Don’t you hate it when they change the way something works?
I updated to iTunes 9 while on the road. This afternoon, as I prepare to get some work done in my hotel room, I fired up iTunes on my MacBook Pro for a little background music. I only have about 900 songs on this computer, but that’s enough to keep me satisfied while I work.
I started up iTunes, clicked OK when it told me it couldn’t connect to the iTunes Store, and started up the music. I then clicked on the zoom button in the title bar to get the mini player window.
But the window zoomed, like any other window. No mini player window.
In iTunes, clicking the green zoom button always toggled the window between a regular iTunes window and the mini player. For years. I clicked it about six times, thinking I was missing something. I wasn’t.
The yellow minimize button didn’t display it either. No big surprise there. I didn’t bother clicking the red close button.
I then spent the next three minutes hunting down the setting that would get me the mini player window. I checked the obvious places — well, obvious to me, anyway — including the Window menu and preferences. I finally found it and its shortcut key listed under the view menu: Switch to Mini Player or Shift-Command-M.
Problem solved.
But don’t you hate it when they change the way things work?
September 22, 2009 Update: I don’t know if it’s my imagination or not, but with the release of the iTunes 9.0.1 update, this “problem” seems to have gone away. The green zoom button now works just like it used to. That’s got me wondering: did Apple “fix” it because they realized it was “broken” or did they change it back because so many people were whining about it?
absolutely. your tip helped.
How very Microsoft of Apple. Changing something that was simple and second-nature to users to something that’s not.
Your’re right!. When you have YEARS using a single and simple action, you get to used too…
If you’re only using iTunes you can remember to press option before the green dot. But when your’re working, using many applications and your mind is at your job, you forget about the “New Issue” and it becomes frustrating.
I’ve just downgraded to iTunes 8.2.1 again… now I can work and enjoy my music as I used to be. Anon is right, It looks like a Microsoft Philosophy: If Its too easy, make it complicated and hard!
Rubens & Anon: I don’t think saying this change is “Microsoftic” (to coin a new word) is fair. If you look at it objectively, you’ll see that the change actually makes the iTunes window work in accordance with Apple User Interface Guidelines. The green “zoom” button is supposed to toggle the window’s size between its full size and custom size. It never did that before in iTunes. Now it does.
The reality is that it should have worked like this from Day 1; Apple shouldn’t have made the change now, after we all got used to the “wrong” functionality.
I don’t think it’s worth downgrading over, though. Just need to teach yourself the new motor skill. The shortcut key is actually quicker than clicking that tiny button anyway.
Hate it. Using two hands to produce a keystroke, or letting go of my mouse to contort it with my right hand is not as convenient. I agree that this brings iTunes into compliance with standard, but it is such a widely used function. I would like to see them make it a preference option, or to add a new button to the title bar that allows a quick toggle. This is my one big frustration with Snow Leopard because I, too, had trained myself to use this feature often.
A preference option would be great. That’s where I hoped to find it when I realized they’d changed functionality. Maybe if we all used the Feedback command (under the iTunes menu) to suggest it, they might add it as an option for the next update? Worth a try, I think.
I found out that holding the OPTION button while clicking on the green maximize button will bring it to the mini player.
phinehas: Great tip. Thanks for sharing it.