After almost 2 decades, 18 years to be exact, apple has decided to kill off its iTunes software. In the natural order of progression of things, new things are coming to replace what has been lost.
The iconic software was showcased to the public by Steve jobs way back 2001 as the means on how to load songs on the newly released iPod. Apparently they have decided to retire the software. As revealed by Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference, the software will be replaced by a few apps; one that handles music, another one for video and podcasts for PC. This is Apple’s upcoming software update for MacOS 10.15.
Content purchased via the Apple Store are still able to use their purchases. On top of that, the newer OS will allow users to update their phones without using a separate app.
Users oftentimes simply use iTunes to manage music on their phones, but iTunes eventually became pretty bloated. Later versions let users manage music and movies as well as handle backups and updates to iPhones and iPads. But earlier in 2003, Apple iTunes was originally meant to sell and manage digital music, but made its way to the iPhone as well.
iPhones and iPads have already phased out iTunes, however it is still being used on PC and Mac. As per Apple, “Users will have access to their entire music library, whether they downloaded the songs, purchased them or ripped them from a CD”.
iTunes will be replaced with Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV. During the conference, Apple announced the exciting things that are in store and laid to rest a misapprehension that the iTunes store (where users purchase songs and albums for download) would be going away in favor of Apple Music (the companies streaming service). “Apple had to put the pieces in place to make it all happen,” said Ramon Llamas of IDC Research. “If you look at consumer behavior in which users are willing to pay a regular fee for unlimited content — and that’s what they can get from other services such as Spotify, Pandora, and Netflix — Apple is smartly aligning itself against those competitors with its own approach.”
iPhone is not Apple’s biggest profit make anymore compared to the last decades, yet it is still popular. iPhone sales declined over the past few quarters,and might experience another blow due to the trade war waged by President Donald Trump on China’s government.
Now that we are at the digital age, Apple is trying to adapt with the times and squeeze money from digital services since there are over 900 million iPhones in circulation and still growing. They are also focusing on its music streaming services together with a gaming bundle which is to debut this autumn.
For people who used iTunes to sync up their devices, Apple said a tool will now be located via the sidebar in Finder on their Macs. Your years of downloaded and purchased songs and movies will not be deleted. New ways to manage and access downloaded content in other ways will come in the form of Apple Music.
What do you think of the changes they are about to roll out?
