Apple Software Updater found latest iTunes (11.1.4) to download and update, but automatic install failed and the pop-up recommended Download Only, then manual install.
During this process pop-ups stating Mobile Services failed to start and problems with C Runtime Environment, with selection of Ignore, being the only way to continue.
At the end came the Apple 'Software Successfully Installed' window, click Finish, with open iTunes checked.
Then came about 5 or 6 pop-ups relating (again) to C Runtime Environment problems, and no iTunes (also same from desktop shortcut).
Completely uninstalled iTunes, and downloaded from Filehippo, but with the same outcome as above.
Finally uninstalled again, and rolled back and installed the previous version (11.1.3) which works without problems - until I'm told that there is a new version to download .......
I only have iTunes, as I've used it in the past as a medium to upload CD's to my daughters' music players - and my oldest used it for her a/c until she got her own 'puter.
I've never purchased anything.
It's just easiest to keep it and maintain it re. updates, then mess around with something else.
Having updated .net 4.5, I've yet to retry the iTunes update - will at some point, I 'spose.
I had iTunes on my Windows laptop and found it fine. It handled the files (renaming them etc) fine and pushed them to my iPod thingy without any problems.
When I got my Macbook I stuck with it and I still have no problems with it. I use it for backing up my iPad as well.
If you're using Apple products then I can't see any reason to ditch iTunes.
I kept iTunes, moved from Firefox to Safari (with clicktoplugin, cookies and glim extensions) and - the most contentious - moved from Thunderbird to Apple Mail for my emails.
Still not totally convinced about Apple Mail but Thunderbird wasn't
I tried nearly everything available , Apple doesn't even come close on scalability , stability or functionality. I have a 7 digit Media collection, only Media Monkey handles that large a collection.
You've no choice but to keep iTunes - OS X won't allow you to delete it, on 10.9 at least (unless you want to do some sudoing in the terminal). Anyway it's not a bad media manager if you're on a mac. If you're on windows then it is by all accounts a steaming giant turd of an app (not Windows fault). One thing I'd like to see is the iOS device management removed from iTunes and spun out into a different program, so as not to lumber windows users with something they really don't need.
It must be said though that iTunes does lack the ability to handle Hi-Res FLAC and DSD audio formats. As a result I tend to use Audivana+ for listening. Not because its a good media manager - it isn't, but because it'll handle the above audio formats and talk directly to my USB DAC in integer mode, thus bypassing Core Audio and the inevitable 32bit floating point conversion that comes with it. This means that what is in the audio file is exactly what the DAC gets and not some "processed" version
Personally I tend not to use Safari, I use Aurora instead (basically a Firefox alpha 2 versions ahead of the current Firefox release) as that gives me a consistent interface across Mac and Linux.
I use both Thunderbird and Apple Mail. Thunderbird for my personal personal mail account and Apple mail for my personal trash account. Neither of them a particularly good, but at least they're not Outlook.
After saying I'm keeping (as in keep using, if I really wanted to delete it my background in Unix admin would probably give me the knowledge to do so) iTunes I should explain what I use it for.
Music. And iPhone/iPad synchronisation.
Nothing else. I don't download TV shows, I don't use it to manage my (downloaded) movies - just music. For my movies I just leave them on the HD; I don't have enough to actively manage them, although they are wrapped up in the Plex Media Server which I use to stream them to my TV, and I have VLC to play them locally.