Ocram’s Blog

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).

1. 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.
2. Backup and open the iTunesPrefs.xml with a half decent text editor (ie not Notepad, my personal preference is Notepad++)
3. 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.

4. Start iTunes.

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