Yes, I could go back and listen to past episodes but I want to ask a modern day question of this smart group.
What’s the point of itunes?
It’s on my mac and I connected my mobile recently to charge it and sure enough, itunes kicks in and starts to Sync - something that I had long forgotten about.
Do you still use iTunes and if so why?
I use it to back up my iOS devices.
I used iTunes for iOS device backup until recently, but I’ve switched to iMazing.
On my iMac, I still use iTunes to listen to Music (Apple Music in the cloud and locally, too).
Apart from that, I do not use iTunes. I prefer iCloud for backups and syncing.
Given iTunes’ nature as the power tool for worst case scenarios like restoring “bricked” iPhones or iPads, I do not see it going away any time soon, though. 
I do as much of my music collection is physical/MP3s. While I was very quick to check things out like Pandora and anticipated Spotify’s arrival to America, I’ve never been sold on music streaming. That may be partly due to the fact I listen to a lot of ‘DIY/underground’ music and I’d much rather purchase the actual vinyl or it off of bandcamp to make sure my money spent on the music actually goes to the artist I want it to go to vs being a fraction of a penny and people like Drake gets majority of my subscribers fee.
That said I think the program is due for a refresh. I recently did the 3 month Apple Music subscription and while ok, their discovery is extremely lacking compared to Spotify. I see two paths for it.
Honesty that’s my biggest issue with Spotify is that my personal collection is not integrated it has no really idea of much of my listening habits before 2011(?) and honestly I use streaming to check out recommended bands. That said even having my music collection Apple Music’s recommendation engine is severely lacking. As a person who listened to a lot of pop punk as a kid it’s somewhat insulting recommending me the ‘Intro to blink-182’ when I have their whole discography in my library.
Honestly they need a team to really look at the application because just from a library management perspective there are some weird bugs that happen for years with no fix. There are 1 or 2 bands where for some reason get split into two groups and only 4 of their songs and the metadata matches to the point that I’m not sure why it happens.
I try to avoid iTunes. I quit ripping CDs a decade or more ago, and I’m ok with Apple Music for most things. (The the iOS interface needs work as @bbech wrote, above.)
iPhone and iPad backups to iMazing – it is very reliable and tech support is prompt and helpful, though rarely needed.
When bloggers or tech sites post links to apps, and the links open in iTunes, I feel that’s an annoyance. Would be better to post links to the developer’s website.
It seems like half of iOS developers’ websites don’t have any info on them other than a link to their app in the app store (which opens in iTunes on the Mac). For sites like those, at least, why not just cut out the middleman?
iTunes used to be the gateway into Apple. Now its chasing users out.
I hate iTunes…
I was actually referring to the desktop app but yes.
iTunes was the first music player/management application that fit how I wanted it to be. Also my first interaction with anything from Apple outside of like 1 or 2 computers that I probably spent 5 minutes on in grade school. It saddens me to see it get bloated and so buggy.
I only use iTunes to drag an album into my library and to occasionally take an extra backup. It’s not something I really use because of iCloud, AirPlay, AirPods, etc. However, there will always be a need for a media player and manager on Mac that’s integrated with Apple’s services as long as people use the Mac. iTunes isn’t irrelevant just because I set all my music up to run through iOS.
Bloggers should pay attention and chose the best option, obviously. Really.
Before The Beatles came to streaming services it was my Beatles player. Now it’s a place to have a full encrypted local backup done
iTunes was the first mainstream marketplace for digital music. It was what enabled the world to buy and download single tracks, and not the entire album. Groundbreaking it was. Could be kinda expensive after a few beers on a Friday night, but still way cheaper than getting the albums. And your playlist got better for it.
Along came Spotify, and the game changed again. Play any track you want for a fixed price each month. This model took off, and we now have a multitude of streaming providers. As a music lover, this might be THE favorite thing about living in the future.
For local media management, iTunes still may have a role to play, but its importance is quickly approaching zero.
I think iTunes desktop is the only way to put custom ringtones on to your phone without going to the iTunes Store. Unless that’s been changed recently?
The only time iTunes launches on my Mac it is accidental and it ticks me off every time!
I am really used to manually backing up my devices using iTunes every weekend. I don’t listen to music very much so backing up of my iPhone, iPad and sometimes my archaic iPod is probably the thing I use iTunes for the most.
I back up my iPhone via iCloud but also twice a month as an encrypted backup to iTunes. It’s significantly faster to restore from an iTunes backup (ro an existing or a new device) than having to re-download everything via Wi-Fi.
Although I have some 3rd-party apps for viewing videos I manage most of my ‘home videos’ (which includes everything from music videos to videos downloaded from YouTube/Vimeo, etc) as well as all my iTunes purchases via iTunes.
When I want to save a podcast I save the file into iTunes and gets put in a folder.
I have over 36,000 songs ripped into iTunes, and iTunes is outstanding at creating Genius playlists and Genius Mixes.
THIS!!! I cannot begin to dive into how much I hate iTunes. Yes, it was amazing at the start. But then came the duplicates. And then the duplicates of duplicates. The hacks to “share” music.
Can I remove iTunes from my Mac - Nope. And every once in awhile it fires up to remind me that it wants to connect to Steve Jobs.
I still have hundreds of cds (that were all painstakingly loaded into iTunes at one point). But they don’t get touched. Sometimes I do long for a b-side cut of some song,
I broke about six months ago and purchased a Spotify family plan. We constantly send each other newly discovered songs, playlists, etc…
I’ve moved on.
Yeah, are used to as well but I found that when running ‘Cleanmy Mac’ I was being reminded of the massive memory drain that it was taking to hang onto old backups that I just didn’t need. It feels less dangerous considering iCloud backs up anyway. Yes, I know it’s a bit slow but it beats losing all of that memory surely?
Thanks @ChrisUpchurch I’d never heard of that before. Looks pretty good. My only consideration is how much is actually use it considering the price 
