When iTunes "Goes Away"...

jebsib wrote: A few years ago there was a huge media story on how Apple's seminal iTunes was going to disappear, so those of us with massive mp3 libraries, be damned! As it turned out, nothing really changed and it was more of an Apple branding thing. However, any sharp collector and music historian will see the writing on the wall and realize - just as 45s, record players and cassingles were phased out - it is only a matter of time before we will no longer have a la carte track purchases. Obviously the music industry has moved onto streaming as the primary method of consuming music. And streaming is great - fast, affordable and convenient. However, as collectors who may have built up huge libraries of iTunes files, are any of you worried that one day your libraries will be unplayable / obsolete? Or that streaming does not offer you the same 'feeling of completion / ownership' that owning a library provides? I personally love the ability to add artwork, tinker with song metadata (add peak positions, etc), - all things that don't seem possible with streaming playlists and platforms. And how long do you give the current software before it is no longer available in a future update?

I can do everything that I did in Itunes in mp3tag including artwork, metadata. The only thing I use Itunes for is loading my phone up with music. Otherwise thanks to Ron (crapfromthepast) and his lesson on even generating html lists using mp3tag I have found Itunes to just be loading software, nothing more. If someone knows an interface for windows that replaces Itunes to load an Iphone, I would probably switch!

davidclark wrote: I just bought an iPhone 13 mini, and fear not, EdisonLite, the Music app on the iPhone will accept iTunes-created playlists. Now, I say that with a grain of salt, as in 2021, I moved to Big Sur on a new iMac, which no longer has iTunes, however it has the "Music" app, which is iTunes' replacement. I can state with almost certainty that iTunes and the Music app on an iPhone still "talk to each other" in terms of playlists.

OK, I think I understand what you're saying. But this forum seems like a good place to take a poll since we all want to preserve what we've collected...

Who here has upgraded from an old iPhone (and had made playlists in iTunes on that phone) to a newer iPhone that didn't come with iTunes - did you check to see if all the playlists you created transferred properly over to the "Apple Music" app or the "Music" app or whatever they call it? No missing playlists? or songs in the wrong order, or songs missing from the playlists?

I'm guessing there are some people here who have iphones and upgraded in the years since iTunes wasn't a "thing" on their phone anymore.

Eeeeek! 34% of my collection is vinyl, 63% of it is on Compact Disc and CD-R's, 2% on cassettes and open reel, the remaining 1% is
on my hard-drive that I'm currently working on before I burn it to a CD-R. The only thing I fear is a house fire!! -Bill.

EdisonLite wrote: OK, I think I understand what you're saying. But this forum seems like a good place to take a poll since we all want to preserve what we've collected... Who here has upgraded from an old iPhone (and had made playlists in iTunes on that phone) to a newer iPhone that didn't come with iTunes - did you check to see if all the playlists you created transferred properly over to the "Apple Music" app or the "Music" app or whatever they call it? No missing playlists? or songs in the wrong order, or songs missing from the playlists? I'm guessing there are some people here who have iphones and upgraded in the years since iTunes wasn't a "thing" on their phone anymore.

I generally don't use my phone for playing music playlists, but I can say that m3u playlists (the ones created in iTunes) can and do transfer without any issues using my MacBook. The process for doing it is a little different on the new OSX, but I've synced playlists to my phone without any problems. The new app is simply called "Music" (not "Apple Music," which is a streaming service). Windows still uses the iTunes app, and I would assume everything works fine there, too, going from iTunes to "Music" (iPhone), but I have not tried it.