Revert back to iTunes 10 from iTunes 11 (Windows Edition)
[UPDATE 2015-01-17] New Article: How to make iTunes 12 look and act more like iTunes 10
If you’re looking for the Mac OS X downgrade steps, please check out this Randosity article. After giving iTunes 11 a fair shake, I have come to the conclusion that this version is so hopelessly broken that I just can’t deal with it any longer. So, I’ve decided to roll back to iTunes 10.
The iTunes 11 botch
It is very obvious that Tim Cook (and crew) are systematically undoing every ideal that Jobs held for Apple. iTunes 11 is no exception. With its missing menus, unnecessary drop down menus, haphazard interface, missing Radio link (well, not missing, but moved to a hard-to-find area), huge graphical album listings and no easy way to set art on music any more, the whole iTunes 11 release is one big botch. Well, the last straw came today when I tried importing a CD. It imported fine until I stopped it because I realized the import settings were wrong. When I attempted to restart the import, iTunes 11 would only begin at the next track and refused to replace the existing, something that iTunes 10 does quite nicely. When I put a second CD into my second drive, the whole app locked up. Then, I killed it with task manager. On startup, it proceeded to lock up Windows and prevent me from working with the desktop. I’ve never had this issue with iTunes 10. Worse, playlist metadata is now stupidly globally linked. Meaning, if you uncheck a song in one playlist and it exists in other playlists, it unchecks the song there too. So, now checkboxes are global settings across the whole of iTunes. That’s just some of the underwhelming, but major changes in iTunes 11. I’ve had it with iTunes 11 and all of its stupid new quirks.
Rewriting that much of an app is really a gamble and this is one gamble didn’t pay off. I’ve heard some people seem to like some of the changes. I’m not one of them. Seriously, what was the benefit to changing the interface that radically for no end-user payoff? I mean, at least give us users some kind of a bone to endure that kind of radical change. There just isn’t any reward for dealing with this massive of a change. All we get is whole lot of learning curve, fighting through bugs, dealing with stupidity in UI design all without any substantial ease of use improvements.
Restoring iTunes 10
Well, I finally made the decision to revert back to iTunes 10. The first problem was locating the most recent version of iTunes 10. Thankfully, Apple Support keeps older iTunes versions online (or at least, they’re there now). So, if you are thinking of reverting back to iTunes 10, you might want to grab your copy now before they take it down. But, keep in mind that once you’ve upgraded to iTunes 11, your ‘iTunes Library.itl’ (What are the iTunes library files?) file will be updated to the latest format which is incompatible with iTunes 10. So, you will have to restore back to an older version of library.itl or possibly face rebuilding your entire media library from files on disk.
Steps to revert on Windows:
- Download iTunes 10 from the above link
- Start->Control Panel->Programs and Features
- Make note of the iTunes 11 ‘Installed On’ date.
- Uninstall iTunes 11
- Install iTunes 10
- Don’t start iTunes 10 at this point or you will receive an error stating that library.itl was created by a newer version. Continue on with the steps below.
- Go to C:\Users\<your user>\Music\iTunes
- Rename ‘iTunes Library.itl’ to ‘iTunes library.iTunes11.itl’ (in case you want to revert back using this file)
- Note the space in the name
- Copy the most recent backup of ‘iTunes Library.itl’ or of a date just before you installed iTunes 11
- Copy C:\Users\<your user>\Music\iTunes\Previous iTunes Libraries\library.<date>.itl to
- C:\Users\<your user>\Music\iTunes\library.itl
- If you don’t have a backup copy, you can simply delete ‘iTunes Library.itl’, but you’ll probably have to rebuild your media library from scratch. Deleting this file doesn’t delete your music, it will just remove iTunes’ reference to it.
- If you have a ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’, you may be able to import that to rebuild your library more easily.
- You should regularly export your library as ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ anyway in case iTunes ever gets corrupted.
- Once you have iTunes 10 installed and ‘iTunes Library.itl’ recovered, you can start up iTunes 10. Assuming the ‘iTunes Library.itl’ was a backup created by iTunes 10, it should start just fine. If it doesn’t, keep recovering older ‘iTunes Library.<date>.itl’ backup files until you find one that works.
Now you’ll want to review your library to ensure that any new music you’ve bought or added is there. If not, you’ll have to add the folders of that music to this library.
Note, if you have changed where your library.itl resides, you will have to rename it there instead. If you haven’t modified iTunes in this way, library.itl will be in the above location (or whichever drive is your Windows boot drive letter). Simply deleting the file, iTunes may be smart enough to pull its most recent backup copy, but I haven’t tested this. So, I’d rather choose my library.itl from the backups.
Additional note, you can’t tell which version of iTunes generated the library.itl file. So, you will need to review your backup library.<date>.itl files and locate a dated file that’s before you installed iTunes 11. If you don’t remember the date you installed iTunes, you may be able to find the install date in Control Panel->Programs and Features.
Mac Note: that with the exception of the paths, the basics of these instructions may apply to MacOS X. I’ve just not reverted iTunes on MacOS X as yet. However, you’re in luck, Danny has produced a rollback article for Mac OS X here on Randosity for Mac OS X users.
Apple’s progressive slide
There are some technology changes that Apple makes that work. There are some that don’t. Part of the problem is a quality control issue. Steve Jobs was a stickler for high quality control to the point of perfectionism. This is a good thing in that Apple’s quality was always near perfect when Jobs was on duty. Unfortunately, since Tim Cook has taken over, that quality level has dramatically slid down. The iPad 3 was the first example, then OS X Lion, then iOS 6, Mountain Lion and now iTunes 11. I won’t even get into that thing they’re calling an iPod nano. I still shutter to think that someone at Apple thought the new taller iPod nano would actually have a real world use case over the ‘watch’ version? I should just avoid the obvious discussion about the whole taller nano debacle.
I’m not sure what the Apple engineers are thinking at this point, but one thing is crystal clear. There is no one at Apple driving quality control either at a software or hardware level. I doubt that Steve Jobs would have ever let iTunes 11 see the light of day the way it is now. The changes were far too drastic requiring a huge learning curve without any real benefit to the user. I mean seriously, what did Apple hope to accomplish by making this drastic of a software change?
For example, if Apple were planning on introducing a Netflix-like streaming service and iTunes needed the software to support this, I can full well understand implementing a needed software change to support this. If they were planning on allowing some new advanced technological approach to playlists, like Facebook style sharing of them, then maybe a change might be required. But, making a change just to make change isn’t useful or wanted. Complicating the interface and moving things to unnecessary new areas is not wanted. Users don’t want to have to relearn an interface just because someone decides to haphazardly move things around with no rhyme or reason.
Analysts amazingly silent?
I’ve yet to see any analysts making any calls on this or any other Apple quality issues. Yet, it’s crystal clear. Apple is not the Apple it once was. I’m sure the analysts are just biding their time to allow their clients to get their money out of Apple before making word of the problems that are just beginning to face Apple. In fact, it’s the same problem that now faces Sony. Sony used to be a top notch, high quality and innovative technology company who could basically do no wrong. Then, something happened at Sony and they’ve not been able to produce anything innovative in years. Apple is clearly on its way to becoming the next Sony. It’s also inevitable that without hiring someone (or several people) of the caliber of Steve Jobs that has both the technological vision combined with high levels of quality control, Apple doesn’t have a future.
As a software developer, you can’t just throw out any change to the wind and hope it succeeds. No, you have to bring in test groups to review the changes and find out how the average user responds to the changes. Apple shouldn’t have any trouble putting testing groups together. But, it appears that iTunes 11 did not get user tested at all. It’s a shame, too. iTunes 11 has some cool features, but those are just completely eclipsed by the poor quality of the software and the stupid design decisions.
Can Apple recover?
Yes, but it’s going to take someone (or several people) to bring quality control back to Apple and someone who is willing to say, ‘No, that sucks. Try again’.. just someone should have to said about iTunes 11 before it was ever released.
Random Thoughts - Randocity! 
i have cussed more with this stupid version of itunes… it sux… i hate it…. why can this sh*t be forced on me… i wanna go back to something that is workable…. not saying cus words here but want you to get……….
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Oh, I most definitely get it. :) iTunes 11 is no where near as useable as iTunes 10 was. I know Apple just pushed out an update to iTunes 11. Unfortunately, since I no longer have it installed anywhere, I can’t test to see if they’ve improved it in any substantial way. Although, you know what they say, “Once bitten, twice shy”. I’m most definitely there. I don’t know if I really want to waste any more time diddling with iTunes 11. Of course, at some point, Apple will make it so that you cannot sync your newest devices with anything other than iTunes 11. So then, we’ll be looking for a way to have both installed side-by-side on the same machine. I guess the good thing is that they have decoupled syncing and updating IOS from iTunes. So, this software really doesn’t hold the purpose it once held.
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Thanks a sh*t ton for the tip. Itunes 11 is an effing nightmare.
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Itunes will not add music of a friends band that I downloaded it also takes a few minutes to load any added mp3’s… is it checking for copyright issues or does it really just straight up suck this bad?
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THANK YOU for posting this… I just spent 40 minutes (literally) locating a downloaded song and putting it on my iPod. All the while I was wondering if I was the only one who thought iTunes 11 sucked. Now I know I am not alone…
This used to be such an user-intuitive platform…
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Complete idiotic to change iTunes 10 to a complicated iTunes 11 …. what’s worse is, it’s not even pretty and it’s uglier.
My question is: What’s the main reason Apple changed it in the first place??? So frustrating. I’m having migrane here.
iTunes 11 Sucks !!!
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I can’t speak for exactly why Apple released this disaster. However, my first inclination is to answer like this:
Apple changed it because someone needed to justify their job at Apple. In most software environments, you’re judged on performance by what you are able to produce. Because they were likely under pressure from Tim to produce something (anything), someone thought it might be a good idea to rewrite iTunes to, ahem, improve it. The problem, though, is that they seemed to have done the work on iTunes without having it tested out by actual people. Most software firms at least utilize usability testers to get feedback on proposed new features. Apple apparently doesn’t use this method. They just assume that whatever they release, people will like.
Anyway, it was likely released because some manager at Apple was under pressure to justify their team’s existence. So, they concocted a plan to ‘revamp’ the software and, as a result, iTunes 11 was the outcome… as frustrating and crappy as it is.
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Amen brother, my feelings exactly
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ctrl + s Happy?
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CTRL+S doesn’t even begin to solve the problems I’ve had actually moving music over to iphones/ipads… The ‘Add To…” menus just plain don’t work. I can select ‘Add To…” (select some list on ipad/iphone) and the freakin’ file just won’t copy. Way to go, Apple…
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Hi, thanks so much for posting this. I recently tried to downgrade from iTunes 11 and got that error message. Not knowing what else to do, I just uninstalled the previous version and went back to 11. Following your directions, I’ve successfully got an earlier version up and running (10.7 for Win64, I think). When I run iTunes now, it will start and run, just like yesterday when I tried this. But, I still have no database. The interface is blank, waiting for me to import music. Rebuilding my database would take a long time as I have over 32 gigs and dozens of playlists. Do I have to keep uninstalling and reinstalling in order to try different files from the “Previous iTunes libraries” folder? It appears all the files are still in that folder, dating back to when I first installed iTunes on this computer. I used the second most recent one, assuming that the most recent one was built by iTunes 11 (the installation date doesn’t help me, since the file is dated yesterday, when I initially uninstalled 11 and then wound up reinstalling it again. I upgraded to 11 sometime in early December or late November, I think). From what it sounds like, I could just keep trying older iTunes Library.itl files. Do I have to keep uninstalling/reinstalling for that to work, or is it as simple as deleting the file that isn’t working and putting an older Library file in the User>Music>iTunes folder? I hope I’m making my question clear. Thanks for any help you can provide. For many reasons I won’t go into here, iTunes, its store, and Apple products in general have really tested my patience lately.
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Okay, so I have gone through most of the previous Library files, to dates well before I would’ve had iTunes 10.7 running on this computer. The iTunes program continues to open (that’s better than when I tried to downgrade yesterday), but it also continues to have no database. I notice every time I run/open iTunes 10.7, it’s creating its own brand new iTunes Library.itl file. I watch it appear, and I can also check the properties and see that it was created just a few seconds ago. Somehow, the 10.7 program doesn’t seem interested in using the .itl file I’m copying from the “Previous iTunes Libraries” folder into the “iTunes” folder. I’ve even tried getting rid of the renamed iTunes Library.iTunes11.itl file and putting it in the “Previous iTunes Libraries” folder, just in case 10.7 was confused on which .itl file it should be using. Now I am getting really nervous about losing my database. If 10.7 can’t resurrect my database after messing with the Previous Libraries folder, how can I know that even reinstalling iTunes 11 will be able to put together my database? I think I’d rather put up with iTunes 11 than lose my database (and if that deletes my artwork that I’ve worked so hard to get on every track over the years, then I’d be really screwed). But if at all possible, I really want to get version 10.7 working and using an older database.
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Um….so….sorry for spamming your blog, but I did finally figure out how to make it work. The problem was in the name of the file itself. I didn’t realize that mattered, I thought as long as it was the only .itl file in the folder it was okay. I had to remove the date from the name of the file to simply name it “iTunes Library.itl.” This is really helping me out with another project I’m working on, so I can’t thank you enough for writing this. The last little hurdle to overcome is with this old database file, I’m still going to be missing ~200 songs that I’ve either purchased or imported recently. Now that I know how to do this properly, I’m thinking it might be simpler and quicker to reinstall iTunes 11 with the most current database, backup that database somehow (you said something about importing a library.xml file?) and then finally revert to iTunes 10.7 for good, somehow using that .xml file, if that’s possible. I’m wondering if you would be willing to say a little about what exactly that .xml file is and what it does. Even if I don’t swap versions again briefly, this sounds like something I should know how to do and be doing anyhow. If it would help me get my most recent library database into iTunes 10.7, great. If not, I’ll have to track down those 200 songs the “old fashioned” way. Not a huge deal, it’s just that I unfortunately didn’t keep a list handy of what songs I’ve recently imported and I’m having a hard time remember what folders to dig through to make sure all my music is imported.
Sorry for the trouble here, but thanks again so much for your help.
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Hi mlandonr,
Sorry about the filename confusion. I will clarify the post. To reimport from the XML, you will need to locate the file ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ in the same folder with ‘iTunes Library.itl’. Make a copy of this XML file and open this file in Notepad and review if it has any of your missing songs. It should. Exit notepad without changing this file. Then, keep that copy somewhere else before you start this next procedure. Note, you can do this on iTunes 10 without reinstalling iTunes 11.
Delete the ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file, restart iTunes and let it create a blank one. Now, click File->Library->Import Playlist and select the ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ file. This import will take a while and will reimport everything in that file (including any missing items). This will also create a version 10 of the ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file. Do not reimport over an existing populated database or you will end up with lots of duplicates. Always do a reimport of your ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ on a blank database to avoid duplicates.
I should mention that all of your music files need to be mounted and available during the import. Meaning, if you store your music on an attached USB drive or via a network drive that dismounts periodically due to timeouts, make sure these drives are attached, mounted and available during the import. If iTunes cannot find any of the actual media files referenced in the XML file, it may skip importing them into iTunes.
Please let me know if this helps.
Thanks.
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Thank you, that is very helpful. The .xml file was missing, so I just imported the folders of the recently added music manually. I think I moved it or deleted it at some point in my messing with it, so I don’t think it’s a program error. As far as creating an .xml file, when I go to File>Library, should I select “export library” or “export playlist?” I am looking for a way to restore my database exactly as is, including playlists, in case this machine crashes or I need to add iTunes to another machine. The actual music files themselves are backed up a few different ways, so I only need a backup of the library interface, and I’m guessing that the .xml file (along with the .itl file) is how to accomplish this. This is the first I’ve heard of .xml files so I am a little fuzzy on what it can do. Also, as every new version of iTunes is installed on a machine, you said it creates a new (dated) .itl file and sends the previous ones to the “Previous Libraries” folder. I am curious, does the Library.itl file stay updated with every added file and changed playlist, or is it only current to the point of the upgrade in iTunes versions? I’m assuming it’s only current to the point of upgrading iTunes, and that is why .xml files made regularly are so handy…..is that right?
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Hi mlandonr,
It’s a little disconcerting that iTunes didn’t create that backup XML file. Hopefully, it will start creating it.
Anyway, to export your library use File->Library->Export Library and when importing using File->Library->Import Playlist. You might also use the ‘Search’ function on your C drive to see if you can find ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’. It might not be located in the same place for some reason. And yes, File->Library->Export Library is the correct way to export all of your database data including playlists, plays, ratings, etc. There is no other way besides this to export the whole library database.
It’s always a good idea to periodically export your library onto an external hard drive or some backup media so you can recover if you have to start over from scratch.
Thanks.
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As a separate comment about the XML file. This file is a text version of the database (itl) file. It is human readable and editable. It can also be imported, with the caveat that you have to start from a blank database to import your whole library to avoid duplicates. The itl file is a binary database. It’s hard to parse XML files in real-time, especially as big as iTunes libraries can become. So, they switched to using an indexed database for searching and data storage. This makes iTunes a lot faster, but at the same time, it’s a binary format and isn’t humanly readable.
Admittedly, their import and export process leaves a lot to be desired. It’s not labelled correctly for backup and restoration nor does it explain the caveats of how to restore your library should you need to. In fact, Apple has always proceeded on the assumption that nothing ever goes wrong and that you wouldn’t ever need to do this. Reality is far different from Apple’s fantasy world. In the real world, things happen that require backups and restoration. Of course, on a Mac you have time machine. So, you could always roll back in your ‘time machine’ backups and pull out an older .itl or .xml and go from there. In fact, you could restore the whole folder and it would be exactly as it was before the mishap occurred.
Unfortunately, Windows is still severely lacking a solid quality backup system like Time Machine. So, there’s no easy rolling back on Windows and we’re stuck with doing manual things like this.
As for your questions regarding the iTunes Library.itl file, yes it remains updated on each and every operation within iTunes including ratings, addition of new songs, renaming, art changes, etc. So, each time you modify a song (including simply just playing it), the .itl file is updated with this information. How it works in relation to upgrades is that the .itl file is a binary format database. Let’s say iTunes 10 uses version 1.1 for its database engine. And let’s say that iTunes 11 uses version 1.2 for its database version. On upgrade to iTunes 11, the long process where iTunes 11 scans your library is the point at which it’s converting the database to version 1.2 of the database. So, if you want to go back to iTunes 10, this is a problem because iTunes 10 doesn’t understand the database version of 1.2. iTunes 10 wants version 1.1 and it says, ‘Can’t work with a newer version’ or something similar. So, iTunes 10 quits and won’t start.
So, in full circle to this article, you have to delete the 1.2 database and either find a compatible database (Previous versions folder) or rebuild the database (by importing from a backup or by starting over from scratch).
Does this answer your questions?
Thanks.
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That does help me understand more about it. What I still don’t understand is, if the .itl file and the .xml file do essentially the same thing, what is the advantage to frequently exporting the .xml file if the .itl file is constantly updating the library? I’m guessing it’s that the .xml file can be exported to external storage easier than going to the iTunes folder and copying the .itl file to external storage. If a machine crashes and you need to restore your database, it sounds like either file will do the trick. Is the .xml file unaffected by newer versions of iTunes? I guess that would be one advantage, I suppose, since the .itl files created by newer versions are un-useable if you need to downgrade versions. Would I be correct in assuming that an .xml file you create could be readily imported by any version?
I’m also wondering, you mentioned .xml needs to be imported over a blank library to avoid duplicates. Let’s say you had a library version in iTunes, but wanted to use a different .itl file to redo your database. In that case, would you not have to clear out the database first, as you would for an .xml file?
These aren’t really questions I need to know to help me immediately, I’m just trying to get a better grasp on how this stuff works.
I’ve never been a Mac user, but plenty of my friends and family are. I know for sure that Apple machines can crash just like Windows-based PC’s, and in that case, something tells me that Time Machine isn’t going to help you out much. It seems a little arrogant for Apple to assume that kind of stuff never happens. But I’m not very surprised. Their tendency to be proprietary and try to lock you into using all of their products has always seemed a little arrogant to me. Don’t get me wrong, I think they were great innovators in the past and as far as making various devices compatible and synced, I think Apple still leads the way. The problem is that Apple has never wanted to play nice with other products, and for example, I don’t want to use the iPhone. So if I have an Android phone, life becomes difficult if everything else I had were Mac. I’ve always been happy with iTunes as a music manager (and a store too), but iTunes 11 was horrible. Their prices are also becoming less competitive with Google and Amazon. I know eventually these older iTunes versions will not have the ability to connect to their store, but that’s okay with me. I’m probably going to purchase music from elsewhere going forward. While I still like 10.7 as a manager, if I found something else comparable (and more Android friendly), I’d probably switch to that. I’m not an Apple hater by any means, but since I don’t foresee myself using their phones or computers, I’m just trying to get out while I can still make my music compatible and synced on all devices without too much hassle. If iTunes 11 is any indication of where Apple is headed, I don’t want to wake up one day and find myself locked into all their products like my friends will be, and realize that Apple kinda sucks now.
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I need to remove this iTunes 11 and re-install iTunes 10. How could Apple screw up what was already easy, simple & sophisticated music library ?
I regret downloading this new piece of shit. Damn it, I feel like tossing the entire computer out the window.
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So true. New iTunes is so ugly and stupid it really reminds me of Windows….
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I just downloaded the new version. Don’t do it! The first thing was this reversion to an old Windows Media-Player-style graphic layout. No one big list of all the tunes that i could order however i wanted. But then the weirdest thing was that it somehow dredged up a bunch of music that was on my computer, or on my daughter’s ancient iTunes (when she was about 13–3 or 4 years ago) that hadn’t been on my recent iTunes… i had just seen my own middle-aged excellent tuneage on there. Anyway now i have many many MB of music all of a sudden that i don’t want or need, on my current iTunes.
I will have to get a more tech-savvy person to help me replace this with the earlier iTunes 10, i don’t want to end up having to hand-choose and download each file, and i’m a jinx on the system, usually. So, your advice can’t really help me for now… but it does feel good to know i am not alone in my feeling.
My question is, as it so often is: WHY? Why mess with something that worked fine to make a mess of something just for the sake of something new? It makes me think they must have people employed whose job it is to constantly tweak and “improve” the programs. I guess they couldn’t very well keep their jobs if they admitted that there was no need for their dubious contributions. So they keep downgrading things… it’s the way of the internet too often, Facebook is a bad offender.
I wonder if they ever check the internet for forums like this where regular people express their contempt?At any rate, i appreciate the sympathy and advice for those equipped to follow through.
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Hi Laura,
While I know the steps outlined do require a certain level of file manipulation, the worst that can happen when reverting back to iTunes 10 is that you have to rebuild your library again from your media files. You won’t lose any files, but you might have to reimport those files into iTunes 10. If you have gigabytes worth of files, that might take hours. If you have megabytes of files, it may not. It all depends on how big your library is.
However, since it sounds like iTunes 11 has somewhat already rebuilt your library by finding a bunch of old files and importing them, I’m not certain how much worse you would be if you had to start your library over. The one thing I will say about this, though, is that if you rely on Apple’s ‘Download Artwork’ functionality, you may have to, once again, download all your art again for each CD. The thing that irks me about ‘Download Artwork’ is that this functionality does not embed the artwork in each music file as it should. So, if you load your music onto an iPod or iPad, you may or may not see the art associated with an album using only ‘Download Artwork’. I prefer to have the songs mp3tagged including having the art embedded within each music file so it always persists no matter where the file may end up. It just frustrates me that I do this and iTunes is primo at losing art over time. I digress.
I agree to an extent that if the Apple team didn’t continually do improvements to iTunes, they probably wouldn’t have a job (or couldn’t justify it). So, making major changes to iTunes is just the way of things in the business world. Everyone needs to justify their job’s continued existence whether the work they are doing is worthwhile or not. The thing is, iTunes 10 already had enough annoyances that the iTunes team could have justified spending their time fixing those existing problems. Instead, they focused what appears to be a near full redo of the user interface and user experience. So, instead of fixing base problems like the lost artwork issue I mention above, they spent their time reworking the entire interface. It’s not like that user interface needed that much tweaking. Making that much of a change indicates that what was already there was somehow broken, wrong or ‘bad’. But, that’s actually quite the contrary. What was there was actually about as great as you could make it. Where they ended up was a 180 degrees from where they were. Of course, now the fixing can begin. The team now has even more reason than ever to rework the interface now. You botch it up and you spend months fixing it up through new releases. In that sense, they’ve now justified their jobs. Let’s hope, however, that the manager or whomever was responsible for the disaster that is iTunes 11 has been relieved of being an Apple employee. Some people who think they have bright ideas just need to step aside and let those who do have a chance to actually make a difference. It’s clear, the iTunes 11 redesign was an unmitigated disaster.
I hope you can get your computer moved back soon to iTunes 10 and get your issues resolved. Thanks for your comment.
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Thank you for your help. I will see what i can do when i have time. I don’t care that much about the artwork (i mean i love artwork, that’s why i love actual album covers and cases, but since i don’t have them except virtually and would have to look at them onscreen, i’d rather just put my own screensaver art up there, walk away, and listen to the music) but did prefer the more straightforward iTunes 10.
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Me again… just letting off steam… not being tech-savvy at all, waiting for a friend to help me restore iTunes 10, i have tried twice to sync my iPod nano with my computer. Can’t do it at all. It starts up, says it’s syncing 1 or 2 of 20 (which i suppose is the number of new tunes i’ve downloaded or ripped since my last sync) and then it stays on 2 for a half hour or so. When i figured, “Oh that just must be a bad code, forbidden to copy it or something… fine i’ll just uncheck it and NOT have it on the iPod”–then i had a hard time figuring out how to uncheck it (not something obvious like a checkbox unless, i finally figured out, i got to it via the Songs index, rather than under the album or artist) and then when i thought i’d just delete the troublesome tune or entire CD, i still couldn’t get the regular Songs list to come up and it wouldn’t delete otherwise. Nothing is on that page to help you actually operate the program!
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I agree. As soon as I opened it, I wanted the 10 back. I didn’t even touch a thing.
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total genius idea guys!!! I blanked out my library file. Uninstalled iTunes11. Downloaded 10.7 64bit windows version and installed. It told me my library was bad and rebuilt it. Bam, up and running on good old iT10. Thanks. I was so depressed and frustrated with 11. I’m pretty computer comfortable but couldn’t make any sense out of iT11. Not sure what type of drugs would be needed for that interface to work but I didn’t want to go there.
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You know what’s crazy? Like most of the folks here, I came here to un-do the unbelievably bad iTunes 11 experience and get back to iTunes 10, which was flawed but usable. So per these instructions, I did and I’m sitting here looking at the “old” iTunes 10 and it’s just so, so much better on so many levels. Information is right there in front of you, not hidden on other screens. Frankly, It’s just better at doing what it should do – manage my music. Anyway, to your larger point, commorancy, that Apple’s in trouble… I couldn’t agree more. I was born an Apple person. Had a IIc, original Mac all the way up until Jobs was ousted and Gil Amelio had done his dastardly worst. Even after Jobs was gone, I kept getting Macs but I noticed quickly how things started to skid from a product quality standpoint. It was an instant decline, and after a couple years of frustration, I finally gave up on Apple and switched to the Wintel empire because their products, while flawed, were priced aggressively and seemed to work adequately well. And they did. Then, of course, Jobs came back. And as he guided Apple back to good, I almost caved and came back – I almost chose to go all in again on Apple – after all – the products were simpler and tidier. Once again, they appeared to just work better. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew better. I just knew that when Steve finally left, under his own will or Nature’s, that Apple would go right back to that dark place. And sure enough, Here we are. I haven’t even been surprised at the speed of the decline. When Jobs passed, fans said “Oh, Apple’s got products lined up for at least 5 years” – and sure new product ideation was part of Jobs’ genius, but his best attribute and his most valuable skill wasn’t that he was a product visionary, but rather as the editor in chief. He was constantly, right up to product launch, refining products – little nits here, little tweaks there. Constantly. So sure, you have products lined up for years, but if they all roll out without that chief editor’s scrutiny, you’re in for an unpleasant surprise. And here we are.
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Well, not only has the poor quality (of every new Apple product post Jobs) finally caught up with Apple, so has the market. With their recent huge slide down on the stock market due to declining sales, it should now be crystal clear what the problem is. Unfortunately, the board won’t see it that way. They’ll blame the bad performance on Tim Cook entirely and out he’ll go. Tim isn’t the problem and that should have been clear because Tim worked great when Jobs was alive.. At least, Tim isn’t the primary problem now. Sure, Tim’s lack of vision and focus is definitely driving Apple in the wrong direction, but it’s the lack of keeping the standards high across both the software and the hardware lines that’s now missing in action. And that’s what Steve was good at making sure Apple did well… produce high quality software and hardware. Without the drive to always raise the bar on everything Apple does, Apple can’t keep itself ahead of the competition. Steve also had his finger on the pulse of what was cool. It was a risk, but those risks usually paid off (at least since the iPhone). Apple is no longer taking technological risks (like the iPad). They’re just keeping status quo and slightly upping the specs to make it seem like something is new. Worse, the quality has slid so dramatically that even were they to produce something outstanding technologically, it would be overshadowed by its low quality controls.
Thanks for your comment.
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As for iTunes 11 quality, I wanted to give a more thoughtful discussion. Apple’s user experience / user interface (UX/UI) team just completely botched the release. If someone (or several someones) at Apple really thought that iTunes 11 was a vast improvement, Apple needs to rethink its UX and usability ideas. KISS is the motto of choice here (that is, “keep it stupid simple”). Note, I did reverse the ‘simple stupid’ intentionally, because after all this is Apple who needs to ‘think different’. Apple needs to possibly even rework its UX/UI usability team. I’m not sure what that team was thinking, but clearly they weren’t thinking straight. Jobs was excellent at spotting great design and also in spotting trash design. That takes a highly discerning and critical eye. It’s clear that there is no one at Apple with that critical eye. Or, at least, there is no one there willing to step up and clearly and loudly say, “No, that sucks, start over and think about doing it this way”. It definitely takes a type A personality, someone who isn’t afraid to speak their mind, someone who isn’t afraid of ruffling a few feathers in the process.
As an artist, I’ve been there. Having your artwork critiqued is one of the hardest things you can ask someone to do for you. But, it’s also one of the most rewarding experiences because, while it makes you feel like what you produced is crap, it helps you and your artwork become so much better. And that’s the point. Jobs wasn’t trying to make people feel like crap. He was trying to perfect the product and make it the best it can be. It’s never about making the staff feel bad, it’s about making the products the absolute best on the market. The staff needs to understand this one concept. It’s all about business. Yes, it can make for a rough and difficult workplace at times. But, when the product is released and easily outshines every other product on the market, that’s the reward. It’s about knowing that all your hard work in the iPad or the original iPhone design paid off. That’s something to be extremely proud of.
On the other hand, when you release a crap product and you see critical responses just like what’s on this blog, as an engineer you have to realize you didn’t give the product your best effort. Half-assed efforts turn out half-assed products. And that’s clearly where Apple is heading.
Again, Apple needs to hire someone who’s artistic, has a highly critical eye for high quality design and is a Type A personality who is not afraid to speak their mind no matter who’s feelings may be temporarily hurt. After all, it’s all about the business, nothing personal about that. It may seem personal, but when a person doesn’t turn in their best work, they need to be told to go back and work harder. If they don’t consistently turn in their best work, that likely indicates having hired the wrong person. Talented people can turn out very high quality work when properly motivated, but first and second efforts usually don’t yield the best results. Only after several tries at a design can people perfect their ideas, and that’s exactly what Apple needs, perfected ideas. iTunes 11 was a first attempt, not the third or fifth attempt at perfection and it shows.
This is the critique someone should have had with the UX/UI team at Apple prior to this iTunes 11 release.
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Thanks for this great information.
I just wanted to let you know that I tweaked the process a bit so that more current data would be retained. Using a restored old version of the library data would mean that I’d lose details like last played timestamps, etc. There is a way to preserve this data. It relies on there being a current “iTunes Music Library.xml” in the expected place. It doesn’t matter that this file was used by iTunes v11.
As usual, backup everything first.
The key thing is to ruin the contents of the “iTunes Libraray.itl” file before starting iTunes v10. I used a text editor to open it, delete all its contents, and to save “iTunes Libraray.itl” as an empty file. Then I started iTunes v10. iTunes recognised that the .itl file was invalid, and rebuilt it using the current data from the “iTunes Music Library.xml” file. The rebuilding took a few minutes.
This worked for me on Windows 7.
The benefit is that I have reverted to iTunes v10 and retained all my recently added tracks, recently changed smart playlists, and my other metadata
Regards,
Greg.
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Hi Greg,
Thanks for the update. This assumes, of course, that there’s an existing ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ file available. There probably should be, but I’d want to validate this before corrupting the library.itl file. Also, there’s no guarantee that the library.xml file is fully up-to-date.
For example, I don’t know that it specifies art, so some art may be lost during the downgrade. Specifically, art that may have been updated by iTunes 11. So, it’s not always a 100% guaranteed process. Glad that your method worked great for you and I encourage others to try it if the library.xml file exists and appears recent. If iTunes doesn’t recover from the library.xml, then I’d suggest recovering an older version of the library.itl file from the Previous folder as the article suggests.
Note, that if you’ve just upgraded to iTunes 11 and haven’t changed much, using your approach may not really be that fruitful and may be more trouble than it’s worth. If you’ve spent several weeks modifying your library with iTunes 11, it might be worth trying this approach.
Thanks for your comment.
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Awesome, thank you this saved me from loosing my mind the new itunes SUCKS!
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Thanks for your kind response. You seem to have a very good handle on what’s happened with Apple. For awhile, I thought it was just me. I’ve heard a number of people say that even from a product perspective, they’re washed up and have nothing new to offer, essentially running on fumes and hot air. Their business model and customer service are great but I found myself at The Apple Store way too many times for reasons not justifiable. The many wasted hours I’ve also spent researching issues that should never even have occurred is also not justifiable. I see person after person sitting at the “Genius Bar” with looks of total shock and bewilderment as they describe the absurd issues they’re having with their devices or software. And nothing can be fixed by the customer unless they are trained computer techs themselves. Yet the “faithful” keep coming back for more with every new release or “upgrade” and keep shelling out the $$’s. I was a Windows person for 20 years before succumbing to the pressure to switch over and now that my home infrastructure is 100% Apple, I live in a “hit or miss” world where things just suddenly stop working for no apparent reason and nothing appears to be wrong with the hardware itself and it can take hours, if not days to fix. I will NOT pay a tech guy hundreds of dollars to come over to make my expensive array of Apple products function properly. I’ve already paid Apple upfront for quality products that are supposed to work correctly to begin with.
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To be perfectly honest, I’ve worked with nearly every type of major computer system at some time or another. Unfortunately, there is nothing that really ‘just works’. The closest we ever got was Steve Job’s driven products. Why? Focus, drive and perfectionism. However, there are just too many driving forces that prevent continued stability in computers, hardware and operating systems. I believe that Steve Jobs knew this. In fact, this would be an excellent topic for a new Randosity article. Suffice it to say that Apple is not immune to making changes just for the sake of releasing a new version. It’s called ‘creeping featurism’ or ‘featuritis’ and has a whole Wiki article dedicated to describing this exact phenomena.
When Steve Jobs was in play, he was able to keep Apple focused on the things that mattered and tune out the things that didn’t matter or weren’t relevant. That didn’t mean Steve was always right, but it meant that the Apple team stayed focused on the specific release features so they would be as rock stable as possible.
With Jobs no longer keeping things in check at Apple, the managers there do not have the guidance they once had to keep them focused on high quality. Now they are, like every other computer and software company, focused on delivering their newest ‘piece’ instead of delivering a ‘high quality’ piece. Where we are today is exactly where I expected Apple would be without Steve Jobs at the helm. The trouble is, it’s not where Apple needs to be to remain Apple. Apple was all about high standards, about high quality, about delivering easy to use devices that are rock stable. Apple is no longer about this. Apple’s focus has now shifted to, like every other company, making the shareholders happy and simply getting something out the door. Steve’s goal was never about simply ‘getting something out the door’. His focus was on making it as perfect as possible and then releasing it. Two totally different (and counter) work ethic philosophies.
Steve Jobs was also always about pushing the envelope. Making things smaller, faster, sleeker, easier, but never at the expense of a technology compromise (i.e., iPad mini). Making devices that fit into thinner and thinner cases. Making interaction between the user and the app simpler. Pushing design aesthetics to the point where form dictates new engineering design. Meaning, the way it looked was just as important as the way it worked. And, it had to work perfectly on release. Tim Cook, on the other hand, is about taking existing Apple products and wrapping them in a slightly new bow and calling them new again. Steve Jobs never endorsed this nor did he ever do this. For example, the iPhone 5 is likely not what Steve Jobs would have ever accepted for the iPhone 5. Steve would have pushed the envelope again and added some new ‘wow’ feature to the iPhone 5. The iPad mini is a product that Jobs likely would never have released. In fact, he had every opportunity to release a 7 inch tablet and always declined to release one. After seeing the iPad mini, I can full well understand why he never released such a tablet.
So, I can also well understand why the Genius bar has a line out the door with people having problems with their devices that should never have existed. With all of that said, Windows has always been the same way as you describe: Difficult and stupidly designed. But, Windows kind of has an excuse because it was grown out of Windows 3. As Microsoft has continually kept pulling DOS forward, it has hindered real growth in Windows, to the point that Windows still doesn’t have a decent built-in scripting language, among other 1980s holdovers still present in Windows.
Apple is now heading down the road to mediocrity where Microsoft Windows firmly travels. Apple is not quite there yet, but they’re heading to mediocrity really fast. Without a leadership change and someone who can crack the whip and drive Apple towards perfectionism and towards pushing the technology envelope once again, Apple will never regain its crown as technology innovation leader.
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I may have made a mistake, but I used Revo to uninstall everything apple related, and trying to download 9.2.1 (I want to go back to the days when hitting the escape key in column browser would bring me back to the top of the column). I thought this would be like installing it on a new computer, but there’s no install script included in the download after unzipping. I’ve tried through both chrome and IE. Any idea what’s going on here?
Thanks!
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Hi Gregory,
I think you have probably clicked the link to download the 9.2.1 DMG file. A DMG file is for installing on MacOS X.
Additionally, it doesn’t appear there is a 9.2.1 version for Windows, but there is an iTunes 9.1.1 version for Windows (32 and 64 bit) which you can download. The 9.1.1 version is also shown on the next page from the link I gave in the article.See below:After a bit more digging, I just realized there is a 9.2.1 version for Windows. But, from the Support page, don’t click the big download button. Instead, click the link title which leads you into the article for 9.2.1. From there, you can download the Windows versions of 9.2.1 (32 or 64 bit) which should give you a *.exe file to install.
That support site is just a bit disorganized.
Thanks.
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Thanks for that – wish I had figured that out this morning! That worked fine, but I couldn’t get the library to switch over, so I’m just starting from scratch. Seems easier that way – I can let it run while I’m working.
Thanks for your help – much appreciated!
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Just as an FYI, you likely will need to rebuild your library for version 9. When Apple introduced iTunes 10.4, they changed the naming (and possibly the structure) of the iTunes library files. For example, as of 10.4, the library database file was renamed from ‘library’ to ‘library.itl’. Prior to 10.4 it did not have a file extension. The trouble is, unless you have an old ‘library’ file sitting around out there, you won’t be able to use what 10 created to drive iTunes 9. So, yes, you likely will have to rebuild your library again.
One thing I should point out about downgrading to version 9. The page for 9.2.1 states:
“iPhone 4 or other iOS devices (iPad, iPod touch, etc.) that have upgraded to iOS software 4.2 or later requires iTunes 10.0 or later for syncing.”
So, it appears you cannot sync your newest iOS devices with version 9. Just an FYI in case you’re thinking of trying to sync an iPod touch or iPhone.
Glad the article was able to help you.
Thanks.
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Gee, and I thought that I was the only one that didn’t like iTunes 11. I am very unhappy that they made it so difficult to revert back to previous versions….. What were they thinking??????????
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Hi Cary,
They weren’t thinking about downgrades when designing iTunes 11. Like ALL Apple software releases, the engineers never plan for reverting. They assume you’ll accept the software as it is and move on. Therefore, Apple never provides downgrade steps and therefore, it’s always a difficult process. It can be done, as this article indicates, but it is not easy or straightforward. To be honest, I don’t fault Apple for not providing downgrade steps when planning a release as most people assume a software update will work fine. In most cases, this is true. Apple took too big of a leap in iTunes 11 and is paying the price for it. Of course, when such a big leap is being pushed out, they really should have planned for downgrade steps for those who are dissatisfied. But, again, I don’t fault them for not providing a downgrade plan.
What I do fault Apple for is making unnecessary design decisions without testing the user interface design with a test group of people before release to get feedback. It’s pretty clear they did not test this release with a test group. If they had, this release would not have happened. Additionally, Steve Jobs was a stickler for high quality user experience. So, had Steve Jobs been alive, this release would not have turned out this way.
Thanks.
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The exact issue you’ve noted regarding the .itl file problem came up on my wife’s iMac several days ago. We changed nothing and don’t have her on automatic update yet even though she is still running an old version of iTunes, Apple has somehow corrupted her existing library file such that the system can’t read the file and to add insult to injury, renders the entire app inoperable so that it can’t even be opened. This and numerous issues just like it are, on a combined basis, beyond frustrating.
This post sums up perfectly, everything that is wrong with Apple today. It can be used as a template for any problem experienced with Apple software or hardware. I have been ranting about these types of things for almost the entire past year. Nobody feels good about “upgrading” to the latest versions of anything these days as the likelihood is that it will blow up half of what you previously were able to do on your Apple product in addition to the reckless, unnecessary and needless “changes for the sake of change” you’ve so duly noted in your example with iTunes 11. Most consumers I’ve spoken with basically dread an upgrade from anything as simple as iTunes, right on up to and including the next official OSX release. It is completely unacceptable. Thanks for saying what needed to be said.
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Hi Alligator,
Thanks for your comment and you also bring up an excellent additional point that I forgot to mention. Each newest OSX release since Snow Leopard has also gone from bad to worse. I do not have Lion or Mountain Lion on my work notebook, but I know a lot of people who have upgraded. I have kept my notebook at Snow Leopard because some of the changes made were just too disruptive and time consuming to fix. It’s not that these issues can’t be addressed, but it’s not something I want to spend an entire day fixing. So, for the moment, status quo works for me or until Apple decides to no longer support the Snow Leopard OS in which case I’ll be forced to upgrade.
Additionally, the latest Retina MacBook Pro systems have not been exempt from this with lots of driver problems, display issues and a number of other hardware incompatibility problems. The iPhone 5 has also been a problem with a number of display issues and the infamous case scratching issue. In other words, the design sensibilities at Apple have drastically changed.
So, yes, this progressive slide down quality lane has affected every hardware and every software product at Apple. It’s just a matter of time before the masses feel the pain. Apple has been lucky that the changes they’ve made have been relatively easy to resolve, but are not without frustration, research and time consumption on the part of the end user. It also may mean learning a new way of dealing with something just to get the job done.
It’s one thing to add new features and leave compatibility in place, it’s entirely another to rework everything so drastically that users are forced to pay the learning curve price with each new release. Apple’s point (and specifically Steve Jobs) was always about making things easier for people, never making things more difficult. As Apple slides down the ‘making things more difficult’ road with no payoff, Cook is systematically undoing the entire fundamental philosophy behind Apple’s (read Steve Jobs’ helmed) products. It’s time for Tim Cook and the rest of Apple to wake up before it’s too late to even salvage this ship.
Apple now has every opportunity to fix this, but they have to understand and agree that there is an issue that needs to be fixed. Acceptance of a problem is the first step towards resolving it. Once they can accept and understand this fundamental issue, they can make sure Apple stays on track for many many more years. I want Apple to continue to succeed. I generally like Apple’s products, but that’s changing. Continued success at Apple cannot be accomplished without someone stepping in and getting Apple back on the track Jobs had them on.
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Well said
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please help explain this to a complete novice at computer settings! got stuck at using your “previous library” to start itunes 10 which seems to be a copy of the itunes 11 file type and unusable and i might’ve lost any real “previous libraries” when updating? I backed up my music not the “previous library”??? I’m using Windows 7 by the way and yours is the only guide for users of 7, everything else is for Mac so please help! desperate as i can’t deal without itunes it’s my life! thank you!
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Hi Alice,
The library.itl file is, as far as I understand it, the database that iTunes builds based on the music you import. So, whenever you drop or import new music or other media, it places references to these the actual music files into library.itl. This is used by iTunes for quick access to the metadata about your media.
The problem with the library.itl file is that the format is specific to the version that created it. However, both iTunes 10 and iTunes 11 use the library.itl file for reference. The naming of this file is not specific to any version. That means that you can’t tell what version of iTunes generated that itl file easily. Note, you may be able to edit the file in Notepad, but that may not tell you what you need to know.
However, there should hopefully be a backup folder of previous library.itl files named like library.20121221.itl. This is the path described in the article. These are backup copies of the iTunes library database files. Note, if you copy a library.date.itl file from the ‘Previous’ folder and that’s also dated before you installed iTunes 11, that guarantees the file was not created by iTunes 11 and will be iTunes 10 compatible.
Let me know if this doesn’t clarify the issue.
Thanks.
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Hi Alice,
I can put up some screenshots of what I’m doing with the library.itl file if you think that will help.
Thanks.
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