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Many of you iTunes users may have recently (and possibly inadvertently) downloaded the new iTunes 10.  While there are many positive changes included in this new version (e.g. faster performance, UI improvements, etc), there are some odd design decisions in the program as well.

What the hell were they thinking?

One of the more perplexing changes was the vertical alignment of the control buttons (the “Stoplight buttons” as some people call them, now even more true to the nickname).  What would prompt Apple to go against their own, time-tested, mother-approved OS interface standards?

While I may not be able to answer the “why”, I can tell you how to change your iTunes control buttons back to horizontal.

Here’s how:

1. Close iTunes (if its not already closed)
2. Open Terminal app
3. In Terminal, type the following command:
   defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -1
4. That’s it!  Open iTunes to see the changes you’ve made!  If you happen to want to restore iTunes 10 back to the vertical buttons, go to step 5 below
5. To restore buttons to the vertical layout, paste this command into Terminal app:
   defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -0

Your iTunes control buttons should now look something like the picture below:

Aahhh, much better