Once upon a time, Apple’s iTunes had a sidebar with colorful icons, the better to identify different categories and playlists. But some people at Apple decided we must all be color blind, so the icons were changed to shades of gray. The Finder inherited the same questionable simplicity. And then the iTunes sidebar went away; well […]

So iTunes hasn’t exactly received the love in recent years. Some say it’s bloated, although technically that’s not quite true. Others are just overwhelmed by all the features that are regularly added, without taking steps to simplify the interface so the power of the app is at your beck and call. Others fret over stability […]

As you know, new product launches can be troublesome. Apple Music is no exception. Despite the fact that Tuesday’s 9:00 AM Pacific launch was limited to iOS 8.4 users (iTunes 12.2 didn’t arrive until several hours later), there was loads of attention. Early reviews were mixed, with a cluttered layout and lack of easy guidance for newcomers the […]

From time to time, I’ve played with larger smartphones. For months, I had two different flavors of a Samsung Galaxy with displays in the neighborhood of five inches. They were most certainly thin enough, but they were difficult fits for my front pockets. I don’t wear super tight jeans — just normal fit — so […]