iTunes has officially outlived its usefulness for me. Here is why I’m ditching it and going pure iOS and iCloud.
#1 Updates are done on the device itself.
In the past, the only reason I installed iTunes was to install updates on my iOS devices. Since updating to iOS 5, I can bypass iTunes and do all of the updates on the device itself. It’s hard to say what took so long for Apple. Perhaps they took note of Android which has a built-in update feature right out of the box. Or perhaps Apple had the technology all along but chose not to update it due to strategic reasons (itunes….). Either way, I love wireless updates!
#2 Backups are made directly to iCloud
Most of my sensitive data I carry around is already backed up using other services like Dropbox or email servers. Backups via iTunes has always been fairly easy, accessible and automatic however with the introduction of iCloud, this all changes.
iCloud makes backup easier by backing up everything to Apple’s new iCloud. Everyone receives 5 GB for free which is plenty for my needs and probably most people out there especially if you’re using iTunes Match to backup and store all your music.
Another added benefit is portability. Now that my data is in the cloud, I can pull it down from anywhere in the world vs. only my home computer.
#3 Previous purchases are available in the App Store.
Okay, this one is moderately new to both iOS and iTunes, but it takes away the need to keep track of purchases by storing them on my computer. It used to be terrifying nerve-wracking re-downloading deleted apps. The price displayed and made you click buy even though you thought… you owned it already. Downloading the App was always a leap of faith. I always held my breath tapping the buy button hoping the message (this is free cause you already own it) would appear. although the app was free since I already owned it however Despite this feature being slightly more robust on iTunes, it’s also on individual iOS devices so once again, no need for iTunes here.
#4 iCloud syncs new purchases to all devices.
I personally don’t have more than one iOS device, but I can imagine this would be a handy feature for anyone who does. Rather than using iTunes to download and seamlessly sync apps across devices, all of it is now done wirelessly via iCloud.
Photo: Creative Commons
#5 iTunes sucks
I’m sick of putting up with iTunes, and not just because iTunesHelper runs in the background 24/7. I’ve had iTunes installed for over 4 years, and if you ask me that was 4 years too long. 
- iTunes is a system hog that uses up to 150MB of RAM while idle, sometimes more.
- The Apple Software Update system asks me to update Quicktime and install Safari, and there is no way to opt out of this.
- iTunes sync is not very backwards compatible, it likes to erase purchases made through the mobile store on the device.
- iTunes is buggy and sometimes crashes for no reason. Once I rated a few hundred songs, iTunes crashed and took all the ratings with it.
- iTunes continually requires updates itself, just to be able to update to the latest iOS version. We’re not talking small updates either, these are full reinstalls vs. patches. Sorry, that’s just sloppy.
Although there may be more than five reasons to ditch iTunes, five is enough for me personally. Do you think you could live without iTunes? Do you plan to dump it? I would love to hear your feedback as well as your favorite iTunes Alternatives.
14 Comments
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Mike
November 17, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Dude you forgot the most recent obvious thing. iTunes launches itself constantly if you enable syncing via WiFi! Sooooo annoying. When I close you…….STAY CLOSED!!!
Shaina
November 17, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Perhaps its just windows but itunes is really bad for me too. it’s super slow and crashes a lot. is it slow like that on the mac?
Josh Windisch
November 17, 2011 at 9:17 pm
No it’s actually quite good on the Mac, in my opinion. On Windows though you’re right, it’s quite miserable. It’s slow, clunky and just looks out of place on Windows. On the mac, however, it blends in and works quite well (most of the time anyway. It sometimes hangs up when syncing and stuff).
Josh Windisch
November 17, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Also I just would like to say I love your last reason… “It sucks” haha…it’s plenty good of reason I suppose!
stephanie
November 17, 2011 at 11:29 pm
How can I open iPhone in FINDER? It seems the only way to read the iPhone is in iTunes…
Adeline
November 18, 2011 at 6:29 am
The first smartphone I got was an Android device. There wasn’t much of a hoopla about it. In India, the iPhone was the big deal, and if you owned one, you were royalty. So got one at the beginning of this year and was appalled to find out that I had to keep syncing the damn phone every time I wanted to download an app. And then download this chunky iTunes thing and keep coaxing it every time it acted up! It’s put me off the iPhone completely in spite of the iCloud services now. You certainly need to pat yourself on the back for putting up with it for 4 loong years :)
Ray
November 21, 2011 at 9:52 am
You download apps directly to the iPhone, no need to use iTunes.
Steve
November 18, 2011 at 7:35 am
I too, didn’t not like Itunes right out of the chute, My take that if this is intro in Apple products they did NOT sway me in the least. However, that said what is better? some of the so called alternatives are even more raw than Itunes
Quoting Ben Stine…..”Anyone???? Anyone…
Got to be some coder’s who can rock the world with something better!
Peace and tunes to all
Steve
WastinMyFlavor
November 18, 2011 at 9:39 am
I too am starting the move of all of my music away from iTunes. I’ll be uploading it all to Amazon’s cloud drive and re-importing everything to the MS Zune software.
I was holding back for quite a while because I thought iTunes was the best RSS for podcasts, but I’ve been playing around with Zune and have found all but one of my podcasts through them too. So buh-bye iTunes!
*Note: I know the Zune software can also be a resource hog, but with it being more integrated with Windows, it seems much less intrusive than iTunes. Also, it should be noted that while I have aging iPods lying around, my wife and I have Windows Phone 7.5 devices (that we LOVE), so this integration too is a no-brainer…
Robert Anderson
September 24, 2013 at 1:54 am
I’ve been slowly switching from the PC to the Mac for over a year now (I have eight PCs, a Mac mini and a new iMac, and about the only thing I don’t like about OS X is iTunes. Do I really need it shoved down my throat?
I understand commerce. I’m perfectly capable of creating my own playlists.
I’m seriously wondering why Apple needs to know what I listen to or watch, although I know why they do. I seem to recall from my college days that that might have something to do with commerce.
I’ve considered just deleting the program, but I haven’t been a Mac person long enough to fully understand what that might cost me.
Is it just me? Nah…….
I’m gonna give this maybe a week and then iTunes will be history here unless somebody out there can explain to me why I need it.
I thank you for your help.
B Man
November 21, 2011 at 5:23 pm
I’ve not had a problem with iTunes on Windows but like the idea of having my iPod Touch unleashed. Thing is, I listen to piles of podcasts and have yet to find an easy way to ask my iPod to fetch the latest of everything. Is there a way to ask for all updated podcasts and apps like one can from iTunes? Am I missing something?
Dan
March 13, 2012 at 11:32 am
Sticher is the free app you need to sync your podcasts to your ipod without itunes. I use it every day and listen to tons of podcasts.
Holly
July 31, 2013 at 8:59 pm
I just looked for iTunes on my pc and it was gone! It was there a couple of weeks ago! So maybe I’ll just do a happy dance since it decided to quit all on its own.
applecanblowme
December 2, 2014 at 11:49 pm
So fed up with itunes. I tried to download a song and now it asks me for my password twice and after that it needs security questions answered. Holy hell cant believe nobody at apple has noticed this intrusive as hell bs.
If you really need security reassurance, why dont you do what banks do and require a cell text verification to confirm? F itunes