Sigh…I really like the OS X environment, I think the operating system works very well and is remarkably stable compared to Windows (although I do like Windows 7 very much)…but what the #$%@ is with iTunes? Every improvement is a pain in the ass — it either doesn’t work well, or it does something to piss me off.

The latest was that every time I would open the program, it woud ask if I wanted to accept network connections. It’s a firewall issue; you’d think iTunes would play nice with OS X’s own firewall. (Good job, iTunes development team; you still suck!)

Here’s what worked for me. Swear vociferously. Close iTunes. Open the application manager and kill the iTunes helper process. (Search — you’ll find it faster.) Delete iTunes — no you will not lose your library, files, or downloads. Mountain Lion won’t let you drag to the trash can, so open the terminal, type in cd /Applications/

Yes, capitalize Application.

Then type: sudo rm -rf iTunes.app/ It will ask you for your administrator password if it’s enabled.

That’s it. Nothing else will happen, but the iTunes icon will be gone. Restart your computer, go to the iTunes web page and download the new 11.0.2. If you want to throw in some verbal abuse at Apple, the iTunes developers, Macs and how much easier Windows is to use — hit it. I recommend swearing. Or hitting an inanimate object.

Now option+click iTunes in the application folder, find your libraries, and you should be good to go.

Now for the saying nice things portion of the rant: iTunes 11.0.2 is much much faster than the last iteration on my 2010 Air, even accessing my network drive for the files. It found the files quickly, and accessed the store remarkably fast. Usually I wait through a long slog just to get into the store, much less try to find something. At this point I apologize to the iTunes code monkeys — this is still a kludged mess in some ways, but it’s running better than it has in years.