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[UPDATE 2015-01-17] New Article: How to make iTunes 12 look and act more like iTunes 10

Thanks to Danny Rolnick for this very detailed and helpful explanation and for his permission to post it here on Randosity. His steps came in as a comment. However, because my previous Randosity article on this topic was clearly geared toward Windows, I thought this one deserved its own topic, especially as thoughtful and well written as his comment was. So, without further adieu, here is Danny’s very detailed explanation on how to rock and roll back to iTunes 10 from iTunes 11, if you’re using Mac OS X.

To go back to iTunes 10, I am happy to show you the way — By Danny Rolnick

I happily regard myself an expert now on how to downgrade iTunes 11 back to 10 on a Mac. Having found a straightforward and logical way of doing so, I thought it my duty to share with others. I can’t express what a relief it is to have version 10 back again. See the method at the bottom. Feel free to jump down there if you want to get started. Let me know how you got on in the comments below.

My view on the experience I have had of using iTunes 11

I have been a mac obsessed devoted fan all my life (I’m 46), never used a PC and got my first mac back in 1988. Until just the past few months I wouldn’t hear anyone say anything derogatory about anything Apple. However, a few things are rocking my ‘religious like’ devotion. Most of all, I have been dumbfounded about issues of the recent iTunes evolution in version 11.

I am also obsessed with music, movies and music videos. It’s not just a hobby – I am a DJ and Video DJ by profession. iTunes, since the very first release, has been the backbone of the way I organize and store all my digital media. I never had any need to seek an alternative and have also enjoyed the integration it provides with my iPhone and other iDevices etc etc.

My library is huge. I don’t mean to brag but aside from my digital music collection of 40,000 + tracks, either purchased from the iTunes store or imported from my CD collection, my music video collection is over 10,000. I am a proficient iTunes user and I often have reason to need to re-tag my files within iTunes or sometimes I use MetaX.

Until now, I have never resisted installing any available Apple updates and even feel some excitement in anticipation of the improved features. etc. iTunes version 11 has changed all that now. iTunes 11 is, without question, an inferior version to 10. Anyone who feels otherwise is probably only using iTunes in a basic way, and for this reason I have always thought there was a market for a pro version of iTunes for people like me.

iTunes 11 simply doesn’t work

I click to play a track, click again because it hasn’t started and click another time.  Only then do I hear the track play. It takes ages to build links to external files, just as long as it takes to actually import them to the media folder. Tagging takes ridiculously long to the point you would need to leave the tagging to be done overnight. I could go on, but you are probably reading this because you have already experienced your own issues concerning version 11.

Before following the method below, I tried to seek alternatives to iTunes all together. I briefly tried Double Twist and Song Bird among many other software packages, but the truth is that iTunes is better for my personal purposes.

The most disappointing thing about version 11 is the silence from Apple about the obvious problems. It is this specific fact that has aggravated me so much. Maybe I am romanticizing, but I can’t help imagine that Steve Jobs would have ever let version 11 go as far as actually being released.

Steps to revert to iTunes 10 from iTunes 11

Here are the Stages and Steps for Mac OS X only. Thank you to Bogoss on MacForums for help with this article.

Stage 1 — Uninstall iTune11, Reinstall iTunes 10

Note: Any changes you have made to your music files since you used last used version 10 will be lost but any purchasses you have made in the time since can be downloaded again if you can’t find those purchasses in your media folder. If recently made playlists are of particular importance you could export the lists to somewhere for later.

1. Back up your iTunes Folder(s) just in case.
2. Download these apps
   • AppZapper: http://appzapper.com (the free version will do).
   • Pacifist: http://www.charlessoft.com.
3. Download iTunes 10.7 (last version before 11). Check your download folder, it might still be there. You can also get it from the 10.7 Apple Support Web Site (Click the big download button)
4. Using AppZapper, simply uninstall iTunes 11. Before you drag the iTunes icon from the Application folder to the window you will need to open the preferences of AppZapper and deselect the box next to “Keep Apple applications safe”
5. Open the 10.7 dmg file, you will see the pkg file (usually you would double click it to install), but now, this time drag it out somewhere (e.g. Desktop).
6. Open Pacifist
7. Drag the pkg iTunes 10.7 file to Pacifist and then click install from the menu bar
8. During installation, click replace every time a window pops up.
9. Installation finished, iTunes 10.7 is back!
10. Don’t open it yet!!!!

Stage 2 — Recover your Library

See this video that explains the process to recover your library here:

1. In FINDER – go to your iTunes Music Folder located in (Your User Account)=>Music=>iTunes
2. Within it, open the folder called Previous iTunes Libraries.
3. Identify the most recent backup. It has the date at the end.
4. Duplicate it. Move it to the desktop.
5. Rename it as ‘iTunes Library.itl’. Basically remove the date from the file name.
6. Go back to your iTunes Folder and rename the file there which is already named ‘iTunes Library.itl’ to ‘iTunes Library.itl.old’.
7. Now move the ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file from your desktop to this location.
8. Now open iTunes 10.7. If it can’t find your iTunes library, select choose library and navigate the application to the new ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file you created.
9. Breathe a sigh of relief, you’re done!
10. Copy this and post it to help others. Only come back to me to say Thanks, not for more support.

Danny