Appreciate iTunes while you still can. Apple has announced the end of the famous (and maybe infamous) product at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, no doubt touching a few nostalgic hearts in the process.
The tech company is making the change to split its media bases into three distinct apps for music, TV, and podcasts. Not too much is expected to change regarding the music section, although it will probably be more closely linked to the streaming service Apple Music, which last year, three years after it was founded, reported 56 million users.
The shift does emphasise Apple’s attempts to branch out in terms of their media offerings, à la Netflix and Amazon, including the recently-announced Apple TV+, which will include original shows and films starting autumn.
Despite critics calling it clunky and its penchant for crashing the ill-prepared computer though, it is kind of sad to see iTunes go. It was an indispensable and influential piece of software for the better part of two decades, radically changing how users consumed music. Not to mention the fact that it provided a digital alternative to sites such as Napster, which threatened to kill the music industry altogether.
Goodbye iTunes, you’ll be missed.