iTunes Expected to Be Retired After Over 18 Years

[Shirasaki]

This would be the opportunity for those people to buy into Apple Music then.

Which will just turn them away. Also simple.

Renting contents? No.
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Artwork and metadata is already provided by Apple Music.

Except when they are wrong a lot of the times.
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It would seem that Apple does not care about users again.

Their goal is to treat users like fool and “we know better”, like Steve Jobs “you are holding it wrong” .

 

[RogerWilco]

There is no DRM on music purchased from iTunes, hasn't been for several years. They're standard AAC files, they can be played on other platforms -- they don't need iTunes or any Apple software at all. I play many of them offline on a Chinese digital audio player on a MicroSD card.

And the EULA specifically ends any pretense of license when the account holder ends their relationship with Apple (death, close account, etc.). You have the files, but no legal license to use them. Gray area? maybe, but look how the music industry lawyers treated Napster clients.

 

[LizKat]

As the article says, one of the 3 apps available... Music, TV or Podcast app. TV probably includes movies as well. Really Apple wants us to use their iCloud. I use it and love it. Great storage for iPads.

For those who still use iTunes for backups, it will probably be a pain n the beginning top have to switch apps for what your backing up but in the long run I think it'll be a faster backup.

Nothing personal in this reply but "in the long run" a faster backup to the cloud could be one hell of a continued wait for about 25% of the USA....

But hey you could be right, just as soon as the USA decides broadband is real broadband and that "DSL broadband" customers are vastly under-served respecting necessary connectivity in the 21st century.

Not holding my breath anew during this timeframe, since I'm still holding my breath waiting for DoJ to come down on Cingular's successor for lying during the ATT merger by saying they'd be bringing towers over the mountain real soon now to improve service to rural areas. Color me dark blue-purple holding breath since 2004.

Oh, and still even holding breath since the 1990s when GTE shed its copper lines that belonged to Continental Telephone Company, then to Citizens Communications and which have ended up finally (I guess we're terminal now lol) in the hands of Frontier... but the original ConTel deal included an assurance of upgrade from copper POTS lines so that any mom and pop ISPs serving us would not be shut out of the future. "Shut out of what in the future?" was a good question that no one asked I guess, during the ensuing debt-swapping mess and the Global Crossings shenanigans and ultimate rebranding as Frontier (once itself a respectable telco brand in Rochester!) to put some different perfume in the air around that lingering scent of copper lines...

"In rural areas including parts of upstate New York, Frontier only offers DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) internet service to its customers using traditional copper wires. Frontier's DSL service is considered by many users to be some of the worst in the industry" = a Consumer Affairs report from 2016....
​

But never mind... much has improved in the past few years. Now when you go hunting, you hardly ever see copper actually glinting through the insulation on phone wires as you tramp through the meadows in November...

On the hand, what's in those wires is still copper.

So I need a local backup option for iOS devices and I am most definitely not alone. The chance of my ending up with a cloud-happy setup any time soon is nominal to zero.

Meanwhile Apple has made tens of thousands of low-taxes bucks off my highly taxed purchases of their gear for myself and my family and who knows who else (if Apple evangelism counts via handing stuff in good condition on to neighbors' kids for three decades).

I think Apple can afford to keep a local backup option in the code for their Music app, for us boondocks residents who do happen also to reside in the Apple ecosystem despite the backwards-facing attention of FCC and ISPs.

/rant... but Frontier and Apple and the US DoJ/FCC all had it coming.

 

[jonblatho]

Nice smartass comment. Maybe it works for your small fingers/hand, not mine. Also, good luck if you're left handed or use an iPhone Plus.

Oh goodness, clearly I’ve touched a nerve. I am right-handed but usually use my phone with my left hand when using it one-handed. I use the smaller iPhone XS right now, but I’ve owned both an iPhone 6 Plus and an iPhone 7 Plus and had no issues with the UI on the few occasions I felt the need to use it.

Maybe I’m not the one with small hands.

 

[uberzephyr]

Match is a service that people pay for. Apple isn't just going to drop any services revenue.

Also, lol @ syncing. I haven't "synced" anything with iTunes in probably 6 or 7 years...just like everyone else, because there is no reason to.

I don't understand that comment. If I want to rip one of the many hundreds of CDs that I own, and then have it available on my mobile device, how do I get it there without the "sync" process?

 

[Stromos]

Nobody needs iTunes anymore.
Apple Music is everything. As long as there's a Mac app that interfaces with Apple Music then everyone will be good.

My iPod video is giving you the finger right now....

 

[zorinlynx]

If nothing else, hopefully this will bring the end of the glib and clichéd "bloated" comments. I only use the Music, Apps, and occasionally Podcast sections of iTunes and none of the rest ever bothers me.

Maybe it will go out in style.

I honestly have always wondered why people complain about iTunes being "bloated". It is, frankly, one of the fastest and best performing apps on my Mac. For example I just launched it on my mid-2014 Macbook Pro and it started in under a second (I rebooted this morning so it's the first launch in this boot, it wasn't in cache).

It's well-organized; you can access everything you need in the sidebar and you can even remove stuff you don't use.

It's as powerful or as simple as you need it to be; you can choose whether playlists are presented in a list with tons of useful information, or just a simple list with album art.

"iTunes is a bloated piece of ****!" is the most nonsensical criticism I've heard because it's never felt that way to me, and I've been a heavy user of iTunes since 2005.

EDIT: I'm going to be fair and list the one case iTunes has been slow, and that's when syncing to an iPhone. Syncing can take a lot longer than it should, especially a couple years ago.... However this has been improved a lot in the past couple releases.

Oh, and to all the people saying "nobody syncs anymore", you're wrong. I have an old iPod Touch for music in my car and I sync to it from iTunes over WiFi, even with the car in my driveway. It works beautifully and keeps my "car music" up to date.

 

[Kung]

I guess I must be one of the 3 or 4 people who like this idea. Other than a very few podcasts and a TON of music, I have no other content from the Apple ecosystem...and meanwhile, iTunes over time has become bloated as hell. As such, I'm looking forward to (seeing if) the new Music app (solves or contributes to the bloat).

 

[Hildy]

I hope this progresses to a music application that allows me to upload my non-matched personal Music library to iCloud and share it across devices. After pouring almost two decades into curating my iTunes library I’m hoping they allow star ratings and smart playlists to carry on. These features are more important to me than any of the apple eco system...
Streaming with Apple Music or Spotify isn’t an appealing solution for everyone.

 

[warp9]

"iTunes is a bloated piece of ****!" is the most nonsensical criticism I've heard because it's never felt that way to me, and I've been a heavy user of iTunes since 2005.

It seems you haven't been a heavy user of Windows, which is where the problem lies.

 

[Shirasaki]

but are you going to end your subscription? Will most people?

At some point yes. And voila, no music left to listen to.
Also don’t forget they takes down music in a regular basis too, including big artists.
And enjoy paying 5+ subscription services just to watch your favourite show or listen to your favourite music.

I shall be keeping the current version of iTunes on my Mac and not upgrading.

High Sierra till dead. No more upgrades.
If Apple has left us behind, so shall we.

 

[Stromos]

I honestly have always wondered why people complain about iTunes being "bloated". It is, frankly, one of the fastest and best performing apps on my Mac. For example I just launched it on my mid-2014 Macbook Pro and it started in under a second (I rebooted this morning so it's the first launch in this boot, it wasn't in cache).

It's well-organized; you can access everything you need in the sidebar and you can even remove stuff you don't use.

It's as powerful or as simple as you need it to be; you can choose whether playlists are presented in a list with tons of useful information, or just a simple list with album art.

"iTunes is a bloated piece of ****!" is the most nonsensical criticism I've heard because it's never felt that way to me, and I've been a heavy user of iTunes since 2005.

EDIT: I'm going to be fair and list the one case iTunes has been slow, and that's when syncing to an iPhone. Syncing can take a lot longer than it should, especially a couple years ago.... However this has been improved a lot in the past couple releases.

Oh, and to all the people saying "nobody syncs anymore", you're wrong. I have an old iPod Touch for music in my car and I sync to it from iTunes over WiFi, even with the car in my driveway. It works beautifully and keeps my "car music" up to date.

This. Literally same situation. iPod is hooked to the car.

 

[zorinlynx]

It seems you haven't been a heavy user of Windows, which is where the problem lies.

I haven't used Windows on personal systems since 2005.

To be frank, this is a ridiculous argument. If iTunes sucks on Windows, then what everyone should be calling for is "fix iTunes on Windows!" not "Kill iTunes!". It's a bit naive to assume that whatever replaces iTunes on Windows won't suck too.
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This. Literally same situation. iPod is hooked to the car.

Yep. It's nice to be able to get in my car and drive without having to deal with playing music on my phone. Bluetooth pairing is clunky, and having to plug it in every time is annoying, especially for short trips.

If I can find a cheap newer iPod Touch that supports iCloud Music Library that can sync my library automatically that'd be great. But it's not a big enough desire for me to go out of my way to get one as long as this old one keeps going.

 

[michael31986]

How do we think it will look with syncing mucic we bought

 

[Shirasaki]

But what if it is wrong or just unsuitable? Classical music metadata in particular is often totally inconsistent or badly constructed for displaying on a mobile device.

Classical music is barely the focus of millennials anyway. They just care about Justine Bieber and nothing more.
Still can remember one hilarious punishment which court forces a teenager to listen to classical music because he played his pop song too loud that neighbors got extraordinarily irritated.

 

[zorinlynx]

How do we think it will look with syncing mucic we bought

Simple truth is we just have to wait until next week.

Luckily, upgrading to newer versions of MacOS is less urgent than iOS, since Apple keeps supporting MacOS for a while with security updates. So we can stick with Mojave and iTunes for a few more years until an alternative solution presents itself.

 

[warp9]

If iTunes sucks on Windows, then what everyone should be calling for is "fix iTunes on Windows!" not "Kill iTunes!".

People have been asking Apple to fix itunes on Windows for a very long time and nothing has been done about it, so that effort has been abandoned and it's now become "kill itunes" because there is no other choice it seems.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Classical music is barely the focus of millennials anyway. They just care about Justine Bieber and nothing more.
Still can remember one hilarious punishment which court forces a teenager to listen to classical music because he played his pop song too loud that neighbors got extraordinarily irritated.

Millennials are in their 20s and older now. Millennials aren't 12-year-olds.

Anyway, I'm 20 and I have a collection of over 5000 classical tracks, all of them fitting a certain labeling scheme that I've used and maintained over years. I would hate to see the new Music app render this system unusable.

 

[jmgregory1]

In your case with a family plan, it sounds like a great way to go!

I may switch over to streaming at some point, but there’s nothing motivating me at the moment. The main time I listen to anything is while driving, and lately I either listen to NPR or one of a couple of great local public radio stations I support.

I’ve got a huge music library, it’s infrequent that I find something else I want - usually something really great and unusual I hear on public radio.

It sounds like you’re a brother from another mother!

I’ve been an NPR fan for years, but also like finding local stations especially as I travel across the country. Check out Milwaukee Radio when you get a chance (88Nine - they have an app too), a local public radio station that plays such a great assortment of music, they do a lot of great local events and it’s publicly supported which is even better.

I thought I had a big collection of music, most of which was originally added to iTunes from cd’s I had collected going back to my early college years when cd’s first came out. And those were mostly re-hashes of vinyl and cassettes I had prior. But once I joined Apple Music, my collection ballooned as I started downloading more jazz, early country and bluegrass, plus new rock and like you mentioned, things I’ve heard on NPR first.

 

[Kung]

People have been asking Apple to fix itunes on Windows for a very long time and nothing has been done about it, so that effort has been abandoned and it's now become "kill itunes" because there is no other choice it seems.

Truth. In all honesty, I wasn't asking for, nor did I care, if they kept iTunes or separated things, etc., as long as whatever solution there is

a) works well and
b) isn't bloated.

If they wanna keep iTunes, great; if they want to make new apps, great - as long as it works and isn't bloated. That's it.

 

[Shirasaki]

how so?

Imagine managing 90+ apple devices in a organisation. Cloud service just won’t cut it by any stretch, or a premium is required. iTunes does that, all free.
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Millennials are in their 20s and older now. Millennials aren't 12-year-olds.

Anyway, I'm 20 and I have a collection of over 5000 classical tracks, all of them fitting a certain labeling scheme that I've used and maintained over years. I would hate to see the new Music app render this system unusable.

You, like me, are loving classical music.
I also have a library and a huge 2TB collections of music that I have yet to import to my library. Can iTunes manage all of these idk. But I have a feeling that new music app (which is incompatible with high Sierra anyway) won’t be able to do it.

 

[maverick28]

While it was initially reported that iTunes would live on in macOS 10.15, it now looks like the app will be retired, over 18 years after it was introduced by the late Steve Jobs at Macworld on January 9, 2001.

Apple will be replacing iTunes with standalone Music, TV, and Podcasts apps in the next major version of macOS, expected to be unveiled at WWDC 2019 next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman:This information lines up with a recent report from 9to5Mac's Guilherme Rambo, who claimed that iTunes will be renamed to "Music" on the Mac. In other words, iTunes is going away and will be replaced by the new Music app, which is expected to become the new utility for syncing and managing Apple devices.

Steve Jobs quote from Apple's press release about iTunes in 2001:Here's what iTunes looked like in 2001:

iTunes has attracted its fair share of criticism over the years for being bloated software, so its split into dedicated Music, TV, and Podcasts apps will be much welcomed. Earlier this week, leaked screenshots provided us with our first glimpse at what the Music and TV apps should look like on macOS 10.15.

Apple is widely expected to announce iOS 13, macOS 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 at its WWDC 2019 opening keynote on Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors will have live coverage of the event on our website and through MacRumorsLive on Twitter, so be sure to follow along for the latest updates.

I never understood why it's "bloated". A nice player and iOS drives manager. I loved being able to purchase apps in it and then transfer them to an iPhone.

 

[blairh]

Hope iTunes Match survives.

 

[cbaca51]

I back up my iPhone (photos, videos texts, music) all on my computer and don’t use iCloud at all.

How’s this gonna work now?

 

[toneofark]

If I can finally just drag and drop music onto my phone without having to sync, I'll be grateful.