While the former two links lead directly to iTunes downloads, the Microsoft Store includes an app landing page with mostly negative reviews: 46% of responding Store users rated iTunes with only one star. While Apple officially updated its iTunes webpage today to steer Mac users toward macOS Catalina, which deprecates iTunes in favor of Finder-based device backup tools and separate media apps, Windows users are presented with three choices: standard 64-bit and 32-bit Windows apps, plus a Microsoft Store version built for Windows 10 S mode devices. Sixteen years after iTunes debuted on PCs - a gesture then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs likened to “giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell” - the app shows no sign of leaving Microsoft’s platform, where it’s continuing to infuriate PC customers. Today’s release of macOS Catalina may reduce complaints from Mac iTunes users regarding Apple’s famously bloated media management and playback app, but for Windows users, the misery appears set to go on indefinitely. Join gaming leaders online at GamesBeat Summit Next this upcoming November 9-10.
