4 ms·

Will iTunes disappear in Big Sur - is the alternative equally good? I originally put off installing Catalina because I didn't want to lose iTunes.

by sgt 6y ago

soheil 6y ago
I believe it's called Music and a lot of the functionality has been stripped out to other apps like Finder.
- cannam 6y ago
  And the Music app appears to be a "Catalyst" one, i.e. a port from the iPad. (This is a potential thread hijack, but if there is anyone here who can point me to the difference in drag-and-drop protocols between Catalyst apps, e.g. Music, and traditional Mac ones, e.g. iTunes, I would really appreciate it. I have an app that is often expected to open audio files by dragging them from iTunes, but it doesn't work at all from Music - nothing in the drop handler logic ever gets activated, even though the user is hanging over the app with the new extra-big drop icon. This seems like something that should be well-known, but I've had terrible trouble trying to find any documentation for it. I am something of an imposter Mac developer, so maybe I just don't know the right people to ask.)
  - snazz 6y ago
    I'm pretty sure that Music is not a Catalyst app, although Podcasts is. If somebody has other information, I'd be happy to be corrected. Stocks and News were the first-generation Catalyst apps, and those have very different UIs and fuzzy text due to how scaling works.
  - selectodude 6y ago
    There's clearly something weird because I've found Big Sur's catalyst Messages app is lacking a lot of stuff.
jannes 6y ago
Which part of iTunes are you talking about? The device management is now in Finder, music is now in Music, etc.
- sgt 6y ago
  I mostly just use the music part to organize my MP3's and other formats that I play. Also I have the podcasts there and a bunch of playlists. Let's hope it converts those during the upgrade.
top_sigrid 6y ago
It is already gone since Catalina. It was replaces by the Music, Podcast, TV apps. iPhone management happens in finder.
- sgt 6y ago
  I'm glad to hear it happens in Finder. That's a fairly natural place. iTunes and iPhone management was always awkward. Luckily I rarely have to do that in any case.
  - snazz 6y ago
    In my experience, Apple Configurator 2 is the better tool for iOS device management anyway.
- jrochkind1 6y ago
  How does it work out? I have been reluctant to upgrade to even Catalina for this reason too. I still have an Ipod mini, and I'm worried it's gonna get orphaned.
  - NegativeLatency 6y ago
    It's ok, seems like the same ui view just jammed into a finder window that sometimes doesn't work right.
    - jrochkind1 6y ago
      Thanks. Hardly a ringing endorsement, but I guess at least it works. I'd be devestated if I upgraded and couldn't sync my over 10 year old iPad mini anymore. I guess that time will probably come eventually.
- reaperducer 6y ago
  It is already gone since Catalina That's what he meant by "I originally put off installing Catalina because I didn't want to lose iTunes."
lukifer 6y ago
Retroactive will allow you to run iTunes on Catalina or Big Sur: https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive (caveat: I have not personally tested it on Big Sur, but it's been working well for me on Catalina)
zachwood 6y ago
iTunes disappeared in Catalina, replaced by Music. For all of my uses it's functionally equivalent. iPod sycing moved to Finder, but other than that it's not very different.
brundolf 6y ago
Apple Music the service is fine. Apple Music the macOS app is shamefully bad. Never in my life have I used a piece of software from a major tech company that's so totally bug-ridden. It's shocking. Honestly, this may be an excellent use-case for the ability to run native iOS apps :P
- snazz 6y ago
  The big memory leak where https://sb.music.apple.com https://sb.music.apple.com (the web frame part of the Apple Music desktop app) would use multiple gigabytes of memory seems to have been fixed, either in 10.15.7 or the following Supplemental Update. That was my primary issue with it. Still, the iOS app is way smoother. I would appreciate if they would bring the iPad version to the Mac and add Genius Playlists.
  - brundolf 6y ago
    I've had consistent UX bugs in the past with very basic pieces of functionality, like "search won't show any results until you do it twice" or "Play Later actually does the same thing as Play Next". Core functionality, trivially reproducible, really inexcusable.
    - snazz 6y ago
      The first issue I've definitely seen (I think it's because it's secretly loading a webpage in the background with your search results) and I haven't seen the second issue (except when playing a radio station, in which case Play Later and Play Next are both broken). But I'll trust you—I've seen lots of similar problems with it.
- qz2 6y ago
  Urf that was terrible in Catalina. I didn't have it in the dock. Just used my iPhone.

Will iTunes disappear in Big Sur - is the alternative equally good? I originally put off installing Catalina because I didn't want to lose iTunes.

by sgt 6y ago

Will iTunes disappear in Big Sur - is the alternative equally good? I originally put off installing Catalina because I didn't want to lose iTunes.

soheil 6y ago

I believe it's called Music and a lot of the functionality has been stripped out to other apps like Finder.

cannam 6y ago
And the Music app appears to be a "Catalyst" one, i.e. a port from the iPad. (This is a potential thread hijack, but if there is anyone here who can point me to the difference in drag-and-drop protocols between Catalyst apps, e.g. Music, and traditional Mac ones, e.g. iTunes, I would really appreciate it. I have an app that is often expected to open audio files by dragging them from iTunes, but it doesn't work at all from Music - nothing in the drop handler logic ever gets activated, even though the user is hanging over the app with the new extra-big drop icon. This seems like something that should be well-known, but I've had terrible trouble trying to find any documentation for it. I am something of an imposter Mac developer, so maybe I just don't know the right people to ask.)
- snazz 6y ago
  I'm pretty sure that Music is not a Catalyst app, although Podcasts is. If somebody has other information, I'd be happy to be corrected. Stocks and News were the first-generation Catalyst apps, and those have very different UIs and fuzzy text due to how scaling works.
- selectodude 6y ago
  There's clearly something weird because I've found Big Sur's catalyst Messages app is lacking a lot of stuff.

jannes 6y ago

Which part of iTunes are you talking about? The device management is now in Finder, music is now in Music, etc.

sgt 6y ago
I mostly just use the music part to organize my MP3's and other formats that I play. Also I have the podcasts there and a bunch of playlists. Let's hope it converts those during the upgrade.

top_sigrid 6y ago

It is already gone since Catalina. It was replaces by the Music, Podcast, TV apps. iPhone management happens in finder.

sgt 6y ago
I'm glad to hear it happens in Finder. That's a fairly natural place. iTunes and iPhone management was always awkward. Luckily I rarely have to do that in any case.
- snazz 6y ago
  In my experience, Apple Configurator 2 is the better tool for iOS device management anyway.
jrochkind1 6y ago
How does it work out? I have been reluctant to upgrade to even Catalina for this reason too. I still have an Ipod mini, and I'm worried it's gonna get orphaned.
- NegativeLatency 6y ago
  It's ok, seems like the same ui view just jammed into a finder window that sometimes doesn't work right.
  - jrochkind1 6y ago
    Thanks. Hardly a ringing endorsement, but I guess at least it works. I'd be devestated if I upgraded and couldn't sync my over 10 year old iPad mini anymore. I guess that time will probably come eventually.
reaperducer 6y ago
It is already gone since Catalina That's what he meant by "I originally put off installing Catalina because I didn't want to lose iTunes."

lukifer 6y ago

Retroactive will allow you to run iTunes on Catalina or Big Sur: https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive (caveat: I have not personally tested it on Big Sur, but it's been working well for me on Catalina)

zachwood 6y ago

iTunes disappeared in Catalina, replaced by Music. For all of my uses it's functionally equivalent. iPod sycing moved to Finder, but other than that it's not very different.

brundolf 6y ago

Apple Music the service is fine. Apple Music the macOS app is shamefully bad. Never in my life have I used a piece of software from a major tech company that's so totally bug-ridden. It's shocking. Honestly, this may be an excellent use-case for the ability to run native iOS apps :P

snazz 6y ago
The big memory leak where https://sb.music.apple.com https://sb.music.apple.com (the web frame part of the Apple Music desktop app) would use multiple gigabytes of memory seems to have been fixed, either in 10.15.7 or the following Supplemental Update. That was my primary issue with it. Still, the iOS app is way smoother. I would appreciate if they would bring the iPad version to the Mac and add Genius Playlists.
- brundolf 6y ago
  I've had consistent UX bugs in the past with very basic pieces of functionality, like "search won't show any results until you do it twice" or "Play Later actually does the same thing as Play Next". Core functionality, trivially reproducible, really inexcusable.
  - snazz 6y ago
    The first issue I've definitely seen (I think it's because it's secretly loading a webpage in the background with your search results) and I haven't seen the second issue (except when playing a radio station, in which case Play Later and Play Next are both broken). But I'll trust you—I've seen lots of similar problems with it.
qz2 6y ago
Urf that was terrible in Catalina. I didn't have it in the dock. Just used my iPhone.