It’s almost hard to believe I wrote this post about duplicate track issues in iTunes and iCloud Music Library way back in December 2017, and yet, in the shipping version of iTunes today, that bug is still present. Not a day goes by since I wrote that post (I have the tracking stats to prove it) that at least a few people don’t find my article via a Google search, which means people have been frustrated with this issue and have been looking for solutions for a very…

Fall is here, and that means it’s time for yet another chapter in Joe’s Adventures of Getting His iTunes Music Collection onto His New iPhone. Don’t worry: This one has a mostly happy ending. Long-time readers will recall past issues with getting my music situation settled on the iPhone every year. Here’s the short version: I want ALL my music on my phone, downloaded, and ready to play. I am away from internet connectivity often enough (on the subway, on airplanes, and so on) that having…

Update: It looks like Apple may finally have fixed this bug in the next version of macOS, called Catalina. Read more details in my new post here. Over the years, the majority of my complaints about Apple have centered around music. That’s because I love music, and Apple clearly doesn’t always think enough about people outside of its contrived all-in-on-Apple-Music listener when it comes to the iTunes experience. Today’s complaint actually begins with a recent positive discovery. I finally gave in to the temptation and signed up…

While everyone else in the community is still losing its mind over the battery bump, I thought I’d offer a change of pace and criticize something a little more concerning about Apple’s recent endeavors. It didn’t take much effort to find something less controversial, at least. Let’s take, for instance, the experience of watching iTunes Extras material on an iPad. iTunes Extras are like DVD bonus features for the movies you buy on iTunes. Some movies only offer an alternate commentary track. Others get quite elaborate,…

Ping: What went wrong | Macworld: “And therein lies Ping’s primary defect. Though dressed in social garb, at its heart, it’s a crude advertising vehicle. And one—undoubtedly to the great disappointment of some at Apple—that too many people saw through.” (Via Macworld.) Another great article from Christopher Breen. I’d add that another of Ping’s shortcomings is that you can’t simply post links to interesting articles, stories, pictures, etc. Artists could post whatever they wanted, but regular users like you and me had to start…