![]() Doing so is unnecessary, though you can easily download new apps directly on a device. ITunes can be used for downloading apps and syncing them to a device, and also for rearranging your Home screens. How to get back missing music, films and TV shows that have disappeared from iTunes Alternatives to iTunes for managing apps and backing up And then, of course, there are countless streaming services for telly and video that you can install on your devices that don’t need iTunes, such as Netflix, NOW TV, and BBC iPlayer. ![]() The caveat: these apps don’t work with videos that have DRM (such as iTunes Store purchases). This means you don’t even have to sync anything - you can just watch your videos whenever you have connectivity. We also rather likeĪir Video HD, which work with a free Mac- or PC-based server app to access video files, and encode them on the fly for your device. The aforementioned WALTR will happily convert video and fire it at the native iOS Videos app. If you’ve largely just used iTunes to store and sync iOS-compatible videos, there are plenty of alternatives. In the summer of 2012, Apple started seeding early builds of the OS X 10.8.2 update.For video, if you’re totally into iTunes Store purchases and use your Mac to play them back, you should probably stick with iTunes anyway. As a member of the AppleSeed program, I was able to test these early builds. I quickly noticed (as one would) that they introduced a serious new bug that caused frequent kernel panics on my Mac Pro, up to several times a day. I of course immediately filed a bug report on these kernel panics. In September 2012, the final version of the OS X 10.8.2 update came out, and the kernel panics were still there. Around the same time, Apple sent me a response to my bug report indicating that the problem was a “ known issue” and closing my bug report as a “ duplicate”. Meanwhile, a thread discussing the issue appeared on the Apple forums, and it quickly became apparent that the problem could be narrowed down to people running Mac Pro computers with multiple GeForce video cards driving multiple monitors, and involved a few kernel extension files that were updated in OS X 10.8.2. In October 2012, Apple released an update called OS X 10.8.2 Supplemental Update, which updated one of the kernel extensions involved. Sadly, it quickly became apparent that the supplemental update did not fix the kernel panics. In late 2012, Apple started seeding early builds of the OS X 10.8.3 update. It included updated versions of all three kernel extensions involved in the kernel panics. The update did appear to have an impact on the frequency of the kernel panics, at least on my machine. But it failed to eliminate them completely. In March 2013, the final version of OS X 10.8.3 came out. Again, while it included updated versions of all three kernel extensions involved in the kernel panics, it failed to completely eliminate the kernel panics. ![]() Meanwhile, Mac Pro users managed to identify various ways of dealing with the kernel panics. I myself provided a hack that offered temporary relief, at least for some people. I purchased an expensive Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter, which enabled me to connect both of my Apple Cinema 30-inch displays to the same GeForce video card and stop using the second card. This eliminated the kernel panics altogether, but it also had a noticeable impact on video performance and general system responsiveness, undoubtedly due to the fact that my system now only had half as much VRAM and video card processing power available. Some people in the Apple Discussions thread also mentioned that replacing one of the GeForce video cards with an ATI Radeon HD 5770 appeared to provide a permanent fix for the problem. Personally, I went back to using my two GeForce cards when Apple started seeding OS X 10.8.3, which enabled me to continue to monitor the situation, but of course also meant that I continued to experience the kernel panics, albeit less frequently. ![]() This remained true with the final OS X 10.8.3 update, and with early builds of the OS X 10.8.4 update. In June 2013, Apple released the final version of OS X 10.8.4, and it still did not fix the kernel panics. As I indicated at the time, it looked like Apple was working on the problem, especially since “ graphics drivers” was listed as a focus area during the testing of early builds of the update. But the fact remained that the kernel panics were still there in the final version of OS X 10.8.4. In spite of my willingness to voluntarily endure some level of computing hardship in the name of helping Apple improve its products, I finally decided that I had had enough, and purchased the ATI Radeon HD 5770 upgrade kit myself.
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