Report: Apple to split iTunes into separate apps

The lumbering behemoth that is iTunes may finally be nearing the end of its life.

According to 9to5Mac and a tweet from iPhone app developer Steven Troughton-Smith, the next version of macOS, version 10.15, will break up iTunes into different apps for music, podcasts, and TV.

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Apple released iTunes in 2001; it allowed people to organize their music collections digitally and add new music to iPods before music-streaming services and Wi-Fi syncing were ubiquitous (and when ripping and burning CDs was still a thing). The current program, however, has been repurposed so many times to include all manner of media that most users agree it's just too bloated to be sustainable.

The logical step forward for Apple is to create separate, more elegant apps that can more efficiently deal with customers' media. And that appears to be what's happening.

Apple already confirmed at its March press event that its TV app will arrive on the Mac this fall. You'll be able to access Apple's new TV+ streaming service, as well as movies and TV shows for rent or purchase, and pay TV subscriptions. At the moment, Podcasts and Apple Music are accessible via iTunes on macOS.

The break-off apps are likely going to be made with Marzipan, Apple's in-development technology that allows apps to be developed and run seamlessly across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, 9to5Mac says.

But don't mourn iTunes just yet. The program will remain in macOS 10.15, according to 9to5Mac, since Apple needs to figure out how to sync iPods and iPhones with the Mac.

Expect more details at Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) in June.