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

I guess so, I'm not hip to that stuff. Old school, iPod, tube amp kind of guy here, who used to get a kick of Steve Jobs nifty new toys, only to end up being betrayed by them years later, when "others" took his place at APPLE!

 

Here ya go man:
Apple’s macOS Catalina update is a big problem for DJs who relied on iTunes

 

Thanks! APPLE fanatics will never understand how scary this news is to DJ's like myself, when we trusted to use those XML files, as the way to our DJ programs. I've got contracted events coming up and I've got NO time for APPLE's nonsense!

 

get rid of itunes, get windows, use foobar2000, problem solved lol

 

Don't upgrade if you use Cubase, per Steinberg.

 

Fourteen years was a good run for me running iTunes, and I am sad that the time has come when I must look for a new solution to my needs.

I use Roon as the entertainment interface, but this is what iTunes does that I need to manage my large library:

- Column Browser
- Ability to rip multiple discs at once
- Cleanly organizes files with Artist-->Album(s)-->Tracks

If anyone knows of a Mac software that does that, let me know, and thank you.

 

Yeah, thanks for the “help” lol.

 

Welcome to a whole new set of many new problems. And good luck finding a column browser in Foobar. Foobar is probably the worst music player you could suggest to anyone used to running Apple software.

 

One issue for JRiver Media Center on the Mac is that it is a cross-platform design originally developed on Windows. It's a Windows style design made cross-platform to Linux and then to Mac. It is not going to behave like a native Mac application. The UI will not follow all of the Mac UI design and behaviors. It's going to behave like a cross-platform ported application running on Mac rather than a true native Mac application. If you're OK with that sort of not really a native Mac design kind of software then it's a good one to try.

 

Maybe DJs should go back to spinning actual records instead of pushing buttons

 

that looks pretty good thanks

 

Djay pro is supposed to work, for one

 

Mazzy, your comment would have even more impact if it was hand-delivered by a telegram boy

 

Thanks @Mazzy for offering to become my new roadie, I appreciate that!

Even I, a guy who has been mobile DJ'ing long enough to have been through lugging heavy records and later CD's with me to each and every gig, along with ultra heavy equipment to play it on, am happy to now only have to carry a 5 pound computer and two thirty pound speakers that each have built in 1,000 watt amps, along with a few other things like speaker stands, DJ table and two cases (all pre-wired) with a DJ controller and small sound board to connect everything.

 

Please show me some proof of that if you kindly would. I directly wrote Algoriddim (the folks behind the "DJAY APP") months ago when I first caught word about APPLE killing off iTunes and they said, we can't guarantee that APPLE MUSIC will work, as DJAY needs those XML files and they wouldn't be compatible anymore.

 

Oh wait, maybe Tim Cook does care after all, about DJ's and music? Not sure that there's a fix with his visit there, but at least I know that someone woke him up to the issues that we DJ'a are facing.

Tim Cook on Twitter

 

A lot of these programs that interface with iTunes use actual turntables and records to trigger and manipulate songs in one’s library.

 

That's so Austin.

 

But Traktor has been out for nearly 20 years. It and Serato are standards and in wide use everywhere.

 

I know exactly how it is to have a feature that you need taken away, but as you note, I am someone who did not even know Column Browser existed, so I can't miss or do without it. I have 38k songs in iTunes. I've made extensive use of Playlist Folders and sub-folders. A way I might handle, for example, Ambient, is to have a Playlist Folder named that, and then organize it to my liking. It seems perfectly natural to me (and reasonably efficient), but I can see where it might not be for everyone, and that others have needs that I do not. I just counted—my iTunes sidebar has 24 Playlist Folders. Too many sub-folders and beyond to count casually. On occasion, I go into Terminal to poke around. That's going to be different for me, as bash is gone, replaced by zsh. Can handle that, but I'm hoping for the least disruption going from iTunes to Music. I am not a Streamer.

 

Looks like Tim Cook want's you to DJ using an iPad and a paired up iPhone that is running a third party app to display a narrow column style browser.

 

iTunes had a good advantage: it was a very good software for archiving purposes, and that's the main reason I have kept using it in the last years. I was looking with some anticipation at the new music app, mostly because I would have certainly made good use of a less bloated software.

It's hard for me to believe that the second most rich company of the world was unable to manage a smooth transition from two very similarly coded pieces of software. Who writes that Apple is no longer interested in users who own a hard drive collection has definitely a point.

 

This. It's always amazed me that a whole DJ ecosystem has sprung up around iTunes, because it is such a complete piece of sht.

I'm kinda surprised the whole community didn't coalesce around MediaMonkey on the PC over a decade ago. Provides similar functionality (including a Column Browser if you want it) plus does a whole boatload of stuff iTunes can't (including providing native support for FLAC files for like the past 15 years). Although I do think Ventis missed the boat when they failed to port MM to the Mac.

 

Exactly. Anyone can enroll in the beta program but unless you are a developer or want to help find and fix bugs in your favourite part of the OS don’t do it.

 

As a side note, if you use Audacity to needledrop be aware that the current version for Mac is NOT compatible with Catalina.