What's with the iTunes software bloat?

Adam Lenhardt · 11-10-2007, 12:55 AM

I keep a copy of every version of a program I install. As I went to install the latest version of iTunes, 7.5, I noticed a disturbing trend:

iTunes 7.0.1 - 35.798 KB
iTunes 7.1.0 - 36.958 KB
iTunes 7.2.0 - 37,122 KB
iTunes 7.3.1 - 48,774 KB
iTunes 7.4.1 - 50,214 KB
iTunes 7.5.0 - 53,054 KB

Within iTunes 7 alone, The installer has grown 40% within iTunes 7 alone without any major new features. Does anyone here know what's causing this bloat? Also, why is the new version of QuickTime 52.6 MB for Leopard and only 20.3 MB — less than half — for Windows? Aren't ports usually larger, not smaller?

DaveF · 11-10-2007, 06:55 AM

Adam- that's just the installer size? What's the relative size of the installed program? Is iTunes actually getting bigger, or just the item used to update it.

That said, I don't see the worry. 50MB for an iTunes upgrade, from a 25 MB upgrade is a pittance: It's an extra 60 seconds of download time; it's 0.015% of my hard-drive. And I don't keep these installers so it doesn't even take up that 0.015%.

Now, iTunes is growing from 1 GB to 2GB, then I get concerned. Do you see growth in the actual installed app?

Carlo Medina · 11-10-2007, 11:04 AM

Could it have something to do with the devices it has to support? Check out Wiki's iTunes history page.

The newer builds had to support the iPhone (ring tones) , iTouch, Apple TV (hence increased movies/TV shows) and of course the new iPod Classic and Nano also have much different software than their predecessors.

Apple a couple of years ago stopped releasing iPod updaters and I believe are bundling them in with each build of iTunes. The increased number of devices iTunes has to support could IMO easily account for the software size.

The downside is: you may not own most of the devices and so it is bloat to you. The upside is: once you purchase any new Apple i-device, if you keep iTunes up to date you should have the latest software/firmware available as soon as you plug in

Adam Lenhardt · 11-10-2007, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF

That said, I don't see the worry. 50MB for an iTunes upgrade, from a 25 MB upgrade is a pittance: It's an extra 60 seconds of download time; it's 0.015% of my hard-drive. And I don't keep these installers so it doesn't even take up that 0.015%.

It's not the disk space I'm worried about. It's that if a program is doubling in size, it's probably also using more resources. A leaner program tends to run faster, and iTunes has never been that fast to begin with.

Quote:

Now, iTunes is growing from 1 GB to 2GB, then I get concerned. Do you see growth in the actual installed app?

That's an interesting question. I haven't paid attention so far, but I'll definitely do a before and after comparison for the next update.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carlo Medina

Could it have something to do with the devices it has to support? Check out Wiki's iTunes history page.

...

The downside is: you may not own most of the devices and so it is bloat to you. The upside is: once you purchase any new Apple i-device, if you keep iTunes up to date you should have the latest software/firmware available as soon as you plug in

That's what I was afraid of. I don't use i-devices. I use iTunes as a music server only. I use my phone as an mp3 player, and iTunes has let me drag playlists onto that from day one. It's too bad they don't have a "device-free mode" where you can boot up the program without all of the unneccessary add-ons.

Marc Colella · 11-10-2007, 10:16 PM

I find iTunes bloated. Since it's first release on Windows it's been very sluggish. I only needed software to transfer my mp3's over to my iPod so it wasn't worth using, so I used Ephpod for the last 5 years.

Now that I have the iPod Classic, I'm forced to use iTunes again... and even though my PC has been upgraded recently and is MUCH faster than my older one, I still find iTunes to be sluggish. I don't think the Apple developers know how to optimize in Windows.

If anyone knows if an alternative to iTunes for the iPod Classic is available, please let me know. I'm dying to rid myself of this bloated software.

**HTF Ads**

Carlo Medina · 11-10-2007, 11:46 PM

Adam and Marc:

Perhaps this bloated feel you have is because you're using the Windows version? I have a Macbook Pro and several Windows PCs and laptops (home and work) of various levels of hardware, one at least as powerful as the Mac.

That said, I can pretty much say the Mac version runs considerable snappier than any Windows version. I've in fact stopped using iTunes as of the last half year or so on Windows, choosing only to use the one on my Mac. 53MB isn't really that big of a program when you think about it. I think because it's a native Mac program and is a Windows port has a lot to do with the bloated feel you guys are experiencing.

Parker Clack · 11-11-2007, 07:05 AM

Quote:

It's too bad they don't have a "device-free mode" where you can boot up the program without all of the unneccessary add-ons.

Or an option to install what you want. Like if you install Office and you don't want to install Access or Excel you have that choice. If you could chose the devices you want to install at the time and then later as you get into those devices you could enable and install that part of the program that would a lot better in my opionion and maybe make the program run better on Windows. I think it is overkill to install programming that you may never use.

Ted Todorov · 11-11-2007, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

... Also, why is the new version of QuickTime 52.6 MB for Leopard and only 20.3 MB — less than half — for Windows? Aren't ports usually larger, not smaller?

Maybe it has to do with the Universal binary under Mac OS X (it has to support two completely different processor families, vs. only one processor family under Windows).

I only use iTunes on the Mac, so I have always been mystified by complaints about it -- I really think it is an amazing program -- if there is a better one stop jukebox program out there, I sure didn't get the memo.

That said, iTunes does have problems -- one is that there is no graceful way to have a separate lossy compressed library for the iPod/iPhone and a lossless one for home use. You can do it with smart play lists, but it is a pain in the neck, and isn't obvious to a person other than the one who set it up.

Secondly, I don't know if anyone here has an iPod Classic, but when it's connected it is beach ball city -- my gen 2 & gen 4 iPods (both Firewire) never caused anything like this. Granted I'm still running 1.0 firmware, (I don't dare upgrade to 1.2 because of the coverflow/battery drain bug), but it annoys the heck out of me. Is this because of slowness of USB 2.0 vs. Firewire -- anyone experience it with 5.5 gen iPods?

Ted

DaveF · 11-11-2007, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

It's not the disk space I'm worried about. It's that if a program is doubling in size, it's probably also using more resources.

That's may be a key thing: the updater has doubled; but has iTunes actually doubled? It might be replacing 50MB of already-installed files with a different 50 MB of files, while the total size remains the same. Or maybe it really has doubled. We need more data

Besides, this is spitting in the ocean. Why worry about an extra 0.025 GB of "bloat" when your Mac has ~4 GB of foreign languages you'll never use?