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Apple discontinued the iTunes music player for macOS in 2019 as it split the app’s functionality into four apps for macOS Catalina. But for Windows users with large local media libraries, or wanting to back up their iDevices or subscribe to Apple Music, iTunes has worked hard to ensure compatibility with Apple devices and services. We have received a minor maintenance mode update to keep up.
Today, as part of new Windows 11 preview builds for Windows Insiders, Microsoft announced previews of the new Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps are now available for download in the Microsoft Store.
The Apple Music and Apple TV apps handle the music and video features of iTunes and provide access to Apple Music and Apple TV+ subscription services, similar to macOS. The Apple Devices app is used to create local device backups, perform emergency software updates, sync local media, and anything else you can do with an iDevice connected to your PC (macOS has its own similar functionality). finder instead of being split into separate apps).
For now, installing any or all of these three apps will make iTunes unusable. So if your app still relies on iTunes for certain things it can’t handle, don’t upgrade. Uninstall the new app and you can use iTunes again.
iTunes handles two things on Windows that the new app can’t: podcasts and audiobooks. Whether Apple plans to run versions of Apple Podcasts or Books on Windows, whether that functionality will be added to the Apple Music app for Windows, or whether Apple will rely on cloud versions of both apps. I don’t know.
Apple Music’s release notes state that podcasts and audiobooks on Windows PCs “will be inaccessible until a compatible version of iTunes is released.” This is because Apple is working on a version of iTunes that can run alongside new apps, and that iTunes may continue to handle some features even without official Windows versions of Apple Podcasts and Books. suggests.
Microsoft announced that versions of Apple Music and Apple TV would come to Windows last October, along with other new Windows 11 features and updated Surface devices. Currently, the app requires Windows 11 with the 2022 Update installed to run, but the final version may be compatible with Windows 10 or earlier Windows 11 versions.
