Apple has issued a new support document clarifying that in macOS Catalina, ‘ all your favorite iTunes features, including the iTunes Store, will soon be available in three new and more focused apps.
iTunes is going places.
- Now that macOS Catalina is here, you’ll notice that the iTunes app (not the iTunes Store) is gone. It’s been broken up into Music, Podcasts, and TV apps, similar to the arrangement in iOS and iPadOS. The new Music app offers access to your entire music library, whether you downloaded the songs, purchased them or ripped them from a CD.
- If there’s a headline feature for Catalina, it’s surely that iTunes has been broken up into several different apps: Music, Apple TV, and Podcasts. Each is better at its individual task than it.
Download macOS Catalina for an all-new entertainment experience. Your music, movies, podcasts and audiobooks will transfer automatically to the Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts and Apple Books apps where you’ll still have access to your favourite iTunes features, including purchases, rentals and imports.
You can always download iTunes 12.8 for previous versions of macOS,
as well as the iTunes application for Windows.
Hardware:
- Mac computer with an Intel processor
- To play 720p HD video, an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras, a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor is required
- To play 1080p HD video, a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor and 2GB of RAM are required
- Screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater; 1280x800 or greater is required to play an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras
- Internet connection to use Apple Music, the iTunes Store and iTunes Extras
- Apple combo drive or SuperDrive to create audio, MP3 or backup CDs; some non-Apple CD-RW recorders may also work. Songs from the Apple Music catalogue cannot be burnt to a CD.
Software:
- OS X version 10.10.5 or later
- 400MB of available disk space
- Apple Music, iTunes Store and iTunes Match availability may vary by country
- Apple Music trial requires sign-up and is available for new subscribers only. Plan automatically renews after trial.
iTunes
Download the latest version for Windows.
The latest entertainment apps now come installed with macOS Catalina. Upgrade today to get your favourite music, movies, TV shows and podcasts. You can join Apple Music and stream — or download and play offline — over 70 million songs, ad‑free.
iTunes
Download the latest version from the Microsoft Store.
Hardware:
- PC with a 1GHz Intel or AMD processor with support for SSE2 and 512MB of RAM
- To play standard definition video from the iTunes Store, an Intel Pentium D or faster processor, 512MB of RAM and a DirectX 9.0–compatible video card are required
- To play 720p HD video, an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras, a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor, 1GB of RAM and an Intel GMA X3000, ATI Radeon X1300 or NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or better are required
- To play 1080p HD video, a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor, 2GB of RAM and an Intel GMA X4500HD, ATI Radeon HD 2400 or NVIDIA GeForce 8300 GS or better are required
- Screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater; 1280x800 or greater is required to play an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras
- 16-bit sound card and speakers
- Internet connection to use Apple Music, the iTunes Store and iTunes Extras
- iTunes-compatible CD or DVD recorder to create audio CDs, MP3 CDs, or backup CDs or DVDs. Songs from the Apple Music catalogue cannot be burnt to a CD.
Software:
- Windows 10
- 64-bit editions of Windows require the iTunes 64-bit installer
- 400MB of available disk space
- Some third-party visualisers may no longer be compatible with this version of iTunes. Please contact the developer for an updated visualiser that is compatible with iTunes 12.1 or later.
- Apple Music, iTunes Store and iTunes Match availability may vary by country
- Apple Music trial requires sign-up and is available for new subscribers only. Plan automatically renews after trial.
iTunes is going places.
Visit the iTunes Store on iOS to buy and download your favourite songs, TV shows, movies and podcasts. You can also download macOS Catalina for an all-new entertainment experience on desktop. Your library will transfer automatically to the new Apple Music app, Apple TV and Apple Podcasts. And you’ll still have access to your favourite iTunes features, including your previous iTunes Store purchases, rentals and imports, and the ability to easily manage your library.
Music, TV and podcasts
take centre stage.
iTunes forever changed the way people experienced music, movies and podcasts. It all changes again with three all-new, dedicated apps — Apple Music, Apple TV and Apple Podcasts — each designed from the ground up to be the best way to enjoy entertainment on your Mac. And rest assured; everything you had in your iTunes library is still accessible in each app. iCloud seamlessly syncs everything across your devices — or you can back up, restore and sync by connecting the device directly to your Mac.
The new Apple Music app is the ultimate music streaming experience on Mac.1 Explore a library of over 70 million songs, discover new artists and tracks, find the perfect playlist, download and listen offline, or enjoy all the music you’ve collected over the years. And find it all in your music library on all your devices.
The Apple TV app for Mac is the new home for all your favourite movies and Apple TV+. Watch everything directly in the app or enjoy it offline, and discover the best of what’s on in the Watch Now tab. You can even pick up where you left off on any screen, across all your devices. And for the first time, 4K2 and Dolby Atmos3–supported movies are available on Mac.
The best entertainment, comedy, news and sports shows are now available on your Mac with Apple Podcasts. Search for podcasts by title, topic, guest, host, content and more. Subscribe and be notified as soon as new episodes become available. And in the Listen Now tab, you can easily pick up where you left off across all your devices.
iTunes Support can help answer your questions
Get help with syncing, updating to a more recent version of iTunes or with an iTunes Store purchase — and much more.
Learn moreLooking for a previous version of iTunes?
Download earlier versions of iTunes to work with compatible operating systems and hardware.
Find previous versions of iTunesItunes For Catalina
This guide will take you step by step through the process of getting iTunes to work on a Mac running macOS Catalina (10.15).
While plenty of people are glad iTunes is gone, that doesn’t mean everyone is happy about it. Using the free and open source app Retroactive, getting iTunes back on your Mac is a breeze. Note: this amazing app also allows you to install Aperture and iPhoto in macOS Catalina.
- Head over to the Retroactive home page and click the large Click to download the Retroactive app link.
- After you’ve opened and extracted the contents of the .zip file, instead of double-clicking the app to run it, right-click (or ctrl + click) it.
- Select Open from the context menu.
- In all likelihood, an error message will appear. Don’t fret, just click OK
- Right-click the app again and select Open
- This time the error message should include an Open button – click it.
- Select iTunes – you can re-run the app and install Aperture or iPhoto later if you’d like.
- Choose the version of iTunes you’d like to install and then click Continue
- Before the installation can start you’ll need to authenticate, so click the Authenticate button.
- Enter the same username and password you use to sign into your Mac and click OK
- Now you may want to go grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee – this is probably going to take a while.
- Before the installation can finish you’ll need to authenticate yet again.
- Finally! Click the Launch iTunes button.
- Ta-da! Now you have iTunes up and running on your Mac again :)
- Going forward you can launch iTunes from your Applications folder the same way you used to.