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iTunes Expected to Be Retired After Over 18 Years
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dogslobber
macrumors 601
dumastudetto
macrumors 603
There are other good quality media management applications for those who refuse to move with the times. The vast majority of people have no interested in "owning music" anymore, even so-called ownership is wrapped in onerous conditions.
warp9
macrumors 6502
I rarely listen to music but I have a small collection of hand picked tracks on itunes. Subscribing to Apple Music to listen for maybe an hour a month would be a complete waste of money for me. So no, Apple Music is not for everyone.
That seems to have been Apple's goal for quite some time: dumb everything down to the level of a phone app. 😡
tkermit
macrumors 68040
rkRusty
macrumors member
MacRumors comments for the last 3 iterations of MacOS: 'fix iTunes!', 'split up iTunes!', 'iTunes needs a redesign!'
The moment iTunes dies: 'wait, what?', 'I love iTunes!', 'one app is better than three!'
The moment iTunes dies: 'wait, what?', 'I love iTunes!', 'one app is better than three!'
dumastudetto
macrumors 603
It does happen from time to time that music gets pulled from streaming music services. It will usually return fairly quickly, so there's no need to hit delete.
Having discreet players makes sense!
But! The older store front is better than what we now have in the Apps Store! You can't find what you've bought before as well as manage what I want to have automatically update.
I want both! The as-is iTunes and the discreet players.
I want to manage my buying from one front end not different apps! This includes books as well as finding Apps for my other devices as in working from a Mac looking at iOS apps for my iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. Having to jump to other apps on the given device is not what I want.
But! The older store front is better than what we now have in the Apps Store! You can't find what you've bought before as well as manage what I want to have automatically update.
I want both! The as-is iTunes and the discreet players.
I want to manage my buying from one front end not different apps! This includes books as well as finding Apps for my other devices as in working from a Mac looking at iOS apps for my iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. Having to jump to other apps on the given device is not what I want.
dumastudetto
macrumors 603
The Apple Music service doesn't have everything yet, but the library continues to expand at a rapid rate.
smirking
macrumors 601
You think you're giving the people what they want and then you come to realize that what they REALLY REALLY want is to complain.
dumastudetto
macrumors 603
There is niche software available for those who refuse to let go of the past. Swinsian looks like a decent solution.
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You don't really own it. You are only buying a license to play it, in the same as you're paying for a license to stream it with Apple Music.
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There will always be edge cases. I admit in your situation it's understandable why you might not be tempted by Apple Music, but I'd still urge you to try it.
smirking
macrumors 601
I wouldn't get too anxious. It seems pretty clear they're just making their apps more consistent in function between MacOS and iOS by bringing iTunes back to its roots. Besides that, I've always found it odd that an app called iTunes was also where they were dispensing eBooks, movies, and storage for your iPhone backups.
gavroche
macrumors 65816
Come on! You don’t think Apple woul...
Oh nvm
haha.... don't forget photos guys. so it's actually four apps.
JunBringer
macrumors regular
Superhai
macrumors 6502a
On the Mac side iTunes is hardly bloated, on Windows it’s another story. Mostly because it installs so much extra, although I believe in the newer versions they give users more control. It should not be necessary to install bonjour, auto-updater, iOS connection drivers etc. unless you want it.
So what is iTunes (the app) today? It is basically a media management software. It contains its library functionality, media server, store access as well as access to the streaming service Apple Music and Radio. It is in a more or less unified way. But on top of that are the iPhone/iPad/iPod management software. Syncing from its own library makes sense, but backup and other control settings should really be somewhere else.
iTunes used to include iOS apps and books before. But the book reader was subpar and the apps were only for syncing purposes so it made sense to move them somewhere else.
Here comes the philosophical question, there are benefits to having separate apps for playing each “media”-type, but the unification if you want some organisation has crucial benefits. Especially if you want to store your files locally for serving media files on your network, or a single place to manage your device media syncing.
Of course for some online streaming is good enough, but the quality is a compromise and you are dependent on a working high speed internet connection at all time. The availability of what you want to stream are fully depending on the streaming provider as well.
If you look at Apple Music they limit their quality to 256kbit/s AAC. For the most newer and very mainstream pop music the metadata is correct and artwork is of decent quality. But as soon as you are venturing outside, the artwork is more like a scan made by a drunkard including the alcohol spilled on the cover. The metadata are with spelling errors or plain wrong. And tracks will be missing because of curious and ridiculous rights issues.
With video formats it is even more difficult with streaming. The bandwidth is rarely good enough for high quality modern formats, unless you are satisfied with the blockiness and other artefacts from the heavy compression. And then there are not enough bandwidth from your streaming provider and you are downgraded to 360p video and webcam sound.
iTunes have had its fair share of bugs, but finally I rarely discover issues. So it is ironic that when the software reaches maturity that Apple will change everything. Now I don’t know how and what parts of iTunes Apple plans to retain, so I will wait and see. There may be reasons to celebrate or great sorrow or something in-between.
But because it fits your usage, do not expect everyone is doing things your way.
So what is iTunes (the app) today? It is basically a media management software. It contains its library functionality, media server, store access as well as access to the streaming service Apple Music and Radio. It is in a more or less unified way. But on top of that are the iPhone/iPad/iPod management software. Syncing from its own library makes sense, but backup and other control settings should really be somewhere else.
iTunes used to include iOS apps and books before. But the book reader was subpar and the apps were only for syncing purposes so it made sense to move them somewhere else.
Here comes the philosophical question, there are benefits to having separate apps for playing each “media”-type, but the unification if you want some organisation has crucial benefits. Especially if you want to store your files locally for serving media files on your network, or a single place to manage your device media syncing.
Of course for some online streaming is good enough, but the quality is a compromise and you are dependent on a working high speed internet connection at all time. The availability of what you want to stream are fully depending on the streaming provider as well.
If you look at Apple Music they limit their quality to 256kbit/s AAC. For the most newer and very mainstream pop music the metadata is correct and artwork is of decent quality. But as soon as you are venturing outside, the artwork is more like a scan made by a drunkard including the alcohol spilled on the cover. The metadata are with spelling errors or plain wrong. And tracks will be missing because of curious and ridiculous rights issues.
With video formats it is even more difficult with streaming. The bandwidth is rarely good enough for high quality modern formats, unless you are satisfied with the blockiness and other artefacts from the heavy compression. And then there are not enough bandwidth from your streaming provider and you are downgraded to 360p video and webcam sound.
iTunes have had its fair share of bugs, but finally I rarely discover issues. So it is ironic that when the software reaches maturity that Apple will change everything. Now I don’t know how and what parts of iTunes Apple plans to retain, so I will wait and see. There may be reasons to celebrate or great sorrow or something in-between.
But because it fits your usage, do not expect everyone is doing things your way.
smorrissey
macrumors 68000
AZMecha
macrumors regular
warp9
macrumors 6502
Safari on Windows is not a revenue source for Apple. It's barely even a brand awareness thing. However, iTunes on Windows feeds directly into their Services revenue. It's the reason Apple expanded music to Android.
I guess they'll have to do this for Windows as well (3 applications) or they'll keep iTunes for Windows.
MisterSavage
macrumors 603
The people that have spent years/decades building a collection of rare/foreign/strange music that isn't available on streaming services would disagree.
ad7am
macrumors newbie
Good lord I've missed the original iTunes UI.
The leaked screenshot of the upcoming Music app for the Mac looks fine. But I hope non-subscribers can hide Apple Music.
And I'd love to have the original cmd-B "column browser" interface again. EDIT: It's actually still in iTunes — yay! You just need to be in the Songs tab, and then it's in the view menu with the cmd-B hotkey.
The leaked screenshot of the upcoming Music app for the Mac looks fine. But I hope non-subscribers can hide Apple Music.
And I'd love to have the original cmd-B "column browser" interface again. EDIT: It's actually still in iTunes — yay! You just need to be in the Songs tab, and then it's in the view menu with the cmd-B hotkey.
Last edited:
gavroche
macrumors 65816
is it just me... or does it just sound like they are renaming the app... and pulling out video... but basically same thing. I dunno.. hopeful for a full re-write, "snappier" app... but...