Now that Apple is phasing out iTunes with macOS Catalina, customers might be wondering what's going to happen to all their music files stored over the old application?
On Wednesday, Apple supplied answers on a company support page that lays out what's changing, and what's not. Essentially, all your tracks stored in the iTunes library should automatically port over to the new Apple Music app, which will arrive with macOS Catalina when it rolls out in the fall.
This includes any music you "ripped" from a CD, or imported elsewhere. The same goes for the playlists you've meticulously created on iTunes. Audiobooks, on the other hand, will end up in the Apple Books app.
As for movies and TV shows you've bought on iTunes, they'll appear in the new Apple TV app, which is also coming to macOS Catalina.
"Your entire media collection will find a new home and transition automatically into the new Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts apps," the support page says. "The new apps organize your media just like the same apps on iOS."
Apple will continue to accept your iTunes gifts card and credits too. You can use them to make purchases over the three new apps. In addition, iTunes itself will continue to live on as an online digital store for people who prefer buying albums and movies. You'll find it in the sidebar on the Apple Music app.
But what about device management? Or when you hook up an iPhone to a Mac? Apple is offloading the work from iTunes to the Finder app on macOS.
"Your sync settings and previous backups in iTunes will be kept safe on your Mac after updating to macOS Catalina," the support page says. "Now that devices appear in Finder, it's also easier to drag and drop files you want to transfer all in one place."
The support page doesn't answer every question, like what happens to your non-iTunes purchased video files, which you may have ripped from a DVD. We've asked Apple for clarification.
For now, the iTunes phase out only applies to macOS users. The iTunes experience will remain unchanged for Windows users.