More than a year after the first announcement and with all the difficulties that Apple and Microsoft have in collaborating on something, the version of iTunes for Windows 10 has finally been released, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store. The advantage of installing iTunes as an application is that now it is not necessary to keep the Apple update program active, because iTunes will always be updated to the latest version from the Microsoft Store, which manages all the installations of the applications in Windows 10.
iTunes has always been a poor program for Windows, except in the latest versions, where despite the cumbersome presence of the store to buy music, it has improved a lot.
The latest version, in fact, has made iTunes for PC an excellent program for listening to music .
iTunes still remains an almost obligatory program for those who own an iOS device because it allows you to manage, transfer and synchronize audio, video and applications files between PC or Mac to iPhone or iPad. It is therefore worth seeing how to download and install iTunes for Windows, now available only in the app version for Windows 10 .
Windows 10 users can download iTunes directly from the app store by clicking this link which opens the Microsoft Store .
The download is quite large, almost 500 MB.
Those who have iTunes already installed do not have to worry and can still download and install the version for Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store without creating duplicates. In fact, it will be asked by the program itself to remove the existing version in order to have only one iTunes on the computer.
All iTunes customizations will remain intact and you will only have to log in with your Apple account to find music, backups and purchases made.
If, on the other hand, you want to download iTunes as a program (who has Windows 7 can only do this), the download of iTunes in Italian for PC or Mac can only be done from external sites such as Filehippo, without the need to enter an Email address, by clicking directly on the Download button.
The first thing you notice after installing and running iTunes 12 is its new, more minimalist and clearer interface .
The sidebar is not displayed by default to leave more room for the main panel.
From the selection menu at the top left you can switch from one collection of multimedia contents to another: Music, TV programs, Movies, Podcasts, Apps and Ringtones. For each category there are different buttons at the top that order the various files or contents taken from the computer.
For example, for music you can sort songs by albums, artists, songs, genres, playlists and radios.
The main menu of iTunes allows you to access preferences and find all the functions of iTunes.
The main functions of iTunes 12 are:
- Libraries with more intuitive navigation and more orderly elements for easier searching.
- Enlarged view when clicking on an album cover with all the information about it.
- MiniPlayer activated with the key combination CTRL-Maisuc-M (or from the menu on the top left).
The MiniPlayer in iTunes is a bar with playback controls to read the title of the song you are listening to and to switch between them without cluttering the screen.
- History function of previews in the Store synchronized between devices via iCloud.
- Full integration with iCloud to find every music or movie purchased on every computer or device connected to the same Apple ID.
The summary of all the new features of iTunes 12 is visible in this 3-minute video guide (activate the subtitles from the button at the bottom right and then the translation of the same into Italian).
Speaking of iTunes on Windows from a technical point of view, even if it remains very large, we see that the problem has improved a lot in terms of performance compared to the past, especially if you install the app version for Windows 10.
The Task Manager lists several iTunes-related processes when the software is running and even when it isn't:
- MobileDeviceHelper.exe, only running when i open iTunes, provides the interface for Apple mobile devices.
- distnoted.exe is a process that appears to be generated by MobileDeviceHelper.exe and is active only when the software is running.
- iTunesHelper.exe is related to communication with iTunes devices.
Basically, if you don't have an iPhone, iPad or iPod, iTunes on Windows is better not to use it at all.
In another article I remember the always valid guide to iTunes
