iTunes woes

I have a bunch of computers running at Phileas Mann Central, with an even mix of Macs & WinTel desktops and laptops. Surprisingly, my main computer is a Windows, despite me rambling on how Windows is the devil, and that if you want to be as cool as me (*cough cough* bullshit! *cough cough*) you have to own a Mac.

But, don't make presumptions yet! My main computer, a Toshiba Satellite, running (cover you eyes ppl!) Windows Vista, replaced my MBP for a while because of a myriad of hardware faults. But, this week, it has been repaired, and it's ready to roll again. And, finally!, I can stop using the worst operating system of all time!

Everything went smoothly at first - my top apps for the Mac installed fine (Growl, Statoo, Fireworks, InDesign, Final Cut Pro, iWork, and Quicksilver), and all of my important documents loaded fine. Bought myself a new USB HD for Time Machine, first backup went fine. And, then, my smile went away.

My iTunes library.

I don't know what's up with iTunes. While it's a great application, and I use it daily, when it comes to transferring songs it doesn't follow the Apple motto of "it just works". I first copied my music to a HD, transferred it to my Mac, opened the XML file already made, change the directory links in the file, then tried to open the itl file, because it worked flawlessly when I did it earlier (from Mac to PC). It didn't work. Bloody iTunes 8...

Then I tried exporting the XML file on the Windows computer. Yes, it worked, no, it didn't.

EH?!

Yes, it worked. My songs did end up on my iTunes. Playlists remained intact, except for my Smart Playlists, noticably "Recently Added" (guess why).

No, it didn't. About 50 songs were missing, despite me consolidating my library earlier, and not even touching the damn thing during the transfer! I have to find covers for the songs I didn't purchase on iTunes, I've lost my Top 25 playlist because the Play Count went missing, and it didn't transfer my iPod Games & iPhone applications! ARGH!

So, Apple, why do you have to treat your loyal customer like shit? Why does this simple little thing have to let down the whole concept of the Mac - "it just works"?

Today I'll just be sitting down in front of my MBP fixing, fixing, fixing...