Here's one for Gob and others disgusted with iTunes...

[Joe Guy]

source

There’s no way to put this delicately: iTunes 11 blows. After attempting to tolerate it on our Mac for a few months and missing not only the simplicity of the previous version but a variety of features that made it, you know, functional we came across a relatively painless step-by-step guide to downgrading on a MacRumors message board.

It worked for us but please proceed at your own risk. (If smoke starts coming out of the back of your laptop it’s probably a bad sign.)

Preparation.
1. Backup your iTunes library.
2. Download iTunes 10.7, directly from Apple.
3. Download AppZapper (new users get five free zaps).
4. Download Pacifist (you get a free trial by clicking “Not Yet” when asked for registration).

Now you’re ready to do the dirty work.

5. Using AppZapper, uninstall iTunes 11: From your Applications folder, drag the iTunes icon into the window that says, yes, ‘Drag Apps Here.’ You will see a list of files related to the latest version. Click “Zap!” (You may need to go into AppZapper’s preferences and uncheck the box that says, “Keep Apple applications safe” first.)

6. Launch Pacifist. Under the file menu, click “Open Package.” Locate iTunes10.7.dmg on your computer and hit “Open.”

7. Highlight “Contents of iTunes10.7.dmg” in the Pacifist window and click install from the menu bar (make sure “Use administrator privileges” is checked).

8. Click the “Replace” button on every prompt from Pacifist (or simply check “Don’t ask again for this installation”).

9. Go to your home folder > Music > iTunes.

10. Delete the file “iTunes Library.itl” in the main folder. From the Previous iTunes Libraries folder, drag the most recent file into the main iTunes library and rename it “iTunes Library.itl”

That’s it!

Now you can launch the new old iTunes from your application folder and regain a bit of your sanity. Never again allow your Mac to run Software Update on iTunes and you should be fine.

[dales]

I'd rather just buy a stack of records.

[Joe Guy]

Me too but it's not easy.

I have a record player in my truck and it skips when I drive over a bump or make a quick stop and I sometimes swerve in traffic when I flip a record over or put a new one on.

[Gob]

LOL!! Thanks Joe, but I've scrapped itunes totally.

I now use this; Media Jukebox 14, it's not perfect, but compared to itunes it's bloody brilliant.

I also use Caliber for my e-book library.

I wonder why Apple is so shite at software?

[Crackpot]

It isn't (or at least it wasn't) But Maps and itunes has got me wondering.

[dales]

Since Steve Jobs has gone to i-afterlife, it seems that Apple Corp has lost its way.

Oh well, as long as my B-I-L has a job there I don't care.

He's 64?

[Gob]

I don't know, is he?

[dales]

Yeah, he's been at the Cupertino Office since 1979.

He's the second longest-survivor there.

Yeah, he's 64, he'll be 65 this year and the Co. will give him an etched PC Board as a memento for 35 years service.

No pension plan for the poor blighter.

[Long Run]

Yes, but does he have an Apple stock that he bought in 1979 or the 80's?

[dales]

No, he pissed it away.