Apple to kill off iTunes as it embraces streaming music with replacement app

Andrew Griffin for The Independent:
Apple appears to be killing off iTunes, bringing an end to one of the most popular apps in history. The company is expected to announce its plans at its Worldwide Developers’ Conference, where it will reveal new software that will take the widely loved (and hated) app’s place.
For nearly 20 years, iTunes has been the primary way for people to buy, organise and listen to music. It was unveiled in 2001 and has powered generations of music listeners, as well as being associated with the rise of both the iPod and the iPhone.
But over that same period it has become controversial, becoming a slow and unwieldy piece of software when compared with Apple’s more recent software. It also came to represent a way of listening – buying songs and organising them in a local library – that has largely become surpassed by streaming…
As well as the music app, Apple is expected to release separate apps for videos and podcasts, which have also been a part of the iTunes app.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote after Steve Troughton-Smith leaked the news on Twitter back in April, iTunes will linger, likely for many years, it’s slow death will make life easier for users. Obviously, we’ve long believed that breaking apart iTunes into individual apps is an excellent idea:
Apple, especially under Steve Jobs, has shown a great and admirable willingness to cannibalize themselves. They obliterated their iPod business with the iPhone, for one example. But, when it comes to iTunes, they seem paralyzed by fear of change. Apple paralyzed by fear is not a pretty thing and it doesn’t yield pretty things. It yields hot messes like iTunes. iTunes screams to be broken up into separate, streamlined apps. It’s been screaming that for years. — MacDailyNews Take, July 17, 2015