Two of tech world’s biggest icons breathed their last in the past week. On June 3, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the company announced that iTunes was dead on the Mac. Three days earlier, BlackBerry Messenger, the much loved instant messenger, had gone for good.
iTunes arguably paved the way for Apple’s stunning success. In the earlier days it was only music, and Apple acted as an intermediary between music companies and consumers. In 2003, with the release of iTunes 4, it became a reseller by introducing the iTunes Music Store. It triggered a significant change in the way people purchased music. Then came audiobooks, television shows, music videos, podcasts, movies and even college courses.
But all these piled up, making iTunes a mess. And Apple was expected to clean it sooner rather than later. On iOS, there are already standalone apps for music, television and podcasts. The next version of macOS will not have iTunes; and will have the same arrangement as iOS to manage content—Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV. macOS Finder will sync devices.
It is unlikely that anyone would miss iTunes. But that does not mean its contributions were unimportant. It revolutionised the way music was consumed and its life has been the history of digitalisation.