iTunes 8: Design and Interaction Issues

A screenshot from itunes 8

I do not ask much from my media player; I like it to keep my music organized and play it when I ask it to. I have always used itunes for the simple fact that it has never lacked anything I wanted/needed. The latest version, iTunes 8, has added some pretty features that showcase my compulsive collecting of album art nicely, but the nice people at Apple have made, what are in my mind, some very stupid decisions on a couple of the details.

1. They have extended the low-contrast stripe pattern on alternating tracks that was found on previous versions of itunes to the negative space between albums.

Not only are these stripes completely unnecessary, but they are quite ugly in my humble opinion. On sparse EP’s like the ones from the above screenshot, the pattern dominates the screen and the purpose is secondary. Function BEFORE form Apple!

2. When you use the search box to find an artist or song, as I and I imagine many other people frequently do, your place in your library is reset to the top as soon as you remove the search term. For example, you may type “Ben Folds” to get to your collection of his awesome music, and upon finding something to your liking, say “The Bitch went Nuts” you clear “Ben Folds” from your search box and begin searching for the next song to play, perhaps from the same artist or the neighboring Ben Gibbard, and POOF! You are right back to Abandoned Pools all the way at the top of the alphabet. Extremely, and unnecessarily, annoying. I just cannot imagine when that feature comes in handy. Please someone tell me.

This, along with the absolutely idiotic “scroll to whatever song just began playing no matter where you are in your music library, making it impossible to listen to one chunk of music and organize another” feature are my only complaints with itunes. These are such simple things, why if nothing else can’t they be a prefference so I can tailor my itunes to my liking!?!?! WHY!?!?!