Users on the Insider Program can now start using preview versions of the Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps that replace iTunes. This has been confirmed by Microsoft as part of a new Windows 11 preview build (25276). However, Apple has now decided to also sunset iTunes on Windows and convert to the macOS apps. Since then, iTunes has continued to exist on Windows as a way to manage media or connect/backup iPhones and iPads. Microsoft’s Windows Surface RT tablet is doing equally poorly in the marketplace.Back in 2019, Apple removed its classic iTunes media player from macOS, replacing it with four separate applications.

So far, Windows 8 adoption has the pace of a slug – it can’t even match Vista’s poor performance. Today, Apple thinks there’s no reason to create an iTunes version for the Windows 8 Metro user interface, which is understandable given Apple’s lead in mobile and the platform/ecosystem battle between Apple, Google and Microsoft. When tech columnist Walt Mossberg at the D 2007 conference asked Steve Jobs why Apple supported a rival platform, he quipped “it’s like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell.”įour years earlier, the same theme was used during the iTunes for Windows announcement at Apple’s keynote and in subsequent advertising on Apple’s web site. This really helped open up the market for iPods, which sync with computers exclusively through iTunes. Initially a Mac-only application, Apple with the October 2003 release of iTunes 4.1 added support for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It’s not for lack of trying,” Reller said. “You shouldn’t expect an iTunes app on Windows 8 any time soon,” Microsoft Windows division finance chief Tami Reller told CNN. Even worse is that owners of the Surface RT tablet – which by the way runs only Microsoft apps – will be stuck with just Redmond’s Music app…

Remember all the back-and-forth between Apple and Microsoft before tablets? We heard echoes of that earlier this week when the software giant announced Apple’s iTunes app won’t be available for Windows 8 Metro tablet users any time soon. Although iTunes continues to be available as a Windows 8 Desktop mode app, the lack of a Metro edition leaves owners of Windows tablets in the cold.

Itunes on microsoft surface