Judging from our hands-on time with iTunes 11, we can say it’s fast, sleek, and smart. Still, there are probably a number of users who are resistant to change and like how things were done in the old days of iTunes 10. They may be baffled and unhappy with the changes in the new iTunes. For those of you who are putting off updating to iTunes 11 because you’re weary of the new design and of losing things like columns and the sidebar, we can help.
Apple hasn’t completely ditched the features you’ve grown to love in previous versions of iTunes. See that photo below? You might not even be able to tell it’s the same iTunes as the photo above. Here are a few ways you can make iTunes 11 look more like iTunes 10.
Using the View menu, you can bring back the sidebar, the column browser, and even the status bar that shows how much music and how many hours of content you have. And believe us, it’s very easy to do. Here’s how:
Click on the View menu:
- For the Status Bar: Click “Show Status Bar.”
- For the Sidebar: Click “Show Sidebar.
- For the Column Browser: Click “Column Browser.” Note that Column Browser will only show up when you’re under the “Songs” section.
There are even shortcuts that let you easily toggle the sidebar, status bar, and column browser features.
- Sidebar: Option-Command-S
- Status Bar: Command-/
- Column Browse: Command-B
You still won’t completely feel like you’re in iTunes 10 with these alterations, but you may at least feel a little more comfortable. Sadly, cover flow on top of playlists is now completely gone, so that part of iTunes 10 will never be the same.
It’s actually a nice detail that Apple made previous design features available to users who weren’t quite ready for the radical new design of iTunes 11. These viewing options are easy to find and activate, and might help weary iTunes users into updating to the new iTunes.
What do you think of the new design? Will you be adding these iTunes 10 features back into the mix?
Totally underwhelming. It would seem logical to retain the default display options from the previous version of a program (like itunes) instead of brute forcing folks to use the “newer, faster, better(?)” version when loading the updated version. Why not load the prior version’s settings and provide a guided tour through the new stuff? I fear the answer is nobody would use the new stuff!
I, for one, do not like to be told what I have to use. So, I had to waste 15 minutes to find how to get back to my original settings (or as close as I could).
Maybe the guy who WAS the apple maps project leader was also in charge of this ?upgrade?.
Ditto That! As it’s been said; “Efficiency, Efficiency”. I will also pitch a fundamental impairment to real progress; that self proclaimed wizards of technology imagine it’s all about Bigger, Faster, More and New without a balanced intellect for understanding diminishing returns.
Once in SONG LIST mode with Sort by Artists all looks well. There are a few quirks.
No one was told what to use you senior citizen. You are the one who upgraded.
Why bother upgrading in the first place.
Yes I just updated last night ~ not liking the new interface @ all!
I’m not generally opposed to change. There are certainly times when it’s really nice to flip through album covers. However, I am a fan of efficiency and, therefore, opposed to changes that make an app much less efficient — wasted screen space with too much white, extra clicks, more scrolling, inability to locate something by typing the name, etc. So, yes, I’ve implemented some of the classic interface elements. Apple should use the iOS interface for iOS devices but take advantage of the extra screen space and the keyboard for laptops and desktops.
Love the new interface.. sleek and smooth takes a few minutes to see where all the new locations are but no biggy..
Very fluid! iTunes the way it should be.
Ok, when files are relocated to a different directory, Itunes still prompts to ask for the new location of the file you ask it to play but does not offer to fix the pathways for the other files that you’ve moved. This means you have to FIX EACH ONE INDIVIDUALLY. This isn’t moving forward, this is moving backward. I know why Apple did this, because certain morons out there wouldn’t understand how this function affected their library. Apple is dumbing down the software with each subsequent release to make it more idiot-proof. However, advanced users are suffering. Prior to Itunes 10, Apple did away with deleting tracks from your computer, you can only delete them from your library since after version 9. This is because dumb-butts the world over were accidentally deleting tracks they paid for and then complaining to Apple support that they couldn’t find them anymore. I’m sick of idiots. They are ruining the best features for the rest of us.
90% agreed; Technology is great – when it works.
and I’m laughing
Hmmmm it’s definitely some big changes. Thanks for the advice, has helped with the transition.