The internet went nuts a few days ago after a blogger said Apple Music deleted his entire music library, and that Apple's own support people told him that's exactly how it's supposed to work. That's flat-out wrong, although Apple has confirmed there's an esoteric iTunes bug where music is deleted, and a fix is coming in the next couple days. That's good news, but won't be enough to stop growing dissatisfaction with the app.
iTunes bug fixes won't be enough to make users happy
Apple told iMore,
In an extremely small number of cases users have reported that music files saved on their computer were removed without their permission. We're taking these reports seriously as we know how important music is to our customers and our teams are focused on identifying the cause. We have not been able to reproduce this issue, however, we're releasing an update to iTunes early next week which includes additional safeguards. If a user experiences this issue they should contact AppleCare.
Apple hasn't been able to reproduce the music deletion problem, which means no one knows exactly why some iTunes users lost their music libraries. That may not be overly reassuring, but it does put an end to the idea that Apple is intentionally deleting our music libraries and forcing us to use copies from Apple Music instead.
Part of the problem may be that iTunes has become too confusing for some users. Dialogs with buttons saying "Remove" and "Delete," for example, where one keeps your locally saved songs and the other gets rid of them, aren't easy to understand and are frustration when users learn the hard way they just wiped away songs they meant to keep.
John Kheit, The Mac Observer's Devil's Advocate, is calling for Apple to split iTunes into several task-focused apps. John Martellaro says iTunes is Apple's worst app, and that it's time for something new to take its place. Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus says iTunes needs to die and he, too, thinks it's time for separate feature apps.
They aren't alone in their frustration with iTunes. A quick Google search for iTunes sucks shows pages and pages of blog posts, articles, and YouTube videos detailing why so many people flat-out hate the app.
Part of the problem may be that users and Apple no longer share the same vision for iTunes. Many users want iTunes to be a personal music library curation and playback tool, while Apple is leaning more towards streaming music. Mix different app goals with ongoing bugs and confusing interface elements, and it's no wonder users are so openly angry with iTunes.
Improving confusing interface elements and fixing music-deleting bugs is a nice start, but it's clear Apple has a long way to go before users are happy with iTunes—or at least are on board with Apple's vision for what iTunes will become.