iTunes Yuckiness

[FlatNine]

I just got a new PC, all brand-spanking-new and a clean drive. My iPod Touch has much of my music already loaded, so I haven't had to install iTunes. It is jus such a resource hog. OTOH, I can load and update my Cowon C2 very easily by just drag and drop. No software, no headaches, just way simple. iTunes just may be the reason I abandon iPod's altogether. Unfortunate too, since I do love my 64GB Touch.

 

[NZtechfreak]

You can get around iTunes, or at least I did when I had a 4S recently. Used CopyTrans to install the drivers, and then DiskAid to copy music to the iPhone, all without iTunes. CopyTrans is able to install the drivers without wholesale installing iTunes to your PC, whereas DiskAid installs iTunes to accomplish the same thing. After using CopyTrans I just selected the "I have already have iTunes" option in the DiskAid install.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

I just got a new PC, all brand-spanking-new and a clean drive. My iPod Touch has much of my music already loaded, so I haven't had to install iTunes. It is just such a resource hog. OTOH, I can load and update my Cowon C2 very easily by just drag and drop. No software, no headaches, just way simple. iTunes just may be the reason I abandon iPod's altogether. Unfortunate too, since I do love my 64GB Touch.

 
A resource hog? On any even remotely decent PC it shouldn't be a problem to run iTunes.
I do understand what you're saying though, about drag and drop....every one of my current devices allow me to do just that.

 

[FlatNine]

Quote:

 
A resource hog? On any even remotely decent PC it shouldn't be a problem to run iTunes.
I do understand what you're saying though, about drag and drop....every one of my current devices allow me to do just that.

 
I have plenty of memory to spare, not to mention an Intel I7 3rg generation CPU. But why should I have to spare anything? iTunes has an unnecessarily large footprint, brings along uninvited guests such as QuickTime, automatic version checking for both iTunes and QuickTime, and who knows what else. On the other hand, I plug in a different DAP, like my Cowon C2, or Sansa ClipZip, and the machine sees it as just storage, and I can drag and drop. Simple, easy, non-invasive, portable. And I can be sure that nothing whatsoever is being sent to who-knows-where for who-knows-what purpose. Don't get me wrong - I *love* my iPod. (I actually have 2)  But I hate the fact that I am forced to install iTunes in order to use them to their full capacity.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

 
I have plenty of memory to spare, not to mention an Intel I7 3rg generation CPU. But why should I have to spare anything? iTunes has an unnecessarily large footprint, brings along uninvited guests such as QuickTime, automatic version checking for both iTunes and QuickTime, and who knows what else. On the other hand, I plug in a different DAP, like my Cowon C2, or Sansa ClipZip, and the machine sees it as just storage, and I can drag and drop. Simple, easy, non-invasive, portable. And I can be sure that nothing whatsoever is being sent to who-knows-where for who-knows-what purpose. Don't get me wrong - I *love* my iPod. (I actually have 2)  But I hate the fact that I am forced to install iTunes in order to use them to their full capacity.

 
If it wasn't an iOS-running device (Touch, iPhone, iPad) then you could use Mediamonkey instead of iTunes to load it. Not quite drag and drop, but less hassle than full blown iTunes. Should work fine for a Classic or a Shuffle.....I know it works with a Shuffle because I used it with mine when I had it.

 

[thegunner100]

Try using sharepod. Not sure if it works for the touch, but it definitely works for the older ipods.

 

[nanaholic]

iTunes is not a resource hog any more - not in the modern sense, currently it's only using about 50megs of RAM on my system (of which I have 8 *gigs* of RAM) and NO CPU time in the background even when I'm playing songs (I also have a i7, so 8 threads to spare), and that is already using less memory than one instance of my Chrome tab (of which I have about 10).  Heck the Dropbox client I have in the background uses as much memory as iTunes.  
 
You don't have to spare anything, modern OS are smart enough to allocate resources as needed and computer hardware greatly exceeds the need of most people's everyday usage (unless you are a hardcore gamer or a programmer or graphics artists), throw that Windows XP memory model of memory allocation and killing unnecessary program to free memory style of thinking out the window (pun intended) because it's seriously outdated.  

 

[tinyman392]

iTunes is not a resource hog any more - not in the modern sense, currently it's only using about 50megs of RAM on my system (of which I have 8 *gigs* of RAM) and NO CPU time in the background even when I'm playing songs (I also have a i7, so 8 threads to spare), and that is already using less memory than one instance of my Chrome tab (of which I have about 10).  Heck the Dropbox client I have in the background uses as much memory as iTunes.  
 
You don't have to spare anything, modern OS are smart enough to allocate resources as needed and computer hardware greatly exceeds the need of most people's everyday usage (unless you are a hardcore gamer or a programmer or graphics artists), throw that Windows XP memory model of memory allocation and killing unnecessary program to free memory style of thinking out the window (pun intended) because it's seriously outdated.  

Actually, iTunes is a resource hog on Windows machines. There is a reason for this, it's a reason of philosophy really. Apple tends to not clear out (or free memory) at its core. iTunes is no different either in this case. Instead, Apple tends to shove everything into the "inactive" memory and worry about it later. We call this a memory focused.

Windows on the other hand tends to try the opposite. It will readily free unneeded memory as time goes by rather than freeing huge chunks of "inactive" memory at a time. This is called processor focused as it is forced to use the processor to clear RAM more often.

What happens with iTunes is that it's used to not entirely freeing memory, but keeping it in storage for later use (similar idea to caching). It won't play well with Windows because of the way that the processor is always running to clear things out. It's just more gunk for the processor to go through each time the other programs try to clear their unused RAM. This slows the processor down as a whole and the computer with it. Having big chunks of memory fragmented in the RAM everywhere is also going to slow down performance as well (which is why it's important to keep clean in Windows).

The Mac on the other hand is much different. The RAM goes into place unfragmented (to the best of its ability) and doesn't separate. Overtime it will fragment, but it'll be slower since the RAM isn't getting constantly thrashed. If you clear some space out of the RAM, however, it won't be bad for performance. OSX just doesn't clear it out, rather makes it inactive with hopes that the user will be using it again.

So it's actually the OS to blame, not because its a bad OS, but because the philosophies don't match up and end up clashing instead.


Sent from an iPod touch with TapaTalk... Autocorrect may alter the meaning of this message

 

[H20Fidelity]

^ What he said.

 

[FlatNine]

I was using Red Chair's Anapod when I was just using my iPod 5G 30GB. (Wolfson!)  Not so with the Touch.   I am a programmer by trade, so am familiar with all this stuff. This thread has caused me to think about what really bugs me here. (anyone a psychologist?)  What I really dislike about iTunes is its viral nature and thinking that it knows what I want or need better than I do. Hell - I've written pieces of systems that were more complex than iTunes, yet Apple can't seem to let go of their condescending perspective when it comes to this stuff. Adding QuickTIme? Really Apple? Did I say I wanted QuickTime? I just want to move tunes on and off of my great player, not watch movies or be notified everytime some update to software I didn't want in the first place is available.
 
Ok, my rant is over, and if I smoked, I'd go have a cigarette. But I don't, so I'll go grap a cup of coffee now.

 

[mark2410]

why do you think people are constantly moaning about how terrible itunes is?  its in my opinion possible the worst piece of software ive seen on windows.

 

[nanaholic]

Quote:

What I really dislike about iTunes is its viral nature and thinking that it knows what I want or need better than I do. 

 
THIS I can certainly understand.  For example I hate how iTunes constantly wanting to take focus on its windows despite it being in the background, it's one of the most annoying thing about it when I'm working and iTunes has a pop-up and would take focus to its window over my active window, it's a serious work flow breaker.  However I don't think being a resource hog is really an issue for today's computers.  

 

[davidcotton]

I hate hate hate Itunes with an absolute passion (and I'm a mac user, so it's not just the usual mac vs pc rubbish).  It's one of the reasons I went with an Iriver 120 back in the day.

 

[FlatNine]

I should clarify about the "resource hog" comment I made. I do have a powerful machine, and if I were to install iTunes, it probably would not affect the performance much. But, iTunes cannot compare to no software at all! Plug in, drag. drop, and enjoy. Simple is best.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

I should clarify about the "resource hog" comment I made. I do have a powerful machine, and if I were to install iTunes, it probably would not affect the performance much. But, iTunes cannot compare to no software at all! Plug in, drag. drop, and enjoy. Simple is best.

 
I don't have an iDevice right now, but I can't bring myself to uninstall iTunes at this point. I think I might be able to get my podcasts from another source (at least most of them) easily enough, but there's all those apps I have saved, many that I bought and spent more money on in-app purchases....so keeping it around, this way if I get another iDevice, my apps will be preserved.