Recent iTunes update - missing a feature

Cafe Society
1

I updated iTunes yesterday and one of my favorite features is missing. Previously, if I clicked a song in my library, I had a toolbar on the far right that would give me suggested songs (what other people had purchased). I actually used it quite a bit to explore new music.

Now, there is something called Ping which doesn’t seem to be the same thing at all. Does anyone know what the old feature was called and if I can get it back?

Thanks!

2

The Genius Bar - It is still there but seems to be “off” by default. I searched iTunes help for “turn on genius sidebar” and viola!

3

Thank you! I had been missing this feature as well!

4

Hmmm, the genius feature seems to be just creating playlists of my existing music. I’ll have to explore more later (at work now!)

5

Yeah, the Ping sidebar has replaced the Genius sidebar in the latest update.

Lot of pissed-off users discussing it in the Apple support forum as well.

6

Yeah, got an email from support. Gone. Bummer, I really liked it. I found a lot of great music that way.

My name is Catherine. First and foremost, I would like to thank you for your patience while awaiting a response. I would also like to encourage you to reply to this email if you have any further concerns, as it will be my pleasure to assist you.

I understand you have some concerns about the Genius Sidebar being replaced by the iTunes Ping Sidebar. Being an iTunes customer myself I can certainly understand how eager you must be to get this resolved. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no way to retrieve the Genius sidebar.

General Genius recommendations can still be found on the Home page of the iTunes Store, but the Genius Sidebar is not available in iTunes 10.0.1. You can access the Genius Page by clicking “Genius Recommendations” under “Quick Links” within the iTunes Store.

Apple recognizes that no one is better qualified to provide feedback about iTunes than the people who use it. I encourage you to use the iTunes Feedback page to submit your comments:

Your efforts to share your feedback are very much appreciated

7

Bump - it looks like they also got rid of the ability to make ringtones in iTunes. Instead, you’re supposed to use your iPhone to browse iTunes. I tried it, there’s no way to search for a specific ringtone. iTunes 10 - worst “update” ever?