Apple plans to (finally) pull the plug on iTunes

Let’s face it, iTunes is long past its prime. What was once pretty great app to manage your music on your computer became a bit of a mess as it became slow and bloated with shows, podcasts, movies and stray audio files. 

According to Bloomberg, Apple could finally be pulling the plug on its 18-year-old media content manager in favour of three apps that’ll streamline things into separate categories: Music, TV, and Podcasts. 

The three apps aren’t exactly new — they currently exist on iPhones and iPads — but they’ll be coming to the Mac to replace iTunes. Users will soon manage their audio files through the Music app. 

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It’s all part of Apple’s strategy to unify its app ecosystem, reported Bloomberg, with the goal of having single versions of its apps running on every Apple device, be it Mac, iPhone or iPad. The tech giant is expected to make the announcement about killing off iTunes, as well as other news, during its keynote presentation at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. 

Apple Music

It would make sense too for Apple to say farewell to iTunes, especially since the company has its own music streaming service. Of late, the tech giant is trying to diversify its suite of products to offset slow hardware sales — now there’s Apple Music to take on Spotify and Apple TV+ to take on Netflix and Prime Video. 

But back then when it launched, iTunes was considered revolutionary. It arrived in a time when digital music was just starting to find its legs, and users needed somewhere to burn CDs, store and arrange their files in order. The app was inseparable from the Apple iPod during the device’s peak years — which now seems like a tragic story because Apple’s bringing back the iPod, but killing off iTunes. 
 

ilyas@asiaone.com