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Leaked Apple Email Hints at the Possible End of iTunes: Report (cultofmac.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple could kill off iTunes in the near future, a new report suggests. It cites an email that Apple reportedly wrote to people in the music industry recently, announcing the "end of iTunes LPs." The iTunes LP format was first introduced in 2009 and let publishers add interactive artwork, along with assorted iTunes Extras, with their content. The LP format never achieved great popularity. However, the fact that Apple plans to ditch iTunes LPs in 2018 potentially hints at the possibility that Apple may stop selling iTunes music downloads in the near future. The Apple email announcing the change was reportedly sent two weeks ago from an address at "The iTunes Store" and signed by "The Apple Music Team." But its existence has only been highlighted now through a report by the U.K. newspaper The Metro. "Apple will no longer accept new submissions of iTunes LPs after March 2018," the letter notes. "Existing LPs will be deprecated from the store during the remainder of 2018. Customers who have previously purchased an album containing an iTunes LP will still be able to download the additional content using iTunes Match." The news about the possible winding down of iTunes would come as no surprise to many users. Not only has iTunes been outdated for years in terms of its interface and functionality, but Apple clearly aims to move to a streaming model of music selling. Further reading: 'Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously'; Apple Says It Doesn't Know Why iTunes Users Are Losing Their Music Files; iTunes Turns 13 Today -- Continues To Be 'Awful'.
It would be a favor to all of us.
...before you have to rent it
I know, reading is hard, but the LPs sold on iTunes are the extra content, liner notes, etc. Not iTunes itself.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
That's all I had to read to realize this article was submitted by an idiot. "iTunes" the music application/media store portal is NOT the same thing as "iTunes LPs". All they are doing is getting rid of a special content-addition option for album sales on the music store that let publishers include digital version of the booklets that normally accompany physical CDs, containing linear notes, photos, and other printed content from the band.
There is literally nothing in the article to suggest that because Apple will stop selling their proprietary special featured albums that they will stop selling music all together.
It's clickbait, nothing more.
Here's an idea don't use an employer supplied phone for personal use.
Not this mouldy old chestnut again.
A free market doesn't preclude criticism of any of its participants, regardless of whether or not you are free to choose not to buy
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
That argument is quite a leap beyond logic and reason. It sounds a little bit to me like if someone had tried to suggest that Apple was abandoning removable media when they started shipping the iMac with no internal floppy drive. Removing one largely unused and/or obsolete feature does not suggest that the entire product is going to be killed.
Mind you, as buggy as iTunes is, it seems likely that this particular leap really boils down to wishful thinking from Apple's biggest fans and/or biggest critics -- which are often one-and-the-same people, by the way -- but I'm afraid there are far too many things which still require iTunes, for it to be discontinued entirely, this early in the game.
(...aaand that's what I get for inadvertently clicking "Submit" instead of preview before I'd finished editing.)
Having the choice not to buy Company X's product doesn't preclude criticism of Company X or the product. On top of this, exercising that right and choosing not to buy the product still doesn't shield it from criticism.
It's ironic that this rebuttal comes up so often from would-be white knights of the "free market"- or at least, by those invoking its name to defend their favoured corporate interest. If the first applied, no-one would have the right to criticise any product they weren't forced to buy at gunpoint (or whatever). This would basically shut down criticism of almost *anything* on sale. Reviews? "You don't have to buy it, so shut up about it!"
Even if only the second applied, only people who actually *bought* the product would be able to legitimately say anything against it (and I've no doubt "well, you bought it and you didn't have to!" would still be used against them). The complete antithesis of the information sharing an effective free market depends upon. This isn't support of the free market, it's corporate protectionism- that we shouldn't be allowed to say anything nasty about those things those nice companies are selling from the goodness of their hearts.
OTOH, I doubt those parroting this argument even thought about the (obvious) implications of what they were saying in that much depth!
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Will it be as reliable and user friendly as itunes?
iTunes LP format has failed... so Apple may pull iTunes?
Google Wave failed - Google to leave the advertising industry?
Why? If the employer allows, then why not? Most people do not want to carry two phones...