Apple Rebrands iTunes Podcasts as 'Apple Podcasts'

[coolfactor]

I'm not surprised they are gradually getting rid the 'i' in front of their products and services, but the one thing I'm not looking forward to is yet another iCloud name crisis.

They are not getting rid of the "i" prefix... that's just a rumour. This article is about changing the Podcasts from "iTunes Podcasts" to "Apple Podcasts". One could argue that is essentially the same thing, though.

With such a huge recognition of iPhone, iPod, iPad, and iCloud, I don't see them completely dropping the "i" prefix. But iTunes definitely needed a cleanup within the app, and those gears are in motion.

 

[profets]

I love podcasts. But Apple really should have given people a way to monetize them. Free is great, but the people making them have to pay for it somehow. Which means a ton of ads. I'd happily pay for some podcasts to be ad free. Also for higher quality productions.

I don't want the free ones to vanish. I'd just like the option to either listen to ads or pay and not have to listen to ads for each cast.

I'm hoping that option is part of their future plans.

I get what you're saying, but the beautiful thing about how podcasts currently work is that no one entity really controls them. Anyone can make and publish a podcast for anyone else to access. Almost like websites on the internet.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I'm waiting for the day iTunes on the Mac is renamed to "Music". I believe that day is coming too.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-rebrand-as-music-imminent.1896776/

I would see them keeping a unified application on Windows (maybe rebranding it though) just to push all the functionality out to Windows users but on the Mac side it's about time that iTunes was split into multiple default applications. We have TV/Music/Podcasts/iBooks on all the iOS devices, why not split a split on MacOS to have an app for music, one for podcasts, one for video, and one for managing iOS device synching and backups. iBooks is already a separate app on Mac, I think splitting the others makes sense too.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

For once, until a significant proportion of car users will have fully autonomous cars at least 20 years will have passed. I wouldn't call that time span 'short-lived'.

But more importantly, compared to driving, how many hours per week do you spend on:

• Running errands and what percentage of that time is spent not sitting in your car but, eg, walking, waiting in line, (un)loading your car, etc. ?
• Doing household chores?
• Doing any kind of exercise?

#1 - Autonomous cars are coming much quicker than 20 years. Saying that today is like the year being 2006 and saying it'll take 20 years for smartphones to become common.
#2 - Running errands stops being a thing with autonomous cars.
#3 - I listen to music instead of podcasts while doing chores and exercise. Not sure if that applies to everyone or if it's just me.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I listen to ~6 different podcasts right now during my commute to and from work. I expect I'll probably do something else with that time once my car is fully autonomous next year.

So the resurgence is probably short lived, assuming most people are just listening while driving right now.

I wouldn't expect level 5 autonomy for ~5 years. I don't follow automotive closely so maybe my numbers are off, this is my gut feel.

 

[Icaras]

I'm waiting for the day iTunes on the Mac is renamed to "Music". I believe that day is coming too.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-rebrand-as-music-imminent.1896776/

That and when the app features music ONLY. Get the rest of that sh*t (movies, TV Shows, podcasts, iTunes U, Apps, ring tones, etc., etc., etc.,) out of there. Provide a macOS version of TV, Podcasts, and iTunes U apps, and we're golden.

As for apps, move that to the App Store. Does anyone not notice that it's not actually called the "Mac App Store" in macOS? The app is just called "App Store". Where is the most logical place a customer should think to download apps for their iOS device? The "App Store", or "iTunes"? Hmmm. Confusion much, Apple?

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I love podcasts. But Apple really should have given people a way to monetize them. Free is great, but the people making them have to pay for it somehow. Which means a ton of ads. I'd happily pay for some podcasts to be ad free. Also for higher quality productions.

I don't want the free ones to vanish. I'd just like the option to either listen to ads or pay and not have to listen to ads for each cast.

I'm hoping that option is part of their future plans.

Haven't some gotten around this by making app options? I thought This American Life provided a paid app where you could access all the prior shows ad free or you can just grab the last four via the free (ad sponsored) podcast format.

edit: just adding to your comment above with that. I would also support a direct monetization of podcasts. If I can pay $10 and knock out 5-8 minutes of ads and promos from the podcasts I listen to that would be great. Every S-Town episode has the same ads, I don't need them repeated to me endlessly.
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I reckon the 10th anniversary model could well be 'Apple Phone'.

possible but I seriously doubt it. iPhone is so iconic I think it would be a really bad branding move.

 

[tito2020]

One can only hope.

yes all media oulets reporting it

 

[snebes]

#1 - Autonomous cars are coming much quicker than 20 years. Saying that today is like the year being 2006 and saying it'll take 20 years for smartphones to become common.
#2 - Running errands stops being a thing with autonomous cars.
#3 - I listen to music instead of podcasts while doing chores and exercise. Not sure if that applies to everyone or if it's just me.

#1 I'm not buying a new car for some time. Most people will not run out and drop $100k on a new fancy car either. Nobody will subsidize this technology.
#2 what do you think errands are, and how would a new car eliminate them?
#3 it is obviously just you.

 

[BMcCoy]

iTunes is desperate for a complete overhaul - ideally an entirely new piece of software written from scratch.
I'm not sure breaking up the software into its separate parts (sync, music, podcasts, etc) is the way forward.. I think they could still be integrated, just in a far better way than iTunes.

 

[Jeaz]

Hopefully this is the start of separating more from iTunes. Personally I don't want it to go away completely but move out the App Store (make it web based) and all other iPhone related parts.

 

[Jerion]

I wonder when we're going to see iDevice management features thrown out of iTunes and put somewhere else? On macOS, there are plenty of places to fit it in (SysPrefs is an easy if awkward fit; more likely there would be a brand new app baked into the macOS pie). Having a dedicated app for that would be an easy solution for the Windows side of things too; it would be a great opportunity to resurrect and repurpose the iLife branding.

I bet that once device management is pulled out and set aside, iTunes will be broken up into constituent parts as seen on iOS. Besides which, iDevices don't really need to do the sync-through-iTunes much anymore, except for occasional backups and manually controlling music libraries. In that sense, iOS has almost reached the point of being fully independent.

 

[AZ63]

This sounds like they're finally breaking up iTunes at WWDC. My prediction for new apps on the Mac: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV (maybe like the TV app on iOS, and has all your "iTunes" movies and shows as well?), and something new for iTunes U. I almost put Apple U, but that seems a little weird. So perhaps a new branding. As for managing iOS devices, they'll probably include a utility for Macs and PCs for the users who still do that—which I imagine is a small but vocal minority.

HERE I AM BEING VOCAL.
Your statement is interesting though. I wonder how many iPhone users manage their music playlists, podcasts, TV, and movies through the use of their computer as I do. There have to be way more people with music on their computer that they can't access through some service or don't want to pay for the additional service than only listen to streaming music. For me, streaming music is okay but I perfer to listen to the music I bought over the years and I continue to add to that list.

 

[manu chao]

#1 - Autonomous cars are coming much quicker than 20 years. Saying that today is like the year being 2006 and saying it'll take 20 years for smartphones to become common.

Take a guess, when did smartphones reach 50% penetration [in the U.S.]? In 2012, according to this overview. If you want, you can put the beginning of smartphone at 2007 but you could also mark 1996 as the start when the first Nokia Communicator came out. Which would put the 50% milestone at 16 years.

So one question is where are we in regard to autonomous cars? I'd say the Nokia Communicator moment in that regard was only a few years ago (adaptive cruise control + lane control). Then there is the question how long does it take from the iPhone moment (the first mass market implementation that is actually good) to the 50% marker? Here, you have to take into account how long the life cycle of a product is, ie, how frequently consumers replace it. For phones that is probably in the range of 2 to 3 years. For cars that is more like 5 to 8 years, ie, more than twice than that. Which would stretch to iPhone to 50% penetration rate from five (2007 to 2012) to more than ten years. Thus even if we had the first fully autonomous car in 2018, that would put the 50% mark at about 2030.

And most new technologies have noticeably slower adoption rates. If we take the PC and use the Mac from 1984 as the mass market start, it took until 2000 to reach 50% penetration or 16 years compared to the 5 years of the smartphone (and the longer life cycle of PCs does not fully account for this). And that is before we consider that the regulatory burden (due to the much higher danger coming from cars compared to PCs or smartphones) will slow things further for autonomous cars.

#2 - Running errands stops being a thing with autonomous cars.

Autonomous cars will play the smaller role in this. Online shopping and virtual human encounters (eg, tele-medicine) will play a bigger part.

I listen to music instead of podcasts while doing chores and exercise. Not sure if that applies to everyone or if it's just me.

And other people listen to music (or the radio) while driving. They could conclude that autonomous cars would kill music.

But the biggest problem with your prediction is that you assume the overwhelming time we spend on getting from A to B is spend sitting in a car. That might be true for most of the U.S., but globally, in big cities, public transport combined with walking and cycling has the bigger share.

 

[kognos]

Apple would have to come up with a different and unique structure for any "iTunes" replacement, and it would have to be media-neutral (not "tunes" because that implies music). For example, something like "Apple Media" since that works perfectly with the folder structure underneath, where Music, Movies, Books, etc would be placed. But that name doesn't work well for a store or application.

I'd frankly love to see something - anything - that isn't "iTunes", because the idea of going to the "iTunes" store to get movies seems ridiculous to me, or alternatively that my MOVIES are under my "iTunes Media"... that somehow movies are a subset of music.

 

[dampfnudel]

The name iTunes sounds so dated now and it looks like Apple is ready to ditch it. Of course knowing Apple, it won't just be a name change, it will be an effort to pressure their customers who haven't embraced the Apple Music ecosystem as a paying subscriber to do so once purchasing music on iTunes becomes history. That day is coming.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

I'm ok with this one must move forward, but I never complained about iTunes Podcast.

 

[AZ63]

Haven't some gotten around this by making app options? I thought This American Life provided a paid app where you could access all the prior shows ad free or you can just grab the last four via the free (ad sponsored) podcast format.

edit: just adding to your comment above with that. I would also support a direct monetization of podcasts. If I can pay $10 and knock out 5-8 minutes of ads and promos from the podcasts I listen to that would be great. Every S-Town episode has the same ads, I don't need them repeated to me endlessly.

Regarding paying for podcasts I have been doing that for years. I pay roughly $55 a year to get 3 hours a day five days a week of a podcast I enjoy. Each "hour" is stripped of commercials and ends up being 33 to 35 minutes long. Soooo… worth the cost.

 

[macduke]

Take a guess, when did smartphones reach 50% penetration [in the U.S.]? In 2012, according to this overview. If you want, you can put the beginning of smartphone at 2007 but you could also mark 1996 as the start when the first Nokia Communicator came out. Which would put the 50% milestone at 16 years.

So one question is where are we in regard to autonomous cars? I'd say the Nokia Communicator moment in that regard was only a few years ago (adaptive cruise control + lane control). Then there is the question how long does it take from the iPhone moment (the first mass market implementation that is actually good) to the 50% marker? Here, you have to take into account how long the life cycle of a product is, ie, how frequently consumers replace it. For phones that is probably in the range of 2 to 3 years. For cars that is more like 5 to 8 years, ie, more than twice than that. Which would stretch to iPhone to 50% penetration rate from five (2007 to 2012) to more than ten years. Thus even if we had the first fully autonomous car in 2018, that would put the 50% mark at about 2020.

And most new technologies have noticeably slower adoption rates. If we take the PC and use the Mac from 1984 as the mass market start, it took until 2000 to reach 50% penetration or 16 years compared to the 5 years of the smartphone (and the longer life cycle of PCs does not fully account for this). And that is before we consider that the regulatory burden (due to the much higher danger coming from cars compared to PCs or smartphones) will slow things further for autonomous cars.

This makes a lot of sense (except I think you meant 2030 instead of 2020). I also think that, unlike phones, people are inherently cautious about buying something that would take the control of driving out of their hands. A lot of people enjoy driving—especially those of us outside of big cities. But when something can easily kill us if it goes wrong, and it's a new product category, it's definitely going to be an uphill battle along with the regulations and other stuff.

I mean, companies have been making smartphones for a long time now, and yet last year Samsung had phones exploding all over the place. A self-driving car is at least an order of magnitude—maybe two orders—more complicated. And here I am, over here, still waiting for a decent, reasonably priced AWD electric car around the size of our Outback so I can haul around the fam in adverse weather, save on gas and help out the planet that doesn't cost $70k from Tesla. That, to me, seems so far off that I'm not even worrying about self driving stuff yet.

Sure, you might have idiot companies like Uber running amok through red lights trying to force progress at the risk of the general public. But, as you said, it's still very early. I think a lot of people think it's going to happen quickly because it's talked about so much. But also look at things like VR that were talked about to death in the 90s and then went away because it wasn't yet feasible and are only now becoming feasible but still don't have market traction. I think a lot of these people just aren't old enough to remember these phases and how long it took smart phones and VR and even things like digital cameras to catch on. Heck, most professional photographers were still shooting film nearly 10 years ago. And even books aren't anywhere close to being completely replaced. These paradigm shifts take time! Everyone automatically assumes things will just take off like the iPhone, when in fact it was a huge anomaly. Apple made something special and it's really difficult to replicate that. Everyone seems to think in 2006 it was obvious that smartphones were about to take off. In reality, in 2006, everyone thought Apple was stupid for making the iPhone, and flip phones like the Razr were still really popular. People thought that the cell phone market was well established and many people thought that smart phones were primarily for business users, and companies like Blackberry exploited that and did a decent job at the time. People forget so easily.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Regarding paying for podcasts I have been doing that for years. I pay roughly $55 a year to get 3 hours a day five days a week of a podcast I enjoy. Each "hour" is stripped of commercials and ends up being 33 to 35 minutes long. Soooo… worth the cost.

This sounds great. What service are you using? Do they do this for all the major podcasts or is there a limited set they have contracted?

 

[ipedro]

A couple of years ago, iTunes was an extremely valuable brand with which no competitor has ever been able to catch up to. Today, Apple Music is far more valuable as a brand. There's little holding Apple back from eliminating iTunes altogether at WWDC.

- Release Apple Music for Mac.
- Add music purchases to Apple Music for those without a membership.
- Release TV app for Mac to handle video purchases, rentals and playback.
- Move all app management and purchase to the Mac App Store app which will also deal with syncing and backup.
- Discontinue iTunes

 

[Dydegu]

I think that day will come. Apple has gradually begun to purge "i" from their device names. I can see the iMac simply get renamed the Mac.

I welcome this rebranding, next should be "Apple Phone", "Apple Pad", "Mac" (iMac) and iTunes should split into Apple Media Store (which would be nice if you could buy Macs and other products from there too) and Apple Music IMO.

Apple Pad sounds so awful though, don't you think? I think iPhone and iPad will stay. They are far too iconic.

 

[scottishwildcat]

Were they ever really called "iTunes Podcasts" anyway, other than in the name of that Twitter account? Never heard anyone call them that before, and the standalone iOS app was never called that.

 

[AZ63]

This sounds great. What service are you using? Do they do this for all the major podcasts or is there a limited set they have contracted?

It is not a service. I signed up on the podcaster's website and the podcast gets directed to my iTunes app or I can access it on my iPhone.

 

[brendu]

I reckon the 10th anniversary model could well be 'Apple Phone'.

Not likely. The iPhone name is so well known and established (and viewed in a positive light by almost everyone). It would be silly to change the name just for the sake of ditching iNamed devices. The iMac might become just Mac but the iPhone will not see its iconic and world recognized name changed. (...iThink)