Have iTunes version 10 .3 but do not understand cloud in iTunes 11.03 can someone explain it and also how do you find duplicates in new version and will the new version sync with my iPod Classic which I have had for 4 years

Question

I have iTunes version 10.03 which I love but my iPad Apple mini has iOS 7 but I don't understand the new iTunes what is the cloud shown next to the music and how can I find duplicates can anyone help me navigate the new iTunes and will the new version sync with my iPod Classic which is 4 years old

Answer 1

The main differences between iTunes 11 and earlier versions are the loss of coverflow and ability to have multiple windows open.
In Windows, you can restore much of the look & feel of iTunes 10.7 with these shortcuts:
ALT to temporarily display the menu bar
CTRL+B to show or hide the menu bar
CTRL+S to show or hide the sidebar
CTRL+/ to show or hide the status bar (won't hide for me on Win XP)
Click the magnifying glass top right and untick Search Entire Library to restore the old search behaviour
Use View > Hide <Media Kind> in the cloud or Edit > Preferences > Store and untick Show iTunes in the cloud purchases to hide the cloud items. The second method eliminates the cloud status column (and may let iTunes start up more quickly)
If you don't like having different coloured background & text in the Album (Grid) view use Edit > Preferences > General and untick Use custom colours for open albums, movies, etc.
With iTunes 11.0.3 and later you can enable artwork in the Songs view from View > Show View Options (CTRL+J) making it more like the old Album List view
View > Show View Options (CTRL+J) also contains options to change the sorting of grid based views
The cloud icons give you access to stream or download any qualifying past purchases that you don't currently have downloaded to the library.
Regarding duplicates, things haven't really changed. Apple's official advice is here... HT2905 - How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library. It is a manual process and the article fails to explain some of the potential pitfalls.
Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display duplicates as this is normally a more useful selection. You need to manually select all but one of each group to remove. Sorting the list by Date Added may make it easier to select the appropriate tracks, however this works best when performed immediately after the dupes have been created.  If you have multiple entries in iTunes connected to the same file on the hard drive then don't send to the recycle bin. Use my DeDuper script if you're not sure, don't want to do it by hand, or want to preserve ratings, play counts and playlist membership. See this thread for background and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.
(If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed)
Yes, iTunes 11 will support your iPod classic.
tt2