iTunes - Music, Multimedia and more
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iTunes is a multimedia player and device manager. A comprehensive music store, originally made for Apple users to download and play music. Now available on Windows too, iTunes is the perfect place to organise music, watch TV shows and movies, create playlists and more. Through iTunes, users are equipped to record CDs, edit music files, purchase music and videos from the iTunes Store, and basically access music easily and legally
What is iTunes used for?
Most users primarily use iTunes for music. Music lovers from the early 2000s can recall how novel the experience of organizing and playing music was to that generation, with the new iTunes. Today, even though multiple other multimedia players, music apps, and stores are available, Apple users still rely on their iTunes for their music repository. Playing music sorted by artist, song, or album is so easy, that it’s a delight to organize music according to our preferences.
What are the key features?
iTunes is an excellent program to organize and a personal music repository. Thousands of downloaded songs and albums are easy to categorize, sort, and create custom playlists. Essentially an mp3 player, iTunes allows users to shuffle through their song collection, to experience randomized song playlists, enhancing the listening experience. For Apple users, iTunes can sync on multiple devices, so you can maintain the iTunes library across devices. The visualizer feature adds graphical effects to the song being played, adding a new layer to the music experience. iTunes is also a great platform for movies and TV shows, One can edit, rename, or move files, and even change the file format. The music can be played across devices, which are not restricted to Apple devices anymore. One can easily purchase music through the iTunes store, and have access to millions of songs and albums from across the world. iTunes also now has a Radio feature, which connects you to radio streaming channels from across the world, covering a number of genres, topics, and music preferences. While predominantly perceived as a music organizer, iTunes also has a vast library of e-books, podcasts, audiobooks, videos, and more.iTunes is, in fact, ideal to store audiobooks and organize them properly.
What are the plus points of iTunes?
An excellent user-friendly interface, with simple navigation and features, makes iTunes a great platform to store and experience music. For those users who remember having to sieve through messy folders for music, iTunes came as an absolute boon. Now, apps and music are so readily available, iTunes is still the place to store an entire library of downloaded mp3, which is not streaming online, but owned by the user. Whether users access it from the Mac or from an iPhone or any Windows system, the quality of the program and the seamless experience remains the same.
The features like shuffle are delightful in introducing forgotten songs and bring up some surprises that make the music experience unique and wonderful. iTunes is also now available on Windows, so the benefits are not restricted to Apple devices only, but one can also access iTunes through the Microsoft Store. Another big advantage of iTunes is that one can sync it across devices. So no matter which Apple device you’re using, the music library can be available.
What are the minus points of iTunes?
The biggest drawback of iTunes is the restrictive nature of acquiring music or accessing new music. While the program itself is free, most new features require a paid subscription. Radio or streaming of videos also requires a paid subscription or is pay-to-download. Other music apps or even YouTube, which offer so much readily available free content for streaming are fast becoming the user preference. Music lovers do not now need to download songs, that they can stream any time. Unless one has a large library of downloaded music, millennial listeners just need to go on any streaming app and get access to unlimited songs and music videos.
What are the alternatives to iTunes?
iTunes has a number of alternatives for different features. For music, online streaming apps like Spotify, Amazon Music, or any localized music apps. For videos, the biggest competitor is YouTube, where a massive repository of videos lies. For movies and TV shows, there are streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney +, etc.
What features are available with the paid subscriptions?
There are three payment plans: Individual, Family, University Student. The per/month charges depend on the region you are in. The plans give access to around 50 million songs for free, plus usage options. Individual plans can only be used by a single user, family plans can include up to 6 people, and university student plan, which requires a criteria verification. The plans give access to Apple TV and Apple Music as well. iTunes Radio is also accessible under subscription. Apple Music has an extensive library of music, from all over the world and all genres. One also gets access to some of the best podcasts and audiobooks in the world, which are exclusively available on Apple Music. Apple TV is a streaming platform, like Netflix or Prime Video, that offers a wide range of movies, TV shows, and web series.
What is the verdict on iTunes?
An excellent multimedia library and device manager, that lets users maintain a personalized library of songs that are saved, instead of streamed. The downloaded or ripped files belong to the user and are accessible at any time. Even in the age of online streaming, there is merit in having a collection of music, video, and books, just for personal consumption, and iTunes allows users to maintain this expansive collection. iTunes is easy to use, great for sorting music according to artists, albums, genres, and songs. Even with no internet or net facility, one can access music on the device and is a personalized media consumption. iTunes is the go-to library for users with a vast collection of music, and with a Windows version, it now has a reach much wider than the Apple loyalists.
