There was a time when Apple’s iTunes app was synonymous with all issues digital music, however through the years that transpired between the early iPod and iTunes Music Retailer and the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, it’s truthful to say that the app shortly turned a bloated mess.
From its humble beginnings as a option to rip CDs, purchase music on-line, and cargo all of it onto your iPod, iTunes progressively added assist for podcasts, audiobooks, and ultimately motion pictures and TV reveals — and that was all earlier than the iPhone debuted in 2007.
With the iPhone, and later the iPad, iTunes additionally turned the place to load apps and handle residence screens, again up your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC, and even load ebooks onto it. By then, the identify “iTunes” appeared fairly quaint, as there was much more to this app than simply “tunes.”
For Mac customers, Apple started peeling away a few of that performance in 2013, first breaking ebooks out into their very own separate “iBooks” app (which turned “Apple Books” in 2018 with the discharge of iOS 12 and macOS Mojave) and likewise stripping out iPhone and iPad app administration with iTunes 12.7 in 2017. Then, macOS Catalina got here alongside and killed iTunes outright, changing it with distinct apps for music, podcasts, TV reveals, and flicks, shifting the audiobook capabilities into Apple Books and syncing and gadget administration into Finder.
Nevertheless, iTunes has continued to reside on for Home windows customers, nearly unchanged apart from the removing of app administration. Even Apple Books doesn’t get a separate app on Home windows, regardless of the arrival of the “iBooks” app in Mac OS X Mavericks over ten years in the past.
For probably the most half, that’s been disappointing information for iPhone and iPad house owners who use Home windows PCs, as iTunes has historically been an much more bloated and ugly beast on that platform than it was on the Mac. Plus, Home windows customers haven’t any option to watch Apple TV+ programming natively; they need to resort to Apple’s browser-based interface.
New Apple Music and TV Apps for Home windows
The excellent news for Home windows customers is that Apple has now taken what we’re hoping is simply step one in a longer-term plan to retire iTunes for Home windows fully.
Rumors of iTunes’ demise have been making the rounds for almost 4 years now, and whereas we had a glimmer of hope when Apple launched Xbox Music and Podcasts apps, these by no means got here to Home windows PCs.
Nevertheless, this week, Apple launched three new standalone apps for Home windows: Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Gadgets.
As you may anticipate, these every take over the suitable components of iTunes for Home windows, however sadly, they aren’t sufficient to exchange iTunes fully.
- Apple Music for Home windows: This can do many of the similar issues as Apple Music for Mac, together with not solely accessing and downloading streaming tracks from the Apple Music subscription service but in addition managing your individual iTunes library of bought and imported content material. The person information doesn’t say something about importing or “ripping” music instantly from CDs, so it’s not clear if that can nonetheless be supported. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to nonetheless import any suitable MP3 or different audio file in your laptop.
- Apple TV for Home windows: Once more, like its Mac counterpart, this may present entry to Films and TV Reveals bought or rented from the iTunes Retailer (and the power to purchase or lease extra), plus give subscribers a local app to stream from Apple TV+ for the primary time, together with add-on subscription packages like MLS Season Cross.
- Apple Gadgets: Since Apple controls the complete Mac working system, it was capable of bake the gadget administration performance from iTunes into the macOS Finder app. That’s not as doable for Home windows Explorer, so Apple Gadgets is the standalone app that can allow you to again up your iPhone or iPad and sync content material to it manually, ought to it is advisable.
The Apple Gadgets app is probably not strictly crucial for individuals who rely fully on iCloud and Apple Music — and even simply iTunes Match, which remains to be out there for individuals who solely wish to sync their private music library by way of the cloud. Nevertheless, it’s a part of the bundle, as Apple says it is advisable obtain all three apps to make every thing work.
Whereas these three apps replicate what most folk use iTunes for, evidently Apple’s older monolithic app isn’t useless on Home windows simply but. You’ll nonetheless want it to entry podcasts and audiobooks, as Apple isn’t (but) releasing Apple Podcasts for Home windows or Apple Books for Home windows. Hopefully, these can be subsequent.
As with the macOS expertise, these apps nonetheless use an iTunes library beneath the hood. Apple has rearranged these folders and their names a bit on the Mac, but it surely hasn’t carried out this on Home windows but, and it clearly states you shouldn’t delete your iTunes library.
The brand new Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Gadgets apps require Home windows 10 or later; these working older variations of Home windows can nonetheless use iTunes, but it surely’s extremely beneficial to improve to Home windows 10 as Microsoft ended all assist for Home windows 8.1 on January 10, 2023, together with safety updates.