user interface

This particular dialog deserves a special place in user interface hell. It doesn't win any points back for coming from Cupertino. It scores a couple for irony alone, that's it.

If you use the latest, greatest version of iTunes and dare add some MP3s or videos to your iPod which can't be played, or which are momentarily unavailable (external HD not connected) when iTunes wakes from its slumber, you will be delighted to meet this dialog.

What's so bad? This baby is straight from Redmond. It's an application-modal dialog that has an OK button. It's got Aqua (ooh), it's got an internal scrolling pane, but that's it. Does it try to help you solve the problem? Nope. In fact, it seems to be going out of its way to make it impossible to solve, and I guarantee that if you see this dialog once, you'll be seeing it a few times unless you've got a pen handy.

Unless you're the "ignore this problem entirely" kinda person, that is. It does have a checkbox for that.

But if you want to solve the problem, then you might hope that this window would give you a few options:

• Automatically fix these tracks. (Convert the tracks which can't be played, prompt to find the tracks which can't be found.)
• Make a new playlist of these tracks, so I can re-convert them / delete them / fix 'em up later
• Just remove these tracks from the iPod playlist, thanks

Failing that, you'd probably expect to be able to select the tracks in that little scrolling window and copy them. Right? Wrong. (Note the ironic subtext - "For a list of items that could not be copied, click below." The programmer meant what he said; you can't copy them all, and you can't copy each single one, either.)

So. Grab yer pen. Write down the track names. And promise yourself you'll fix it up before next time.