As a result, Music is much more comfortable to use in a smaller window. Now, playlist, album, and radio station graphics are scaled dynamically as the app’s window is resized. Before, the artwork in iTunes’ For You, Browse, and Radio tabs was static. Moving navigational elements to the left sidebar frees up vertical space to display more music, which is further aided by a new responsive design. Now, with everything in the sidebar, it’s possible to jump straight from playing an album in For You to a playlist you’ve made or saved in your Library, for example. This meant that if you were in For You, Browse, or Radio, you didn’t have access to the albums, artists, genres, playlists, and other categories of music in your Library. In iTunes, top-level navigation was laid out horizontally near the top of the app’s window. Navigation in Music has been simplified by moving everything to the left-hand sidebar. Over time though, I’ve mostly adjusted, and now I couldn’t imagine going back to iTunes. The layout of iTunes’ controls is deeply ingrained in my muscle memory that I still find myself looking in the wrong places for certain things. Still, it has taken a while to get used to Music. Music launches and loads the For You and Browse tabs faster than iTunes ever did, and playback is more reliable, though not perfect.
I’ve had far fewer problems than I ever had with iTunes. That has changed with the new Music app, which is hands down the app I’ve used and enjoyed the most during the Catalina beta period. It was easier to use AirPlay from my iPhone instead. The app was slow to start, and when I clicked ‘Play’ on an album or playlist, it usually started by skipping the first song and going straight to the second. However, until the Catalina beta, I found myself streaming music from an iOS device to the HomePod in my office more and more often. I spend a lot of my time working on a Mac while listening to music. Purchased music is still available, and you can even rip, mix, and burn CDs for when you need to drop a funk bomb, but that type of functionality has been tucked away out of sight in favor of streaming. The Music app is a return to those roots but reimagined for Apple’s music streaming service. ITunes started life as a music player in January 2001 before there was an iPod or iTunes Store for purchasing music. Of course, there’s room for improvement and a few rough edges, but compared to using iTunes, Music and the other media apps Apple has introduced or updated are a delight. The one-two punch of breaking up iTunes and deemphasizing purchased music is a lot for users to absorb and Apple to get right in one release, but on balance, I’m happy with the changes.
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Combined with separate apps handling podcasts, TV shows, movies, and audiobooks, there’s no mistaking that Music’s purpose is to serve first and foremost as a player for Apple Music. Instead, Apple Music is front and center. Purchasing music on the iTunes Store is still possible, but it’s been deemphasized. What’s changed is Apple’s focus, which is most evident in Music’s prioritization of streaming over purchasing music. Still, even though you won’t find an app called iTunes on your Mac anymore, the lion’s share of its functionality remains intact in one place or another.
A lot has changed in the way digital music is enjoyed in that time, but a lot of habits have been formed too, which makes the transition difficult. Personally, I love the new Music app but understand why the changes rub some users the wrong way. The de-emphasis of purchasing music, removal of features, and UI changes have all been points of criticism during the beta period. After years of complaints about iTunes feature creep and bloat, most people seem to have accepted that it was time to break up iTunes, but that doesn’t mean everyone is happy with the new Music app. Music, TV shows, movies, podcasts, and audiobooks have all been moved to separate apps. The long-anticipated breakup of iTunes is finally upon us. First, however, it’s time to pour one out for iTunes, which has served Mac users since before the iPod was even introduced. Those other changes are just as consequential both for their depth of new features, which will satisfy the needs of many users, and closer ties to their iOS and iPadOS counterparts. As profound as splitting up iTunes after 18 years is though, it shouldn’t overshadow the extensive changes made across a wide swath of Catalina’s built-in apps. Chief among those changes is the breakup of iTunes into parts by media type. Nowhere is Apple’s work to align the user experience of the Mac, iPadOS, and iOS more apparent than in the changes made to Catalina’s built-in apps.
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