You can install and setup iTunes on Linux pretty easily! iTunes is a media player and the client app for the iTunes Store, owned and developed by Apple Inc. It can be used for playing, downloading, and organizing your media files and also sync them to other devices. iTunes is the heart of the devices made by Apple Inc. as they only allow iTunes on their system for syncing audio, video, and other data between devices.
iTunes is currently only available for macOS and Windows, but we can luckily use it on Linux using Wine support.
In this article, we will discuss the process of setting up and running iTunes on Linux using Wine.
Wine is free and open-source, and it provides a compatibility layer to run Windows application natively on Unix and Linux based systems.
Setting up Wine to use iTunes on Linux
Firstly, open a terminal from applications or pressing Ctrl+Alt+P, we will first begin by downloading and adding the Wine repository key to our Linux system.
Download and add the Wine repository key, using the following command:
wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
sudo apt-key add winehq.key
The output of above commands will look something like this:
Now, as we have successfully added the repository key for Wine, its time to add the repository to our system.
You can use the below command to add the Wine repository to your system:
sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ groovy main'
After entering the command, it will ask you to confirm adding repository, hit Enter and the repository will be added.
After adding repository, you also need to refresh the package index to get update your local package database.
You can do that with apt update command:
sudo apt update
It will give output like the below, here you can easily find your added Wine repository.
Now, it is time to install Wine to your system. You can install Wine on your system, using the apt command:
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable -y
Once Wine is installed, you can check your installation exists or not using the below command:
wine --version
It will display you the current Wine version as seen below, meaning Wine is now installed on your system.
Now that we have setup Wine on our system, its time to install iTunes.
Installing iTunes on Linux with Wine
Firstly, you will need a iTunes Windows executable file or .exe to install iTunes using Wine support.
You can download iTunes Windows exe from below –
Once, you have downloaded the file, right-click on it and select Open with > Wine. As, it is your first time starting Wine. It will take some time for Wine to configure itself, before starting the iTunes installer.
It will also install Mono and Gecko, as they’re needed for Wine. If you see both of them getting installed, your installation is going smoothly.
After your Wine has configured itself, your iTunes installation will begin. If iTunes installation doesn’t begin, double-click on the downloaded iTunes executable file or right-click on it and select Open with > Wine.
Your installation will begin and you will get a screen similar to one shown below.
Now, click on Next and choose your desired options per your choice, you can change your default language and installation location in this step.
You can also choose to go with default settings and just Install.
After hitting Install, your installation will begin and will take some time to complete.
Once your installation is finished, you will be asked if you choose to open iTunes after exiting installer. If you do not, then untick the option and hit Finish to exit the installer.
Running iTunes on Linux
After you have installed iTunes on your Linux system, you will see that a desktop shortcut for accessing iTunes have been created for easy access.
It will look something like this –
Double-click on the iTunes desktop shortcut to start iTunes. When first time you will be starting the application, it will ask you to agree to a License Agreement.
It will look like the image below –
After agreeing to the Software License Agreement, your iTunes will start.
Additionally, you can also Sign-In into your iTunes account using your Apple ID and password.
As now you have setup iTunes on your Linux machine, you can start using iTunes to access Apple music on your Linux system.
Bonus
- Wine is open-source and you can find its code here.
- Once you have setup Wine, you can also install any other Windows application of your choice on your Linux system.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed an easy approach for setting up iTunes on our Linux system. As there in no Linux package for iTunes, we alternatively used Wine environment to run WIndows application of iTunes on our Linux system. We also mentioned that, in similar way we can use other Windows applications also.