On a new support page, Apple touted three new apps as replacements for a similar capabilities in iTunes for Home windows.
Now out there within the Microsoft Retailer for Windows 10 and 11, the Music app permits you to entry and play your albums and songs. The TV app does the identical to your films and TV exhibits. And the Units app will assist you to again up, restore, and sync your music, films, and TV exhibits between a Windows PC and an iPhone or iPad.
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With the brand new devoted apps, the one remaining use for iTunes for Home windows is to entry podcasts and audiobooks. However with standalone apps for podcasts and audiobooks lengthy out there for iOS and iPadOS, Home windows variations of those two ought to be on the best way.
Because the new apps work solely in Home windows 10 and 11, any of you continue to working an older model (and also you should not be as they’re not supported) will nonetheless want to make use of iTunes. And if that does not persuade you to improve to a supported model of Home windows, I do not know what’s going to.
If you happen to do obtain and set up the brand new apps, Apple does supply some phrases of knowledge.
First, you may want to put in all three apps; you may’t simply decide and select. If you happen to obtain solely one in all them, iTunes for Home windows will immediate you to obtain the opposite two.
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After putting in the apps, do not take away iTunes, as you may nonetheless want it to view your podcasts and audiobooks. To grant you entry to the identical albums, TV exhibits, and films, the Apple Music app and the Apple TV app learn the contents of your iTunes library — so do not take away the Library folder or recordsdata. To see your iTunes Retailer purchases in each apps, you may have to authorize your Home windows PC together with your Apple ID.
After you obtain the Apple Music app, Apple TV app, and Apple Units app, you may not discover any of your music or video content material in iTunes. And you will not be capable of use iTunes to manually sync and handle your iPhone or iPad any longer.
You may obtain the brand new apps from the Microsoft Retailer by way of the next hyperlinks:
For Home windows customers who’ve lengthy struggled with the monstrosity often known as iTunes, this comes as welcome information. Do not get me improper. Launched in 2001 for the Mac and in 2003 for Home windows, iTunes began life as a easy and dependable app, permitting you to buy music, audiobooks, and different content material.
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However through the years, Apple stored including an increasing number of options, turning it right into a sluggish and buggy mess, particularly the Home windows model.
In 2019, Apple eliminated iTunes for the Mac with the discharge of MacOS Catalina, changing its capabilities with totally different devoted apps and including backup and syncing capabilities to the Mac’s Finder software.
In October of 2022, Apple and Microsoft each signaled an analogous destiny for iTunes for Home windows, revealing that the Apple Music and Apple TV apps would be available in the Microsoft Store in 2023. The next January, preview versions of the two apps and the Devices app did pop up within the retailer, however just for Home windows 11.
The most recent information marks the official rollout for any Home windows 10 or 11 consumer anxious to wean off of iTunes. You may add me to that checklist.