctTapeTheory and SeanRichard like this.
  15. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    Wow, I'd actually never used that! Totally ignorant here, but is it not redundant? One can select "Genres" on the left pane...
    [​IMG]
     
    Bingo Bongo likes this.
  16. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    The thing that's been taken away with Column Browser is the ability to see a lot of library information without big images or white space wasting the real estate on the screen. Here's a screenshot from the Kirkville web site showing Column Browser:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2019
  17. JakeKlas

    JakeKlas Impatiently waiting for an 8-track revival

    Location:
    United States
    Exactly!

    Also, it removes the ability to more easily select multiple songs/albums for different purposes.

    The Column Browser is a more efficient way (at least for me) to interact with my library.

    No doubt there was a reason for the change, but I can’t see how keeping this option would have prevented Apple from creating this new version of iTunes. It goes back to what I said earlier... Apple doesn’t always appear to appreciate how people use their software with the options they themselves included.

    Yeah, I’m whining a bit. In the grand scheme of the world, there are bigger issues. But when music is so important to many of us and we’ve invested so much time in tweaking our libraries, it gets annoying when stuff like this happens.

    Edit: We’re not the only ones upset. Checking on Twitter, I found this:

    Sign the Petition
     
  18. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Oops! Just realized the error I made above. Guess the similarities of Catalina and Cortana sort of played a trick on me.

    Oh well,... the msg is the same but substitute Restore Point with Backup and it's the same meaning.
     
    Billy Budapest and elvisizer like this.
  19. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    They just want you to go away. Users like you (and me - 46,342 songs) are an impediment to their business plans to move to an all-streaming model. Progressively breaking/removing functionality - which is easily and "innocently" done as judging that undesirable functionality (to Apple) is just too expensive to maintain - is part of the game plan. I'll keep an open mind on how the new Apple Music app handles "legacy" music collections like ours. But I have my own plans, if push comes to shove, to extract all metadata and audio from my collection into the very simple on-disc data structures needed to support a music library. At that point I will migrate the whole household to Linux/Android and be done with it.
     
  20. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    I have to say, Swinsian is a very good alternative.
     
    Geordiepete, coepc, Lanark and 3 others like this.
  21. vinnn

    vinnn Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    ... or just use better software to manage your library. iTunes has been garbage for years.
     
    jerico, Atmospheric, Jaap74 and 7 others like this.
  22. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    I've been coming back to this thread trying to think of a gentler way to phrase it, but I really can't. I think people have this idea that they can't quit iTunes because they're somehow invested in it and don't understand that keeping a music collection organized doesn't have to be an awful and painful experience where you're at the whim of a company whose vision for the product is very different from yours.

    Then there are of course the folks who are living inside of a technological prison they mistake for an "ecosystem".
     
  23. No Sleep Till Download

    No Sleep Till Download Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dorset
    I would recommend waiting a few weeks for the bugs to get squished, or at least have the ability to clone your drive before you upgrade so you can revert painlessly. This whole upgrade cycle has been a cluster.... Catalina is the most stable GM I have seen so once the howlers have been fixed it will be a solid update.
    Oh and remember any 32 bit apps you have will cease to work.
     
  24. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    I’d happily make a prison break, but I’ve tried a bunch of the Mac music apps that are regularly suggested as better alternatives to iTunes, and there’s always been one dealbreaker or another that keeps me using the native app.

    The column browser has been such a crucial element powering how I swiftly zoom around my somewhat enormous library that now I think I’ll have to give the alternatives another shot before I jump into Catalina.
     
    Atmospheric and BGLeduc like this.
  25. Jamey K

    Jamey K Internet Sensation

    Location:
    Amarillo,Texas
    I believe that. Apple seems to have lost interest in music fans. I don't need, nor want ,Sidecar.
     
    sound chaser and SeanRichard like this.

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