With the advent of Apple Music and Spotify, you’d be forgiven for thinking iTunes was well and truly over.
But, the media management platform has been trundling along for the past 15 years, throughout all this streaming upheaval, as a core component of all Apple products.
However, it may not be around for long. According to a report by 9to5Mac, Apple could be set to break up iTunes into separate components, music, TV and podcasts, in the next version of its Mac operating system.
This could signal the end of iTunes forever.
iTunes: The end is nigh
According to the report, there will be standalone Music, Podcasts and TV, to coincide with the arrival of Apple TV+, the company’s new TV streaming service.
Though the apps have been separated on the iPhone and iPad for a while, this marks a major departure for the macOS platform.
This will be facilitated by Marzipan, Apple’s latest technology which allows developers to design and engineer a single app that will run across the iPhone, iPad and Mac to simplify the process.
There’s also going to be a redesign of the Apple Books app too.
A source told 9toMac that the next version of macOS will still include the iTunes app, as Apple hasn’t worked out a new solution for manually syncing older devices, such as old iPods and iPhones, with Mac so iTunes is still necessary for a while.
However, the popularity of Apple Music must be overshadowing its older sibling. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Apple Music had surpassed Spotify in terms of paying subscribers in the US, with 28 million compared to Spotify’s 26 million.
Spotify still remains king across the world, with 96 million paid subscribers, compared to Apple’s 50 million.
It will be sad to see the end of iTunes, if it eventually happens. The platform has given us so many great memories, like the time Apple partnered with U2 to give every iTunes user a free copy of the band’s new Song of Innocence album back in 2014.
Good times.
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