My colleague Christopher Phin, writing on Macworld, says:
The user interface for syncing with an iPod got shifted from iSync to iTunes, and while both that and every other decision to bolt new functionality onto iTunes makes sense in isolation, the aggregate effect, as we know, is the messy and flabby app we see today.
Alas, any accusation of “bloat” – which I think is misguided – ignores the fact that when specific features of software aren’t running, they don’t affect the software’s performance. They may affect the interface – I’m thinking of Microsoft Office and its ribbons – but not the way an app runs. Removing sync won’t change anything.
But there’s one more reason why Apple won’t bring back iSync, or a related tool: Windows. iTunes on the Mac is part of a broader group of system frameworks; on Windows, it’s different. Adding another app to Windows would make things a lot more complicated for the majority of iTunes users. And I don’t think that splitting iTunes into two, or six, or however many apps is beneficial to Mac users either…