March 2016 - Neil Turner's Blog

How Apple can make iTunes great again

April 7, 2026March 30, 2016 by Neil Turner

iTunes. It’s the software that many of us use begrudgingly for listening to music, purchasing content, syncing with our devices and watching videos. Mac users get it as part of OS X, whether they want it or not, but Windows users need to download it, to be able to synchronise their music libraries with their various iDevices.

Apple is known for its great hardware design (with just a few exceptions), and people like me are very loyal to our iPhones due to its (in my opinion) superior user interface. So why did iTunes, one of Apple’s most-used desktop computer programs, become so hated by its users? Why would writer and Guardian journalist Charlie Brooker describe it as ‘…a hideous binary turd that transforms the sparkling world of music and entertainment into a stark, unintuitive spreadsheet’?

To find out how iTunes came to be the bloated mess that it now is, we need to look back into its history.

A brief history of iTunes

iTunes has not always been called iTunes. Way back in the late 1990s, it was called ‘SoundJam’, and was written by an independent third-party developer for the original Mac OS System 9. Apple later bought out the developers, releasing iTunes 1.0 in 2001, which built on SoundJam’s features and added the ability to burn CDs with tracks from the user’s library. Fundamentally, the basic music management features of iTunes are largely unchanged in 15 years.

iTunes 2.0 was the first release for Mac OS X, and the first to support Apple’s brand new music player, the iPod. This took iTunes from being an application that simply managed music on your computer and your CDs, to your iPod as well.

Version 4.0 and 4.1 were big steps forward for iTunes. Version 4.0 brought the iTunes Music Store (later just the iTunes Store when it expanded to other content), and 4.1 brought iTunes to Windows for the first time. Adding the iTunes Store added another layer of complexity to an application that already did quite a lot of different things.

As Apple improved its iPod range, iTunes had to keep up. So the 2004 launch of the iPod Photo, with a colour screen for showing photos, saw photo syncing added to iTunes 4.7, and the launch of the fifth generation iPod Classic in 2005 meant that iTunes would gain support for video playback. By now, it was possible to use what was originally a program for managing music, to manage your movie and TV show libraries as well. Podcast support arrived in version 4.9.

2007 brought the first iPhone. Up until 2011’s release of iOS 5, iOS devices relied on iTunes for various tasks like software updates and backups, and so all of this had to be handled in the app as well. Ultimately, this led to a major redesign of the iTunes interface in 2012 (version 11), but it retained its underlying code and all of its numerous existing features. And iTunes 12 saw Apple Music, its new streaming service, bolted on to iTunes.

So what is iTunes now?

We know what iTunes was, when it first came out 15 years ago: a music library management program that let you play music, and import and export tracks to CDs. Its feature set has since ballooned into:

an all-encompassing media and app store
music and video player
podcast manager
internet radio player
streaming music service
CD ripper and burner
mobile device sync and backup tool
online music storage manager

All of these are rolled into one, monolithic app, which is supposed to run on both OS X and Windows. Whilst Apple controls OS X and iTunes’ integration with it, the Windows version has developed a reputation for being slow and a pain to update. iTunes for Windows actually includes a number of helper utilities (Apple Mobile Device Support, Bonjour, Apple Software Update and others) and I’ve lost count of the times when I’ve tried to update iTunes on Windows to find that the installation failed. Sometimes, you just have to uninstall and reinstall everything, which is time-consuming and far from ideal for a piece of software that is updated on a near bi-monthly basis. I wouldn’t be surprised if many Windows users still have old versions, due to updating issues.

What can Apple do to make iTunes better?

In my view, Apple needs to take a look at what it has done on iOS. There’s no monolithic, all-encompassing ‘iTunes’ app — instead, its individual functions have been broken down into multiple apps. Here’s how iOS does it:

Music — this handles the music you own (in your iTunes library) and Apple Music.
Videos — playback of videos in your iTunes library is handled by a separate app.
Podcasts — again, podcasts have their own app. This was baked in to the Music app in earlier versions of iOS, but was later spun-out and it now comes as standard.
iTunes Store — the store is a separate app; once you buy something, playback is handled by the Music or Videos apps.
App Store — apps for iOS devices are bought separately from audio and video content.
Settings — handling your settings is done in the main iOS Settings app.

So I suggest that Apple splits iTunes on the desktop into the following:

iTunes Music — a music player that takes iTunes back to its roots. It’ll handle all aspects of playing music — whether this is from your own library, a CD, Apple Music or internet radio. CD burning can go in here too.
iTunes Video — this could replace Apple’s QuickTime player, which hasn’t seen much development in recent years. It can handle the playback of video content from your library — whether that’s films, TV shows, or home movies imported from iMovie.
iTunes Podcasts — a separate podcast manager, like on iOS.
iTunes Store — like on iOS, the store app is kept separate. When an item has downloaded, a single click would allow users to open the content in either the music or video player, where applicable, or in a third-party player if Apple wants to play nice.
Apple Sync Settings — on a Mac, this could be an additional preference pane in System Preferences. On Windows, I would have previously suggested a new Control Panel applet, but I gather such things have been phased out in Windows 10 and so this would have to be a separate app. This would handle the synchronisation of data between your computer and Apple device (a modern-day reincarnation of iSync), so you can choose what is copied across and handle backups and software updates.

A simple onboarding splash screen could help users find out where things have moved to when they upgrade.

What else needs to change?

Splitting iTunes up into several component apps will hopefully make it faster (less code to load into memory) and easier to use (less features to cram into a single interface). I also hope that doing this would improve the Windows version, which has never been as slick as its Mac counterpart.

But one other thing that Apple needs to change is the incessant prompts for your AppleID password. Some of these make sense — unless you turn it off, you’ll be prompted every time you buy something, and that’s fine. But sometimes I get asked for my password for no discernible reason. This came to a head last week when my AppleID was locked due to ‘suspicious activity’ on my account — which was me renaming my iPhone to ‘Phoney McPhoneface’ — yeah, I know. This led to at least four prompts to enter my (18 character) password on my phone, and iTunes asked for it twice. In all of these situations, I entered the password correctly, so why all the prompts?

I’m sure there are many more ways that Apple can improve iTunes. The change I’ve suggested here is a major one, and would probably be the biggest shake-up since its launch in the 1990s. But I honestly think that it would make a major difference to iTunes’ many millions of users around the world.

This post was originally posted on Medium.

Lotherton Hall

December 29, 2024March 28, 2016 by Neil Turner

On Saturday, we went to Lotherton Hall, which, like Temple Newsam, is a stately home with parkland near Leeds. Whereas Temple Newsam has a farm, Lotherton Hall has a ‘bird garden’ – effectively a zoo specialising in birds.

I’ve been quite a few times before, as it’s on the York side of Leeds and therefore very easy to get to from York. I have vague memories of going on a school trip when I was in primary school, and one of the birds doing its business on the head of one of the teachers.

The majority of the birds are not native to Britain, so there are plenty of flamingoes, cranes, ibises and emus. Some attempt has been made to theme the areas, so most of the ducks are in one place, and the parrots and cockatoos are grouped together. There’s also a walk-through area with African birds. Highlights for us were the kookaburras, the owls and an agouti – one of the few non-feathered animals there.

The estate also provides a large playground, café, gardens, and the house itself. We had a stroll through the gardens but didn’t go into the house – bad weather was expected in the afternoon and so we wanted to be able to head off home.

As we’re staying at my parents’ house, I haven’t had chance to edit the photos and upload them to Flickr, so the photo above is as it came off the camera (albeit resized). We’re in York until Tuesday, and so hopefully I’ll have chance to work on the photos later this week.

York Model Railway Show

December 29, 2024March 27, 2016 by Neil Turner

Today, I accompanied my Dad to York’s annual model railway exhibition at York Racecourse.

It’s an event I’ve been going to from a very young age – both my Dad and I have an interest in railway modelling and there’s a large train set at my parents’ house in York. Although it’s gathering dust and hasn’t been used much over the last 10-15 years – I imagine that Dad planned to work on it in retirement but he’s been too busy doing other things.

So, the model railway show. It takes place over the Easter weekend and has run every year (I think) since the 1960s. Whilst I used to go every year, this was my first visit since 2013. There are a mixture of layouts, built by individuals and societies, as well as many trade stands.

The layouts vary greatly in size. Some are huge, requiring multiple people to operate, whereas others will easily fit in the back of someone’s car. The smallest was in a flight case, which used the diminutive ‘T gauge‘. Whilst many layouts used ‘OO’ gauge, which is the most widely available to those with trainsets at home, there were many others with bigger and smaller trains.

As you can imagine, model railways attract a predominantly older, male audience, but it’s popular with kids as well – footstools are available for hire for those otherwise unable to see the layouts. We didn’t take our baby this time as they’re a bit young, and it can be rather crowded – not ideal conditions for a pram. Maybe next year, when they can take an interest in what’s going on.

York is one of the larger exhibitions, both in terms of the number of layouts on show and also in length, as it runs over three days. Opening yesterday, it runs until tomorrow.

Home Farm at Temple Newsam

December 29, 2024March 22, 2016 by Neil Turner

On Saturday, Christine and I took out little one to the Home Farm, part of the Temple Newsam estate near Leeds. It’s a working farm with many rare breed animals, that is open to the public for visits. And, with it being the springtime, it was also full of cute baby farm animals.

Although much of the Temple Newsam estate is free to access, including the parkland, gardens and an accessible adventure playground for kids with disabilities, entry fees are in place for the farm. But it’s free for the under-5s and it’s only £3.60 per adult, and you’ll probably spend over an hour there so it’s good value. There’s also an additional playground that’s only accessible to those who have paid to enter the farm, and a lower field with donkeys.

At three months old, our little cherub is a bit too young to appreciate the farm (and was asleep most of the time anyway) but it’s great for families with young kids. Most of the animals are willing to be petted, and there are information boards and staff on hand to talk about the animals. Many of the animals are ‘rare breeds’ – breeds that are less common in British farming, and, in some cases, under threat. The pigs, for example, are British Saddleback, Tamworth and Middle White breeds, and the sheep include Manx Loaghtan which are native only to the Isle of Man (although I don’t think any where publicly viewable when we went).

With it being the Easter holidays, I expect the farm to be really busy at present, but it’s well worth a visit, as long as the weather is okay. There are some indoor bits, but most of the farm is outside so it’s probably not the best way to spend a rainy day. Also, if you’re pushing a pram or wheelchair like we were, be aware that there are a lot of uneven cobbles, and that the farm is on a hillside.

Vaccinations

December 29, 2024March 21, 2016 by Neil Turner

Our baby is now 12 weeks old, and has had their first round of vaccinations. These should have been given at 8 weeks, but our town was flooded out at the time of birth, and this included our GP surgery.

The first round is four individual vaccines. One of these, the rotavirus vaccination, is given orally as drops, but the rest are needles. These are the 5-in-1 vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and Hib), Pneumococcal, and the brand new Meningitis B vaccine. Sadly some older children aren’t and there is pressure for it to be made more widely available.

As you’d perhaps expect, our little cherub wasn’t very happy about the needles, although it can’t have been worse than the various blood tests in their first week of life. This was as a result of developing jaundice, which required regular blood tests to monitor. Some pre-emptive Calpol (or rather generic-brand Paracetamol Suspension for Infants – it’s the same thing) hopefully helped. Later on, our baby was a little feverish, but more Calpol helped and has been fine since.

Whilst we didn’t really ‘choose’ to vaccinate our baby, there is no way that we would have opted out of the vaccinations. Christine and I are both in favour of vaccinations and the protections it gives people. I always have the ‘flu jab every year, which I get free because I’m asthmatic, but also because ‘flu is horrendous. Christine gets it free as well, as she is professional healthcare worker.

By ensuring that our baby is vaccinated, we’re not just protecting them, but others as well; not everyone can receive vaccinations, either because they’re too young or have compromised immune systems. Herd immunity is important.

The next round of vaccinations will be in a few weeks, for the 5-in-1 and rotavirus vaccines again, along with Meningitis C. Whilst it won’t be a pleasant experience at the time, it’ll be far better than for them to contract those diseases.

The Guilty Feminist Podcast

December 29, 2024March 15, 2016 by Neil Turner

Hi, I’m Neil, and I’m a feminist.

A cursory search of my previous blog posts suggests that I haven’t really talked about feminism on here in the past (this bit about one of Caitlin Moran’s books was all that I could find), but both myself and Christine strongly believe in the equality of the sexes. With this in mind, last night I went to a recording of The Guilty Feminist, a weekly podcast hosted by stand-up comedians Sofie Hagen and Deborah Frances-White.

The Guilty Feminist is a relatively new podcast with the sixth episode due to be posted this week. Each episode is recorded in front of a live, fee-paying audience, and focusses on a particular topic. Last week was advertising, and this week will be about exercise. Last night’s recording, at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale, near Manchester, was for two episodes, on womens’ magazines and on self-worth. There’s always a special guest and Sarah Millican, one of my favourite stand-up comedians, was at the recording I went to. She founded an online womens’ magazine called Standard Issue (which I read from time to time) and she explained her reasons for setting it up on the show.

I’ve been listening to The Guilty Feminist since it started, having been aware of Sofie Hagen from some other projects – she has her own podcast called Comedians Telling Stuff and she’s won a couple of prestigious best newcomer awards over the past couple of years. It’s a good show – around 45 minutes, with a mixture of stand-up and discussion around the topic of the week with the special guest. Because the audience pays to see the recordings, there’s no advertising or plugs for Audible or Squarespace, or requests for donations, which is refreshing. And there were free macaroons for the audience too, but you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out why.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to bring Christine with me to the recording. We weren’t able to arrange any childcare, and, as the show was being recorded, it wouldn’t have been appropriate to bring a baby with us in case they became disruptive. So, it was just me, on my own, in a predominantly female audience. Still, I had a good time and was really pleased that I went.

The shows that were recorded yesterday will go out at different times – the first in a few weeks and the second in the summer. I’ll tweet about them when they’re up, but in the meantime, you can listen to the other episodes on iTunes. There are further recordings coming up – one tonight in London, and then some in Denmark and Australia – and I’d recommend checking them out.

Kate Lycett’s Lost Houses

December 29, 2024March 1, 2016 by Neil Turner

Running a stately home is a lot of work – you only have to watch shows like Downton Abbey to see why. (note: I have never watched Downton Abbey.) Organisations like The National Trust spend millions every year to keep their properties going. Not all houses are lucky enough to have someone maintain them and some have fallen into disrepair or been demolished.

With this in mind, artist Kate Lycett has painted a series of pieces called the Lost Houses of the South Pennines, which has gone on display in Halifax’s Bankfield Museum. All of the paintings are of houses and stately homes in Yorkshire which are no longer standing, such as Manor Heath in Halifax (now Manor Heath Park) or Horton Hall near Bradford.

What makes Kate’s paintings stand out is her attention to detail. All of the paintings show the houses as if they were still in their heydays – lights on, and with an almost ethereal glow, giving them life again. Gold leaf has been woven in to good effect.

Alongside each piece is a description of the house – who built it, what it was used for, and its ultimate fate. Photographs are also provided, as are Kate’s scrapbooks that she used during her research. Ironically for an exhibition at a Calderdale Council venue, many of those houses were demolished by its predecessor organisations. Dry rot seemed to be a major problem in several properties but I think money (or the lack thereof) has been the major factor in most of the houses’ demise.

We’ve visited twice – Christine and I were lucky to be invited to the opening night by a mutual friend of the artist, but we also popped in with my parents at the weekend. It looks like it’s been pleasingly popular.

All of the paintings are for sale by sealed auction bid, but you can also purchase limited numbered edition prints that are signed by the artist. These include the gold leaf that the originals have. The exhibition runs until early April, and is free to visit.