Back at the 2001 Macworld Expo, Apple officially announced iTunes to curtail the growing piracy concerns of the time. What happened next was unfathomable as it revolutionized the way we listened to music. It brought about the birth of purchasing music through .mp3 files and now after nearly two decades, Apple is reportedly planning on shutting this service.
As per a report by Bloomberg, Apple will announce the end of iTunes, which lasted for 18 years at the WWDC keynote event that’s scheduled for Monday, June 3. It has long been rumoured that iTunes will be terminated as it has lost its lustre in the age of music streaming services including the brand’s own Apple Music. An RIAA report showed that streaming services accounted for as much as 75 per cent of the US music industry’s revenue.
Ever since its launch, Apple iTunes has grown into an all-access place for purchasing media content that’s not just limited to music but also movies and TV shows. However, with its closure, Apple is looking to divide these three forms of media by replacing iTunes with three different apps — Music, TV and Podcasts.
A report by Rolling Stone states, “By portioning out its music, television and podcast offerings into three separate platforms, Apple will pointedly draw attention to itself as a multifaceted entertainment services provider, no longer as a hardware company that happens to sell entertainment through one of its many apps.”
It is reported that the Music app will retain some of iTunes’ key features which include but not limited to song purchases and audio syncing. Even though the closure of iTunes appears to be like an end of an era, it also means that Apple can now focus on steadfastly improving iTunes core functionalities.
