No fun when iTunes goes bad

[Blicj11]

I am having a ridiculous experience with iTunes. A couple of days ago I plugged my iPhone into the iMac, iTunes opened up and gave me the following message: iTunes could not connect to this iPhone. This device is no longer connected. I tried changing cables, changing ports, resetting the iPhone, restarting iTunes, rebooting the computer and changing to a new test user. iTunes did not recognize the iPhone or any other iOS device. iPhoto recognized the devices, but no joy in iTunes. The iPhone was recognized by iTunes on my wife's iMac.

So I called Apple Care. Turns out this is a common problem in iTunes for Windows but this problem on a Mac was a first for the Level 2 Tech to whom I eventually got transferred. iTunes is no finger a standalone app in OS X. It is now built into the operating system, which means when it gets corrupted, your only option is reinstall the OS clean. You can't install from a backup because it might reinstall the corrupt iTunes.

I moved WeatherCat to my wife's iMac using the excellent guide in the Wiki, wiped my partition and installed Yosemite fresh. Now I get to see how many days it takes me to reinstall my software and move my data back onto the computer.

Since iTunes has become Apple's all-in-one solution for integrating all of your music, movies, photos, podcasts and books, and each release gets bigger and more bloated, it's bound to blow up every once in a while. When it does, it ain't pretty.

Moral of the story: It's just a computer and there are more important things in life. Count your blessings and watch the weather.

[elagache]

Dear Blick and WeatherCat amateur technical industry observers,

I am having a ridiculous experience with iTunes.

. . . . . .

So I called Apple Care. Turns out this is a common problem in iTunes for Windows but this problem on a Mac was a first for the Level 2 Tech to whom I eventually got transferred. iTunes is no finger a standalone app in OS X. It is now built into the operating system, which means when it gets corrupted, your only option is reinstall the OS clean. You can't install from a backup because it might reinstall the corrupt iTunes.

. . . . . .

Moral of the story: . . . . . .

So sorry to hear about your miseries Blick.  Alas, I draw another conclusion from your story - be extremely cautious about upgrades.  There is a very ugly overlapping set of dispositions that is driving high-tech companies to reduce the amount of quality control they do.  The fierce competition puts fierce pressure to complete things quickly.  The need for constant novelty encourages more extensive revisions of software than is necessary to accomplish the goal.  Worse of all, the geek culture has that teenage delusion of invincibility and an immature appetite for risk.  Put these ingredients together and the task of producing quality software becomes just about impossible for the managers charged with making sure nothing goes out the door that will hurt the customer.

Based on the good reports I was seeing about Yosemite I upgraded earlier than I normally do, and I'm sorry about it.  It is important that we are seeing a new generation of people producing the products we live with today and their sense of quality isn't that say of Steve Jobs.  Apple stock definitely shows an approval for Tim Cook, but it seems clear he cannot fill Steve's shoes.  He is staying ahead of the competition, but the loyal fans of Apple aren't getting what we have been accustomed too.

We'll have little choice to live with it, but that being the case, we must be even more cautious than before.

Cheers, Edouard 

[Steve]

He is staying ahead of the competition, but the loyal fans of Apple aren't getting what we have been accustomed too.

I would say, from my experience, that Mavericks and Yosemite have been extremely stable from day one (which is when I upgraded) compared to previous OS versions. Right now I'm updating my iPhone, iPad, and then my iMac to the latest iOS and OS X updates released this afternoon.

[Blicj11]

Steve and Eduardo:

Thanks for posting your comments. I actually really like Yosemite. Many of its changes make the it much simpler to use. This is a great feature for new users (of which I am not one). I love the new seamless exchanges between iPhone and iMac. Have answered dozens of phone calls and text messages on my iMac. Fantastic feature.

The reinstall has gone quite well actually. This was just one of those things that doesn't happen very often. It's taken some time, but the Apple tech walked me through restoring my apps and data. They don't recommend the auto re-install from Time Machine. They had me connect to the backup drive in Finder and drag and drop what I needed. I am mostly back up. WeatherCat has been moved back to my iMac. Thanks for the wiki guide on this Edouard. I have used it four times now.

I'll never go back to Windoze. Been there. Done that.