iTunes to be replaced with three desktop apps

04 June 2019, 10:54 | Written by Cerys Kenneally

(News)

Apple has announced that iTunes will be phased out for three desktop apps: Music, TV, and Podcasts.

Apple launched iTunes back in 2001, but announced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday (3 June) in San Jose, California that they plan to swap out iTunes for some new apps.

The senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, revealed at the conference that iTunes will be divided into three new apps, Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts, similar to how they're divided on iPhones or iPads.

Despite the change, Pitchfork reported that Apple confirmed that users will "have access to their entire music library, whether they downloaded the songs, purchased them or ripped them from a CD."

Syncing devices when plugged into a computer will also be changed to a manual process, meaning users will have to sync their device by going to the Finder window on their desktop.

The new changes will come into effect with the introduction of Apple's new OS X 10.15, aka Catalina, which is due to land in September.