Terrible Computer and AI

[FGL]

Working with AIF and MP3 files has gotten worse and worse after 10 years. It used to be easy to push files onto devices, but those days are over.

I need to say something about OSX and the speed of computers in general. I lose the most time managing my own music on different devices. I-Tunes does not know any self-made pieces of music when it comes to transferring something to another device of your own. You export from Reason and to get a track on an I-Phone you first transfer it to Itunes on the computer.

Itunes then makes any adjustments that you can no longer understand transparently. If you then want to transfer the song from the computer to the iPhone, it's actually quite quick the first time you can simply drag it from Itunes to the iPhone and then it will be transferred. But if you then want to exchange it for a newer version, it gets bad. Then only the iTunes synchronization works. And you have to be careful here, the piece is not changed if you drag the new version onto the playlist, Itunes does not recognize any changes, the time stamp is irrelevant here.

You first have to find the piece in the media library and replace it there with the new one. The next step is to remove the piece from the iphone by finding it on Itunes and ticking it there, then it needs a synchronization that involves scanning the entire photo and music library and takes what feels like an hour, which cannot be skipped. (Although Apple spitefully shows a button “Skip” here, which has no effect. But an innovation has appeared here, you have to watch out for the I-Device, a message now appears asking for the main computer to which you have just connected the iPhone and where the backups are located is also trustworthy.

Now you have deleted the old piece on the I-Device. Then you do the whole procedure again, i.e. another “synchronization” as described, in which the data that was scanned half an hour ago is then scanned again for changes for half an hour. And finally the new version is transferred to the i-device in three seconds.

Somehow I can't really believe in artificial intelligence after this computer experience, which is now more than 10 years old.
Artificial intelligence will likely only invent new ways to degrade processes even more inscrutably. And then everywhere.

[Jackjackdaw]

I use AudioShare on iOS for moving audio around. Avoids the whole iTunes sync fiasco. Also get a waveform editor, loop points etc.

[robussc]

I use iCloud Drive. Automatically uploaded after save to iCloud and then play from the Files app on iOS. Easy.

[DaveyG]

I ran iTunes on Windows for a while. It never worked well and I'm glad to be rid of it. iCloud drive is a much more sensible way to transfer anything between iPad and PC/Mac.

But on a broader note I do agree with the OP. Software companies have had decades to get their act together but interoperability is still crap. It's all to do with competing ecosystems. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google etc all just pay lip service to interacting with each other. My iPad has to run four different apps for managing various smart devices and why do I need three different banking apps?

But don't worry. AI will solve the problem by killing us all. Its logic is undeniable.

[FGL]

I use AudioShare on iOS for moving audio around. Avoids the whole iTunes sync fiasco. Also get a waveform editor, loop points etc.

Yes, I also have this IOS program. But on IOS I just do short loops and stuff like that. Ultimately, however, it turned out for me that I use very little of it.

[FGL]

I use iCloud Drive. Automatically uploaded after save to iCloud and then play from the Files app on iOS. Easy.

I've also been thinking about this I-Cloud thing. A single piece with no connection can be managed safely in this way. But I mostly make albums and I want to know how the piece relates to the others. Not only in terms of the mastering, but also in terms of mood and length. Or am I missing something, the entire Itunes library is too large to transfer. And transferring iTunes albums individually doesn't seem to work.

For me it seems more like it would make the management of the pieces even more complicated and then I no longer know where which version is and which is the newest. Also, Apple has built in the funny trick of dating pieces by the time they were transferred and then calling this the creation date.

[robussc]

I use iCloud Drive. Automatically uploaded after save to iCloud and then play from the Files app on iOS. Easy.

I've also been thinking about this I-Cloud thing. A single piece with no connection can be managed safely in this way. But I mostly make albums and I want to know how the piece relates to the others. Not only in terms of the mastering, but also in terms of mood and length. Or am I missing something, the entire Itunes library is too large to transfer. And transferring iTunes albums individually doesn't seem to work.

For me it seems more like it would make the management of the pieces even more complicated and then I no longer know where which version is and which is the newest. Also, Apple has built in the funny trick of dating pieces by the time they were transferred and then calling this the creation date.

Ah, yeah, it’s not great for that. It’s great for checking mixes of individual tracks.

[FGL]

I ran iTunes on Windows for a while. It never worked well and I'm glad to be rid of it. iCloud drive is a much more sensible way to transfer anything between iPad and PC/Mac.

But on a broader note I do agree with the OP. Software companies have had decades to get their act together but interoperability is still crap. It's all to do with competing ecosystems. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google etc all just pay lip service to interacting with each other. My iPad has to run four different apps for managing various smart devices and why do I need three different banking apps?

But don't worry. AI will solve the problem by killing us all. Its logic is undeniable.

I'm counting on the coming nuclear war anyway. Something like this will of course solve all my audio problems as well as all the other breakfast table problems in general.

But how an iCloud solution could look like is still not clear to me.

[FGL]

The whole Itunes thing is actually not software to manage music, but a shop. Sadly, ITunes has no relevant competition.

[DaveyG]

The whole Itunes thing is actually not software to manage music, but a shop. Sadly, ITunes has no relevant competition.

The whole iTunes philosophy is that you do everything within iTunes. If you do that it works fine. What it is not good at is importing stuff that originates outside iTunes or exporting stuff to anything that is not the latest Apple kit.

And, yeah, it's a shop. Apple have to pay the bills somehow you know...

[Jackjackdaw]

I wouldn’t worry about nuclear war, the ai apocalypse or iTunes sync. We’re all going to croak one way or another.

[FGL]

Oh, Apple has come up with something new. Now, after downloading the tracks I made and stamped my name onto the iphone, I got the message: "This track is currently unavailable in your country or region".

The AI certainly already has a title in my name and the things I do.

[plaamook]

I use iTunes to put bounces on my iPhone all the time. No probs.
I make a playlist. Add whatever tracks. If I update a track it gets a different version number. Thing 1.3 and so on. Sync my phone. Done.
But I always rename versions. Maybe try that?

[FGL]

Finally I have a solution. I need to take the photo library completely out of sync. That doesn't change the fact that I still have to do a deletion synchronization and the described file pushing, but it doesn't take that long anymore.

If I then use other media again, I have to turn it on again or send them via Bluetooth.

[FGL]

I use iTunes to put bounces on my iPhone all the time. No probs.
I make a playlist. Add whatever tracks. If I update a track it gets a different version number. Thing 1.3 and so on. Sync my phone. Done.
But I always rename versions. Maybe try that?

Yes, that works too, always new names and then at the end only the last version without numbers. And I really think about it. But I've gotten used to simply overwriting the MP3 in the last corner (show in Finder) of Itunes.

[plaamook]

Well my actual reason files are all numbered versions so as I bounce they default to a different number. Then if I make any incremental changes I’ll bounce it as thing3.1 or whatever.

Let’s face it. An electronic musician needs to get their head around decent file management.

[plaamook]

I just wish they’d stop screwing around w iTunes.
Since I’ve been using it I can’t think that they’ve added a single valuable feature. All they do is screw up the default settings so you have to dig around to find out how to get it to function ‘normally’ again after an update.

[DaveyG]

I just wish they’d stop screwing around w iTunes.
Since I’ve been using it I can’t think that they’ve added a single valuable feature. All they do is screw up the default settings so you have to dig around to find out how to get it to function ‘normally’ again after an update.

That's Apple all over, not just with iTunes. The Apple ecosystem works really well if you buy in to their latest thinking. If you try to combine it with non-Apple stuff or even older Apple stuff you often end up banging your head against the wall.

[plaamook]

I just wish they’d stop screwing around w iTunes.
Since I’ve been using it I can’t think that they’ve added a single valuable feature. All they do is screw up the default settings so you have to dig around to find out how to get it to function ‘normally’ again after an update.

That's Apple all over, not just with iTunes. The Apple ecosystem works really well if you buy in to their latest thinking. If you try to combine it with non-Apple stuff or even older Apple stuff you often end up banging your head against the wall.

Well, it goes back and forth over the years. I think it’s been worse than it is.
I lost my last logic license that way. Updated the os…no more logic without paying 200 units. Think it was logic 9. I only used it for a few things but still.

[plaamook]

Speaking of iTunes...
When you make a plist, why the hell does it by default show all these stupid things like genre, number of plays, and the stupid 'love' heart icon.
Why would I care how many times I've played it? I know what genre it is, and I know I like it because I put it there.
Then I have to manually get it to show actual information like bit rate, file size etc.