Where is my sidebar in iTunes 12?

Apple support boards are chattering today about the graphical changes in iTunes 12. The beloved, or in some cases tolerated sidebar is pretty much gone. Your music, movies and devices are now a row of icons at the top left of the iTunes window. This new version iTunes was released earlier this week in preparation for Yosemite.

The changes to iTunes, some welcome, some unwelcome depending on your point of view, are part of trying to unify the look and feel of OS X with iOS 8. The problem is, after years of getting used to the "way things work," someone comes along and changes it. Jony Ive most likely in this case.

All is not lost, however. Your playlists can still appear in a left-side column as usual, making them quite easy to manage. When you click on the music icon at the top, you will see the word 'Playlists' near the top-center. That will restore the playlist sidebar. This also works in movies and TV shows. Just click the 'Playlist' button.

Of course Apple might relent. After vaporizing the camera roll in iOS it will be back in iOS 8.1 which will be released Monday. There was quite an uproar about that change, and apparently Apple relented. So if the loss of the consistent sidebar in iTunes bothers you, there is hope.