Apple May Be Planning to Break Up iTunes With New Music and Podcast Apps for Mac

[rumornot]

Not really true. Have you tried the Swistian app? I think it’s great for organizing, taging and playing. Then use the iMazing app to transfer songs/playlists from/to device. It will set you back $60 all in all but well worth it if you want to get rid of iTunes.

Thanks for mentioning this Swinsian App! In case someone did not see my Previous Comment Reply regarding this app:

This is what it says their FAQ

https://swinsian.com/support/faq/#itunes

Does Swinsian replace iTunes?

For managing and listening to the music on your Mac, and for users of older classic iPods, Swinsian can replace iTunes entirely. If you use an iOS device you will still need to use iTunes if you want to sync music, videos, books or apps, or to make backups.

Thus, it would only partially solve my issue - Syncing my own Songs to iPhone.

As to - iMazing app to transfer songs/playlists from/to device...

It's more Steps to accomplish what iTunes does with one click on Sync Button!

Will iMazing put my Songs in the same Location on iPhone, so that iOS Music App will find and play them the same way as it does now? Or will I have to have a Separate Music Player on iOS, assuming it exists, to play my Songs on iOS!

In short, if Apple takes away the Syncing of my own Music to iOS, how will I be able to recreate that paradigm? How bad will the "workarounds" have to be?

Obviously, if there is an issue with Syncing, via iMazing, AppleCare will not help us, because iMazing is not their product! And iMazing has not phone Support! Thus it's typing back and forth for maybe weeks!

Some other people on this Thread have mentioned putting in a lot of time into Tags Editing! I share their concern about all that time being flushed away, because Apple might take away Syncing of our own content!

Apple is talking a lot about PRIVACY lately, but they should also talk about people's Choices with their own content!

If there is no Internet Available, and I want to Sync my own music from Mac to iPhone, I should be able to Just Do It via USB, USB-C, or Wi-Fi, instead of worrying about Internet Connection!

In short, Syncing Music from Mac to iOS Just Works, finally, after many years of problems! So, Dear Apple, PLEASE let keep it!

 

[Traverse]

I suppose my biggest fear is loosing the ability to download and manage file on a Mac. I’m a sucker for nostalgia and I’ve purchased many TV shows from my childhood and many songs I love that I can no longer find. The thought of a license deal expiring or other companies pulling away from iTunes or Apple’s subscription to start there own bothers me.

I don’t want amass a large library and then realize all my music from an artist I love is gone because their contract expired. That’s why I like having the files.

 

[castor]

I use iTunes to sort/arrange my 150+ apps on my phone as my needs change. iTunes was not good for it, but still loads better than long-hold, drag, miss, swear, repeat. I also use iTunes to load non-cloud content to pdf, book and cartoon readers, as well as movie players. So my mac is stuck on High Sierra & iTunes 12.6.5.3

 

[Icaras]

Or make it part of Time Machine.
Step 1: Plug in your phone.
Step 2: Click "yes" when the pop up asks "Do you want to backup your phone with Time Machine?"
Step 3: Offer encryption / enter password.
Step 4: Include a "You'll need to connect your Time Capsule to finish the backup" warning.
3 and 4 can be a one-time thing, with an additional change to the Time Machine warning dialog: "You haven't saved your iPhone backup / backed up your Mac in XY days".

That's an excellent idea! Makes much more sense integrating iPhone sync within the Time Machine app.

 

[decafjava]

And for the iPod community? Those of us who do not want to be permanently wired to the internet in order to listen to a song or podcast? Those of us who do not want every move we make tracked, reconnoitred, spied, mined, trolled? Those of us who do not want endless "services"? Those of us who just want the product Steve gave us to put 10,000 tunes in our pockets?

Or is Steve outdated?

Well I'd be happy with an iTunes shorn of non-music functions be it local or streaming.
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iTunes. You mean that software that's supposed to sync your iPod in 2003?

Ya, time to close it down

Yea how about no to that option.

 

[jagolden]

Don’t understand all the iTunes hate.
Don’t like it, don’t use it.
Never have problems with it and I still prefer it to any other way of managing collections, ripping new music and iOS updates are certainly faster the over the air.

No one has yet given a solid reason why iTunes should be cut out.
Don’t want all my music in the cloud somewhere. That’s just a PIA for managing/building playlists, etc. I prefer my music and audio collection where I have complete control of it.

People are so sucked into the cloud services it’s incredible. Wasted time, money and bandwidth for most.

You plug in your phone/iPods, drag on playlists and away you go. What’s so difficult?

Apparently I need to be "enlightened" to the "better" alternatives to iTunes.

 

[jdawgnoonan]

B-U-T what will Apple leave out as a "feature"?

They can leave out whatever they want as long as it is easier and faster to use Apple Music.

 

[jagolden]

iTunes. You mean that software that's supposed to sync your iPod in 2003?

Ya, time to close it down

Ya, big NO to that. Not just for syncing. Ripping, managing/building playlists, loading/offloading video.
Who wants to have to be connected to the cloud every minute?
Don’t want my tens of thousands of music and video files on someone else’s servers.

 

[Shirasaki]

It seems I am the only dinosaur here who’s not interested in streaming music. Not one little bit.

You are definitely not alone.
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• Let me Sync my own Songs to iPhone.

• Let me choose which of my Songs I want to Sync to iPhone, so that it's not All or Nothing!

Yeah. I also want it.

• Allow Unlimited Number of Song to be Synced, as long I have enough Available Space in my iCloud Account.

Maybe it will happen. But for most young and under educated users, 100k is plenty. Doubt this will change any time soon.

• Allow me to use Lower Audio Quality of Songs, so that I can fit more of them on my iPhone! After all, right now, in iTunes (General/Import Settings) you have Custom Option, Spoken Podcast = 32 kbps Mono, 22.50 kHz! So Why Take It Away in Apple Music?!

Most people I believe cannot withstand their favourite songs being played in such a low quality and bitrate. Personally, I would not listen to anything lower than 192Khz because quality drop is so obvious. Apple Music is, well, at least for music after all. I highly doubt this will ever happen.

• Allow me to Backup my iPhone and iPad to my Mac.

This should happen.

• Keep my own Songs separate from Apple Music Streaming.

What I believe is they will fk up local library, again, with no explanation and no fix. Apple has a very good track record on this one. I can count on them to do exactly this.

• Allow me to Download Songs from Apple Music to my iPhone, and or Mac, for Offline Listening, in case the Internet Connection is bad.

Hmm. Sounds a bit contradicting? As of now, wanting offline feature means local library is merged to the cloud. Streaming only would not mess up with local library but no local saving. Again, doubt this will happen.

I hope they at least leave iTunes working for while and don't kill it the day they launch the inevitably feature-gutted 'replacements'.

Given their fierce stances to stop signing last version of iOS, the most probable case would be retiring the iTunes immediately after the new app is released. They can even do one step further to install a software update to permanently block user using iTunes on latest version of macOS. Sorry for being pessimistic but I don’t have any hope for Apple doing something actually good for customers.

 

[bobmepp]

"I’m Nobody! Who are you?"

Acquainted with Emily Dickinson? She and I are a "pair".

"How dreary – to be – Somebody!"

I clicked on "like" for this post, but I have to go beyond that. I LOVE this post, and any time the great Emily is quoted, and that is one of my favorite of her poems. She can instill more meaning into one short poem than can be found in 10,000 words. This is certainly the case with regard to your quote as it relates to this discussion.

One of the most moving experiences of my life was when we visited the Homestead in the late '70s, before it was fully organized as a museum. We were taken up to her room and shown her white dress, the actual white dress. It is now at Harvard, and the Homstead museum has a duplicate. One of the great privileges of a lifetime.

 

[pmore]

Sorry, if I didn't already made it clear enough...

I do not put my entire library on my iPhone! I only put the Selected Smart Playlists! But again:

Being at 53 K Songs Syncing now, I am will eventually reach the 75 K Apple Music Limit.

And again, I'd have o increase the File Size of my 32K, and 128K Songs to 256K per each Song, thus the Total File Size of my Music, that is being Synced to iPhone increase 8 Times. As Previously wrote here:

53 GB of my Present Content at 32K Mono x 8X = 424 GB! Even if the Next iPhone is 1TB, 424 GB, is almost half of that 1TB. But that 424 GB will keep growing!

And we are not guaranteed 1TB iPhone yet. Right now, the biggest Capacity is 512GB.

And, as I previously wrote:

Apple Music does not allow me to Select which Songs I want to Sync to Apple Music!

Thus, I have no control of my own Content, given the Apple Music Rules as of now!

I hope I have made explained it better this time!


I hope that somebody at Apple is reading this! Using Apple's own Feedback Site is very frustrating. Here are a few examples why:

There is no Live Counter for the Number of Characters, and they don't tell us How Long the Post can be!

The Text Box cannot be resized to see one's entire Post!

And again, without Live Counter and Number of Characters Limit, it's a torture!

And then it's - Don't call us, we won't call you! It's like talking to a wall!

This Forum allows much longer posts, and also Rich Text Editing, unlike Apple Feedback!

I love Apple, but their Feedback Site needs to be improved!

It would be very smart of Apple to monitor Threads like this. That way, they will get a strong Feedback from some of their most devoted, loyal customer, who are pretty experienced! It's people like us who made Apple what it is today! And that allowed them to seduce a lot of people worldwide who might not always be as experienced as many of us here!

Apple is often praised for having passionate, loyal customers, and Apple brags about that! But then, if they ignore us, their passionate, loyal customers, they would be dumping down their products, and wiping out their advantages vs. their competitors!

Thank you, and everyone else for your support!

And Thank You, Apple, for not ignoring us, hopefully!

If the songs are so important to you, why enjoy them at 32k Mono? I settled for CD quality because I like to enjoy the music like the artist intended. But 256k AAC will be hassle-free for most people.

But back on topic, Apple better not screw this. (They will.)

 

[Solomani]

Will they finally fix the long standing problem with iTunes synching "ghosted" (greyed out, no longer there, or since deleted years ago) music tracks?

 

[pmore]

This is how things should be.

macOS side:

• iOS syncing backed into the OS
• iTunes handles local files (ripped from CDs or downloaded from the iTunes Store) and Apple Music
• iTunes Store moved to the web where you can buy and download directly from your browser
• TV app handles TV, movies and other video files
• Books will also handle audio books
• Podcast will handle podcasts

Windows side:

• An "iLife" family of apps released to handle Apple hardware and services on Windows
• iCloud app will now handle iOS devices
• iTunes, TV, Books and Podcast will have the same macOS functionality
• You can pick which apps you wish to install during setup

 

[LauraJean]

I clicked on "like" for this post, but I have to go beyond that. I LOVE this post, and any time the great Emily is quoted, and that is one of my favorite of her poems. She can instill more meaning into one short poem than can be found in 10,000 words. This is certainly the case with regard to your quote as it relates to this discussion.

One of the most moving experiences of my life was when we visited the Homestead in the late '70s, before it was fully organized as a museum. We were taken up to her room and shown her white dress, the actual white dress. It is now at Harvard, and the Homstead museum has a duplicate. One of the great privileges of a lifetime.

Emily predicts "iTunes" discussion--

"A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.

I say it just
Begins to live
That day."

 

[Junior117]

I'll welcome change if this is true.

With that said, my only concern is with Windows: how would they be able to make it consistent without confusing Windows users?

 

[iSayuSay]

No. What will happen is, the Mac will be getting all of the iOS apps. Music, TV, iTunes U, books, podcasts, and a possible panel in the system preferences for backing up your iPhone or old iPod. Then, the old iTunes app will either be an optional download from their website, or hidden away in the utilities folder, where only power users can find it.

That's another viable option. Although I couldn't see why Apple would bother to port all iOS apps for MacOS in its current state? There's been rumors saying that Mac hardware is moving toward Apple's own A series processor. That means different OS, different architecture that's not going to be backward compatible.

It makes sense because Apple loves control, and depending on Intel's yearly updates for Mac isn't control. I can see your scenario happening, only if Mac moves forward with Apple's in house CPU.

 

[rumornot]

If the songs are so important to you, why enjoy them at 32k Mono? I settled for CD quality because I like to enjoy the music like the artist intended. But 256k AAC will be hassle-free for most people.

But back on topic, Apple better not screw this. (They will.)

The Audio Quality of those 32K Songs/Tracks is not critical in my case. It'll take too long to explain here... Whether it's 75K or 100K Apple Music Limit on the Total Number of Songs/Tracks, it's still very limiting to me.

In case you, or someone else missed my previous post/Reply, I am reposting this portion of it

All I am asking Apple is:

1. Let me Sync my own Songs to iPhone.
2. Let me choose which of my Songs I want to Sync to iPhone, so that it's not All or Nothing!
3. Allow Unlimited Number of Song to be Synced, as long I have enough Available Space in my iCloud Account.
4. Allow me to use Lower Audio Quality of Songs, so that I can fit more of them on my iPhone! After all, right now, in iTunes (General/Import Settings) you have Custom Option, Spoken Podcast = 32 kbps Mono, 22.50 kHz! So Why Take It Away in Apple Music?!
5. Allow me to Backup my iPhone and iPad to my Mac.
6. Keep my own Songs separate from Apple Music Streaming.
7. Allow me to Download Songs from Apple Music to my iPhone, and or Mac, for Offline Listening, in case the Internet Connection is bad.

Right now, the only way to accomplish all that is to pay Spotify $10 per Month, because it's a separate App! But I'd much rather give my $$ to Apple!

I also agree with those who "don't understand iTunes Hate"...

I think it's very convenient to have Music Library, with All These Features All In One Place:

1. Smart Playlists, or Plain (Drag and Drop) Playlists, Folders etc. Organization
2. Ability to Check Off, or Uncheck What I choose to Sync to my iPhone, or not
3. I want a Full Control of All my Music Files in iTunes, and have it Independent of Apple Music Streaming!

My Smart Playlists and Metadata are very important to me!!!

I, like other people, have spent a lot of time on Customizing my Metadata! Those people, who don't care about such functionality, should not be telling Apple to do away with such tools, or call their fellow Mac and iOS others "dinosaurs, and old fashion". I am not telling anyone how to use iTunes or not.

Doug's Apple Scripts is a huge help, when it comes to Managing Metadata in iTunes! Batch Renaming various Fields is a huge help! Check it out https://dougscripts.com/itunes/index.php

I don't need Podcasts to be part of iTunes, because I listen to them mostly on my iPhone. I have no problem Ignoring Podcasts in my iTunes. I don't want Apple to take Podcasts away from the iTunes, just because some people don't want them in their iTunes. Actually, I just looked at Podcasts in my iTunes, and now I like them there. Here is why:

It gives me a "Bird's Eye View" of All my Podcasts, where it's a lot easier to do Cleanup Reorganizing than on iPhone. If Apple makes Podcasts into a Separate App on Mac, it won't be the end of the world for me! But still...

Syncing my own Content to iPhone is a must have!

I am not sure if making a Separate Syncing Application would be an improvement, where one would need to constantly switch back and forth between their own Music Content and the Syncing App! I still prefer Syncing to be part of iTunes, where My Own Music is, rather than switching between iTunes and Syncing App! Then, if something goes wrong with Syncing, trying to fix it might be actually harder, if those 2 separate apps, Music and Syncing, all of a sudden are not cooperating too well...

I don't do much with Video in iTunes, but there are people who do, and they should not lose that functionality. Apple must give theme the same Tools, if they are to make Videos (Movies, TV Shows) into a separate app from iTunes!

It is easy to Turn Off some of the Features of iTunes, if one doesn't care about them!

I suspect that some people dislike iTunes because of their expectations! They expect, and thus prefer iTunes to behave and look they way they think it should! When iTunes is not exactly to their liking, they hold on to their anger, and keep fighting it, instead of allowing themselves to get used to a new workflow! We all can get used to a new workflow! But...

If apple takes away Syncing of our own music files to iPhone, and having it be separate from Apple Music, we'd have to be at the mercy and whims of iMazing, https://imazing.com or and Swinsian https://swinsian.com and other such developers, who don't have Phone Support, like we do with AppleCare, or in person at Apple Stores! We'd be typing forever, and beg for solutions via email with those Developers!

As bad as AppleCare can be sometimes, it is still better to have it than not! Apple needs to keep constantly improve it, because it's part of its Support, Customer Service, which is what separates them from the competitors!

When some users keep saying things like "Amen", "it's about time", "long overdue" etc. to the "Death of iTunes", they show that they don't care about their fellow Apple users, like myself, and and other people, who have posted here, who are very serious about their own Music Content. And, I am pretty sure that there are many other such "serious" users out there. Not all of them know about this Thread, Discussion, Forum! Thus, to assume that they don't exist, or that they are a tiny minority, would be unfair, and wrong!

In short, let's not tell each other how to live our lives, or use our Apple Products!

Apple should monitor Forums like these, in order to know what their most loyal customers think!

Apple needs to make their Feedback Pages a lot more user-friendly!

Thank you everyone for your support!

And Thank You, Apple, for not ignoring your loyal customers.... hopefully!

 

[speedyraf]

Reading through the comments on this thread, I agree with some of the ideas. My Pod nano (with no wi-fi capability) that accompanies me often needs iTunes or its replacement apps for syncing playlists (set my own bit rate), audiobooks, podcasts, etc. My new iPhone syncs with my MacBook Air rather than iCloud. Improving Time Machine so I could backup both my iPhone and MacBook Air to the same external drive sounds like a fine notion to me.

 

[An-apple-a-day]

I don't get the iTunes hate. I love it. I love that I can customize the view of every playlist. I love Smart Playlists. Love the search function. I love the UI. AirPlay is beyond awesome. I never have problems with iTunes. I keep my library on an external 4-disk ThunderBay SoftRaid 5 and it just works.

I have to agree. Is iTunes perfect? No. Does it suck on Windows? Absolutely. Is Apple trying to do too much with a single Mac application? Probably, and it ended up that way through evolution of the scope of media available for consumption and rapidly expanding capabilities of the devices to deliver it. Nonetheless, the separate iOS media apps, even with anabolic steroids and a beauty treatment, are toddler toys in comparison. So, yes, it's fine by me if Apple splits up iTunes functionality into a few pieces (if it's done sensibly), but each of those individual pieces had better exhibit form and function superior to that currently integrated into iTunes.

I will never use software under a subscription model, nor will I ever pay monthly to rent music. For those who do, I hope they enjoy their Adobe CS and their leased Lexus, too. I am willing to pay a few dollars a month for greatly expanded iCloud storage, though, but my music, movies, and TV shows will always live on my local storage -- an external 20TB 4-disk ThunderBay SoftRaid 5 -- and mine just works, too.

 

[n-evo]

I suppose my biggest fear is loosing the ability to download and manage file on a Mac. I’m a sucker for nostalgia and I’ve purchased many TV shows from my childhood and many songs I love that I can no longer find. The thought of a license deal expiring or other companies pulling away from iTunes or Apple’s subscription to start there own bothers me.

I don’t want amass a large library and then realize all my music from an artist I love is gone because their contract expired. That’s why I like having the files.

Apple removing the ability to play your own music files isn’t going to happen.

 

[goobot]

What worries me is every time apple reboots software, from Final Cut Pro to iWork et al, is we get a v0.7 missing tons of key features, and then we wait years after continually complaining to get it bAck to a usable baseline.

Plus, as news+ and the marzipan apps show, Apple no longer has good U.K. chops.

Yes, iTunes is bloatware. My fear is the modern Apple can’t build the replacement.

You’re probably right, everything Apple does nowadays is half assed.

 

[An-apple-a-day]

You’re probably right, everything Apple does nowadays is half assed.

C'mon, let's be fair. It's been about 1.7 buttocks.
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Apple removing the ability to play your own music files isn’t going to happen.

(1) Replace "music" with "music, movies, TV shows";
(2) Be correct in your assertion

... then I will be satisfied.

 

[gldoorii]

I really wish they had a Video app (iOS) again which only showed downloaded/purchased/local videos. Yes, I have VLC and Infuse installed, but neither are super friendly for little kids for organization. And there's no way I'm sending my son into the TV app with how much of a cluster F that is. Thankfully he's able to easily navigate a couple of the video apps on his Amazon Fire tablet...

 

[An-apple-a-day]

I suppose my biggest fear is loosing the ability to download and manage file on a Mac. I’m a sucker for nostalgia and I’ve purchased many TV shows from my childhood and many songs I love that I can no longer find. The thought of a license deal expiring or other companies pulling away from iTunes or Apple’s subscription to start there own bothers me.

I don’t want amass a large library and then realize all my music from an artist I love is gone because their contract expired. That’s why I like having the files.

Yup. And this idea extends to movies and TV shows in some sense, too. One time, I bought the original Carrie movie from the iTunes store when it was deeply discounted. I almost always download right after purchasing, but that time I didn't. When I went to download it the next morning, it was gone. It turns out there was some licensing issue right around the time the newer Carrie movie came out (perhaps no coincidence). I was pissed. Apple gave me some iTunes credits for customer satisfaction, but I was still pissed on principle.

Twilight Zone. Gilligan's Island. M*A*S*H. Great stuff. I get more hypertension relief from watching an episode from any of those than from taking my medications. Even modern youth with above average intelligence tend to appreciate them. But the, um, less enlightened young folk will say things like, "yuck, this is old, it's in black & white"... "Gilligan is an idiot"... "The Korean War was like 50 years ago, this is boring, where's all the cool explosions and blood and guts? Can we watch Saving Private Ryan instead?".

 

[grs]

Nobody uses iTunes anymore, so this is good news.

I’m using it right now.