Yep, We Waited a Year for This (Premium)

One year ago, Microsoft announced that Apple iTunes was coming to Windows 10's app store. It passed for a sort of blockbuster announcement at the time. But iTunes is part of Apple's legacy past, and it is not a modern app like Apple Music.

Meaning, this is nothing to get excited about. In fact, that it took a full year for Apple to just release its years-old desktop application in new packaging is nothing less than insulting. It's literally everything you need to know about this company's attitude towards its Luddite customers who still use desktop PCs (including, by the way, the Mac).

Are there any advantages to using the Store version of iTunes? After all, Store apps---even Desktop Bridge apps like this piece of garbage---are supposed to impact the performance of the PC less than traditional desktop applications. One of the ways in which they do that is to centralize application updating. And Store apps shouldn't need to add startup items that run each time your PC boots.

The Microsoft Store version of iTunes still adds two items to your Startup folder, iTunes Helper and iTunes Mobile Device Helper, the latter of which is enabled by default. I assume app updating does happen through the Store, but it's not clear.

Regardless, iTunes in the Store is still a resource pig, and an ugly and old-fashioned app. And it is yet another example of the low-quality crap that we have to put up with in the Microsoft Store. Apple will never release an Apple Music app for Windows, and most certainly not one that is limited to just Windows 10. But what they could---should---do is make web client that works on any desktop platform. This is called "doing the minimum."

It's a low bar. And yet here we are, one year later. And Apple has somehow found a way to do less than the minimum. What a freaking embarrassment for everyone.

 

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