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Apple Quietly Releases iTunes 12.6.3 With Built-In App Store
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I decided I really didn't 'need' to 'down grade,' so I re-installed the newest version and saved the .dmg file for future use if needed. Didn't really want to create another library.
Come on... we still haven’t used face ID. We don’t know how it will work. Can we not reserve judgment about it until we’ve used it. I know Federighi is an Apple employee but he said that he and the other testers have been living on it for months now, and they don’t even think about it anymore. Can you imagine him saying that publicly as he did and then having it be a disaster, or even slightly worse that Touch ID for 99.9% of use cases? I still think it will be better or at least as good, but even that is just a total guess, because I haven’t USED it!
OK, so I installed 12.6.3 and rebuilt my library with a folder called iTunes1. I am redownloading all my music and apps and other media which is a lot of GB's. Can I then delete the media from my original iTunes folder? Otherwise I will have 2 iTunes folders with identical content.
So they rerelease the old version. I assume 12.6.3 will never get updated. How much longer until it starts having compatibility problems with new hardware? Will Apple reintroduce the App Store in a future version of iTunes?
Many of us were alarmed and annoyed at Apple's sudden and silent move to remove app syncing from iTunes. The regular sycophants here said we were mere complainers. Seems were not alone or Apple would not have backtracked. Apple rarely backtracks. Truth is Apple just didn't really think removing this functionality all the way though. It's like they have zero institutional memory of the whole Final Cut Pro to Final Cut Pro X episode and never learned from those mistakes.
Many of us were alarmed and annoyed at Apple's sudden and silent move to remove app syncing from iTunes. The regular sycophants here said we were mere complainers. Seems were not alone or Apple would not have backtracked. Apple rarely backtracks. Truth is Apple just didn't really think removing this functionality all the way though. It's like they have zero institutional memory of the whole Final Cut Pro to Final Cut Pro X episode and never learned from those mistakes.
Whew! This was a pretty ill-conceived effort on the part of Apple. While I understand wanting to slim down iTunes, this was a HUGE issue that could have been (and hopefully still will be) addressed by introducing a separate app-management app.
If nothing else, it killed the usefulness of all the "Available on the App Store" links that suddenly became dead-ends on the internet.
If nothing else, it killed the usefulness of all the "Available on the App Store" links that suddenly became dead-ends on the internet.
Really? How does having other options in the dropdown menu affect the operation when Music is selected from said menu?
Removing bloat is one thing -- removing essential functionality (that MANY of us actually need) is another. I agree apps have no place in iTunes, but app-management definitely deserves a spot somewhere on the desktop. Personally, I'd like to see separate video, music, app, podcasts and iBooks apps.
This argument doesn't really work because iOS apps downloaded on Mac from the app store don't work on a Mac. They only work on iOS devices. Music, movies and media downloaded from iTunes DO work on a mac.
A more pragmatic solution would be the ability to airdrop an app or group of apps from an iOS device to another. Download on one device and beam it to others.
In regards to your point about Apple Music some people (not me) speculate that Apple will completely abandon iTunes in favor of an Apple Media subscription service and this is just the first step.
Wondering the same thing. I have 12.6.2. App Store says I don't need to update. Is this true?
I just restored "iTunes Library.itl" and a few friends from a backup. You don't need to mess with your music itself (unless you've added some some your backup).
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It will rebuild but some of your custom things might be lost. Of course, your playlists are toast. But you may be able to export those under 12.7 and then import after you revert to 12.6.3
Why would we ever want 32 bit apps back and an old iPhone design?
And why would they EVER bring iCloud to Snow Leopard when that was a feature introduced for Lion. Don't even get me started on them even wanting to support an 11 year old Mac Pro on High Sierra, it would be dreadfully slow.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
An interesting tale about this topic: a long time ago, I purchased the parents an early iMac, circa about 2006. They can't do much with computers and use it for just the most basic of computing tasks (not really desiring updates because it still does everything they want to do on it just fine). However, I have also been keeping them set up with new generations of
TV units. I convert family home movies, drop them into the last version of iTunes that works on that old Core Duo running the last version of OS X that runs on it too. I don't know the iTunes version but it's an oldie. Curiously, it keeps right on chugging and working just fine with new
TV hardware at least up through the fourth generation (don't know if it will be able to work with the new 4K version or not yet). So while I agree with the sentiment about updates and worry about long-term compatibility, iTunes does seem to get some special level of support so that even relatively old, long-retired versions seem to be able to work with pretty well with new Apple hardware. I've also given them new iPads over the last few years and they connect right up with that old iTunes version too.
My (wild) guess though: I'm guessing that Apple is probably finally acting on the idea of splitting stuff out into their own apps, so that a future iTunes can return to being mostly about tunes. I'm guessing they were probably just not ready to roll out some kind of stand-along app manager just yet, or maybe they want to roll out some kind of suite of new apps as app manager, video manager, etc.
Not sure, but I doubt it -- this version should seems to still use the 12.6x format.
I just did it and no hoops. Just manually download the file from Apple's website. Run the installer and done, took less than a minute. Went from 12.6.2 -> 12.6.3
What about the other thing they removed? Along with many thousands of users I was using iTunes on the PC to transfer ebooks onto my Ipads.
Although a direct drag and drop still works from a file in Windows Explorer straight onto an iPad showing in iTunes, it's nowhere near as convenient and my carefully curated iTunes book library is toast. The whole library management system for books is gone.
Worse you are supposed to manage Audiobooks with iTunes on the PC but play them using ibooks on ios! What's the sense of that?
I agree that some sort of itransfer program is needed to replace this much used functionality. Apple just wants everybody to buy all books from ibooks in future and doesn't seem to care about people who shop elsewhere.
Although a direct drag and drop still works from a file in Windows Explorer straight onto an iPad showing in iTunes, it's nowhere near as convenient and my carefully curated iTunes book library is toast. The whole library management system for books is gone.
Worse you are supposed to manage Audiobooks with iTunes on the PC but play them using ibooks on ios! What's the sense of that?
I agree that some sort of itransfer program is needed to replace this much used functionality. Apple just wants everybody to buy all books from ibooks in future and doesn't seem to care about people who shop elsewhere.
Last paragraph: This special "business edition" of iTunes includes compatibility with iOS 11, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. It's not clear how long Apple will offer iTunes 12.6.3, and the company does not provide technical support for this version, but for those who want the functionality it could be a useful makeweight until Apple comes up with an alternative solution.
No, in the absence of evidence you can't make a logical "guess." That's kind of an oxymoron.