One day, we'll wake up and find iTunes, the app, has just gone away…
Podcasts app is the clear signal. Step-by-step, Apple is working to eliminate iTunes itself and just do purchases/downloads/library management via the apps.
Dumb as this sounds (breaking up the brand), it may eventually be less cumbersome than iTunes is now.
Personally I've never had a problem with iTunes and the myriad functions it performs - might as well do it all in one place. And I love having an archive (and a Time Machine backup) of -everything-, especially years of podcasts. I just don't trust the cloud to keep everything I want it to keep. Already, you cannot get back Apps that are no longer available, for example. But I can see the thinking - let the Apps manage their own content and iTunes can just go-away.
I love having the power of a computer to manage all that stuff. Being able to see it all at a glance, change settings, wipe and fill iOS devices. I can imagine better ways to do it, like having the device appear on the desktop and double click & right click to manage it… and so on.
Certainly, we could do with a more Mac-like way of dealing with content. I found myself wanting to clear space on my iPhone, the other day (to fit more podcasts, of course). Image Capture may be primitive, but at least it tells me the sizes of videos & panoramas, so I can prioritise them and delete them. Windows with drag and drop and the ability to sort by kind or size, to name just a couple of Mac-like features our iOS devices desperately need. Doesn't have to be for all content, but it would bring iOS at least into the 1980s.
You might deduce that I think iOS needs an overhaul more desperately than iTunes, but that's a whole topic unto itself.
I will miss the clunker iTunes with every ugly thing, neatly tucked away behind the friendly storefront…
If you're looking for One good reason why iTunes seems doomed to never get that complete re-write it deserves, it might be because Apple doesn't intend it to be a long term solution (past 10 years, not withstanding).
I do wonder how long it will take Apple to reach such an iTunes-free utopia, though. In my lifetime??
