Downloaded the new version of iTunes, mainly to see what this genius is, but also tried a couple of tasks. I'm screaming.
First, who decided to take away the Consolidate Library command? I must use that two or three times a day. Yes I can use a standard Finder or Windows function to copy a file but this was better. It saved me time because it checks fist to see if I have enough disc space; it saved a lot of bother because I was confident the new directory would indeed contain all the album tracks I had copied across. New software should be a step forward, not back.
Worse was to come.
I burn a lot of DVDs. 100 plus a week. I use standard iTunes commands to burn music. Under iTunes 8 I got an error message which kept asking me to insert blank media. I have to say this has happened before and I had to do a fair bit of head scratching to recall the fix.
While the mental cogs were spinning I tested the drive, I swapped various DVDs, pretty sure they were all blank, even went out and bought a stack of blank Sony DVDs just so I could be absolutely sure each disc was factory fresh. Every time, it kept telling me that it thought the disc I'd inserted was not blank. Please insert blank media, please insert blank media. Some sort of screwed up mantra.
Tried it on three machines, same every time. Then I remembered what had happened before and how I'd got round it. Due to the way I rip clients CDs (across six machines) I have a selection of USB connected drives and one clients collection ends up spread across one or more drives. When the ripping is done I just unplug the drive from its computer then plug it into a single machine with which I compile the master CD music library.
For some reason a while back iTunes took exception to music stored on external drives when burning DVDs. The fix? Just move all the music off the hard drives onto a single internal hard drive. And that's where I once more cursed the loss of Consolidate Library, but at least I've said goodbye (for a while) to "Please insert blank media ....."
