It depends on how one is using iTunes.
If one relies on the iTunes store and cloud-oriented consumer services, then yes, those options may no longer be available. Restoring some iPod and (very old) iPhone models via iTunes might also no longer be available. But that isn’t a faulting of iTunes; it’s a consequence of decisions Apple have made from their servers’ end.
If, however, you rely on your own physical, local library; if you listen to internet streaming radio [EDIT: read below]; or if you listen to other iTunes libraries on your local network (like, say, on a file server), then iTunes 10.6.3, especially when running it on a PowerPC Mac on 10.5.8, is still as useful as the day the revision was issued.
[
EDIT to add: I just opened the streaming radio index, and indeed, when clicking on one of the index tree triangles, iTunes puts up a dialogue box warning, “An error occurred while contacting the radio tuning service.” I’m unclear on whether Apple provided the index service or whether it was a third party. What I always noticed is the lists rarely changed, and I never could figure out how a streaming service could get registered to be listed on this index tree. (I was looking at creating a streaming station of my own a couple of years ago and explored this back then.) My presumption from past use is this index was supplied by a third-party which shared an agreement with Apple to supply the index.
That said, iTunes 10.6.3 still plays streaming radio just fine. It does, however, require a
Cmd-U and pasting the streaming link from urls found on an index web site
like this one.]
At the moment, as a test, I’m listening to a German ’80s radio station on iTunes 10.6.3:
View attachment 2446831
