iTunes For Windows is Sticking Around

[ph001bi]

This is TERRIBLE news... This was the first thing I was looking forward to when I heard that iTunes was going to be split into four separate and more dedicated applications.

The worst part of being a Apple Music subscriber is the abysmal user-experience when listening to music on my Windows desktop. I don't do it that often, but when I do the experience is really lacklustre.

Don't get me wrong, I love Apple Music. I mostly use it on iOS or using HomePod and it works great. We also use it a lot on tvOS which has been great but we have really missed synchronised lyrics but we are finally getting that with tvOS 13!!

But the experience on macOS has been so-so, and the experience on Windows has been bad. Spotify offers a better cross-platform experience, there is no denying it but I stick with Apple Music due to the better integration with tvOS and HomePod.

I was finally looking forward to have the macOS AND the Windows experience improve. Not doing this on Windows is just awkward as this point. iTunes is already working so much better on macOS compared to Windows to begin with. Now the differentiation will be even greater.

With Apple moving to become a "Premium Services" company with a huge push into streaming services. Starting to offering integrations on SmartTV's and what not. Why on earth won't they improve the experience in Windows? Don't they know how many iOS and tvOS users that are also using Windows?

The horrid experience of using Apple Music on Windows is dragging the experience and impression down. Does this mean that Apple TV+ will be streamed using iTunes on Windows? You got to be kidding me??

At least give us a web-version we could use instead...

Just use a Mac.

 

[JUCJ85]

To everyone that are afraid of iTunes going away on macOS. There isn't anything to worry about. I installed the macOS 10.15 BETA on a spare MacBook Pro today they have just separated iTunes into four separate pieced instead of having one massive, bloated application.

Finder has all the same synchronisation options as iTunes used to have. It looks and behaves the exact same. The only thing that seems to be missing is support for ringtones and that's pretty much it. You connect your iOS device, open Finder and you will see your device in the sidebar. Click on it and you have the exact same view as you used to have in iTunes. They pretty much ripped out the code from iTunes and put it into Finder.

Same goes for the new Music-app. The UX-design has been slightly updated but the features are exactly the same as you had in iTunes. You can add local files, you can RIP CD's, you can access songs purchased through iTunes Store, you can purchase additional songs, you can connect to iCloud Music Library and you can access Apple Music. It's much faster and more fluid as a standalone application, but the functionality and underlining code seems to be 99% the same.

The new Podcast application? Not much different. Just like with the Music-application it has the exact same features and capabilities as the Podcast function in iTunes used to have. And just like the Music-application the performance and fluidity seems to have greatly improved by the code being separated into it's own application.

Those wondering about Audiobook's? They are automatically moved over to the Book's application and behave pretty much exactly the same as they did in iTunes just faster and more fluid. If you have imported audiobook's from Audible your authorisation gets automatically transferred and your audiobook's are all still there.

TV-app you say? Same story. You will find all your movies and TV-shows purchased or rented in the new TV-app. It's snappier and more fluid as compared to navigating your library in iTunes.


This is all great, but some might be somewhat disappointed that there are so little changes to the applications and their functionality. They are 99% the exact same as they were in iTunes, just separated into separate applications which obviously has improved the performance and there are some slight UX-design changes and improvements as a result of the application being more dedicated towards a single purpose. But there is no re-imagining or re-work of anything.

Can you still download TV Episodes and sync them to an iPhone or iPad in Catalina? My ISP sucks so I have no intention on going streaming only. If not, I won't be upgrading to Catalina, not sure why Apple has to fix what's not broken, I love iTunes. Also is there still a way to upload documents like in the file sharing part of iTunes with a iPhone or iPad, I like to backup documents, and backups to my iPhone.

 

[femike]

Good news as I switched over to Windows due to Apple's lack of suitable products.
Using the app from the Windows Store, no major issues.

 

[Smellmet]

Here's a question for everyone - I have a carefully curated library of nearly 16,000 songs on my windows 10 laptop which I regularly back up to 2 external hard drives, I also copy the iTunes folder to my 27" iMac at work and the apple version of the program reads the xml database files so when I open iTunes on my Mac it keeps all the metadata - playlists, playcounts, star ratings etc as it stands on my windows machine, it's a great cross-platform feature. Question is, will the new music app do the same or will I get the message that the library is not compatible with this app? From what I'm reading this new app appears to be iTunes with podcast and movies etc removed but you can never be sure with Apple can you?

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

Windows user here, not sure what to think except that Apple seems to be consistent in "If it ain't broke, break it" thinking.

What? iTunes is a temple to that NOT being the case. It has had more face-lifts than Michael Jackson.

 

[SeaFox]

I’m thankful for this. Our iTunes library on our PC is very well organised and everything just syncs so easily.

You realize that as a Windows user you also have the choice of just not updating it, right? Even if Apple did get rid of Windows iTunes and make three lousy apps for it too, unless you bought a new iDevice that explicitly required the new apps you could just keep using the older iTunes, as long as it continued to run.

I'm still on iTunes 10.7 over here.

 

[Smellmet]

I wish I could roll back to the earlier 11/12x releases. They were the last versions to run ok on my Windows machine. The last few updates have gimped it - it takes an age to open and freezes for a good minute once it's open, then runs very sluggishly once it's woken up.

 

[return2sendai]

I suppose you’re asking about Catalina. You still have your home videos in your library and you can sync them but you cannot MANUALLY transfer them to your iOS devices. You must sync them

And the iPod Classic?
[doublepost=1559741971][/doublepost]

Web apps would have made everything easier and cross compatible... Look at youtube music, it works just fine.

And the iPod Classic?
[doublepost=1559742032][/doublepost]

Can you still download TV Episodes and sync them to an iPhone or iPad in Catalina? My ISP sucks so I have no intention on going streaming only. If not, I won't be upgrading to Catalina, not sure why Apple has to fix what's not broken, I love iTunes. Also is there still a way to upload documents like in the file sharing part of iTunes with a iPhone or iPad, I like to backup documents, and backups to my iPhone.

And the iPod Classic?
[doublepost=1559742113][/doublepost]

Can you still download TV Episodes and sync them to an iPhone or iPad in Catalina? My ISP sucks so I have no intention on going streaming only. If not, I won't be upgrading to Catalina, not sure why Apple has to fix what's not broken, I love iTunes. Also is there still a way to upload documents like in the file sharing part of iTunes with a iPhone or iPad, I like to backup documents, and backups to my iPhone.

I say again, and the iPod Classic?
[doublepost=1559742181][/doublepost]Have any Beta testers tried installing iTunes on Catalina?

 

[MacBH928]

For a long time I heard people complain here about how iTunes is bloated and it should be separated into different apps, now that Apple did that people are complaining about it?

This is TERRIBLE news... This was the first thing I was looking forward to when I heard that iTunes was going to be split into four separate and more dedicated applications.

The worst part of being a Apple Music subscriber is the abysmal user-experience when listening to music on my Windows desktop. I don't do it that often, but when I do the experience is really lacklustre.

Don't get me wrong, I love Apple Music. I mostly use it on iOS or using HomePod and it works great. We also use it a lot on tvOS which has been great but we have really missed synchronised lyrics but we are finally getting that with tvOS 13!!

But the experience on macOS has been so-so, and the experience on Windows has been bad. Spotify offers a better cross-platform experience, there is no denying it but I stick with Apple Music due to the better integration with tvOS and HomePod.

I was finally looking forward to have the macOS AND the Windows experience improve. Not doing this on Windows is just awkward as this point. iTunes is already working so much better on macOS compared to Windows to begin with. Now the differentiation will be even greater.

With Apple moving to become a "Premium Services" company with a huge push into streaming services. Starting to offering integrations on SmartTV's and what not. Why on earth won't they improve the experience in Windows? Don't they know how many iOS and tvOS users that are also using Windows?

The horrid experience of using Apple Music on Windows is dragging the experience and impression down. Does this mean that Apple TV+ will be streamed using iTunes on Windows? You got to be kidding me??

At least give us a web-version we could use instead...

Does Apple Music still have the 5-star rating system for each song? can you arrange the tracks based on the star rating?

 

[Smellmet]

Does Apple Music still have the 5-star rating system for each song? can you arrange the tracks based on the star rating?

That would be one of several deal breakers for me.

 

[jbachandouris]

So, the iTunes that was good goes away, yet the not good version (Windows) goes? Figures.

 

[alex2792]

Who uses Windows anymore ?

About 90% of computer users worldwide?

 

[0388631]

Best news all week.
[doublepost=1559751658][/doublepost]

This is a perfect time to increase Mac users and take down Windows at the same time....

It's less buggy on Windows than macOS believe it or not.

 

[imola.zhp]

Just use a Mac.

Just convince my boss I need one...

 

[dampfnudel]

Probably a year from now (maybe less), Apple will announce the Windows versions of the Music, Apple TV and Podcasts apps that are only available through the Windows Store, perhaps with increased integration with Windows. As expected, the Mac versions get higher priority with Windows versions to follow months later. There’s no way Apple will let iTunes live on for years on Windows.

 

[tonyr6]

About 90% of computer users worldwide?

Yea right then how much all my friends I ask all use Mac's and iPhones really except for one who also has an Android phone they all use Mac's. So I don't know where they get there so called user groups.

 

[dracon13]

To everyone that are afraid of iTunes going away on macOS. There isn't anything to worry about. I installed the macOS 10.15 BETA on a spare MacBook Pro today they have just separated iTunes into four separate pieced instead of having one massive, bloated application.

Finder has all the same synchronisation options as iTunes used to have. It looks and behaves the exact same. The only thing that seems to be missing is support for ringtones and that's pretty much it. You connect your iOS device, open Finder and you will see your device in the sidebar. Click on it and you have the exact same view as you used to have in iTunes. They pretty much ripped out the code from iTunes and put it into Finder.

Same goes for the new Music-app. The UX-design has been slightly updated but the features are exactly the same as you had in iTunes. You can add local files, you can RIP CD's, you can access songs purchased through iTunes Store, you can purchase additional songs, you can connect to iCloud Music Library and you can access Apple Music. It's much faster and more fluid as a standalone application, but the functionality and underlining code seems to be 99% the same.

The new Podcast application? Not much different. Just like with the Music-application it has the exact same features and capabilities as the Podcast function in iTunes used to have. And just like the Music-application the performance and fluidity seems to have greatly improved by the code being separated into it's own application.

Those wondering about Audiobook's? They are automatically moved over to the Book's application and behave pretty much exactly the same as they did in iTunes just faster and more fluid. If you have imported audiobook's from Audible your authorisation gets automatically transferred and your audiobook's are all still there.

TV-app you say? Same story. You will find all your movies and TV-shows purchased or rented in the new TV-app. It's snappier and more fluid as compared to navigating your library in iTunes.


This is all great, but some might be somewhat disappointed that there are so little changes to the applications and their functionality. They are 99% the exact same as they were in iTunes, just separated into separate applications which obviously has improved the performance and there are some slight UX-design changes and improvements as a result of the application being more dedicated towards a single purpose. But there is no re-imagining or re-work of anything.

[doublepost=1559772727][/doublepost]Thank you. What about photos when using something other than iPhoto/photo app? I use a desktop folder for photo albums.

 

[rdunlap]

You use Finder, and click on your device in the sidebar. At that point, it's done exactly the same way as it was with iTunes.

Thank you.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Here's a question for everyone - I have a carefully curated library of nearly 16,000 songs on my windows 10 laptop which I regularly back up to 2 external hard drives, I also copy the iTunes folder to my 27" iMac at work and the apple version of the program reads the xml database files so when I open iTunes on my Mac it keeps all the metadata - playlists, playcounts, star ratings etc as it stands on my windows machine, it's a great cross-platform feature. Question is, will the new music app do the same or will I get the message that the library is not compatible with this app? From what I'm reading this new app appears to be iTunes with podcast and movies etc removed but you can never be sure with Apple can you?

I would think the only real difference is the music app will simply separate your old database of any video entries and keep its own database just for music. I personally keep my music in their own file directories (don't use the iTunes organization) and it works fine for both iTunes and KODI access (the latter networked as well). I don't see why that would change just because they're pulling out the "panes" in iTunes to be separate apps instead of a tab.

 

[chickenwingfly]

Here's a question for everyone - I have a carefully curated library of nearly 16,000 songs on my windows 10 laptop which I regularly back up to 2 external hard drives, I also copy the iTunes folder to my 27" iMac at work and the apple version of the program reads the xml database files so when I open iTunes on my Mac it keeps all the metadata - playlists, playcounts, star ratings etc as it stands on my windows machine, it's a great cross-platform feature. Question is, will the new music app do the same or will I get the message that the library is not compatible with this app? From what I'm reading this new app appears to be iTunes with podcast and movies etc removed but you can never be sure with Apple can you?

If they revamped the new apps from the ground it is very likely the format changed, but I'm pretty sure it would be trivial to convert to this new format unless it's very proprietary (read: encrypted, binary, cryptic). Now if you are NOT a coder/grandmaster user, I'm sure someone will provide a converter eventually. I would do it myself, since I did something similar to you, back when I owned a Hackintosh and a MacBook but I don't own apple products anymore.
Just hold tight I guess.

Yea right then how much all my friends I ask all use Mac's and iPhones really except for one who also has an Android phone they all use Mac's. So I don't know where they get there so called user groups.

e.g
http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide
You would be in denial if you think macOs/Android is anywhere near touching windows/iOS, but you seem to be the kind of low-end user who doesn't even jailbreak an iPhone because "I may break it".

 

[tonyr6]

You would be in denial if you think macOs/Android is anywhere near touching windows/iOS, but you seem to be the kind of low-end user who doesn't even jailbreak an iPhone because "I may break it".

Okay I been to two more social events and guess what both had macbooks even the one that I though had a Windows machine also uses a Android phone so where the heck are all the so called Windows users out there. I have not seen anyone using Windows laptops anywhere.

 

[Shanghaichica]

That's terrible. I get that Apple wants consumers to purchase Apple hardware, but at the same time they need to give us windows users who buy their iphones and ipads some loyalty. It just makes me feel like a 2nd class citizen.

They want you to buy a Mac. The more Apple products you buy the more benefits. That’s have they incentivise you.

 

[saytheenay]

Okay I been to two more social events and guess what both had macbooks even the one that I though had a Windows machine also uses a Android phone so where the heck are all the so called Windows users out there. I have not seen anyone using Windows laptops anywhere.

Think critically—your little corner of the world is not representative of the market. Google desktop os marketshare—here is one source: https://netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?options={"filter":{"$and":[{"deviceType":{"$in":["Desktop/laptop"]}}]},"dateLabel":"Trend","attributes":"share","group":"platform","sort":{"share":-1},"id":"platformsDesktop","dateInterval":"Monthly","dateStart":"2018-06","dateEnd":"2019-05","segments":"-1000"}

 

[Robnsn2015]

Think critically—your little corner of the world is not representative of the market. Google desktop os marketshare—here is one source: https://netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?options={"filter":{"$and":[{"deviceType":{"$in":["Desktop/laptop"]}}]},"dateLabel":"Trend","attributes":"share","group":"platform","sort":{"share":-1},"id":"platformsDesktop","dateInterval":"Monthly","dateStart":"2018-06","dateEnd":"2019-05","segments":"-1000"}

850 million Windows 10 users are nothing to sneeze at.