Apple recently announced it is killing iTunes support on older Windows versions. From May 25, 2018, the company will drop support for the iTunes Store on Windows XP and Vista machines. That means users running those aged platforms will not be able to purchase content from Apple’s digital store.
It seems the company has into the decision due to security changes in the iTunes Store. The older Windows versions are not compatible with these changes, so Apple will end the services. If you run Windows Vista or XP, you can continue to use iTunes after the cut of date, but it will not be supported by Apple.
This means you will not be able to use the iTunes Store, but the program will work for playing music and movies installed on your PC. You will also be limited from downloading content you have already bought. If it is not locally stored, it will be lost on XP and Vista.
If you want to use iTunes after the cutoff date, you will can download the service from Apple. The company announced the information on a support document that confirmed the security changes coming on May 25.
Ending Support
It will also kill support for the first-generation Apple TV set top box. Owners of that particular device many be severely limited through this change. Apple is emailing customers with the set top box to tell them about the change.
“Beginning on 2018-05-25, Apple will introduce security changes that prevent Apple TV (1st generation) from using the iTunes Store. This device is an obsolete Apple product and will not be updated to support these security changes.”
With iTunes 12, Windows XP and Windows Vista will lose support. The new minimum PC requirement for the service will be Windows 7. We guess even that old version will be left behind eventually, but at least Apple is still supporting a 10 year plus old OS.
