macOS 10.15 Expected to Feature Standalone Music and Podcasts Apps and Redesigned Books App

[Mr Todhunter]

As I said before, you need to create a new Itunes folder, if you have another one in that location that is in use by the newer version you need to open up the newer iTunes version one first and move it (The folder) to a different location, or just make a copy of it in case it doesn't work.

Edit: I am off to bed now, EU bed time.

Yes I did as you said before and after a couple of trials it worked. Thank you. I’m off to bed too, also in EU.

 

[Loge]

Please explain how you transfer a book from the Books app to an iPad/iPhone. I am unable to do it.

If you drag the book from the Mac Books app to your iCloud Drive it will create a copy there. On your iOS device you then select it in the files app, click the share icon on the top right and select "Open in Books".

Alternatively you can use Airdrop, or email it to yourself.

 

[saytheenay]

Zero confidence in Tim C[r]ook's Apple to "innovate" anymore without wrecking things. I use iTunes daily for content syncing to several iPods, an iPad and an iPhone.

iTunes is the only reason I have stayed on Mac or iOS.

 

[EdT]

I remember the days when Mac OS updates were interesting. We talked about things like multitasking, 64-bit, Quartz Extreme, Fast User Switching, Expose, other GUI changes etc.
Now the big features are mainly service related...

Not sure what technological improvements are possible from any computer manufacturer that aren't just some incremental improvement. I don't think a wider data bus is cost practical, as you would need to go 128 bits wide to keep things as forward/backward compatible as possible. Clock speeds haven't been as important as number of cores are in a good number of years, there are already 8K monitors out, storage is commonly measured in terabytes now, at least on upper end machines.

I'm not saying hardware improvements are impossible, but I am saying they are expensive right now. Some new tech or a huge decrease in the cost of an existing technology are what you need to move the needle significantly. And it needs to move significantly to get investment and manufacturers involved. Right now services are relatively cheap and easy, and for the most part profitable. And that's for every traditional hardware manufacturer. Renting programs to people provides steady income. locks in a user-base and requires less effort than actually selling that same software to people, who may not buy again for years. And either of those is more profitable than selling hardware. Providing shows/songs/books is another income for companies that doesn't require years of research, money for manufacturing, and potentially years between when people need a new one.

 

[okrelayer]

As long as I can still edit (name, album name, writer, artwork etc.) songs from Apple Music and from my personal collection and to manage smart playlists, I 'll be ok.

THIS! This feature alone (and being able to upload any album to Apple Music) is to me what keeps Apple Music a step above Spotify. It feels like we actually own the music to a degree instead of just streaming. I’m sure we are in a niche crowd who often edit the metadata/artwork but it’s extremely important to me.

 

[e-coli]

Please explain how you transfer a book from the Books app to an iPad/iPhone. I am unable to do it.

It happens automatically via iCloud. If you have syncing turned on it should synchronize all your devices. At least it does for me.

 

[saytheenay]

It happens automatically via iCloud. If you have syncing turned on it should synchronize all your devices. At least it does for me.

Pretty sure he wants to do it without iCloud. There are some posts on apple's support site about drag-and-drop Books loading with iTunes 12.7.x.

 

[Takohashi]

I don't like this idea. New iTunes (or just Music) will become as primitive as QuickTime X compared to QuickTime 7

 

[notengoojotas]

THIS! This feature alone (and being able to upload any album to Apple Music) is to me what keeps Apple Music a step above Spotify. It feels like we actually own the music to a degree instead of just streaming. I’m sure we are in a niche crowd who often edit the metadata/artwork but it’s extremely important to me.

I’ll bet this will happen:
- You keep the old iTunes exactly as it is today, it’s only updated to support the new iPhones and iPads later in the year, same design, a la QuickTime 7
- You get the new apps on the Mac (only, no Windows version, use classic iTunes for that) that are pretty much the same basic stuff that you see on iOS. Meaning: No smart playlists in Music, no support for getting non-iTunes-purchased music over the air (use old iTunes if you want to sync that) and they want you to use Apple Music and rent your music instead of owning it
- No new Apple Sync app, if you want to sync at all with a cable use iTunes. Otherwise, iCloud and over the air content that you purchased using iTunes Store. Remember, services is the money maker now

Doing all this they make the minimal effort, you get iTunes if you need to do... well... anything, really, and for the new features if any, use the new basic, simple, plain and boring apps. Yey, progress.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Weird. Maybe they'll bring back support for the Macintosh Classic while they're at it.

I quit using Apple's (formerly really good) podcast function, after they crippled it in iOS 8-ish. I use Pocket Casts now, although I'm not thrilled about its redesign, either.

 

[berrymetal]

I love iTunes. Why is everyone so mean to it.

 

[Lozza013]

I hope I can still backup my iOS devices to my computer otherwise I'm not thrilled about this.

 

[saytheenay]

Apple is still selling the iPod Touch new on their site. So if you buy a Touch now, you only get to use it for 1.5 years, since they may drop iTunes in 10.16?

 

[derekamoss]

I remember the days when Mac OS updates were interesting. We talked about things like multitasking, 64-bit, Quartz Extreme, Fast User Switching, Expose, other GUI changes etc.
Now the big features are mainly service related...

iChat when it first came out, the original keynote app, idrive. Heck i remember being excited about backup.app with its umbrella icon at the time lol.

 

[Mr Todhunter]

It happens automatically via iCloud. If you have syncing turned on it should synchronize all your devices. At least it does for me.

Yes but that’s the problem. I never ever use automatic syncing. I always transfer manually. And of course I don’t want to synchronize all my devices. I only read on my iPads and I don’t keep the same books on them. For me the Books app was a disaster from the beginning. The first 2 versions could not edit tags. It shows that Apple can , and will, launch half- baked software.
[doublepost=1554963757][/doublepost]

If you drag the book from the Mac Books app to your iCloud Drive it will create a copy there. On your iOS device you then select it in the files app, click the share icon on the top right and select "Open in Books".

Alternatively you can use Airdrop, or email it to yourself.

I tried Airdrop and it works, even with a bunch of epubs. Airdroping works so much faster than emailing the files (as I used to do). Thank you very much for your help.

 

[justperry]

Yes I did as you said before and after a couple of trials it worked. Thank you. I’m off to bed too, also in EU.

No worries.
I am pretty sure there might be an easier way to open the old version without terminal, like a script or editing the plist in the old version.
Pretty positive there's a version check, this might also mean if it checks it to be 64bit or something alike, if this is the case it would be pretty difficult to laugh it directly, a script could then be the only solution.
I just checked wether iTunes 6 is 64 bit, sadly it's not so it will stop working under 10.15.
See screenshot below, the last column is the 64bit one.

 

[Shirasaki]

With the rise of podcasts it's a good idea to have it's own app. Also I'm very glad Music on macOS will (finally) have it's own app! Bye iTunes...

Alongside a decent amount of users relying on iTunes to manage apps (me included), manage personal music library and such. I get it, Apple shows no regard to legacy.

I have no plans on going past 10.14 until I eventually get a new computer.

I hope these changes will not screw up users that use 10.14 or earlier.

I don’t have plan to go even beyond 10.13, and I am not sure if I will get a new Mac or not, given that disastrous butterfly keyboard and iTunes 12.7+ removing app management.
[doublepost=1554967425][/doublepost]

Everyone seems to be overthinking this. They will simply split out the apps and probably either have a "SYNC" button in each app for devices or a new SYNC app for the peasants who still choose to sync their device using a cord or for the 10 people that still use an old iPod.

Or they could to the nuclear option and completely kill all iPod support and wired syncing support.

But realistically they will probably have a sync app for older devices.

Apple never do realistic and logical decisions unless THEY think those are logical. Ditching MagSafe on Mac is one such example. There are rumours saying they will bring MagSafe to iPhone and iPad? Lol.

And when will Apple pull their head out of their back end and have an iOS app management app on Mac OS?
Redownloading every app on the device each time is ridiculous and time consuming.

Yes. And pretty much the only but biggest burden to even remotely consider upgrading to macOS 10.14 and beyond.

People always say this but never articulate it.

You have sections for music, movies, tv shows, podcasts, and books. Each of those has your library and a store from which you can add to your library. Is that really convoluted and unintuitive?

Those might be millennials who don’t have a collection to begin with, and don’t value “local storage” as much as 80s, 90s, or even older people do. They see iTunes bad, and they demand iTunes dead.
But fear not. Asking them to articulate or detail the reason of their argument might proven to be too much.

It shows that Apple can , and will, launch half- baked software.

So does every single mega Corp. . With the ability to launch software update in a pinch, trying to perfect software before release is not a thing anymore.

 

[notengoojotas]

Weird. Maybe they'll bring back support for the Macintosh Classic while they're at it.

I quit using Apple's (formerly really good) podcast function, after they crippled it in iOS 8-ish. I use Pocket Casts now, although I'm not thrilled about its redesign, either.

I use Castro. Never looked back.
[doublepost=1554970646][/doublepost]

Apple is still selling the iPod Touch new on their site. So if you buy a Touch now, you only get to use it for 1.5 years, since they may drop iTunes in 10.16?

iTunes will be a zombie in the Applications folder for many years. My guess is that they will just update it every year to support the new iDevices and that’s it. Eventually they pull the plug and say “Just use iCloud, good luck, oh, and buy a plan because you won’t be able to backup anything in the meager 5 GB free we gave you”.

 

[chucker23n1]

Weird. Maybe they'll bring back support for the Macintosh Classic while they're at it.

I quit using Apple's (formerly really good) podcast function, after they crippled it in iOS 8-ish. I use Pocket Casts now, although I'm not thrilled about its redesign, either.

I use Overcast. I think it's a mistake to ask Apple to make their own apps more powerful when viable third-party alternatives already exist: it would kill their market and limit innovation. It becomes more complicated when replacing built-in default apps, particularly on iOS where you can't fully replace those (sigh), but for a podcast app, I think the benefits of having multiple choices of apps outweigh the minor inconvenience of the most popular app being somewhat limited.
[doublepost=1554971588][/doublepost]

So does every single mega Corp. . With the ability to launch software update in a pinch, trying to perfect software before release is not a thing anymore.

A case could be made that Apple under Steve tried harder to postpone/ditch features that weren't up to their standards. They rather launched an app with few features (cf. FCP X) than an app with many features, quite a few of which were of poor quality.

 

[B4U]

Yes. And pretty much the only but biggest burden to even remotely consider upgrading to macOS 10.14 and beyond.

And Apple is being so retarded about this where the latest Windows still work with iTunes 12.6.
The Windows computers are looking more and more attractive each day.

 

[saytheenay]

And Apple is being so retarded about this where the latest Windows still work with iTunes 12.6.
The Windows computers are looking more and more attractive each day.

Out of curiosity, I setup iTunes 12.6.5.3 in a Windows 10 (64-bit) VM on VirtualBox. I was able to connect and sync my iPods, iPad and iPhone (running iOS 10.3.3 and 12.2) no problem--plus use the App Store.

My next system will likely be running Ubuntu with this VM for iTunes. Pretty sad that I have to use a Windows VM to use Apple software effectively. I'm don't and won't rent anything from Apple, so if I have to, this approach will work for me.

 

[B4U]

Out of curiosity, I setup iTunes 12.6.5.3 in a Windows 10 (64-bit) VM on VirtualBox. I was able to connect and sync my iPods, iPad and iPhone (running iOS 10.3.3 and 12.2) no problem--plus use the App Store.

My next system will likely be running Ubuntu with this VM for iTunes. Pretty sad that I have to use a Windows VM to use Apple software effectively. I'm don't and won't rent anything from Apple, so if I have to, this approach will work for me.

Like I said in my first post in the thread, Apple needs to pull their head out of their back end and make an app for iOS app management on Mac OS.

 

[lec0rsaire]

I love iTunes. Why is everyone so mean to it.

Maybe because they don’t know how to use it. You can still manage your library with the originally list view to this day. It’s how I do it. I could understand the criticism for the Windows version a decade ago. It was never smooth.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Not for me and millions of others who don't use iTunes on the mac nor connect to it for syncing. I haven't done an iTunes backup in at least 4 years.

But lately I haven't been able to depend on the 'iCloud backup' function even running at all. I have my iPhone set to automatically backup when it's charging, and not 'on', and it hadn't backed up in MONTHS! I was going to swap for a new iPhone, and the backup was so old, and I did not have the time to wait for the backup, so I walked.

So wth is wrong with the backup function? I have to request a backup, even though it's supposed to be 'automatic'? So, yeah, iTunes backup is dated, but it might be a good idea to do one every week or so, just in case...

 

[jonnyb098]

But lately I haven't been able to depend on the 'iCloud backup' function even running at all. I have my iPhone set to automatically backup when it's charging, and not 'on', and it hadn't backed up in MONTHS! I was going to swap for a new iPhone, and the backup was so old, and I did not have the time to wait for the backup, so I walked.

So wth is wrong with the backup function? I have to request a backup, even though it's supposed to be 'automatic'? So, yeah, iTunes backup is dated, but it might be a good idea to do one every week or so, just in case...

my iCloud backups have worked flawlessly for years. maybe try signing out and back in. Or take it to the Apple Store for them to check out. That is not normal behavior and should backup overnight while you are charging it.