Frequent emailer to the Maccast Robert noticed a little something in the recent iTunes 8 update. Something that has become a very common and un-Apple like annoyance in iTunes updates. For some unknown reason Apple re-designs or moves significant functionality between versions of the software. With iTunes 7 the one that got me was them moving the “chapter” options for enhanced podcasts to the menubar. In iTunes 8 the most confusing example is their removal of the 3 tab options (General, Importing, Burning) from under the ‘Advanced’ menu in the iTunes preferences. iTunes 8 simply has one ‘tab’ of Advanced options. The other two former ‘tabs’ have mysteriously vanished. Or have they?
The import and burning options have actually been moved to other locations. In case you find yourself searching for these options, like I have been over the past few days, here is a quick overview of the process for setting these options in the latest version of iTunes.
Importing Settings
To set the import settings do the following:
- In iTunes 8, choose ‘Preferences’ from the ‘iTunes’ menu (Command + , ).
- In the ‘General’ tab, press the ‘Import Settings…’ button.
- In the dialog box set up your desired import format, bit rate, etc. and click ‘OK’ when finished.
CD Burning
To burn a CD do the following:
- In iTunes 8 create a playlist. If you want to burn a whole album you can drag the album from the new ‘grid’ view over to the playlist section in the left sidebar. This will create a new “playlist” for that album. Now select the playlist you want to burn.
- In the lower right corner of the main iTunes window click the ‘Burn Disc’ button.
- Now in the dialog box set up your desired disc burning options. You can choose the burning device and speed, select the disc format, set the gap between tracks, etc. Then insert a blank disc and click ‘Burn’.
I am not sure why Apple chooses to move major functionality between versions like this. I personally find it annoying, but at least now you know what has changed this time around.
I noticed these changes too but somehow they haven’t really bothered me. In fact I actually prefer the layout of iTunes preferences now. However, I still find it highly annoying that the chapter selection is in the Menu Bar instead of being incorporated into the window.
Strange how these changes effect us all differently.
Well, for the oldies, the moved functions are annoying because it disturbs the muscle memory, but I think the new way is better than the old nested tabs.
Also, I would think that changing such things between major versions is fine. Remember, we went from v 7 to 8, not 7.7 to 7.8.
Thank you SO MUCH for that.. this has just had me pulling my hair out… and for the record, I H A T E the move, and there’s no info on the apple site for it either.
thanks – & google gave you first. I was immediately pissed as I use itunes all the time to move my recorded music around all the frigging formats.
I am crazy with the changes to iTunes as well – some of it doesn’t make sense to me. However…… I am having a real frustration with burning a playlist to a CD. All of a sudden, I have to decide how much of a gap I want between tracks… what??? I understand it is a cool option if burning an ambient cd and want the music to run together. But not every cd is improved with no gap, so my big question is, How long is a usual gap between tracks? 1 second, 2 seconds. ??? I have no idea and hate having to make this decision every time I burn a cd! Can anyone shed light on this question?
Thanks
Even worse than moving preference is Removing them altogeather. eg the ability to hide Genre column when browsing music, and the ability to hide iTunes store arrows next to music. Thankfully you can update the properties in preference files, but why would you simply want to remove them from the interface?
I just tried to switch the format to do some work with our own files to find the settings moved. I tried the Help menu on my Mac, to be told to go to the Advanced tab. It isn’t there. Apple should really update their own documentation when they muck about with their programs.
Anyway, thanks for this Adam!
This new setup is so frustrating. I have CD-Rs that can fit 700MB worth of songs which usually would fit around 18 or 19. Now it will only burn one song on a cd and I am no where near my capacity for the cd with on the playlist. Any advice?
with this new itunes 8.0 set up, do I get the option to add/change the CD/DVD burner?
How do I do that?
Thank you so much Adam, your advice really helped! Otherwise I would’ve been searching for hours (I’ve already spent 1 hour on this topic).
As for your question Diane, I believe usual cd’s have a 2 second delay between each track.
I am having trouble playing cds that I burned using iTunes 8 in my car. All the cds that I burned previously to this most recent update of iTunes, played fine. Any suggestions?
Yeah, I find it pretty frustrating as well. So, you know what my layman solution was? I stopped downloading updates. Im probably going to break something, but hey, if it was working fine, why mess with it right? Anyway, it’s been a few updates since my last one and everytime I get a prompt, I just cancel!
Thank you sooooo much Adam…
but please can you tell me how to change my formats?! (I used do this just fine before the update!)
I have to import things as AIFF or AAC for the work I do, but for my ipod, these files are far too big.
How do I change them to MP3?!
I think this makes sense functionally, but they forgot one thing. You also use burning to backup your iTunes library on CD. Which is done from a completely different context menu that doesn’t have a burn speed option. So now there is no way to change the burn speed while backing up your library on CD. (If I’m wrong and there is a way, someone please post it).
i don’t have the burn cd icon in the bottom right hand corner.. help!
My itunes does not have a burning tab on the advanced settings and it will not let me burn a cd from itunes, only in media player even though itunes is my default. it always says unknown error. I am not sure why it will not let me. The CD-R’s work in other programs. And i’ve tried different brands. I have no idea why it will not work. I have a PC if this may be the reason. Please help. Thanks.