iTunes Expected to Be Retired After Over 18 Years

[ipedro]

I wonder what this means for the iTunes Music Store. The leaked screenshots of Apple Music for Mac didn’t show a music store. Will there be another app for the store like on iOS?

Ideally, perhaps it can be merged with Apple Music. If you don’t have a subscription, individual songs and albums would show a Buy button instead. But given Apple’s push into streaming and its battle to dethrone Spotify, I would be surprised to see Apple openly promoting iTunes as an option.

 

[whooleytoo]

Hoping this is a bit of an overreaction from people, and they're just splitting videos and music into two more focused apps. I've zero interest in music streaming, so I hope iTunes Match is retained (even if renamed) or replaced.

I've never really seen the complaints about iTunes being bloated. On Windows it could be slow, but on Mac it works great for me. And in terms of simplicity - you select your playlist, hit the album artwork at the top of the window, and you're in a minimalist window with artwork play controls and last/next songs. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

 

[Porco]

Well I'm sure this will go smoothly.

 

[FasterQuieter]

Sounds like it might be more accurate to say Apple is renaming iTunes "Music" and removing some functionality. Unless it's a Marzipanified version of the iOS app. But that would be difficult, as the iOS app doesn't sync devices.

 

[Jws]

The people here celebrating itunes’ demise sadden me. I grew up using this software when I got my first mac in 2007. I know that it’s bloated and sometimes doesn’t work the way we want, but it always served its purpose, at times very well. I hope that the program isn’t completely killed for those who keep using it in the next macOS update. Although I use Apple Music right now, I’m wanting to move back to just playing my personal music because I feel that having access to a subscription commoditizes the experience, and I don’t know how well the experience would be transferring songs via a new app where the focus will almost certainly be on streaming music. Hopefully Apple makes the right decisions here.

 

[Dorje Sylas]

What would happen to the purchases you made on iTunes?

Well this is your due notice to make sure you download and offline archive all of your purchases. Make sure they're in M4A and not M4P. And for some items that are M4P or FairPlay DRMed look at cracking that (for personal archival purposes). And then count your blessings that you aren't buying into AppleMusic, cause when Apple pulls that plug in 20 years (when it becomes less profitable then whatever the new wall street shiny is) all of that will just be gone.

 

[zorinlynx]

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

They could throw Match users a bone by doing something like converting all Match subscriptions to Apple Music for a year, then requiring users to pay monthly from then on. So they'll eventually get MORE revenue.

I like Match myself. iTunes is about MY music library. I don't want Apple Music; I keep a Spotify subscription around to listen to music I don't care to own.

 

[Kaiser Soseh]

Translated, this means "We want to charge separately for each of the three things we're splitting out. If you want all three, it will cost you more."

Oh, and when we change the file formats on you, we'll only charge you .50 to "upgrade" each song you own to the new format.

 

[Princess Cake]

Do whatever you want to it at this point Apple, I'm still using iTunes 8 where everything is quick and the app is still focused on being a kick-butt music player.

 

[KazKam]

So, I'm going to be on Mojave for a loooooooong long time, probably.

 

[blacktape242]

i have a bad feeling they are going to give customers some other horrid creation.....ugh...

 

[retta283]

If this makes it impossible to download past iTunes Store purchases on old versions of iTunes I am gonna be extremely ticked off...

 

[GuilleA]

Why not create an app called iPhone (or something similar ) and use that to sync with iPhones and other idevices? Music should only deal with music and that makes it an even lighter app

Bring bak iSync!

 

[fmillion]

Why not create an app called iPhone (or something similar ) and use that to sync with iPhones and other idevices? Music should only deal with music and that makes it an even lighter app

BRING BACK iSync

 

[digidow]

No mention that Apple actually bought the app Soundjam MP from Casady and Greene. Which in turn became the iTunes app.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundJam_MP

 

[techno-Zen]

iTunes is invaluable to IT professionals who manage iOS devices..

What now?

 

[Loge]

Artwork and metadata is already provided by Apple Music.

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.

 

[ButteryScrollin]

people still sync their phones with iTunes with a cable?

 

[mcalict]

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.

Perhaps in your world. Statements like "Nobody needs..." lack perspective.
[doublepost=1559314891][/doublepost]

I need it. I actually prefer to OWN the things I pay for. I understand that this generation is cool with renting or leasing, but I’m not. Ownership of anything is going away. No bueno.

Preach

 

[ButteryScrollin]

iTunes is invaluable to IT professionals who manage iOS devices..

how so?

 

[mcalict]

people still sync their phones with iTunes with a cable?

Ummmm... yes! Perhaps no-one you know! Broaden your horizons.

 

[Sasparilla]

Presumably these will be marzipan apps, which haven't gone well so far. Glad to see Apple is saying we have device management and backup still in place in the new iMusic App.

The interesting question is how do you put your music, movies and podcasts on your iPhone now? Open each app to do one of those? iTunes did them all during the backup and sync.

 

[DocMultimedia]

I still miss SoundJam.

 

[jagolden]

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.

Extremely shortsighted view. AppleMusic doesn’t even come close to fulfilling music management needs. Nor does it have the majority of audio available.
It’s fine for people that want to throw away their money renting music or have crippled music and audio likes.
I have hundreds of audio books and stories, almost 5,000 radio shows. Buy cd’s from small local bands at concert performances, etc.
iTune works perfectly. It’s certainly not bloated or difficult to use.
Unfortunately the world is being dumbed down for the icapable masses.

 

[Jynto]

I will miss iTunes, but it's been a long time since iTunes has been good as a "jukebox."

Folks that manage large offline music libraries should check out Swinsian. It's a fully native macOS app for music management and playback.

Thanks for the recommendation. I had no idea an app like this existed!