I am somewhat confused by the iTunes Store app. iTunes doesn't exist anymore, and on macOS we just have three apps: Music, Podcasts, and TV. So what is this iTunes Store app for? Why not add the iTunes Store to the Music app like in macOS?
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What's the point of the iTunes Store app?
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It's partly historic - iOS just hasn't caught up yet. And partly limited UI opportunities on the smaller iOS devices for both local music, Apple Music, and music purchase and ringtones all in one. macOS moved to the several apps instead of iTunes to get more in-line with iOS from a normal usage perspective, where the store is rarely used. Instead of introducing a new iTunes Store app on macOS which would feel weird at that point, the relevant store sections got baked into the individual apps. iOS already had the individual apps but also the iTunes Store. I'm sure iOS will eventually lose the iTunes Store as well, but iTunes also still exists on Windows, so things haven't quite coalesced yet
With whatever replaces iTunes for Windows - Probably a plugin to Explorer to keep it inline with how it's done through the Finder on the Mac
You could get DVDs from Tower Records.
I also don't understand why we can buy movies from the TV app, but also from the iTunes Store app. Isn't that the same?
I think they have left it in place solely to taunt all of those of us who have had issues trying to locate everything in the wake of the demise of iTunes (Home videos, gone! Playlists, gone! Old ripped music, gone! Photos, good luck!).
sigh.
sigh.
iTunes Store, however feeling redundant it is, is how some people like me who lived through the period of buying CD ripping off music from them, buying music.
Also, not everyone wants to stream music/movie etc or like the idea of renting everything. Ownership, despite being heavily attacked from all sides, still has lots of supporters.
These factors make iTunes Store still relevant even today, although given Apple’s track record, I can see Apple forcing everyone to stream contents instead of purchasing contents to maximise their service revenue.
Also, not everyone wants to stream music/movie etc or like the idea of renting everything. Ownership, despite being heavily attacked from all sides, still has lots of supporters.
These factors make iTunes Store still relevant even today, although given Apple’s track record, I can see Apple forcing everyone to stream contents instead of purchasing contents to maximise their service revenue.
This is not the point that OP is making. This isn’t a streaming vs owning topic. He/she understands why the purchasing platform still exists but doesn’t understand why it’s not being baked into their respective Music.app and TV.app like it is on MacOS. On MacOS, there is no iTunes app anymore, but the iTunes functions still exist. You can still purchase albums in the Music app like you could before and purchase movies in the TV app like you could with iTunes. So why isn’t it the same for iOS which has the same exact apps? Why is there still a separate iTunes app?
Home videos, in the TV app, playlists and ripped music in the Music app, Photos; Why would that be affected by iTunes being removed? iTunes was never a photo app - they’re still in Photos, the app that long ago now replaced iPhoto
home videos I had to find in an old file and drag and drop into Apple TV which then created the home video “file”. Playlists gone forever, ripped music had to be brought over from an old iTunes library(with all artwork changed to Frank Sinatra’s Christmas album - awesome) and the Photos were still there but there was an issue transferring specific albums to my iPhone. It was a mess.
Hmmm. Sorry to hear you had such troubles.
I did not have this problem at all. Most if not all of my music is ripped and were automatically transferred from iTunes to the Music app along with the artwork and playlists. And I don’t have any home videos, but a “home videos” tab is present in my TV app.
Because macOS never had a separate "iTunes Store" app; it was always built-in to iTunes, and the "Music" app is essentially iTunes with all the non-music sections removed. There's really no reason (imo) to expend the effort to integrate the store into various iOS apps when the dedicated iTunes Store app already exists and works perfectly fine.
I hope they keep it. There are certain things that I know are in the iTunes Store that I can only find on this app versus when I search in the new Catalina TV app. Things like bundles and what not. Not sure why they are missing from the new applications
