Apple Wipes iTunes Pages on Facebook and Instagram, Begins Moving Away From iTunes Links

[MacRumors]

More evidence has emerged to suggest that Apple is beginning to move away from its iTunes brand after over 18 years of use.

As noted on Reddit, Apple has abruptly removed all social media content from its iTunes page on Facebook, including posts, photos, and videos. This appears to have happened within the past 24 hours, as a cached version of the iTunes page on Facebook still had content available as of May 31.

As far as we can tell, it looks like Apple has migrated its iTunes page to its Apple TV page on Facebook, including not only all of the content but nearly 30 million likes and its original April 29, 2009 creation date.

Apple has also removed all photos and videos from its iTunes profile on Instagram, which points users towards the newer Apple TV page on Instagram, but its Twitter counterpart still has content for now.

The blank pages likely foreshadow bigger moves to come, as Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and 9to5Mac's Guilherme Rambo have both reported that iTunes will be replaced by standalone Music, TV, and Podcasts apps in the next major version of macOS, which Apple is expected to unveil at WWDC 2019 on Monday.

Notably, while the overall iTunes app as we know it is expected to be discontinued, the reports did not suggest that the iTunes storefront for purchasing music, movies, and TV shows is going away any time soon.

iTunes has attracted its fair share of criticism over the years for being bloated software, so its split into three separate apps would be much welcomed. Apple's phasing out of iTunes is likely to be a gradual process, however, so the brand could live on in some capacity for the foreseeable future.

Update: As noted by the Iconfactory's Craig Hockenberry, some itunes.apple.com links for songs and artists now redirect to music.apple.com, serving as yet another example of Apple moving away from its iTunes brand.

I haven't seen it reported elsewhere, but as of last weekend all https://t.co/tCyWJ9I1D3 links redirect to https://t.co/c1nzdCWhSp -- a likely indicator that the brand is done (the app will be fine for those of us who need it.) - Craig Hockenberry (@chockenberry) June 2, 2019

In fact, as noted by Kyle Seth Gray, it appears that Apple is in the process of dropping iTunes links for apps, podcasts, TV shows, movies, and books as well. Apple will instead use category-specific links such as apps.apple.com, podcasts.apple.com, tv.apple.com, movies.apple.com, and books.apple.com.

e.g. https://t.co/WmxGgr6Sdm - Kyle Seth Gray 🔜 @ WWDC and Layers (@kylesethgray) June 2, 2019

Some of these links are already live, while others work if the URL is manually changed.

Article Link: Apple Wipes iTunes Pages on Facebook and Instagram, Begins Moving Away From iTunes Links

 

[dannyyankou]

But why? I get that Music, Books, and Podcasts are replacing the iTunes app, but the store will still exist. There's still a place for those accounts. And based on leaked iOS 13 screenshots, we'll still have the iTunes Store on iPhone.

 

[tallPete]

Interesting to do it today. Because iOS, macOS etc are not due out for a few months. So if they are deleting today are we due for an early release of these products? iTunes typically updated out of cycle?

 

[kirky29]

Interesting to do it today. Because iOS, macOS etc are not due out for a few months. So if they are deleting today are we due for an early release of these products? iTunes typically updated out of cycle?

Yeah, makes you wonder if they're going to release it on the 3rd... Otherwise surely you'd do all that stuff a few days before the actual release date?

 

[Princess Cake]

Apple: Getting rid of hardware and software to make room for more hardware and software we're gonna get rid of

 

[BigBoy2018]

Interesting to do it today. Because iOS, macOS etc are not due out for a few months. So if they are deleting today are we due for an early release of these products? iTunes typically updated out of cycle?

Very good point! Presumably the death of iTunes wasnt to officially happen until the launch of mac os 10.15, which would be in september/october.
Could this then mean that the separate music and tv and podcast apps will appear in Mojave 10.14.6?

 

[johnyslats]

Yeah they've been very quiet on Twitter too. Haven't tweeted outright in over a week and over a fortnight with any regularity. Latest tweets are just retweets of the AppleTV account

 

[Porco]

Updated FAQ incoming:
Where is my music? In Music. That's where you can play music from Apple Music, which you may subscribe to. But your music that isn't in Apple Music can be played in Music, so you can still access your music in Music without subscribing to Apple Music.

 

[Peace]

Avast poor iTunes we knew you well.

 

[Jerion]

Implication is that the iTunes -> Breakout Apps transition will happen nowish during Mojave's run. Good way to stagger the rollout, I suppose. And it also decouples these apps from the 32-bit cutoff in 10.15, so people who need to stay on 10.14 for a while will still get the new spread of things.

 

[mikzn]

It could also be that the Beta version of the next MacOS is going to be available soon? If so it will have the new versions of Music and TV, etc.?

 

[StuKatz1]

I couldn’t imagine a better metaphor than iTunes, to showcase the dramatic rise and fall of a once great company.
iTunes changed the world.
Apple changed the world.

Now they are both sad memes of themselves. The Charlie Sheen and Johnny Depp of tech if you will.

 

[RamGuy]

So does this mean we will get the new apps for Windows as well?

 

[mistasopz]

iTunes was always one of the worst, slowest, and most bloated programs ever created. On par with the original Realplayer if anyone is old enough to know that program.

 

[BigBoy2018]

So does this mean we will get the new apps for Windows as well?

You would think so ...

 

[MiBook84]

Won’t miss iTunes for one second. I loved it though - about 15 years ago.

 

[alexandero]

I really hope they don't get rid of purchasing music. I have no interest in a subscription model – I'm oldschool, I like to "own" selected albums I love.

 

[G4DPII]

iTunes was always one of the worst, slowest, and most bloated programs ever created. On par with the original Realplayer if anyone is old enough to know that program.

Now when it first launched. It was smooth, fast and very responsive for it's first few years. It only became the bloated pile of poop after a few versions as they added more and more things without ever making sure it was efficient and optimised.

 

[JetTester]

Hmm, with Apple, it is always more about perception than substance. So, what is it they want us to think they are doing?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

This is likely because the respective stores for music and movies/TV will be found in the respective apps, rather than using the iTunes Store for the sale of all media.

Make sense to be honest and it will probably speed up each store. And the 'iTunes' brand is pretty much irrelevant provided that the core functionality remains, just in a different setup.

 

[brigante]

iTunes was always one of the worst, slowest, and most bloated programs ever created. On par with the original Realplayer if anyone is old enough to know that program.

i am; and i do. it was a piece of ****

 

[Aldaris]

Yeah take something that has had massive brand recognition and just tank it and start over... how about that Mac Pro Tim...

 

[nfl46]

It’s about time. We must be getting new apps for the iPhone / iPad as well to replace iTunes. I guess we’ll find out in two days.

 

[Traverse]

I just really hope the iTunes replacement is a well-designed and functional app. So many people hate iTunes, but I honestly like it. Other than random sync bugs it's fast on an SSD iMac and organizes/plays all my media without issue. I haven't found any alternative I like better.

 

[trusso]

There are many reasons I think sunsetting iTunes is a bad idea, though I acknowledge I may be in the [largish] minority on that. One reason, however, will be the complete crapshoot of online search results for the inevitable problems that require troubleshooting.

Generic names like Music, Photos and TV (etc.) will make it that much harder to find support articles for upcoming software problems. At least with names such as iTunes, GarageBand, or iPhoto, you could clue in on pertinent material much easier.

It's attention to the little details like these that really separates the great from the merely okay.