# Why do people complain about itunes on PC? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034 "2009-01-06T03:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/1 "2009-01-06T03:41:33Z")
Never had a problem with it. But I am always using the latest hardware. Currently quad-core with 4GB. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/2 "2009-01-06T03:48:29Z")
Bonjour, itunes helper, ipod service, quicktime, apple updater, more bloat than features. I’ve tried some replacements but none of them handle audiobooks well so I always re-install itunes. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/3 "2009-01-06T03:51:11Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Bonjour, itunes helper, ipod service, quicktime, apple updater, more bloat than features. I’ve tried some replacements but none of them handle audiobooks well so I always re-install itunes. Yeah, and it wants you to install Safari. To quote Nancy Reagan, “Just Say NO!” Why Apple thinks PC users will want and adopt Safari, when even MAC users don’t use it… ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/4 "2009-01-06T04:59:17Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > Yeah, and it wants you to install Safari. To quote Nancy Reagan, “Just Say NO!” > > Why Apple thinks PC users will want and adopt Safari, when even MAC users don’t use it… Which is why we complain. iTunes is to bloated. Not as bad as adobe but pretty bad. Installs things you can’t turn off easily and a bunch of other stuff that makes it suck. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/5 "2009-01-06T05:09:19Z")
Oh, and you put up with all this crap so that your iPod with Just Work, and they don’t bother to give you advanced features like a real database interface or undo. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/6 "2009-01-06T05:26:36Z")
Something that really irks me about ipod, why can’t I just drag a file into it and play it? And why doesn’t itunes have a 1-click option to update my media files? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/7 "2009-01-06T06:19:25Z")
There was also a recent incident where an Itunes update caused some MAJOR problems, like reload clean level problems. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/8 "2009-01-06T07:35:52Z")
I’ve found _iTunes_ to be really slow (on good hardware), erratic, and does not play nicely with network shares, either. I store all our mp3s on a shared network drive, in a managed structure with up to date tags. The files are available via smb/cifs (mapped network drive), http (jinzora and ampache), uPnP (TwonkyServer), and daap (Firefly) - all standard remote media protocols. And iTunes does not like this at all - drives me mad. I have Floola on our iPods - a portable application with drag and drop from the network share. **It just works** [sup]tm[/sup], but I would rather have something that copies from UpnP/daap. Si ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/9 "2009-01-06T07:49:46Z")
Itunes Quicktime Realplayer all 3 of these shyte programs install to run on start up, why the hell would I ever need quicktime to run on start up? so I can watch that one quicktime video a month .5 seconds faster? much hate for this kind of software and apple has 2 of the big 3 offenders found on peoples pcs with complaints of running slow. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/10 "2009-01-06T08:12:24Z")
Second to the bloating. I have a 2 gig dual core (although Vista somewhat undermines that speed) and it runs like crap. I switched to the Winamp iPod manager and I’m never going back. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/11 "2009-01-06T09:31:11Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > I have Floola on our iPods - a portable application with drag and drop from the network share. **It just works** [sup]tm[/sup], but I would rather have something that copies from UpnP/daap. > > Si Thanks! I just downloaded floola. Up to now I used sharepod but Floola has a much better interface. EDIT: I haven’t bothered to install itunes or quicktime at all on my new computer. Too much bloatware. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/12 "2009-01-06T09:59:32Z")
[Recent (somewhat) Related Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=496836) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/13 "2009-01-06T16:36:43Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Bonjour, itunes helper, ipod service, quicktime, apple updater, more bloat than features. I’ve tried some replacements but none of them handle audiobooks well so I always re-install itunes. Stupid Bonjour! I don’t know what it is but I hate it. The last time I tried to update iTunes, it loaded that crap on there and it immediately pegged my CPU at 100% and wouldn’t let go. I had to do some digging around to find out what had slowed my PC to a… what’s slower than a crawl? … and finally just wound up disabling the service. (Of course, it squawked at me when I tried to do that.) I thought for sure I had picked up a virus or something, the way my PC was behaving. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/14 "2009-01-06T17:02:22Z")
This comes up over and over, to me it’s not just the bloat but it’s such a weird application compared to most PC applications. Vast amounts of wasted space. [Look at all inch or more of grey at the top, and the half inch at the bottom.](http://www.applian.com/replay-av/screenshots8/itunes_radio.gif) It’s a classic case of form over function. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/15 "2009-01-06T17:24:42Z")
Remember that iTunes isn’t a media player as much as a media organizer. Anything can play media files these days. Using iTunes as strictly a player without committing to using it as an organizer is going to be a painful experience. Also iTunes seems to run just as well under XP as it does on Mac OS on my relatively modest iMac, using the same library. Does that means that it runs quickly under both OS? I don’t know; I’ve not used anything else to compare it with. The UI is responsive, and that’s really the only thing that matters. I guess I’m interested in knowing what’s “slow”? As for form over function, man, have any of you tried to use the default installation of Windows Media player? What an eyesore with no intuitive means of making it not look like some kid’s bling. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/16 "2009-01-06T17:28:06Z")
As has been mentioned, we Mac people aren’t exactly crazy about iTunes either. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/17 "2009-01-06T17:29:21Z")
In addition to what’s been said, I HATE the lack of a “now playing” style playlist. With Winamp, I can double click an album and it’ll keep playing that album when I start browsing my other music. iTunes doesn’t let you do that. You have to make an actual playlist if you want to browse while listening. [I’m not the only one.](http://www.dtgeeks.com/journals/article/see_this_is_why_i_hate_i/) People have complained about this for over two years and Apple still hasn’t added it. ---
**Author:** ![Influential\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Influential\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Influential_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/18 "2009-01-06T18:06:07Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > Itunes > Quicktime > Realplayer > all 3 of these shyte programs install to run on start up, why the hell would I ever need quicktime to run on start up? so I can watch that one quicktime video a month .5 seconds faster?. I expect you haven’t run Realplayer in some time. It’s improved a _lot_ in the last 3-4 years. It’s a actually a decent codec now, and in terms of dollars donated, Real is one of the most geek-friendly companies out there. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/19 "2009-01-07T13:23:15Z")
> [@Lazlo](#): > > In addition to what’s been said, I HATE the lack of a “now playing” style playlist. With Winamp, I can double click an album and it’ll keep playing that album when I start browsing my other music. iTunes doesn’t let you do that. You have to make an actual playlist if you want to browse while listening. Huh? If I double click a song in an album, it will keep playing the entire album, even if I’m still browsing. Oh, I know what must be happening. These people and you must have the songs in the album unchecked. Yeah, there’s no happy medium between the “only sync check songs” option (when doing automatic syncing) and having songs checked so that the whole album will play when browsing. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034/20 "2009-01-07T13:36:59Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > This comes up over and over, to me it’s not just the bloat but it’s such a weird application compared to most PC applications. Vast amounts of wasted space. [Look at all inch or more of grey at the top, and the half inch at the bottom.](http://www.applian.com/replay-av/screenshots8/itunes_radio.gif) It’s a classic case of form over function. Yeah, that’s my complaint. iTunes is ugly. I’ve never got the love for OSX’s interface, as it doesn’t seem all that aesthetically pleasing, to my eye, but iTunes is 100x worse than normal. There’s way too much wasted space, there. And I HATE it when an application has a different interface, with its own quirks, from every other program. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-complain-about-itunes-on-pc/480034.md?page=2)