The ministore does not show up in my iTunes 7. I updated from the last version of 6. I also don't have any of the other problems people talk about. I'm not complaining!

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Just press Command+Shift+M to hide it.

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I was in the Apple Store the day after iTunes 7 came out, here at Walden in Buffalo, NY. The assistant manager and I were talking, and an employee stated the same fact. There is a short-cut key for disabling it though.

Dirty Apples. Grr.

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The iTunes ministore defaults to previous installation preferences (i.e. if you had it hidden in v6 and install v7, it stays hidden). Presumably if you have a new machine with a factory installation, it is visible by default. That said it is obvious to even the most novice user that you would drop the menus looking for its control function. I would even suggest that, to a novice user, the View menu is a far more obvious place to look rather than checking the buttons along the bottom of the window.

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another biased tuaw article,


you zoom in on the turn off the ministore thing in itunes 6 and then make the picture of the itunes 7 ministore THAT CLEARLY SAYS THE EXACTLY SAME THING in the bottom of the second paragraph too small to read. so they removed the button, it still gives clear instructions on how to turn the store off, news must be slow today, REAL slow. who writes this crap?

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It was turned off on 6 and after upgrading, it was still off. I saw the tick mark for turning it on in PREFS - not sure why yours turned on automatically ...

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I like the mini store. If you are bothered about iTunes trying to sell you music, then why are you using iTunes anyway? It's made to sell you music.

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Weird, I had the mini store turned off in v.6, and it didn't show up at all when I installed v.7. The problem I have is every time I open up iTunes, it autmoatically goes to the iTunes store page. I don't even USE the iTunes music store. I wish they'd just make a "lite" version sans store so I can enjoy iTunes for what it was supposed to be. It's so slow, the cover flow takes forever to update whenever you move the slider, and it takes about 10 seconds to "load my iTunes library."

Not very happy with this version, Apple. Let's hope the bug fixes come soon.

Fishes,
narco.

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They also removed the EQ button and moved that to the view menu.

How often do you turn the mini-store on and off? (personally, i turned it off, and forgot it existed). There's no need for a toggle button at the bottom of the screen.

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I noticed this as well and while most people reading this think it's stupid to be pointing out I think it is an example of how Apple is trying to push the store harder using sneaky tactics. I most certainly had this pref turned off on both my machines and on both it returned. For most of us this isn't an issue. The point is that users who will never go looking for the option to turn it off nor bother to read the instructions now have a mini store at the bottom of their itunes.

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I ran in to this whilst trying to set up my Japanese exchange student's MacBook, she had set her default language to Japanese (which I can't read,) so I was cursing the dissapearance of that godforsaken "hide ministore" buton. Finally, I found the command in my english version of iTunes and then approximated its Japanese counterpart's location. What a pain in the behind! I don't like advertising built in to my apps.

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C'mon Apple quit trying to make these UI changes to hide your equalizer. Must be some secret scam there too.

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I completely agree. While going to View -> Hide MiniStore sounds simple enough, the fact of the matter is that Apple used to have simple instructions on hiding it within the MiniStore itself with a quick access button below to hide it, and now they've removed that. There is absolutely no reason to remove this simple functionality other than to get more users to see the MiniStore (there is definitely enough room on the bottom bar for that button). And besides that, I didn't know if it was possible to hide the MiniStore in iTunes 7 until I read this post because I typically don't go rooting around in the menubar when using iTunes (as I'm sure most people don't).

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frodo: "If you are bothered about iTunes trying to sell you music, then why are you using iTunes anyway? It's made to sell you music."

You may have a short memory, but there were at least three (or four?) versions of iTunes that did no such thing. Personally, I use iTunes for its original purpose (inherited from SoundJam)... it's the best combined digital music ripper/player/burner/library program out there. The fact that it'll also update my podcasts for me is another bonus.

For all that, I'm grateful to Apple's R&D folks. What I object to is the way iTunes is becoming more and more of a retail portal.

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#8. Narco,

I'm pretty sure that you can disable the iTunes Store by going into the Parental Controls and ticking the "Disable iTunes Store" (or something along those lines) button.

Í also think that there is way for you to tell iTunes to open with your Library, instead of the Store. My iTunes doesn't start with the store.

You should really mess a little with the preferences.

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Well, I already had the preference on the mini-browser set to "off" so I really don't miss the button. I get the same info from the mini-browser as I do visiting the iTMS every day. No love lost here on that one.

What really kills me is what a couple others are complaining about: the lack of my beloved EQ button. Hey Apple... why mess with a good thing!? I also miss the Visualizer button, as well as the Burn/Options button at the top. Those buttons made these features simple to access and/or change, as Apple is best known for the easy-to-use interfaces. If they would have incorporated the new features, but kept the interface mostly the same, there would be a lot more happy users of iTunes 7.

Apple, we want our buttons back!!

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Wow... is this really news? Or even opinion? Are you guys bored? Aside from the fact that this is an incredibly small nit to pick, one could imagine a host of reasons why removing the button is a good idea. I for one never ever use the mini-store. It's better for me to NOT have a button, because my brain doesn't waste time interpreting it.

Wow... I'm still stunned that this showed up on this blog. I don't normally post negative comments, but man... you guys have lost it if you think this is worth writing about. Aside from the questionable opinion.

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everybody talks about pandora and other music-suggesting services.

why? because there is too much music to choose from and we need a "artificial intelligence" that recommends music to us, music that suits us.

the ministore is nothing more than that. it sure is not working as good as pandora yet, but it could be so much better 'cos it's bigger (think about how manby ppl use itunes and how many geeks run pandora)

but nooooooo, you freaks whine it to death.

companies always kept record of what they sold, they dont do it just since the internet "came out".

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Personally, I turned off the Mini Store shortly after it appeared and haven't thought about it since (except when I see the mildly disturbing "Just For You" feature of the ITMS, er, ITS- "Why the hell would they assume I like Warren Zevon? If Apple knows I like Johnny Cash, who else knows? Will that put me on a list? Am I being watched? Will that keep me from getting a job at the Post Office?")

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, I just wanted to complain that the Equalizer button disappeared.

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I wish they hadn't gotten rid of the visualizer and equalizer buttons down there, those two where very useful buttons... That said, who cares about the ministore, you turn it off once and never pay attention to it again.

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