Apple reveals plans for a post-iTunes world

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off overnight, with the tech giant previewing macOS Catalina, the latest version of its desktop operating system, packed with new features, fresh new apps and new technology for developers.

As forecast, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and the Apple TV app replace iTunes.

The new Music app for Mac is lightning fast and easy to use.

Apple Music will help users discover great new music with over 50 million songs, playlists and music videos.

Users will have access to their entire music library, whether they downloaded the songs, purchased them or ripped them from a CD.

For those who like to own their music, the iTunes Music Store is just a click away.

The all-new Apple TV app features Apple TV channels, personalised recommendations and over 100,000 iTunes movies and TV shows to browse, buy or rent.

Apple Podcasts app offers over 700,000 shows in its catalogue and the option to automatically be notified of new episodes as soon as they become available.

The app also features new categories, curated collections by editors around the world and advanced search tools that can find episodes by host, guest or even discussion topic.

The all-new Sidecar feature enables users to extend their Mac desktop by using their iPad as a second display or as a high-precision input device across creative Mac apps.

New security features keep users better protected and Voice Control lets users control their Mac entirely with their voice.

Said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering. “Users will appreciate how they can expand their workspace with Sidecar, enabling new ways of interacting with Mac apps using iPad and Apple Pencil.

“With new developer technologies, users will see more great third-party apps arrive on the Mac this (northern) spring.”

These include Jira Cloud, Twitter and Asphalt 9.