Apple’s new standalone Music app for macOS will still basically be iTunes

It’s been rumored that Apple will break up iTunes into its component parts in the upcoming macOS 10.15, with new Music, Video, and Podcast apps to replace the aging iTunes. But apparently, the new standalone Music app will still be built on the bones of iTunes, not a new, Marzipan-based app, according to a report from 9to5Mac.

So instead of building a new Music app from scratch that would draw on a shared codebase with Apple’s existing standalone Music app on iOS (which is built on the UIKit framework), the new Music app for macOS will still be a regular AppKit Mac app. In other words, it’ll probably still basically be iTunes, but with a few more features cut off into separate apps to allow Apple to better focus on music.

The new Music app is said to keep many of the features that iTunes already offers, including “smart playlists, advanced library management, syncing with iPods and iOS devices, and even disc reading and burning,” which should be good for anyone who relies on those features for day-to-day use. Users who were hoping for a less bogged-down version of iTunes that would solely focus on Music, though, might be more disappointed.

It’s a similar transition to how Apple moved iBooks into its own application back in 2013 with macOS 10.9 Mavericks, only on a larger scale, given the importance of Podcasts and Videos (particularly with Apple TV Plus on the way).

9to5Mac’s report isn’t clear whether those new apps will still be Marizpan-based, but given that those are smaller parts of iTunes with less baggage attached, it’s possible that Apple could choose to go that route. Presumably, we’ll find out more when Apple officially unveils macOS 10.15 at WWDC 2019 in June.