iTunes Store user experience

redbluegreen — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 20:08:22 +0800

Has anyone noticed the recent changes in the iTunes Store?

I’ll start with the BAD first:
(1) Ok, this is not so recent: Why the heck did they remove the BUY ALL button in the Wish List? Imagine having to purchase 20-30 individual songs, one by one. I remember the good old times when I’d have a nice collection of songs and games in my Wish List, and be able to buy all of them at once with a single click. Damn you, Apple.

(2) In early July this year, the goons running the iTunes Store decided if would be fun to remove manual line breaks from user reviews. No more neat, easy-to-read paragraphs. Now we can all enjoy migraine-inducing walls of text. However, keeping in line with most of their GOK illogical decisions, the iTunes Store preview in Safari maintains the customers’ original, paragraphed comments. Good job, Apple.

(3) Following a temporary interruption in service a few days ago (5th September), there is now a shiny new draconian facet of the iTunes Store: devious manipulation of how customer reviews are being displayed. Obviously, not for our benefit.

Strangely enough, all the idiotic (“Cooool…best!”, “Super good!”) and maki hamun comments are deemed “helpful” but others, even if favourable (4-5 stars) and truly helpful, aren’t. For example, it’s ok to complain about apps crashing or Apple stealing people’s money (LOL) but they don’t like it if you mention that an app doesn’t work with a specific iOS version. Heck, they don’t even like it when you say that it does (as in, it’s a solid app that works well with iOS 4 right up to iOS 7). What the hell?

So now, these types of comments don’t always appear on the default (i.e. “Helpful”) review page. You have to select the other filters (Most favourable, Most critical or Most recent) in the drop-down list to view them. But the problem is, most people don’t bother doing that. I sure as heck never did (until today), and Apple knows this.

OK-lah, it’s not the end of the world (most people don’t give two fuks about user reviews) but I never expected Apple to stoop so low. *sigh* End of rant.

The GOOD (no surprise, there’s only one):
A slightly improved store feature is that you can now read all reviews by any customer. So if you find someone with similar tastes in music, games or productivity apps, and you’re bloody lazy to look for new stuff yourself, you can stalk this poor sap and copycat his or her purchases. LOL, good yet creepy.

How do you feel about the iTunes Store? Share your likes or dislikes.

Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by redbluegreen

iTunes Store user experience