For some reason, a popular opinion floating around the web these days is that splitting iTunes up into a bunch of separate apps that all do one individual task each would be a vast improvement on the current one-app-for-everything design. “They did it on iOS,” the logic goes, “so why not do it on the Mac as well?”
After pondering this suggestion for a while, I’m fully convinced that doing so would that be an unnecessary over-complication of the entire ecosystem.
Let’s consider exactly what functions in iTunes could be broken out into separate applications. At the moment iTunes is used for listening to music and podcasts, watching music videos and movies, playing streaming radio, managing audiobooks, syncing iOS devices, making purchases from Apple’s various digital stores (with the exception of iBooks), and downloading iTunes U content.
So in order to break up iTunes based on the iOS model (and assuming audiobooks get moved into the existing iBooks app), we’d need to have several different apps:
- A Music app solely for managing songs and listening to Apple Music or Beats 1
- A separate Videos app that houses music videos, movies, and TV shows
- An app dedicated to syncing media to an iOS device
- A separate iTunes Store for purchasing music and videos
- An entirely different store for buying iOS apps
- An iTunes U app for viewing that material (probably with an integrated store)
- A Podcasts app for subscribing and listening to podcasts
This model works on iOS because mobile applications have limited screen real estate, meaning each app needs to be focused on a single function. You can’t cram an infinite number of icons in the tab bar at the bottom of the screen, so instead, you break out features and hide them behind different home screen icons.
On the Mac, this problem doesn’t exist. We have much more screen space to work with, and the Mac’s entire interface is designed for apps that are able to do many related tasks.
Another problem arises with some of apps dedicated to specific types of content. On iOS, music videos can now appear in the Music app as part of the Apple Music service, even though there’s a separate Videos app where your purchased videos go. Do we break out music videos and movies into two separate apps? Do we put music videos entirely in the music app, and let Videos hold only movies and TV shows? Do we just call that the Movies app? Could a Movies app also store home videos exported from iMovie?
Both of these points lead to a similar conclusion: we should combine apps that serve related purposes. Music, videos, and movies could all be combined into one media manager. iTunes U and podcasts could be added there as well.
So now we’ve reduced the above list to the following:
- A Media app for music, radio, videos, podcasts, and movies
- An app dedicated to syncing media to an iOS device
- A separate iTunes Store for purchasing music and videos (and maybe podcasts?)
- An entirely different store for buying iOS apps
The App Store can be combined into the iOS manager since that’s the only app that can sync those apps to mobile products. This puts us at three apps:
- A media app for music, radio, videos, podcasts, and movies
- An app dedicated to managing iOS devices and downloading mobile apps
- A separate iTunes Store for purchasing music and videos
So, three things: a media playback app, a media store, and a mobile media syncing app. A media playback app, a media store, and a mobile media syncing app. Are you getting it? These are not three separate apps. This is one app. And we are calling it “iTunes.”
Like it or not, iTunes is one app because the all-in-one approach works. Right now you might think that you want three or four or seven separate apps for micromanaging every little aspect of your media collection. You might think you want your dock filled with half a dozen different icons for tasks that could easily be accomplished in one bundle.
But trust me: you don’t want that. It’s a bad idea. Soon you’d be complaining that seven apps crash too often or take too long to do something instead of just one. You’d wish you could get to your podcasts and music all at once. You’d get annoyed at having to deal with it all.
I’m not saying iTunes is a great app. Like most of the software Apple has released in recent years, they’ve dumbed down things that don’t need to be dumbed down and made other things more complicated than they need to be. They’ve released yet another buggy piece of software that gets harder and harder to deal with on a daily basis. This isn’t new.
Apple is still building on a fifteen-year-old foundation that, quite frankly, needs to be completely obliterated and rebuilt. I’m not denying that. I’m just saying that when they rebuild, it would be advisable to keep everything in one package.
iTunes isn’t a slow, buggy, pain to use because it does too much stuff. It’s like that because it’s built on old code that should have been put out to pasture five years ago. Taking the current functionality and breaking it into separate apps is just going to spread that pain around a little bit more.
The idea is just as ridiculous as Facebook forcing everyone to download a separate app simply to send messages while blocking access to the inbox from the main client—a move that may have put Messenger at the #1 spot on the free app listings, but also earned it an average review of one star at the time.
So yes, nuke iTunes from orbit and start from scratch. Please, Apple, for the love of all that is good, build us a new, less-bloated, less-buggy, version of this app. While you’re at it, perhaps reconsider basically everything about the interface and bring back the simplicity of older versions.
Just don’t overcomplicate everything by needlessly dragging OS X into the iOS world with separate apps for every single function.
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People suggest splitting iTunes into multiple apps because creating a navigational hierarchy that does everything gets confusing very quickly.
The only reason iTunes hasn’t been rewritten is because the current code base has to support Windows too. There’s no super clean way to support both platforms.
I don’t think it’s difficult to create a navigational hierarchy that supports everything. The sidebar in old versions of iTunes that housed playlists alongside the sections for music, apps, ringtones, etc etc seemed to work quite well. The problem with the current version is they’re creating too many different navigation elements—bars and buttons and popovers everywhere—rather than just focusing on a single, really good method (like that sidebar).
I agree that the current navigational mess makes iTunes worse than it could be, but some of the features offered by iTunes doesn’t make much sense to have in an app together. Why does iTunes do syncing, for instance? Most of what it synchronizes are rightfully within iTunes itself, but not everything: Contacts, Calendar and Photos are some items that exist in other apps. And why does OS X applications have their own “App Store.app” while iOS apps are delegated to a very heard to find (and search) sub-menu item of iTunes.app?
I agree with Joefrey Kibuule in that the reason it’s cluttered is because Apple needs to support Windows and it’s therefore easier to have just one deployable binary. If they were to split out the sync feature into its own app, they would have to ship that app to Windows as well. More stuff to get people to install, more stuff to deploy, more stuff to maintain. And so on for each and every feature.
If Apple could stop supporting Windows tomorrow, I’m pretty certain iTunes would be reduced to what the Music app on iOS does and looks like pretty quickly. It would probably be renamed to exactly that as well. “Music”. Then you’d have “Videos” for videos, “Apps” for apps (perhaps combined iOS and OS X), etc. To have everything in one app is a user experience nightmare that can and will never work well.
iOS apps are relegated to a section of the iTunes Store because the only possible thing you can do with them on a Mac is sync them to a device, which is iTunes’ job. And while, yes, contacts and calendar syncing can be done through iTunes even though that content isn’t in iTunes, that’s almost a completely moot point. iCloud automatically handles contacts and calendars now (along with almost everything else). The only thing iCloud doesn’t currently sync for free is your music, meaning the primary thing people are connecting to their computers to sync is likely going to be music. Everything else is done automatically with the default iCloud configuration.
Having everything split up is more of a user experience nightmare than keeping it all in one app and simply making that app much easier to navigate and use. The less you need to switch apps to get things done, the better.
Rebrand iTunes = Apple Media. iTunes is such a dated name that the name doesnt cover all the App does these days. Renaming would be an easy rationale for keeping it all contained in one app. Now, If Apple could clean things up and make it easier for users to get things accomplished – I’d be happy camper.
Rebranding iTunes would be like renaming iPhone. Never going to happen. The name had way too much brand awareness.
Agreed. Even though the name doesn’t quite fit anymore, rebranding would probably be confusing for a large number of “normal” non-techy users. They know iTunes, so sticking with what people know is the best option.
I think the iTunes brand should stay as long as it can. My problem is that the word “tunes” is used to host not just music, but movies, tv shows, podcasts, iOS apps, and iTunes U content. Heck, you can even still browse and purchase books and audio books from the iTunes Store. I’m in complete disagreement with Mike on this article. I DO want to see iTunes dismantled and split into several smaller, but fully focused apps like it currently is on iOS.
the thing is they need to re-build the iTunes Store, i mean have only 1 Store for purchasing music and streaming music, so if you’re an Apple Music user, you get 2 buttons side by side, 1 to add to your library for streaming/off-line playback and another button for purchasing the song to do whatever you want with it
yes. yes. yes.
When they first announced Apple Music this is how I assumed it would work. I can’t believe they shipped the current confusing mess. Splitting things up into separate apps would make this even more confusing. Another reason to keep it all together.
Splitting things up based on how the media is consumed is stupid. Splitting things up because they serve completely different purposes, are of completely different media types or have widely different functionality makes sense. A “Music” app should of course have all the music Apple is able to offer in one place, regardless of whether you want to purchase or stream it.
What I would say you may have not considered is that while having these functions all in different apps might have the issue of “seven apps crash too often or take too long to do something instead of just one”, not everybody needs all the functionality that each app provides. Why have the additional UI fot iOS syncing built into iTunes when most people never plug their iPhone into their computer. Additionally, what you gain from splitting the app up is that each of these pieces can now have more complexity without compromising the rest. Consider iTunes U, I think that would hugely gain from being its own app because you could have all sorts of new functionality for organising lectures, perhaps adding annotations, or your own notes, as well as functionality for managing exercises that you might be following along with. Hell, while we’re at it why not add new features to iTunes U content itself, interactive exercises, forums for discussing with other people following along etc. You could put a focus on this kind of stuff with iTunes as a single app. What I would propose is something like this:
– iTunes houses Media content as it currently does, but I agree with you it should still be rebuilt and rethought. The iTunes Store should be a part of this, but it should be better integrated with the Apple Music catalogue.
– An app dedicated to syncing media to an iOS device (including the iOS app store, as you said).
– An iTunes U app
– A Podcasts app for subscribing and listening to podcasts
You say “most people never plug their iPhones into their computer” but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Plugging my phone into iTunes is the only way I can manage to get a reliable connection. Wi-Fi syncing is slow and extremely unreliable. I’d venture a guess that most people are still plugging into iTunes for similar reasons. Heck, Wi-Fi syncing is even diabled by default on new iOS devices.
I suspect he’s correct. Most people never plug their iPhones in, nor do they use WiFi sync. Everything is designed to work with iCloud now. You don’t really need iTunes at all.
I’m not saying most people use Wi-Fi syncing, I assume that’s even less used than direct cable syncing. I’m saying most people never sync with an iTunes library at all. Very quickly in my head I can think of… 16 people I know with an iPhone and iPad, and I can say with almost a certainty never sync with a computer. Maybe I live in a weird bubble, but it’s something I’ve heard people say a lot of times, online too. Maybe the people who read 9 to 5 mac might, but even then how often? Does this need to be integrated into iTunes, really? It’s something that you barely ever need, that only serves to add extra interface features.
How would you respond to my point about separating functionality out enabling those new apps to be more powerful with regards to the thing it is designed to do?
I sync and backup to my Mac frequently. It’s absolutely something I want directly integrated in iTunes.
I know it would be inmpossible to do, but I would like one app on iOS devices, but like mentioned in this post, there isn’t that much screen space for that.
Yes, this certainly seems like the wrong approach, but that’s because you’re doing it wrong. You’re looking at it by task rather than content and enforcing divisions that don’t exist. Here’s how I would split iTunes.
– Music: playback and purchase. Includes Apple Music, ringtones, and music videos.
– Video: playback and purchase. Includes TV, movies, home videos, and music videos.
– Sync. Includes App Store.
– Podcasts: playback and subscription.
– iTunes U.
Working up the list, not everyone uses iTunes U. That can stand alone, just like on iOS, and be put out of the way. Same is true of Podcasts. Sync draws data from libraries outside of iTunes anyway, so it doesn’t need to be integrated with iTunes anymore than it’s integrated with your contact data or photos. It can also host the App Store (as if anyone still buys apps through iTunes instead of their iOS device).
The main split is video and music. This should be a no-brainer. I want to listen to or buy music, I open the Music app. I want to watch or buy a movie, I open the Video app. There’s no reason these apps cannot integrate the store functions (and no reason they can’t both play music videos, like iOS does). Average Mac user would only need two icons on the dock (Sync would open automatically). Windows users would have to download a suite and, really, that’s what iTunes is now. Trying to keep that suite crammed in a single app is wrong approach.
I would put podcasts in the music, but otherwise agree with how how the apps dived and what’s included in each app.
Syncing needs to be changed where you can sync to more then once computer. Should not have to delete an idevice to sync it to another computer.
Syncing to more than one computer is much harder than it sounds. How would either computer know which content to keep or delete? Which apps should it copy from the device? Which ones should be re-added to the device if they were deleted from a different computer? If there are two playlists with the same name, should they be merged or should one replace another? What if they’re very similar playlists with only one song different? Should that song be copied from the phone to the playlist on the Mac? Or should it be removed from the playlist on the phone?
Too many variables and questions to try to answer.
I was more talking about cloning what is on your idevice then truly syncing it. My iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6 Plus are both synced from old backups from my Power Mac that has died and I can’t sync them to iTunes, because iTunes won.t allow it because it was synced from another library.
Oh, yeah, for media restoration when you lose access to the old computer. I think the reason they don’t allow this is to prevent piracy or something, but I wish there was an easy way to do this type of recovery.
Splitting music and videos into separate apps makes no sense when you can contain them in the same library and simply put them in separate sections of the app (as it currently stands).
Your big mistake with iOS syncing (most people’s mistake, it seems) is assuming that just because YOU don’t plug into iTunes and sync or download apps that no one does. In reality, there are countless reasons to still plug directly into iTunes, and that function will always be a critical part of iTunes. Keeping it all in a single app is the only approach that makes sense.
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It’s not rocket science… and certainly not as complicated as this article tries to impart.
“A Music app solely for … songs …” <– Music.app (like iOS)
"A separate Videos app …" <– Video.app (like iOS)
"An app dedicated to syncing …" <– simple Finder integration (e.g. when the device is connected, show finder extension)
"A … iTunes Store …" <– simple App Store updates (very much needed anyway — Microsoft is KILLING OS X App Store)
"… different store for … iOS apps" <– iTunes.app (like iOS)
"An iTunes U app …" <– iTunes U.app (like iOS)
"A Podcasts app …" <– Podcast.app (like iOS)
There is already a clear division of these responsibilities (in concept and practice) on iOS — it should be an accelerated development model.
And unlike the Windows (10) storefront, PC apps are growing like wildfire, unlike the (nearly dead) OS X app store.
I think it will become imperative that they do this… otherwise, I believe it will impact future adoption.
I love OS X and Apple products, but I certainly believe that they need to take some drastic actions to remain relevant.
My point is that having a Music.app, Videos.app, Podcasts.app, like on iOS etc etc is a terrible idea on a desktop. This isn’t iOS and it shouldn’t be treated like iOS. Splitting things up on mobile makes sense (as I said in the article) but doing so on the Mac is pointless. It’s change for the sake of change. There is no reason these functions should be separated other than to match with iOS, which is not a good reason to do anything.
There’s a reason Microsoft Works doesn’t exist anymore while Word, Excel and PowerPoint does. Having everything in one app is a bad idea in both theory and practice. Separating things out is not change for the sake of change, it’s sensible in every way of the imagination. It’s the only way to achieve great UX in each area that has absolutely nothing to do with each other. Other than coming from the same store, what does apps, music and videos have in common? How often do you find yourself in a workflow where you have to navigate quickly between the three?
By your argument, why then is Mail, Calendar and Contacts separate Mac Apps when it could be one, like Outlook?
Because those aren’t related tasks. They’re all separate things. Calendar doesn’t have much to do with Mail or Contacts at all, and Contacts are only tangentially connected to Mail.
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Videos, apps and music have nothing to do with each other either.
But Media and iOS syncing has as much of a connection as, say, Contacts and iOS syncing. Both can be synced to the device, so why should the syncing interface be within iTunes? Why not have it within Contacts?
I think splitting it up would be much more user friendly. Having separate apps for things would mean they’re quicker and will probably do its main job better.
Although I think your point of not splitting them up too much makes sense, maybe combine some aspects of it.
Splitting them up doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be better at any given task, or that it will be more user friendly. I’d hardly consider it more user friendly to make people search between several apps when they previously could do everything in just one. Additionally, those separate apps may be as difficult to use as iTunes is now. iTunes has a problem with design, not necessarily because of how much it does, but because Apple seems to be getting worse at design.
What purpose does it serve to clump all media types (music, film, podcast, apps) together in a single search? How often do you find yourself in a situation where you just want to find “Foo”, not caring whether it’s a song, an artist, a film, a podcast or an app? I’d say never. You always know what type of media you’re after, so 3/4 of the search results (or even more, depending on how Apple chooses to weigh and promote the search results) are always going to be completely irrelevant.
But say I want to just listen to Music, or want to just sync my devices? Realistically, a dedicated app for one (or fewer) task(s) is more likely to perform better than an app trying to handle multiple different tasks.
I think, and hope, they do split them into apps that can be used for fewer specific goals, simplicity alone it’s more attractive for me personally.
“…and we’re calling it iTunes!!”
Brilliant! Just brilliant! That one got me laughing out loud.
I’ve never been an iTunes hater. In fact it’s the one thing that I believe separates and makes the iOS ecosystem better because rather than having no choice but to save all of your phone’s data to the cloud you can store and sync all of your content on a local computer and even encrypt the stored profile.
Yes, iTunes is a little slow at times but I’ve never found it to be buggy, just slow to respond and always considered the other apps I had open when iTunes was open. Having Photoshop, InDesign, a dozen Safari tabs, iMessage, Mail as well as iTunes open could be part of the problem.
Having said that, the implementation of Apple Music has been somewhat disastrous. What was a fairly easy app to navigate is now a bit of a mess with graphics that don’t reach the edges of my 27″ iMac and some really weird pagination of text and graphics.
My hope is that Apple will surprise us with a new version of iTunes built from the ground up by the time El Capitan and iOS 9 become available or, at the very least, before the year is out. Maybe they’ll save it for the iPhone 6s reveal. Either way they really need to reformat the app.
Haha, thanks, I’m glad someone appreciated that paragraph. :D
I agree Apple Music was poorly implemented. They really should have worked on that a lot longer. Don’t think we’re gonna see a new version for El Capitan, unfortunately. Maybe next year?
What’s up with the dislike of old code? Isn’t Unix code older than iTunes? So how come Apple is using that in order to run 4 separate Operating Systems?
Old code that doesn’t suck is fine. The iTunes code is bloated and old. It needs to be refined.
Very interesting to read the suggestions people are making here in the comments. I hope Apple doesn’t dissapoint us :) Even Microsoft has shown progress recently in making a less-cluttered browser to replace Internet Explorer. I bet Apple will whip up some kind of cool minimalist Apple-esque solution soon ☺️👍
Right now, you have access to Photos in iTunes to sync to your iOS devices but no photo editing capabilities. Keep that idea in mind.
I think that apps should be split out into different experiences, videos (movies and TV shows), music (songs and radio), podcasts and iTunesU. iTunes can act as the hub for purchasing and syncing your content, but when I open the individual apps I can get a relevant experience for that content.
I think a Front Row-like navigation in iTunes could clear-up the main (home) screen, thus making iTunes easier to use.
That spinning circle of media icons was simple and clear presentation of your stored media, leaving the lists, media libraries and menus out of sight until you made your selection.
Sometimes I miss that zen-like, almost childish approach Apple had in the 2000’s. It was Steve’s black-or-white vision what pushed for a stripped down interfaces and devices, so there was little to no chance for confusion. And this is something I’m missing in iTunes and also in the Watch: ease of use, “it just works”, simple and intuitive.
I would be 100% happy with all of the bullcrap if they just left music alone. The old combo of playlist sidebar and manual library navigation in a top panel worked perfectly. Step-by-step they moved farther and farther away from that method as they folded in more and more functionality and tangents… but the music bubble never HAD to change it’s navigation. I get the impression that Apple did that based solely on their feeling that it was “stale” to them—and definitely not because they had a solution that was better. And anyone who ever navigated that old way will always miss it and never feel comfortable. It simply didn’t have to change. They could add all of the stores, streaming services, podcasts, etc that they wanted—on top of the separate music library navigation, but they changed it for the worse and then they couldn’t stop themselves. It’s like they were picking at a scab. They kept at it until they created a bigger problem than they had to begin with.
iTunes had a poor interface to start with, and it has gotten mostly worse with time. Apple is an amazing company, but iTunes is a relative disaster. Once you have downloaded a TV show or movie, how do you watch it again for a second time? Having to launch from the downloads section is awkward, and if you have deleted it, iTunes starts downloading all shows you have ever purchased. Clicking on a TV series I have purchased in “My TV shows” tells me that iTunes cannot find the first in the series and leads to failure to launch. Double-clicking on the title of a TV show in iTunes that I have purchased in SD and is shown as being “downloaded” doesn’t launch my show as one might expect, but brings me to the HD version of the same show, with the implied suggestion to purchase that as well. Unlike apps in iOS, where cloud icons allow me to re-download previously purchased items, iTunes regularly tries to re-download all my previous purchases, and in a separate download window no less. Considering Apple’s user interface elegance, iTunes UI is a nightmare. Does it really make sense to separate music from podcasts and iTunes U, and duplicate music video functions in a music and a video app? A case could be made in theory for a separate iOS app application, but how would one sync all the different media with a phone or tablet, a solution that is not likely to be replaced by a cloud solution for most people in the foreseeable future? I agree with Mike that it probably makes the most sense to keep all these functions together, but more important than that is that Apple seriously needs to address the cluttered and confusing interface of iTunes, which is almost as dysfunctional as the communications module was on the Newton many years ago.
I tend to agree with everyone … a litte bit. I would suggest a scenario like this:
iTunes for all things media content: music and music videos, movies, tv shows, podcasts, iTunes U. Think of it like the “apple tv” for the desktop. A media centre with an integrated store.
App Store for all apps: desktop apps, phone apps, tablet apps …
Backups could be handled by a control panel.
One reason why I think it is a good idea to stick with one app is the account management. For now, iTunes handles it all. Purchases, subscriptions, credit card details, refunds, even for everything you bought at the app store or on an iOS device. Account management could be outsourced to a website, but I think it’s nice that you have it all in one place.
Many of iTunes account management features are in fact web pages presented within iTunes… We could see Apple redirecting the users to the web outside of iTunes for many account management functions.
iTunes code is probably like spaghetti. Similar to the old Netscape code that was thrown out and what came of the old Netscape was FireFox.
I feel the same way about 9to5mac’s new site theme…
I agree. I love it that I can read all my tech news at one single location.
One thing to consider is that what you gain from splitting the app up is that each of these pieces can now have more complexity without compromising the rest. Consider iTunes U, I think that would hugely gain from being its own app because you could have all sorts of new functionality for organising lectures, perhaps adding annotations, or your own notes, as well as functionality for managing exercises that you might be following along with. Hell, while we’re at it why not add new features to iTunes U content itself, interactive exercises, forums for discussing with other people following along etc. You couldn’t put a focus on this kind of stuff with iTunes as a single app.
No… the core of it works. A rewrite means new bugs and new breakage.
It needs some UI work, especially with match and user playlists. But overall, it’s literally as good as anything else. I don’t find Pandora or Spotify or Google Music particularly better.
Interesting point of view on which I have to agree in most part. I implore you to consider reading my proposal for an iTunes reconstruction “Reconstructing iTunes – a proposal” on Medium. https://medium.com/apple-after-steve-jobs/rethinking-itunes-a-proposal-53970c771bd6
Curious to read you comments.
I don’t think adding a second application in order to manage your media for your devices isn’t exactly simplifying things. This is not what Apple is about.
But I think this is one of the way to simplify iTunes general operations…
Does anyone remember when Apple presented a new version of iTunes while saying it was a complete rewrite at an Apple event? Was it for iTunes 10 or 11 ? I do remember Eddy Cue saying something like that…
I often wonder why so many people have an issue with iTunes, I think it’s great.