iTunes DEAD

[Slave]

Long rumoured but it now seems Apple are officially pulling the plug:

iTunes has been the way Apple users listen to music, watch movies and TV shows, hear podcasts, and manage their devices for almost two decades. This year, Apple is finally ready to move into a new era. The company is launching a trio of new apps for the Mac – Music, TV, and Podcasts – to replace iTunes. That matches Apple’s media app strategy on iPhones and iPads. Without iTunes, customers can manage their Apple gadgets through the Music app.

Weirdly, despite it having been the way I've managed my music files for well over a decade, I've really only ever considered it a means to an end having always had iPods, iPhones, etc - it was never really an AMAZING bit of software in terms of features. But, I guess it did revolutionise the way I access and store music.

 

[D5K]

This is confusing, I don't like change.

 

[GinAg (39)]

Bye then.

 

[Ellie]

Is this just iTunes as a hub for files? What about the store? That’s what I’m more concerned about as I use it all of the time. I’ve said before, I’m a fuddy duddy who rarely listens to new music and I refuse to subscribe to streaming services as I end up spending more than I would have if I had bought it.

 

[Diddy]

Presumably this is only for the Mac? I don’t have shit like this on windows

 

[floppet]

I've got iTunes on my laptop and when I click into it it's really Apple Music but it also plays music files that are in my laptop because I put them there (several songs I've mp3'd from singles that are unlikely to ever be added to digital music streaming sites). When I play Apple Music on my Android phone or iPad those files still show up but they're greyed out and won't play which I don't mind. I hope that this means I'll still be able to listen to my Frankie Bell Combo songs through it because I don't like Windows Media Player.

 

[Indie]

Fuck iTunes. Good riddance.

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

I don’t think I’ve used itunes since like 2008.

 

[ameraal]

i love itunes.

 

[lolly]

I only use it to transfer files to Mr L's iPod. Because he still can't his head around Spotify.

 

[Rita]

I have a fairly large collection in my iTunes library. I take it that will be safe and remain where it is?

 

[Penelope]

Abandoned it in 2010 for Spotify

 

[GinAg (39)]

I don't think I've dabbled since about 2013.

 

[octophone]

Always hated iTunes, hate Apple's determination to completely control our listening even more.

 

[D5K]

I only use it for controlling what music is on my iphone.

 

[Devil]

I have a fairly large collection in my iTunes library. I take it that will be safe and remain where it is?

This is all I care about - so long as all my purchased stuff is accessible than fair enough.

I do wonder why they are completely cutting it - I saw 750,000 odd singles were downloaded this week. It's one of the lowest ever (of physical/digital sales), but assuming they command around 2/3 of the remaining market that's still 500,000 tracks per week being downloaded in the UK alone. I think they take a 25% cut or something? I'd have thought bringing in over £100k per week, even on a dying format, would be worthy to let it keep going until the income was really minimal?

 

[OutSynk]

You can still purchase files apparently.

 

[Slave]

Yeah, it’ll just be replaced with a stand-alone Music app. I presume there’ll still be an “iTunes Store”, but when you download things they’ll go to their respective media apps.

 

[Diddy]

So is anything actually disappearing, just the name will change? Like how podcasts used to be part of it but then was its own app?

 

[lolly]

There may still be money in the store, but it's clearly dying on its arse - paid for singles are down 27% and albums 32% year on year. You can understand why the store isn't the focus.

 

[SDF]

I think I gave up around the time Apple Music came out and started renaming things in my library randomly