Answers to some of your iTunes questions: Old libraries, Windows, and more

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  Apple will replace iTunes with Music, Podcasts, and TV on Mac. [credit:
  Ron Amadeo
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SAN JOSE, Calif.—After much speculation and fanfare in the press, Apple confirmed today that it will sunset iTunes in the next version of macOS and spin its functionality into three new apps—Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV. As we noted earlier, this marks the end of an era of sorts on the Mac—but there were plenty of unanswered questions. What features will Music retain from iTunes? And what happens to Windows users who are dependent on iTunes?

While some details are still fuzzy and will remain that way until we start digging into the beta releases, we got some broad answers from Apple on those top-level questions.

Old iTunes libraries and files

Apple Music in macOS Catalina will import users’ existing music libraries from iTunes in their entirety, Apple says. That includes not just music purchased on iTunes, but rips from CDs, MP3s, and the like added from other sources.