6 ms·

I like how Apple's page starts with "When iTunes was originally released, it had everything you needed to be entertained. Now, there are individual apps for all

I like how Apple's page starts with "When iTunes was originally released, it had everything you needed to be entertained. Now, there are individual apps for all your media" - yes, exactly! That's the problem!

Manfred 3y ago
What is exactly the problem with individual apps in your opinion? This not a weird jab, I'm actually curious.
- eudoraexplora 3y ago
  Perhaps its the elder millennial in me, when I am on my desktop PC, I like to keep my taskbar clean and not have all these windows scattered about to keep me entertained, gives me a feeling of clutter. I like to have one app that just does everything for me when it comes to audio entertainment, I like the Spotify app for that reason.
  - reportgunner 3y ago
    Based on that logic I would expect you to use a web browser and nothing else at all.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Maybe it was a function of iTunes rather than an integrated app but I always found it sort of a mess. As I recall the only reason I started using it for music was that syncing from my other music library app just got too cumbersome.
  - happymellon 3y ago
    Interesting, as an older millennial I hate the podcasts in Spotify. But that's probably with the forcing podcasts on me when I don't want them rather than anything intrinsic. I listen to music when I work because it blocks stuff out and I don't need to actually listen to it. Podcasts catch my attention when one of hosts says something like: Wait, you can't say that. You'll offend all the furries. Then I'll have to rewind and listen to understand why they are talking about furries on an F1 podcast. But then it turns out I misheard it anyway.
- chrisjj 3y ago
  What's the problem with using one app for all audio files? I don't see why a user should be forced to use different apps depending on the type of the audio content.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Podcats (I use Overcast) are pretty different from music and I wouldn't generally intermix them. And you already have Library and Streaming modes of Apple Music so podcasts would be yet another mode.
    - whywhywhywhy 3y ago
      On the other hand Apple Music already has audio streaming and playback and a Library mode so should Podcasts write their own? While yeah debundled separate apps will make probably the main use case of what was the bundled app better it also likely leads to stagnation and buggier experiences over time in the apps where the less popular features were debundled into. Like all knowledge and talent required to code the Audiobooks app is the same as whats required to code the Music app so which team would you rather be on given the choice.
    - iggldiggl 3y ago
      The things is that iTunes also allows you to manually reclassify you media files as a podcast, and I found (still do, actually) that very useful for managing my collection of radio comedy scrounged together from all sorts of places (downloads from BBC iPlayer, downloads from various places collecting that kinds of shows, a very few genuine podcasts). That way I could keep them out of the main music library, gain the listened/unlistened episode display and playback position tracking, and still easily sync them over to my phone [1]. Without iTunes, I would have to set up some fake local podcast feed on my computer to get those episodes into the podcast app of my choice instead. [1] Using iSyncr + Rocket Player after switching from an iPod to an Android phone – sadly those apps were sold by the original developer two years ago, though, and the new owners are seemingly just trying to turn them into a cash grab, so I cannot recommend them any more, though for now the old versions sort of keep working, albeit you need a rooted phone to work around some issues.
- soneil 3y ago
  My issues with the individual apps isn't that they're individual, it's that they're all Catalyst apps. This brings with it mandatory sandboxing, so my media files must live on my system drive. Any attempt to relocate them violates the sandbox, and it's recreated clean. It's pretty neat, and pretty surprising, that I can still sync my iPod in 2024. But having a large collection of audiobooks means there's a lot of data clogging up my system drive - where audiobooks would otherwise be an ideal candidate to be offloaded almost anywhere else (they're slow, they're infrequent, etc).
madeofpalk 3y ago
Back in the day the problem was that iTunes was too bloated with everything added in.
plutokras 3y ago
I disagree. It is nice to have separate apps for Music, Podcasts and audiobooks. You know, do one thing well. Spotfiy tries to do all of these and it's a bloated mess.
- ysavir 3y ago
  It's reflective of how the products have changed. Back in the day, you uploaded all your own media. you didn't have access to hundreds of thousands of streaming options across music, podcasts, and movies. Having a single app to upload your media and sync to your MP3 player was optimal. Now that everything is streaming, and accessible on mobile without a need to sync to a local source, the benefits of media type unity is much weaker. It's easier to have individual apps that provide access points to each type of media library and optimized for that type of media. But, There are still those of us (such as myself) that prefer the local media sourcing, using iPods, etc, and that would love a unified app without any store. Just a window into my personal media library and the ability to sync it to a handheld device. Though the options for handheld devices these days are both slim and expensive...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - ghaff 3y ago
    One thing I miss with the move to mobile and cloud-first is that you used to be able to organize your phone apps on a desktop which I did every 6-12 months to clean them up. I find that's a real pain on an iPhone. I guess I can just remember names and search but I liked a more organized layout over 4 or 5 screens by general category.
- rpgbr 3y ago
  Except that the apps that replaced iTunes are all awful (at least on macOS).
  - TrickyRick 3y ago
    To be fair iTunes wasn't that great either, it was mostly a necessity to use iPhone (Update etc). Personally I haven't used any of these apps since it became possible to perform backups and updates without a computer.
lxgr 3y ago
Good thing Microsoft isn’t charging them a Core Technology Fee per app install…
crazygringo 3y ago
Why is that a problem? I don't know if you remember but iTunes was the overbloated app from hell that couldn't be refactored because it was too far gone. Every year it got slower and buggier and increasingly just wouldn't work. Thank god they started cleaving off chunks into separate new apps that got built from scratch. It was a monstrosity. I don't understand why you think separate apps is a problem. Heck, the #1 complaint about Spotify is that they added podcasts and audiobooks into the existing app rather than as new apps, which clutters up the interface.
sleepybrett 3y ago
Strong disagree, when itunes was about managing your phone generally (backups, resets, file transfer), managing your personal music collection on and off your phone, managing and playback (sans books i think) your itunes store purchases (music/movies/books)... it was too much. It created a weird usability nightmare where things that should have not been blended were blended.

Manfred 3y ago

What is exactly the problem with individual apps in your opinion? This not a weird jab, I'm actually curious.

eudoraexplora 3y ago
Perhaps its the elder millennial in me, when I am on my desktop PC, I like to keep my taskbar clean and not have all these windows scattered about to keep me entertained, gives me a feeling of clutter. I like to have one app that just does everything for me when it comes to audio entertainment, I like the Spotify app for that reason.
- reportgunner 3y ago
  Based on that logic I would expect you to use a web browser and nothing else at all.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Maybe it was a function of iTunes rather than an integrated app but I always found it sort of a mess. As I recall the only reason I started using it for music was that syncing from my other music library app just got too cumbersome.
- happymellon 3y ago
  Interesting, as an older millennial I hate the podcasts in Spotify. But that's probably with the forcing podcasts on me when I don't want them rather than anything intrinsic. I listen to music when I work because it blocks stuff out and I don't need to actually listen to it. Podcasts catch my attention when one of hosts says something like: Wait, you can't say that. You'll offend all the furries. Then I'll have to rewind and listen to understand why they are talking about furries on an F1 podcast. But then it turns out I misheard it anyway.
chrisjj 3y ago
What's the problem with using one app for all audio files? I don't see why a user should be forced to use different apps depending on the type of the audio content.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Podcats (I use Overcast) are pretty different from music and I wouldn't generally intermix them. And you already have Library and Streaming modes of Apple Music so podcasts would be yet another mode.
  - whywhywhywhy 3y ago
    On the other hand Apple Music already has audio streaming and playback and a Library mode so should Podcasts write their own? While yeah debundled separate apps will make probably the main use case of what was the bundled app better it also likely leads to stagnation and buggier experiences over time in the apps where the less popular features were debundled into. Like all knowledge and talent required to code the Audiobooks app is the same as whats required to code the Music app so which team would you rather be on given the choice.
  - iggldiggl 3y ago
    The things is that iTunes also allows you to manually reclassify you media files as a podcast, and I found (still do, actually) that very useful for managing my collection of radio comedy scrounged together from all sorts of places (downloads from BBC iPlayer, downloads from various places collecting that kinds of shows, a very few genuine podcasts). That way I could keep them out of the main music library, gain the listened/unlistened episode display and playback position tracking, and still easily sync them over to my phone [1]. Without iTunes, I would have to set up some fake local podcast feed on my computer to get those episodes into the podcast app of my choice instead. [1] Using iSyncr + Rocket Player after switching from an iPod to an Android phone – sadly those apps were sold by the original developer two years ago, though, and the new owners are seemingly just trying to turn them into a cash grab, so I cannot recommend them any more, though for now the old versions sort of keep working, albeit you need a rooted phone to work around some issues.
soneil 3y ago
My issues with the individual apps isn't that they're individual, it's that they're all Catalyst apps. This brings with it mandatory sandboxing, so my media files must live on my system drive. Any attempt to relocate them violates the sandbox, and it's recreated clean. It's pretty neat, and pretty surprising, that I can still sync my iPod in 2024. But having a large collection of audiobooks means there's a lot of data clogging up my system drive - where audiobooks would otherwise be an ideal candidate to be offloaded almost anywhere else (they're slow, they're infrequent, etc).

madeofpalk 3y ago

Back in the day the problem was that iTunes was too bloated with everything added in.

plutokras 3y ago

I disagree. It is nice to have separate apps for Music, Podcasts and audiobooks. You know, do one thing well. Spotfiy tries to do all of these and it's a bloated mess.

ysavir 3y ago
It's reflective of how the products have changed. Back in the day, you uploaded all your own media. you didn't have access to hundreds of thousands of streaming options across music, podcasts, and movies. Having a single app to upload your media and sync to your MP3 player was optimal. Now that everything is streaming, and accessible on mobile without a need to sync to a local source, the benefits of media type unity is much weaker. It's easier to have individual apps that provide access points to each type of media library and optimized for that type of media. But, There are still those of us (such as myself) that prefer the local media sourcing, using iPods, etc, and that would love a unified app without any store. Just a window into my personal media library and the ability to sync it to a handheld device. Though the options for handheld devices these days are both slim and expensive...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- ghaff 3y ago
  One thing I miss with the move to mobile and cloud-first is that you used to be able to organize your phone apps on a desktop which I did every 6-12 months to clean them up. I find that's a real pain on an iPhone. I guess I can just remember names and search but I liked a more organized layout over 4 or 5 screens by general category.
rpgbr 3y ago
Except that the apps that replaced iTunes are all awful (at least on macOS).
- TrickyRick 3y ago
  To be fair iTunes wasn't that great either, it was mostly a necessity to use iPhone (Update etc). Personally I haven't used any of these apps since it became possible to perform backups and updates without a computer.

lxgr 3y ago

Good thing Microsoft isn’t charging them a Core Technology Fee per app install…

crazygringo 3y ago

Why is that a problem? I don't know if you remember but iTunes was the overbloated app from hell that couldn't be refactored because it was too far gone. Every year it got slower and buggier and increasingly just wouldn't work. Thank god they started cleaving off chunks into separate new apps that got built from scratch. It was a monstrosity. I don't understand why you think separate apps is a problem. Heck, the #1 complaint about Spotify is that they added podcasts and audiobooks into the existing app rather than as new apps, which clutters up the interface.

sleepybrett 3y ago

Strong disagree, when itunes was about managing your phone generally (backups, resets, file transfer), managing your personal music collection on and off your phone, managing and playback (sans books i think) your itunes store purchases (music/movies/books)... it was too much. It created a weird usability nightmare where things that should have not been blended were blended.