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posted by martyb on Friday June 14 2019, @07:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the shoulda-created-a-meta-app-called-iMedia dept.

Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader and sociology professor and director of the Center for Theory at the University of Texas at Arlington David Arditi recently speculated on the implications of Apple's announcement that Itunes will be shut down:

During its Worldwide Developers Conference this week in San Jose, California, Apple announced iTunes will no longer exist as a digital jukebox but will be reformed into three separate apps for music, television and podcasts. While the change has been a long time coming — sales of digital music downloads have dropped for six straight years, according to the Recording Industry Association of America — it marks a significant shift in the company's business model and in the kind of consumer behavior that Apple helped shape when it first opened the digital store in 2001. Music lovers were no longer bound to the full purchase of an album that was packaged and sold by a record label; they were free to buy single songs for 99 cents, which ushered in a new era of pick-and-choose consumption.

[...] Apple will continue to sell downloadable music through its iTunes store (located in its Apple Music app), but the repackaging of apps is a recognition that consumers are streaming content more than buying it. Music will be on one app, TV on another, and podcasts on another.

The professors aren't so sure that's a winning strategy. They described themselves as typical consumers who want all their content in one place.

"[Apple was] getting a lot of reports that people thought that iTunes was really clunky, so they wanted to find this way to streamline it, which was to break it into different apps, which seems kind of counterintuitive," Arditi said. "Now, instead of having one app for all these different things, you're going to have three, four, five apps to access different types of media."

Added Fader: "I had the same initial reaction, which is, 'This is not streamlining.'"

Originally spotted on The Eponymous Pickle.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by curunir_wolf on Friday June 14 2019, @02:25PM (11 children)

    by curunir_wolf (4772) on Friday June 14 2019, @02:25PM (#855550)

    Well, I have an old iPod, generation 5, with the old 30-pin connector. It was a great device when it came out - I could put tons of live concerts on it. I also bought an Alpine head unit for my car, with the iPod connector. Works great.

    I still have that set up and still use it. I mostly listen to podcasts with it now, and I've really only ever used iTunes to sync stuff to my iPod. This all still works great.

    Sure, yea, I'm using old tech. But it still works, I don't want to change. I don't want a new head unit (mine doesn't have blue tooth or anything, just the old iPod connector. I tried using an iPhone with it, but the old iPhone (3, I think) separates the podcasts into a different app. It's not compatible with my head unit. If I start one playing, it will play, but I can't pause, ff, rw, or even start another one. So that's no good.

    If iTunes goes away, then how do I sync my iPod so I can keep using it the way I do? Pretty unhappy with the prospect of new equipment for my car and player or something.

    I can't believe I'm the only person in this boat.

    --
    I am a crackpot
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  • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Friday June 14 2019, @02:41PM (9 children)

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 14 2019, @02:41PM (#855568)

    If iTunes goes away, then how do I sync my iPod so I can keep using it the way I do?

    If you use MacOS (the only thing being affected by this change), sync functions for your devices will move from iTunes into Finder. It will look and function exactly the same. If you are using Windows, nothing changes. iTunes will still be available on Windows.

    • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by curunir_wolf on Friday June 14 2019, @07:24PM (6 children)

      by curunir_wolf (4772) on Friday June 14 2019, @07:24PM (#855707)

      If you use MacOS (the only thing being affected by this change), sync functions for your devices will move from iTunes into Finder.

      So it's going to be a total disaster. Good to know.

      --
      I am a crackpot
      • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @07:46PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @07:46PM (#855721)

        Seriously. I can't wait to see how I'm supposed to specify which playlists to sync, and which not to sync, to my iPod from within Finder.

        I'm really starting to regret moving from Win7 to Mac when Win10 came out, instead of just going to Win10. This means Microsoft will do something new in a week or so to remind me why.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @08:23PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @08:23PM (#855738)

          I'm really starting to regret moving from Win7 to Mac when Win10 came out, instead of just going to Linux.

          There. FTFY.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:57AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:57AM (#855871)

            I tried to use Linux 20 years ago. Had a problem and sought help on several supposed IRC Linux "support" channels. Got no help, only insults. Dropped Linux.

            Tried Ubuntu when Win10 came out. Installed fine, then I tried to install Waterfox on it. Failed repeatedly. If I can't even do *that* on it, why bother? Dropped it again.

            See, the thing is, after spending over 30 years as a computer professional, I have no desire anymore to come home and spend even more time fucking around with the goddamn computer. I just want to browse, email, download stuff, and play games. In other words, be just as much of a braindead user as all the other braindead users out there (in my case, though, it's a temporary choice, not a lifelong condition). Linux requires too much fucking with the computer AS a computer. If Linux is for you, I'm happy for you, but it is not for me.

            Frankly I'm hoping to win the lottery and use the funds to bring back the Amiga, just to fuck with the whole damn industry.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @04:37AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @04:37AM (#855899)

              Tried Ubuntu when Win10 came out. Installed fine, then I tried to install Waterfox on it. Failed repeatedly. If I can't even do *that* on it, why bother? Dropped it again.

              I generally find a lot of what I need on StackExchange and distro web support forums. In fact, I usually find what I'm looking for in the first couple DDG search results, assuming my query is specific enough. IRC is kind of hit or miss, as you never know who will be online, or their level of interest or expertise in whatever it is you're trying to accomplish. In fact, I don't believe I've *ever* gotten decent help from IRC WRT to Linux. Then again, I'm not sure I ever *sought* assistance for Linux on IRC channels.

              I don't use Ubuntu, but a single web search gave me the answer [askubuntu.com] I would have required should I have needed to do so. However, it appears that Waterfox was less friendly for Ubuntu/other linux (i.e., an apt repository *from* Waterfox) until a year or two *after* you attempted installation.

              Which is more of an indictment of Waterfox than it is of Ubuntu IMHO (especially since even today Waterfox doesn't support formats [repology.org] of very many package managers), as the majority of Ubuntu software is managed through the 'apt' package manager. Had you chosen a different browser, your installation would most likely have been to open a GUI tool, select the package you wanted, and it would install the software, all dependencies and any pre-runtime configuration that might be required.

              All that said, I'm not suggesting that you attempt to install Linux (and Ubuntu would be one of my last recommendations) again.

              If you did, I think you'll find that many things have changed for the better.

              It's unfortunate that you're unhappy with the OS/hardware choice you made, but I'm sure you'll work it through.

              As an IT professional myself, I get your desire not to have to "work" at home. I'm a Unix guy from way back, so my level of comfort is probably much higher. If you're more of a Windows guy, I can certainly understand your discomfort with a completely different way of doing things, just to do leisure stuff at home.

              I'm less negative on playing with stuff at home. In fact, I'm going to snag Windows 10 and spin up a VM and some newer Windows (currently running 2008 & 2012, as MS killed off Technet and reasonably-priced MSDN quite a while ago...Grrr!) server VMs and spin them up too, as I'm curious.

              I hope you find something to your liking. Good luck!

        • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:29AM

          by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:29AM (#855866)
          The same way you do now. When I said they are moving it, I meant it literally. Same functionality, different location.
      • (Score: 2, Touché) by EvilSS on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:32AM

        by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:32AM (#855867)
        Then buy a windows box and stop whining.
    • (Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Friday June 14 2019, @07:32PM (1 child)

      by curunir_wolf (4772) on Friday June 14 2019, @07:32PM (#855713)

      If you use MacOS (the only thing being affected by this change), sync functions for your devices will move from iTunes into Finder. It will look and function exactly the same.

      Maybe for stuff I'm copying into a library/folder somewhere. But iTunes downloads all the new podcasts for my subscriptions, and un-syncs the podcast episodes I've already listened to.

      I'll assume there is going to be some way to make that functionality continue to work with my iPod, but seems like it will have to be more of a manual process, or more steps to go through or something. I'm a curmudgeon, so I'm sure I'll figure out a way. I don't listen to any podcasts that rely on Apple for distribution, so I can always grab them from elsewhere. But the whole "refresh -> plug in -> sync" is really convenient. I should be used to losing functionality as tech companies release "improvements" by now.

      --
      I am a crackpot
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by EvilSS on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:24AM

        by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:24AM (#855864)
        It is literally the same interface. They just moved it to finder. What works now will still work.
  • (Score: 1) by helel on Friday June 14 2019, @03:15PM

    by helel (2949) on Friday June 14 2019, @03:15PM (#855600)

    Backup iTunes before you update to Catalina. Apple's not going to prevent the application itself from running, they're just no longer going to support it. At some point it will no longer run but you'll probably be able to continue using your existing copy for a decade. If you still need it at that point there's always the option of just keeping an old computer on hand for the task.