New iTunes is out. BIG Improvement?

[t8yman]

you can't install iTunes for just one user, which means that it's doings effects any user that logs in.

In my particular case there's a PC that my kid mostly uses (which i why it has iTunes on it), which means that everytime I log in I have to send the first few minutes trying to stop iTunes hogging all the resources as it tries to update itself and scan the drives where my music is.

What that gets to mean is that Apple cannot program even the basics right in a windows program tho of course that's probably deliberate, on the basis that they want every user to see just how fantastic iTunes is(n't).

[eFestivals]

ive never experienced that, not saying its not true, but Ive got 3 user accounts on our home PC, and only mine has itunes installed, the other accounts dont appear to suffer as a result?

it's possible that it's changed recently I guess, as it's about a year since I last installed it.

But it also might be the case that it's less intrusive if the users regularly log on to that PC, or that one user is making the efforts to keep the software updated. In my case my kid does not ever update the software (so I get a prompt to do it - no, fuck off) and I log on so irregularly to that particular PC that the music library is always out of date so needs rescanning - which for 40,000 mp3s always takes a while.

I've installed it at least three times on different PCs and it's never had an option to install for just one user that i've seen, and in every case it's been a big fuck off to me, because I don't want to have to see or be bothered by software that is nothing to do with my own software needs.

[Guest]

I know this is what you predicted t8yman, so apologies... I konw a couple have been mentioned, but what is considered to be the best option that isn't iTunes? I've stuck with it as it's very user friendly, but I steer clear of updates as I've 'lost' music when doing this before

and we all have ipods.....

[eFestivals]

1) Open iTunes

2) Go to Edit>Preferences

3) Select the "General" tab

4) Uncheck "Check for iTunes updates automatically"

5) Click "OK"

Simples.... User fail

i that's aimed at me, it can only be that "user fail" because of a preceding Apple fail in how they designed the software in the first place.

If Apple had built the software to install for only one user - that's what user-focused software should do, which proves that Apple do not have the user focus that is claimed of them - then the need to update would only appear to the person who needed to update.

[eFestivals]

Run msconfig and disable iTunes from running at startup then place a shortcut for iTunes in:

C:\Users\Your Username\Startup - or something like that anyway....

For the user who wants it to be running all the time.... but then it leaves you free....

EASY

that's just perfect "Apple 'ease of use'".

Apple haven't badly designed... They have designed it that way on purpose.... To bug you into using it Its basically a virus

too fucking right - and I don't choose to install viruses on my own PC.

Edited December 4, 2012 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

You need your own computer

I've got 4 in current use that are mine, just mine, all in my office.

There are two others in the house, both of which are shared. I don't use them much, but when I do I want to be able to use them with ease. iTunes means I can't.

[eFestivals]

No other people installing ITunes and you not wanting to invest two mins effort means you can't....

the point is that I shouldn't have to.

As you so rightly said iTunes is a virus, not a user-focused program.

[t8yman]

and so it came to pass that no thread discussing the merits or otherwise of a major overhaul of one of the most widely used pieces of software on the planet, can take place without it descending into bickering and namecalling..........

sheesh.

i think it looks nice, and I havent encountered any major issues with it yet - other than the loss of some (not much) album artwork.

to tonyblair - I think media moneky may be what you seek. I used it briefly once, but found it a bit unnecessarily complicated.

[eFestivals]

and so it came to pass that no thread discussing the merits or otherwise of a major overhaul of one of the most widely used pieces of software on the planet, can take place without it descending into bickering and namecalling..........

hey, you started it, asking if the apple are shit brigade could add anything to the debate.

There is no doubting that Apple have deliberately made the software more intrusive and therefore more annoying than it needs to be.

[kaosmark2]

I know this is what you predicted t8yman, so apologies... I konw a couple have been mentioned, but what is considered to be the best option that isn't iTunes? I've stuck with it as it's very user friendly, but I steer clear of updates as I've 'lost' music when doing this before

and we all have ipods.....

[AcademicPistol]

I find it funny that almost every technology based thread turns into a software/CPU set up preference dispute.

[Gre]

What's this about itunes having to scan for songs when it starts up/updates? I've not got as big a library as some of you I'm sure (about 12,000 songs), but I've never experienced that.

There was sometimes a 'loading itunes library' wait while it started on my decrepid old laptop, is that what you mean?

[eFestivals]

What's this about itunes having to scan for songs when it starts up/updates? I've not got as big a library as some of you I'm sure (about 12,000 songs), but I've never experienced that.

There was sometimes a 'loading itunes library' wait while it started on my decrepid old laptop, is that what you mean?

possibly. I mostly remember that I was hating my kid for having made me install this annoying crap.

[Kowalski]

Anybody that has any problems with iTunes should perhaps consider an introductory computer course down at their local college.

Its a piece of piss to use.

[eFestivals]

Its a piece of piss to use.

apart from with the thing which really matters with its use towards me, which is whether it's in my face or not when I log in.

Apple gives me no choice over the matter. No course can address that.

[kaosmark2]

Anybody that has any problems with iTunes should perhaps consider an introductory computer course down at their local college.

Its a piece of piss to use.

[Kowalski]

Congratulations. That is quite possibly the post that has most completely missed the point.

Using iTunes to play music is a piece of piss. Blocking iTunes from doing what it is set up to do in the background is not. It's possible to mess about in msconfig and the like, but you shouldn't have to do that, and you then need to find out the names of all the subsidiary processes related to it that aren't actually called iTunes.

It's as bad bloatware as Vista.

[kaosmark2]

What are you going into msconfig for?

I don't run itunes when I don't use it.

[t8yman]

seems like a lot of people are arguing from a point of ignorance. many of the negative comments in the discussion so far surround things that regular users dont experience.

as I sit now, the only process running in my task manager that relates to itunes is itunes helper, and its hardly hogging resources.

[eFestivals]

seems like a lot of people are arguing from a point of ignorance. many of the negative comments in the discussion so far surround things that regular users dont experience.

The point I think you're missing is that I'm not a regular user of the software. In fact I'm not a user of it at all.

But the very fact that it's installed on a PC I use means that it is impossible for me to avoid. Every time I log onto that PC it's right in my face.

The only option to make that go away would be to uninstall it so that the person who does use it on that same PC could no longer use it.

[Kowalski]

seems like a lot of people are arguing from a point of ignorance. many of the negative comments in the discussion so far surround things that regular users dont experience.

as I sit now, the only process running in my task manager that relates to itunes is itunes helper, and its hardly hogging resources.

[t8yman]

The point I think you're missing is that I'm not a regular user of the software. In fact I'm not a user of it at all.

But the very fact that it's installed on a PC I use means that it is impossible for me to avoid. Every time I log onto that PC it's right in my face.

The only option to make that go away would be to uninstall it so that the person who does use it on that same PC could no longer use it.

[eFestivals]

I would respectfully suggest that you uninstall every reference to itunes on the machine in question (after correctly backing up the library) and reinstall it on the specific user account that requires it. when you do so, untick the box that says "allow itunes to check for updates" (or whatever it is precisely) and I'm 99% sure you will no longer have this "problem".

then maybe your irrational fear of iTunes might subside a little.

as far as I can remember, it's not possible to install it as an individual user. It needs to be installed by the machine's admin, which means that everyone has it.

[t8yman]

you can install it on a non administrators account by simply entering your password when the uac comes up.

that is the case for installing any program to a non admin account on windows afaik

Edited December 6, 2012 by t8yman

[eFestivals]

you can install it on a non administrators account by simply entering your password when the uac comes up.

that is the case for installing any program to a non admin account on windows afaik

From memory (so I might be wrong, but I really don't think so) it doesn't give that option. It pops up a message saying that it can't be installed and must be installed from the admin's account (rather than installed with use of the admin's password).

This is on Windows XP btw - I'm not sure if it might work differently on newer versions of Windoze.

I wouldn't have chosen to install it as admin if there was the option not to do that (at least, not the 2nd time I installed it for my kid [which I did within the last year when I swapped some PCs around]; the first time it might not have realised how annoying it would be, so perhaps might have chosen to install as admin that first time).

Edited December 6, 2012 by eFestivals