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If you mess up, they banish you to the windows app team as punishment I bet. The software is abysmal.
 
Everyone should buy an album in FLAC format of their choice from Bandcamp, and try to drag it into iTunes. It doesn’t work, right? Now submit a bug report. iTunes is clearly NONFUNCTIONAL/BROKEN
If I recall, iTunes have never supported FLAC. I found it fairly inconvenient.

Of course Apple's position is that you should be using ALAC. At least ALAC is currently royalty-free and open-source, but also supporting FLAC would be nice.
 
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This is embarrassing. Hoe can they phase out the iTunes brand if they still don’t have a proper replacement for Windows.

They just really really not care about windows users and are doing the bare minimum here ?
 
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Unless Cider supports synching with iPod Classics it’s not going to be a usable replacement for me. That said, I’m amazed Apple haven’t stopped supporting iPod synching in iTunes. When that goes, I’ll have to keep an old copy of iTunes around just for that.
 
Why is it easier to pay $5 for an app than $0.99?
It’s an open source project, you don’t have to pay a cent.
The easiest way to install it on windows without paying anything is via winget (the official package manager on windows)
 
If I recall, iTunes have never supported FLAC. I found it fairly inconvenient.

Of course Apple's position is that you should be using ALAC. At least ALAC is currently royalty-free and open-source, but also supporting FLAC would be nice.
The fact that FLAC isn’t supported is a sin IMO. The only reason ALAC even exists is so Apple can say “oh look, we have lossless”
 
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This is embarrassing. Hoe can they phase out the iTunes brand if they still don’t have a proper replacement for Windows.

They just really really not care about That brows users and are doing the bare minimum here ?
They do have a proper replacement. It's called MacOS.
 
They do have a proper replacement. It's called MacOS.
if apple want their services to be taken seriously they cant expect everyone to buy a mac. apple music is never going to be better or bigger than spotify with that attitude. what apple is doing with apple tv is smart by releasing the app on different devices. i dont need to buy an apple tv, mac, or iphone to watch apple tv. but somehow i need to buy apple hardware to listen to apple music if i dont want to use a ****** buggy web player or software from the 00’s. windows is by far the largest OS out there for desktops and laptops so thats a lot of users left out.

i like apple music but im sticking with spotify until apple releases a proper apple music app for windows.
 
It doesn't support uploading and matching your own tracks, or local library management, both of which are key features of iTunes (and the Music app on macOS). Third-party media managers are useless to those who want everything (Apple Music / Uploaded / Matched) in the iOS Music app.
Another thing. iTunes is required for Windows users who have an Android phone and not iPhone(Had one in the past, still there for backup), to add funds to Apple ID for subscriptions and to manage payments.
 
At this time it just feels like abandonware. Such an outdated look!
The look is outdated but still works fine. Useful for adding your own music. Adding Apple ID funds and managing subscriptions, if you dont have an iPhone or if the iPhone is not your daily device
 
On Windows (or Linux) I just use music.apple.com. I have no idea why anyone would subject themselves to iTunes.
Adding Apple ID funds and managing subscriptions, if you dont have an iPhone or if the iPhone is not your daily device
 
Everyone should buy an album in FLAC format of their choice from Bandcamp, and try to drag it into iTunes. It doesn’t work, right? Now submit a bug report. iTunes is clearly NONFUNCTIONAL/BROKEN
That's not a bug. iTunes doesn't support FLAC. Simple. Are you the kind of person who buys a toaster and takes it back to the shop because you can't bake a cake with it.
 
Apple would gain so much market share in the music streaming if they would just fix the Apple Music App.

1. Completely rewrote iTunes for Windows, made it faster and more user friendly. Most people are using Spotify on Windows now. Huge opportunity for growth here.

2. Fixed their Apple Music web experience. Same here, faster and more user friendly. And less white colour all over the page.

3. Same fixes on MacOS and iOS.

With all these fixes, they would get the market share and the revenue. They have money, dedicated fans, engineers and funds. All they need to do is just do it.
 
That's not a bug. iTunes doesn't support FLAC. Simple. Are you the kind of person who buys a toaster and takes it back to the shop because you can't bake a cake with it.
A toaster isn’t typically meant for baking cakes, but iTunes is supposedly a digital music player.
iOS officially claims to support playback of FLAC music files but there is only one way to load music onto the device’s native music library - syncing via iTunes.
It doesn’t work. It’s a bug.


Here is a link to a free album on Bandcamp, downloadable in FLAC format as is standard in this day and age for any proper music download platform.
Since iOS officially supports FLAC, nobody should have any trouble syncing this to their music library.
I encourage everyone to download this album and add it to your music library, and if for some reason it doesn’t work as it ought to, then submit a bug report.

 
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A toaster isn’t typically meant for baking cakes, but iTunes is supposedly a digital music player.
iOS officially claims to support playback of FLAC music files but there is only one way to load music onto the device’s native music library - syncing via iTunes.
It doesn’t work. It’s a bug.


Here is a link to a free album on Bandcamp, downloadable in FLAC format as is standard in this day and age for any proper music download platform.
Since iOS officially supports FLAC, nobody should have any trouble syncing this to their music library.
I encourage everyone to download this album and add it to your music library, and if for some reason it doesn’t work as it ought to, then submit a bug report.

Repeat after me: "iTunes is not designed to play FLAC files". Keep repeating it until it sinks in.
iTunes supports AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, and WAV.
A bug is 'whoopsy-I-cocked-up' code in an app which prevents it from working to spec.
From this perspective, iTunes is working to spec.
Whether or not iTunes plays FLAC is completely unrelated to whether the OS (be that iOS / iPadOS / MacOS) supports FLAC. I know MacOS will definitely play FLAC files, even via QuickView. No idea about iOS. I'll have to accept your superior knowledge regarding that, because I have never tried.
 
It’s an open source project, you don’t have to pay a cent.
The easiest way to install it on windows without paying anything is via winget (the official package manager on windows)
My point was that it's easier to justify paying for software when they ask for more than a buck.
 
Everyone should buy an album in FLAC format of their choice from Bandcamp, and try to drag it into iTunes. It doesn’t work, right? Now submit a bug report. iTunes is clearly NONFUNCTIONAL/BROKEN
you can convert it to lossless format using VLC. Free, easy.
 
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you can convert it to lossless format using VLC. Free, easy.
FLAC is already a lossless format. There is no reason to downgrade it to an inferior format only to play nice with Apple. Very unappealing option. I can’t think of any good reason why Apple shouldn’t properly implement FLAC support. I also can’t think of any reason why someone would ever use ALAC if Apple did properly implement FLAC support.
 
To anyone still using the flaming pile of garbage that is iTunes on windows, do yourself a favor and use Cider instead.
Or, if you don’t mind doing a bit more work and are using windows 11, just enable Android Subsystem and install the Android Apple Music .apk. Works very well.
 
You're talking about this, right?



Yes - finally! Downloaded, installed, and tested.

If that's true, I'll be ecstatic. It's been the single worst part of iTunes on Windows. The "workarounds" of disabling passcodes were non-starters as my work MDM policy requires a passcode. I was either doing an OTA update which sometimes would add more headaches, or I'd have to do a "restore".
 
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Sadly it is. Apple is not interested in serving the market Microsoft serves. Linux and its community really aren't either. There's no other option. I dread the day when I'm forced to upgrade all my clients to Windows 11, Microsoft has officially lost their minds with that one.

I mean look at just last week when Apple finally admitted that they discontinued Server, which has been known to be about useless for a long time now.

It's true that Apple seems to be making a push into business but they have a very long way to go.

But if you mean for consumers, yes run screaming away from Windows. People who don't like computers but need one to function in society should just get an iPad or a Chromebook or at most a MacBook Air.
Well put. Completely agree on all points.
 
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