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Is Apple splitting up iTunes? Here’s how they’ll do it

Monday April 15, 2019. 06:14 PM , from Mac Daily News
“Rumors of Apple dismantling iTunes are almost as old as the software itself,” Kirk McElhearn writes for Intego’s Mac Security Blog. “A recent report on 9to5Mac suggests that Apple is, indeed, planning to release standalone apps to replicate some of iTunes’ features.”
“So if Apple releases an Apple TV app for the Mac, to purchase, rent, and view movies and TV shows, iTunes will likely still be the backend for managing local files (such as home movies or DVD rips), and for syncing. The same is the case for a standalone Music app. Why not create an app that replicates the iOS Music app, allowing users to play music from Apple Music, and to manage music in an iCloud Music Library? (In my music podcast, The Next Track, my co-host Doug Adams and I discussed how this would work),” McElhearn writes. “And why not do the same for podcasts? If anything, podcasts are the easiest type of content to split out of iTunes, because for many people, they are disposable. You subscribe to podcasts, you listen to episodes, then you move on; most people don’t keep a library of podcast episodes (though some certainly do).”
“Don’t forget that a significant number of iTunes users run Microsoft Windows. Would Windows get standalone apps, too?,” McElhearn writes. “That seems doubtful; I think this is a Mac-only strategy, because of the ability to easily port iOS apps to macOS using Marzipan. The future could hold a similar type of app on Windows, but I wouldn’t expect it any time soon. And the fact that so many iTunes users run Windows is probably the main reason that Apple has no short- or medium-term plans to get rid of the iTunes app.”
“So those of you who want to drive a stake through iTunes’ heart, don’t start rejoicing yet. iTunes will likely be around for many years to come, and perhaps it’s time to choose another fight,” McElhearn writes. “If you don’t use all of iTunes’ features, just ignore them. They don’t get in your way, and if you’re a Mac user, you may soon have new alternatives to make it easier to access and play your media.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iTunes will still be with us for many, many years. Which is good, since it’s the easiest way back up our iOS devices.
The new Music, Podcasts, and TV apps will be made using Marzipan, a process which, hopefully, has come quite a bit further than we saw with Apple’s initial ports of the News, Voice Memos, Stocks, and Home apps from iOS to macOS.
SEE ALSO:
With Music for macOS coming soon, legacy iTunes features will disappear or spread to iOS – April 11, 2019
Apple’s macOS 10.15 will include standalone Music, Podcasts, and TV apps – April 10, 2019
macdailynews.com/2019/04/15/is-apple-splitting-up-itunes-heres-how-theyll-do-it/
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