I rant about Apple enough in Insider’s Edge for you to know that I’m a little besotted…

However, right now a lot of Apple users (myself included) aren’t happy.

Apple have taken something that worked brilliantly and replaced it with something that looks very pretty… but has a dud engine, a faulty sat nav and smells of old socks.

Recently Apple released a software update to iTunes (their music and media player) called iTunes version 11.

Like many people I have a large music library and I absolutely hate this update. It’s bloated, clunky and slow and has all but ruined iTunes’s usability – which is a shame because it was once a brilliant piece of software.

What’s wrong with it?

It’s slow – Try typing anything in the search bar and it’ll stutter and spin and you’ll be making cups of tea as you wait for it to find the song you were looking for. I actually quite like the idea behind this new search facility (it segments results into tracks and albums and displays album covers) it’s just that currently it’s WAY too slow. I’m using the latest bells and whistles iMac with 32gb of RAM – so it’s if it’s slow on mine I dread to think what it’s like on others.

There’s way too much going on – Click on the albums tab and you’ll be assaulted with an enormous grid of album covers which take an age to load. I like the idea that you can see your collection visually, with all the covers on display but if you’re got a large library it’s simply unworkable at present. It also takes forever to scroll down and find the music you want. Frustrating needle in haystack situation.

Why isn’t ‘Genius’ MUCH more visible? This was one of the best features Apple brought to iTunes, the ability for the software to analyse your selections and make recommendations for you. I discovered many new bands this way and think it’s a real shame you have to right click (or control click if you’re on Mac) to find the ‘start Genius button’. Many users simply won’t see this and will miss out.

Top tip if you’re harking after the old iTunes

Ok so this doesn’t solve all of the issues above, BUT if you’re struggling with the new layout (like many of us are) there is a workaround. Try the following:

* Click ‘View’ in the toolbar
* Hover over and click ‘Show Sidebar’

This will bring back the familiar sidebar where you can scroll down your playlists. Not perfect but better than nothing.

I’ve just written to Apple to lament the new changes because I feel they put most users 2 steps back. If they’re going to make big changes I’d rather they delay the launch until everything’s working seamlessly or they’ll risk alienating customers. If you feel the same you can complain to Apple about the iTunes changes here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

What do you think? Do you find this changes frustrating as well?

Please feel free to leave a comment below.