iTunes a bit olde fashionede?

[David Ayers]

I don't use iTunes much, and I think one reason is that it does absolutely no work for you in terms of identifying things you might like based on purchase and browsing history. Or am I wrong? This is something amazon does very well. I know for example that iTunes has a Sun Ra page. I found it though only from an external link. I would have no idea how to find it from inside iTunes. I find myself wondering if iTunes is a bit of a dead letter.

Most of my listening is CD or streaming. My perception of iTunes is part of why I see downloads as a format whose time may have gone. Tell me if I am missing something on iTunes though!

[ornette]

I never understood why the iTunes store never allowed search by label - not that Amazon does, at least as a dedicated search field. (They used to but it vanished). Label search would be especially useful for jazz fans.

Edited January 7, 2015 by ornette

[mjzee]

Just do a Google search. I searched for iTunes sun ra, and this is the first link that came up: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/sun-ra/id72824

[Justin V]

  On 1/7/2015 at 6:45 AM, ornette said:

I never understood why the iTunes store never allowed search by label - not that Amazon does, at least as a dedicated search field. (They used to but it vanished). Label search would be especially useful for jazz fans.

Amazon allows you to search by label using the advanced search: http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=2258933011.

[.:.impossible]

Apple will be integrating BEATS into iTunes this year. I imagine it will then do what you want it to do.

[John L]

I tend to download from Amazon instead of iTunes. I prefer getting real MP3s. iTunes also sometimes includes hidden "sorting" information in its product that is difficult to change and can confuse the categorization of the music in a digital collection. I also find Amazon more responsive in the event that something goes wrong with a download. Sometimes iTunes will have something that Amazon doesn't and visa-versa, but not often.

[Scott Dolan]

  On 1/7/2015 at 10:07 PM, John L said:

I tend to download from Amazon instead of iTunes. I prefer getting real MP3s.

Huh???

AAC is the successor to MP3, and has better sound quality at equal sampling rates. It's the superior codec of the two. Your statement doesn't really make sense...

Edited January 7, 2015 by Scott Dolan

[John L]

I know that has been Apple's line, but is there objective proof?

I have tended to view it as part of the general push of Apple to adopt technology that is only compatible with other Apple technology. MP3s work everywhere.

Edited January 8, 2015 by John L

[.:.impossible]

AAC is not proprietary. you should not have any compatibility issues. If you do, you have a rare device.

[John L]

  On 1/8/2015 at 12:52 AM, .:.impossible said:

AAC is not proprietary. you should not have any compatibility issues. If you do, you have a rare device.

Is that right? That is good to know. I recall that there used to be a lot of compatibility issues.

I still have a lot of protected iTunes files that are a pain every time that I want to use a different computer. The price that iTunes wants to upgrade them is ridiculously high. I paid full price for them. Why shouldn't they upgrade them for free?

[.:.impossible]

Try here:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1550

I haven't used iTunes in a while, but this should help.

[Scott Dolan]

AAC isn't proprietray to Apple, my friend.

http://www.stereophile.com/features/308mp3cd/index.html

"It is true that there are better-performing MP3 codecs than the basic Fraunhöfer—many audiophiles recommend the LAME encoder—but the AAC codec used by iTunes has better resolution than MP3 at the same bit rate (if a little noisier at the top of the audioband). If you want the maximum number of files on your iPod, therefore, you take less of a quality hit if you use AAC encoding than if you use MP3. But "CD quality"? Yeah, right!"

Let your ears do the talking.

It has nothing to do with Apple. AAC is superior to MP3. Not by much, IMO. But it is better.

[ornette]

  On 1/7/2015 at 2:14 PM, Justin V said:

I never understood why the iTunes store never allowed search by label - not that Amazon does, at least as a dedicated search field. (They used to but it vanished). Label search would be especially useful for jazz fans.

Amazon allows you to search by label using the advanced search: http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=2258933011.

Thanks!