macOS Catalina and media apps

[kirkmc]

Here's an overview of what's changed in macOS Catalina regrading media apps (ie, the replacements for iTunes): 

 

https://kirkville.com/macos-catalina-and-the-new-media-apps-aka-after-itunes/

[DavidL]

I'm not going to 'upgrade' to Catalina until I read some feedback on user experience with the Apps that replace iTunes. In particular it would be very helpful if / when anyone uses these to learn what music library curating facilities are available in the 'Music' App. Is it the same as available in iTunes, apart from the column browser (which I regard as essential for library maintenance)?

 

[kirkmc]

Other than the lack of the column browser, in the inability to display album artwork in songs view, there are no major differences.

[wgscott]

Does Catalina break iTunes or force-delete it upon installation?  If not (or if it can be re-installed), presumably a user who requires the missing functionality could still make use of it.

[ABQMD]

FYI, Catalina breaks Roon's local file access if you have your music files on an external disk. My iMacPro has a thunderbolt-connected Akitio 4 disk array as JBOD and Roon cannot access the music folder on one of the disks. I get an "Error loading folder Unauthorized" message when I try to designate the Music folder. Roon is aware of the issue and is working on it and advises not to update to Catalina. Streaming still works fine in Roon with both Tidal and Qobuz.

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-core-macos-catalina/79920

[kirkmc]

9 hours ago, wgscott said:

Does Catalina break iTunes or force-delete it upon installation?  If not (or if it can be re-installed), presumably a user who requires the missing functionality could still make use of it.

It replaces iTunes. I doubt that you'll be able to install an older version. 

[kirkmc]

9 hours ago, ABQMD said:

FYI, Catalina breaks Roon's local file access if you have your music files on an external disk. My iMacPro has a thunderbolt-connected Akitio 4 disk array as JBOD and Roon cannot access the music folder on one of the disks. I get an "Error loading folder Unauthorized" message when I try to designate the Music folder. Roon is aware of the issue and is working on it and advises not to update to Catalina. Streaming still works fine in Roon with both Tidal and Qobuz.

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-core-macos-catalina/79920

Sounds like the developers didn't get their app up to date, rather than it being an actual bug related to Catalina. There are stricter security guidelines for accessing files now.