iTunes 8 was released today (well yesterday, but who’s counting?) with new features like Genius sidebar/playlists, HD TV show and a new visualiser. (wow :rolleyes: )
However, they have removed two of the UI options I used, namely hiding the genre in the browser and links to the iTunes store. I don’t find browsing by genre useful; only a handful of my songs have genre tags. I’ve never thought to myself “Self, I really wish I could browse for a specific genre.” Add to that you are limited add one genre to a particular song and for me at least they are completely pointless (tags, on the other hand, would be awesome 
)
Searching Google, there are solutions for both of these issues, but they are Mac only :hmm: . However, I’ve found the solution for Windows (which works for me anyway).
- Ensure iTunes is not open. Browse to the iTunes Application Data folder (C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes on XP, C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes on Vista, substituting the drive letter and the user profile name where necessary.
- Backup and open the iTunesPrefs.xml with a half decent text editor (ie not Notepad, my personal preference is Notepad++)
- Find the User Preferences key, and below the <dict> tag insert:
- <key>show-genre-when-browsing</key>
<data>
AA==
</data>to disable the genre column in the browser, and:
- <key>show-store-arrow-links</key>
<data>
AA==
</data>to disable the links to the store.
- Start iTunes.
Tags: apple itunes
[...] Ocram’s Blog » Blog Archive » iTunes 8 – Hide Genre in browser/iTunes store links on Windows [...]
Thank´s a lot for this tip. Not having an option to remove the genre from the browser in iTunes8 was a big annoyance for me. (the music I mostly listen to doesn´t fit into genre descriptions anyway )
Have a nice day,
Andi
Thanks a lot, it works!!!!
Nice one mate, worked a treat. Thanks!
holy shit, thank you so much!
thanks for this! i was searching in vain for the ‘hide genre while browsing’… how stupid to remove that option!
[...] [SOURCE: OS X Fix | Win XP/Vista Fix] [...]
using %appdata%\Apple Computer\iTunes should work for both xp and vista with the os installed in any hd (mine is in S:)
Great tip, works like a charm. What else can be tweaked this way ?
I’d like to have the arrows behave as if I were CTRL-clicking them all the time (stay in my local library). There is a solution for OSX (http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/02/terminal-tips-modify-itunes-arrow-links/), but I can’t adapt it to Windows – I need to know what the encoded equivalent for “true” is
Any ideas?
Thank you. Your help is very much appreciated.
–Gareth
I’m using Vista (x64) and I don’t have a User Preferences key. Adding the code isn’t working
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Thanks so much! The inability to hide the links to the iTunes store really bothered me, because it felt like shameless product placement on Apple’s part. I’m not a huge Apple fanboy–obviously, since I needed this *Windows* fix–but this felt like the first step to turning iTunes into a Microsoft-esque adware-ridden piece of malware.
dugg!
Thanks so much for this. Was about to uninstall v8 and reinstall older version but you saved me a job. Cheers!
So I guess ‘AA==’ means FALSE, but does anyone know what TRUE is? I turned genre browsing off, but now I want it back and simply deleting the show-genre-when-browsing bit doesn’t do it.
Didn’t work for me…
[...] that you can turn them off if you’re using iTunes under Windows. HTH There are some instructions HERE for doing this in Windows – though I can’t vouch for them, I haven’t tried it. Please report if [...]
Thanks SO much! My skin was crawling! You ROCK!
Wonderful!
Wicked Tip, thanks so much. Now to fix that little BSOD when iPod is plugged in thing…..
To invert store links behaviour add this code:
invertStoreLinks
dHJ1ZQ==
worked great, thank you
Sweet. Thanks.
Hi there
Tried the fix in Microsoft Word and it did not work. I’m not familiar with working in XML at all, though. Wondering if you can help provide guidance here as I, too, find the genre window very annoying.
Thank you!
Also, will this fix be overwritten with subsequent versions of iTunes?
Never mind on the first comment, got it to work…thanks!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Indeed, I have tried entering genres for my songs but I ended up giving about 25% of them ‘Rock’ and 15% ‘Electronica’. There are a few smaller clusters of other stuff, but more than 50% remains genre-less. Assigning a genre to those songs would be an insult to them. Genres are pointless for mostly everything. What does the genre “Soundtrack” tell about a song? Nothing, except that it was used in a movie. A playlist of all my ‘Soundtrack’ songs would make even a music illiterate cringe.
If you’d go to allmusic.com and assign the ‘Rock’ genre to all songs labeled as ‘Rock’ there, probably 75% of all your songs would be ‘Rock’, even songs with no guitars or drums at all. Tags would be much more useful indeed, but that’s probably too complicated for the average iTunes target consumer.
I can’t do this, because under my user name, there’s no appdata/mac computer. HELP?
didnt work. do i have to check a box or something?
the genre thing worked just fine. and i did both the same way. i even added genre after i added the store links one.
i really only care about getting rid of the store links.
help?
Thanks, pretty simple fix.
That sucks that Apple is forcing their iTunes store upon us.
Thanks very much to you – you are the man
And to Apple, thanks for nothing – you’ve made my ipod nano obselete, you’ve given me Genius which is about as intelligent as an amoeba, and you’ve made iTunes even less intuitive and less user friendly.
IMPORTANT note to anyone doing this on Vista – note that there are two iTunesPrefs.xml files, one ine AppData\Local and one in AppData\Roaming. It’s the one in the Roaming folder that you need…
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes
Dude, you are a lifesaver
Didn’t work for me either. Typed in the edits and saved, but they don’t actually save. I open up the file again and it’s like it was before.
Has you found a way to fix sorting in iTunes so that it goes SYMBOL – NUMBER – LETTER like the rest of the world? If so please help! email me or contact me on my site!! thanks!!!!!
Worked for me, thank you.
I wish there was an alternative to this piece of corporate bloatware that tries to get me to install Safari everytime it updates itself, but I can’t use my iPhone with Winamp.
your so awesome! that little arrow pissed me off!!!
Thanks. This information was extremely helpful.
Zack:
The AppData folder is hidden. You either need to “show hidden files/folders” or type \appdata in the address bar of Windows Explorer after you get into your user folder. OR you can type the full address in… C:\Users\**YOUR USER NAME**\appdata.
Took me a while to work out but it works a treat!
Thanks!
Anyone having problems, my mistake was not looking for the “user preferances” bit (it’s written between two signs. Also I used wordpad – that worked best.
Also, if (like me) you couldn’t find the appdata, be sure your folder view is set to show hidden files and folders. That’s why I couldn’t find it before.
Where SPECIFICALLY should I paste that line? You simply said, “under the tag, but there are LOTS of those in the whole thing.
Yep, it’s working on XP.
Thanks!
This is an absolute lifesaver, I cant stand the Genre category and I am so used to clicking in that area for artist it was really starting to get on my nerves. I found Mac solutions but this was the only Windows solution I found. Thanks again.
Thanks alot mate you’ve been a big help
Dude, you are the man.
Zack- you can paste the code directly under the first tag under user preferences. It doesn’t have to be lined up perfectly.
This just made my day. I thought i was going crazy and just wasn’t seeing those options anywhere.
I feel much better about my itunes now.