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iTunes bids a fond farewell at WWDC
Editor’s note: this article was updated on June 3, 2019, to officially recognize iTunes’ retirement.
WWDC 2019 marks the end of iTunes as we know it. You now have to rely on Finder to sync your iPhone or iPad. Rather than using iTunes for music, there’s a new Apple Music app specifically for Mac. Additionally, Apple Podcasts is now the sole receptacle iOS users to find podcasts, and Apple TV is responsible for TV and movies.
The delegation of tasks to these new applications may seem a cumbersome step forward, but it will likely resolve the main complaint of iTunes users: bloated software. Hopefully the new division of labor will yield quick and efficient run times from each application.
Apple’s pivotal media app was first announced by Steve Jobs in 2011 as a jukebox application with a simple user interface. It ushered in the era of digital and mobile media by making it accessible to all consumers, regardless of technical experience. If not for iTunes, the smorgasbord of streaming services at our disposal may not exist, or at least not how we recognize them.