SAN JOSE, Calif.—After much speculation and fanfare in the press, Apple confirmed today that it will sunset iTunes in the next version of macOS and spin its functionality into three new apps—Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV. As we noted earlier, this marks the end of an era of sorts on the Mac—but there were plenty of unanswered questions. What features will Music retain from iTunes? And what happens to Windows users who are dependent on iTunes?
While some details are still fuzzy and will remain that way until we start digging into the beta releases, we got some broad answers from Apple on those top-level questions.
Old iTunes libraries and files
Apple Music in macOS Catalina will import users' existing music libraries from iTunes in their entirety, Apple says. That includes not just music purchased on iTunes, but rips from CDs, MP3s, and the like added from other sources.
Further, the existing feature that synced users' non-iTunes files to the cloud will continue to work, and of course, users will still be able to buy songs from Apple. Apple is not turning Apple Music into a streaming-only experience. For the most part, the end of iTunes seems to be an end in name only: key features will be retained in the Music app.
Syncing iPhones, iPads, and iPods
Apple already explained during the keynote that syncing with and managing your iOS devices from your Mac—which used to be an iTunes task—will now happen within Finder, Apple's file-management application. When you plug your iPhone, iPod, or iPad in, you'll see it in the sidebar for Finder just like you would any external drive or USB stick.
But when you click it, you won't just see a file system like you would with those accessories. Instead, you will be presented with an interface very similar to the one you're used to in iTunes, with many (if not all) of the same features. It's certainly a more natural place for this to happen, givRead More – Source
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Ars Technica
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