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Does it seem weird to anyone else that iTunes, ostensibly a music library program and music store interface, is now in charge of activating phones and tablet PC

Does it seem weird to anyone else that iTunes, ostensibly a music library program and music store interface, is now in charge of activating phones and tablet PCs, as well as managing their applications and shared files? Shouldn't there be a separate purpose built program for that? Seems to fly in the face of Apple's vaunted design and organization.....

DLWormwood 17y ago
There originally was... "iSync." However, Apple has all but forgotten this app exists, and the UI is very rudimentary anyways. About the only thing it was every used for was for handling old school file system syncing with Bluetooth and USB cell phones from about 3-5 years back.
sid0 17y ago
I think they're tacking on features to iTunes instead of creating a separate application because iTunes already works on Windows. edit: well, for some definition of work anyway.
- anon-e-moose 17y ago
  "edit: well, for some definition of work anyway." I agree heartily. When downloading podcasts, an activity that could be handled by a perl script and wget, iTunes likes to use my entire processor. I have no idea why, and its done so for several versions now.
  - cheald 17y ago
    I've so far avoided installing iTunes on my Win7 box, for much that same reason - it uses an obscene amount of resources, when I can use something like Foobar2000 with appropriate plugins to do the same job with no significant CPU or RAM footprint.
    - hexley 17y ago
      Considering the heritage of the iTunes code base (http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/media/feature-creep-polarization-and-passion/SoundJamLarge.jpg http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/media/feature-creep-polarizati...) it's amazing it even works at all.
- cloudwalking 17y ago
  Perhaps more importantly, everybody already has iTunes. Apple can leave out an entire step from the user experience (and one of the more frustrating ones, at that): "install new software".
  - snprbob86 17y ago
    iTunes could be the bootstrapper that installs a slimmed down version of itself and the other broken out applications.
    - bruceboughton 17y ago
      Yes, and then you have to teach your users about this new program... for what exactly?
      - mstevens 17y ago
        You stop having to teach new users that a program called iTunes does a wide variety of non tune related tasks.
        bruceboughton 17y ago
        There's quite a large install base to retrain. The iPhone is, uhhh, pretty popular. Also, iTunes opens automatically when you plug an iDevice in which mitigates some of this problem.
        bobbyi 17y ago
        Mitigates? The fact that iTunes is going to load up ever time I plug in my ipod to charge it makes the software's bloatedness way worse.
        superchink 17y ago
        I'm pretty sure you can disable this behavior with a checkbox.
- ZeroGravitas 17y ago
  Correct. But now we have to wonder why the Linux desktops are so keen to follow their example.
thwarted 17y ago
"There is no step three"... once you figure out you should use the program whose icon is a CD (who uses CDs for music when you have iTunes?) to manage your phone and tablet, neither of which have optical drives.
- bombs 17y ago
  I don't think the CD metaphor for music is dead yet, but both the iPhone and iPad show the iTunes icon when they need to be connected (i.e. at activation).
  - glhaynes 17y ago
    The CD icon is the new floppy disc icon.
  - thwarted 17y ago
    So eventually the icons don't mean anything and it's all just a game of memory to match up the things that look similar.
stcredzero 17y ago
Again, it's all about the ecosystem. Apple created a content ecosystem for the iPod. (iTunes + Store) This was part of game change involved in the legitimizing of music download. Then this ecosystem added the iPhone as a content delivery system, which was a smart move but nothing revolutionary there. The kicker is that they then grew a software market ecosystem out of it! Now that the App store is established, they could separate the iTunes app. However there are proximity advantages to be exploited here. iTunes is free iPhone advertising to everyone not yet on the iPhone who has an iPod.
- Perceval 17y ago
  I think this is spot on. It's not iTunes per se that is the connecting point for all these devices. It's the iTunes Store that binds all of these devices together—all of them are dependent on the store for content and applications. Getting the music player thrown in gratis alongside the iTunes Store is really inconsequential.
msluyter 17y ago
At the very least, the title 'iTunes' is now wildly inaccurate.
jsz0 17y ago
iTunes seems like a very practical solution to me. Why confuse people with different apps? It would be more elegant, it makes people who love the compartmentalized UNIX philosophy happy and it just confuses everyone else. For most people the iTunes feature set: syncing, backup, restore, updating, organization, etc is a good thing. Having this process be mostly automatic is a big plus. I just can't imagine many people running iBackup on a regular basis to backup their device or iShare to put files on it, or iStore to buy music then opening iTunes to listen to it. Who has the patience for that?

DLWormwood 17y ago

There originally was... "iSync." However, Apple has all but forgotten this app exists, and the UI is very rudimentary anyways. About the only thing it was every used for was for handling old school file system syncing with Bluetooth and USB cell phones from about 3-5 years back.

sid0 17y ago

I think they're tacking on features to iTunes instead of creating a separate application because iTunes already works on Windows. edit: well, for some definition of work anyway.

anon-e-moose 17y ago
"edit: well, for some definition of work anyway." I agree heartily. When downloading podcasts, an activity that could be handled by a perl script and wget, iTunes likes to use my entire processor. I have no idea why, and its done so for several versions now.
- cheald 17y ago
  I've so far avoided installing iTunes on my Win7 box, for much that same reason - it uses an obscene amount of resources, when I can use something like Foobar2000 with appropriate plugins to do the same job with no significant CPU or RAM footprint.
  - hexley 17y ago
    Considering the heritage of the iTunes code base (http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/media/feature-creep-polarization-and-passion/SoundJamLarge.jpg http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/media/feature-creep-polarizati...) it's amazing it even works at all.
cloudwalking 17y ago
Perhaps more importantly, everybody already has iTunes. Apple can leave out an entire step from the user experience (and one of the more frustrating ones, at that): "install new software".
- snprbob86 17y ago
  iTunes could be the bootstrapper that installs a slimmed down version of itself and the other broken out applications.
  - bruceboughton 17y ago
    Yes, and then you have to teach your users about this new program... for what exactly?
    - mstevens 17y ago
      You stop having to teach new users that a program called iTunes does a wide variety of non tune related tasks.
      - bruceboughton 17y ago
        There's quite a large install base to retrain. The iPhone is, uhhh, pretty popular. Also, iTunes opens automatically when you plug an iDevice in which mitigates some of this problem.
        bobbyi 17y ago
        Mitigates? The fact that iTunes is going to load up ever time I plug in my ipod to charge it makes the software's bloatedness way worse.
        superchink 17y ago
        I'm pretty sure you can disable this behavior with a checkbox.
ZeroGravitas 17y ago
Correct. But now we have to wonder why the Linux desktops are so keen to follow their example.

thwarted 17y ago

"There is no step three"... once you figure out you should use the program whose icon is a CD (who uses CDs for music when you have iTunes?) to manage your phone and tablet, neither of which have optical drives.

bombs 17y ago
I don't think the CD metaphor for music is dead yet, but both the iPhone and iPad show the iTunes icon when they need to be connected (i.e. at activation).
- glhaynes 17y ago
  The CD icon is the new floppy disc icon.
- thwarted 17y ago
  So eventually the icons don't mean anything and it's all just a game of memory to match up the things that look similar.

stcredzero 17y ago

Again, it's all about the ecosystem. Apple created a content ecosystem for the iPod. (iTunes + Store) This was part of game change involved in the legitimizing of music download. Then this ecosystem added the iPhone as a content delivery system, which was a smart move but nothing revolutionary there. The kicker is that they then grew a software market ecosystem out of it! Now that the App store is established, they could separate the iTunes app. However there are proximity advantages to be exploited here. iTunes is free iPhone advertising to everyone not yet on the iPhone who has an iPod.

Perceval 17y ago
I think this is spot on. It's not iTunes per se that is the connecting point for all these devices. It's the iTunes Store that binds all of these devices together—all of them are dependent on the store for content and applications. Getting the music player thrown in gratis alongside the iTunes Store is really inconsequential.

msluyter 17y ago

At the very least, the title 'iTunes' is now wildly inaccurate.

jsz0 17y ago

iTunes seems like a very practical solution to me. Why confuse people with different apps? It would be more elegant, it makes people who love the compartmentalized UNIX philosophy happy and it just confuses everyone else. For most people the iTunes feature set: syncing, backup, restore, updating, organization, etc is a good thing. Having this process be mostly automatic is a big plus. I just can't imagine many people running iBackup on a regular basis to backup their device or iShare to put files on it, or iStore to buy music then opening iTunes to listen to it. Who has the patience for that?