That Squeaky Clean, Harmonic Feeling

[jesse_the_k]

...after I spend a couple days reorganizing all the music files on my Mac.

iDAMN iHATE iTunes

(I'd somehow created dup music folders. Good thing I only have ~2000 songs or my poor drive would have keeled. If you use a Mac and ever have to delete more than 50 iTunes duplicates, do yourself a favor and spend $8 for Dupin Lite 2 from this Apple store link.)

It's like Apple's software division has no overall UX chief. Almost every bit of software is uniquely annoying. If you use an Apple device, what's the software you hate most right now?

(Can I have Eudora back?) Speaking of which, recognize my icon?

Comments

[branchandroot]

I believe it is actually the case, that there is no overall UX chief. The people who write the iOS versions and desktop versions of the same software aren't even the same groups, and don't seem to communicate a lot either.

[jesse_the_k]

Yipes.

This from the people who pioneered a "uniform interface style guide" in the 80s. It was one of the things which made the Mac easier to learn (having come from a command-line environment, those first couple weeks were really frustrating. Consistent menu and open/save dialog behaviors make the Mac much easier to teach.

It seems like somebody's cousin convinced somebody's brother-in-law to let somebody else's uncle play around with "how confusing can I make a music editing program?" (Male refs intentional.)

[deakat]

I loved Eudora (albeit on Windows).

[jesse_the_k]

It was a powerful and yet friendly program. Whenever I used it I joined a happy cohort all around the world. I felt cradled in the intelligence of that cohort, since at the time I thought of it as the .edu tool.

Mists, fog.

[firecat]

OMG I have lost more hours of my life to trying to get rid of duplicated audio files.

And when I worked there, they didn't have a UX chief.

Moof!

[jesse_the_k]

The Dupin application/script does more things than you thought you needed to filter the "songs" list into perfection.

Our software company, Raised Dot Computing (may its memory be for a blessing) was an Apple Developer in the days of Apple II Forever. Moof back at you!

I remember when Tech Note 13 arrived -- in the postal mail. I also remember getting memos for sw devs to create uniformity and predictability in the Mac interface. Which is/was smart, and why Mac is easier to teach.

[firecat]

I did eventually discover the Dupin app, yes!

Now I need a Dupin app to wrangle the 2453243 Garage Band Loop folders I discovered were scattered everywhere.

[vass]

I will join you in the iTunes hate. Every update they somehow find a way to make it even worse. Which is really impressive, considering.

[jesse_the_k]

I want someone to make a fortune designing a relatively low-cost alternative to iTunes. Even though the competition is free, I'd be happy to part with $20 for a program that's coherent, easy to use, and doesn't change its entire interface every 4 months.

I'm particularly annoyed today because they've made the play controls tiny. I can barely see them with my glasses on. Why o why?

[vass]

I noticed today that since the last iOS update I can no longer put an artist on random.

It would be nice if a music management app didn't act like their UI designers' motto was "you don't really care for music, do you?"

[firecat]

YES I just noticed that too and I am so mad.

[sonia]

Thank you thank you for the dupin link! I was just this week saying I was going to write something to compare files and delete duplicates, but I was afraid of messing up my music collection. Much better to buy someone else's debugged work!

[jesse_the_k]

Indeed. I hope you find it as magical as I did.

I have to say that the new paradigm in software sales (quantity at lower prices) really works for me. I can tolerate dropping $8, and if it doesn't work writing a specific review. Don't know how smaller shops make any money, though.