I can't imagine how a music player became such a monolithic application in the first place... But I mean that's not true. I suspect the reason it was such a be

I can't imagine how a music player became such a monolithic application in the first place... But I mean that's not true. I suspect the reason it was such a behemoth was because Apple wanted it to be the gateway and gatekeeper to both acquiring media and transferring it to the device. Like Spotify manages to do quite well for itself without being the monstrosity that iTunes became. I'd guess that the foundation of Apple's garden walls is also the source of their technical debt.