[cosmichobo]

G'day,

Installed Leopard. Could thus upgrade iTunes beyond - whatever version I was using before that was not Leopard compatible.

Imported all my music from old library.

Saw a lot of artwork missing, so asked it to find artwork - a free feature under previous iTunes.

But no - this now requires an iTunes Store account. Yes, you can't join iTunes for free, but I don't want an iTunes account.

Sure, I'll wear that on the chin, cos I was wanting Apple to provide something to me for free - album artwork.

BUT

Genius. Says it makes great playlists etc by looking at my tunes. Sounds fun. However, again, it wont work without an iTunes account.

Grr.

/rant

[Lutze]

Lol

it's what is known as a buy in. "We give you this... And look it costs nothing but a little info"

like those storecards ;-)

[decryption]

So basically, you want something for free and don't want to give anything up for it? Good luck with that.

[cosmichobo]

Communism isn't all bad.

[Lutze]

Originally Posted by cosmichobo

Communism isn't all bad.

Tell that to the residents of the gulag.

[tintinaujapon]

I'm pretty sure you've always needed an iTunes store account to get the 'free' artwork.

Regardless, there are worrying signs of power-madness creeping in to Apple. I've just discovered the wonder of ebooks at the same time Apple seems to be readying to shut out any that you haven't got from them.

[gehenna]

If you don't want to sing up for an iTunes account your only other option is to buy one of those apps that sources song metadata, or have fun googling cover art for all your albums one by one.

Howcome you don't want an iTunes account anyways?

[Japester]

The obvious solution has not been broached here: scan your covers. That's what I do.

[Edge]

Originally Posted by tintinaujapon

I'm pretty sure you've always needed an iTunes store account to get the 'free' artwork.

Word.

[angusg]

1. Start gmail/hotmail/yahoo mail account just to create iTunes account.
2. Create and sign into iTunes Store account with above webmail account.
3. Grab all the album artwork you want/need.
4. Sign out of iTunes Store.
5. Forget password, forget email address, close webmail account.
6. ?????????
7. Profit

[ada_lovelace]

But you need to give your credit card details just to create the account, which is what put me off signing up for ages, when all I wanted was to use Genius... (I gave in eventually, though)

[Exocet]

No you don't?

[ada_lovelace]

Really? Could have sworn it required them when I signed up...

[Rogerthatv2]

Has been this way since I joined a few years ago, no CC required, just select none...

[cosmichobo]

Originally Posted by Rogerthatv2

Has been this way since I joined a few years ago, no CC required, just select none...

Oh. Well, that makes things somewhat different.

Everything I'd been reading elsewhere said that you needed to give cc details. I'd hoped at least to be able to sign in using my Apple ID log in...

Still don't see why Genius can only function when you are logged in to the store. I understand some of its features are store-bound, but if it can do things without the store, surely it should be optional.

[angusg]

Originally Posted by cosmichobo

Oh. Well, that makes things somewhat different.

Everything I'd been reading elsewhere said that you needed to give cc details. I'd hoped at least to be able to sign in using my Apple ID log in...

Still don't see why Genius can only function when you are logged in to the store. I understand some of its features are store-bound, but if it can do things without the store, surely it should be optional.

I'm guessing that all the guess work in genius is done on the server side, and it needs to collect that data and tie it to a user somehow.

[brian_g]

I've used Album Artwork Assistant for the albums that iTunes can't find. When that fails - scan.

[Abaddon]

I've always found getting artwork manually a relatively painless process. Find image through Google. Drag and drop onto iTunes and you're done.

Having said that......

Originally Posted by brian_g

I've used Album Artwork Assistant for the albums that iTunes can't find. When that fails - scan.

....thanks for the link. Anything that can automate the process is appreciated.

[angusg]

Thanks for the link!! Very handy if you're like me and regularly inherit bulk lots of CDs from parents or friends travelling O/S

[Bart Smastard]

Gee, when I read, 'Apple; the evil money mad tyrant Co.' I thought you would be referring to Apple using a micro SIM in the 3G iPad for no good reason than to prevent users from swapping standard sized SIMs, used in most mobile phones (iPhone included), between their devices.

Surely in an oversized iPod Touch space is not that tight that room for a standard sized SIM socket couldn't be found.

And Steve Jobs recently claimed Google's "Do no evil" philosophy was BS.