iTunes is magical compared to it and that is saying something...

I've spent enough time helping the elderly on computers that changes to see these changes as revealing a deeply problematic arrogance. Drastic, forced changes to basic OS functionality should be illegal (not really, but devs should take it that seriously).

They have just taken away the ability of millions of people to listen to music they've purchased on the computer they own. And don't tell me they'll be able to figure out the Zune app. Sorry, Groove app. They won't because they'll just think their computer is broken when the wrong app starts up when they go to listen to their music.

And then they'll call you and me and ask why it's broken. And I, for one, won't have a good answer for them.

We are past the point in the evolution of major OS's where drastic changes like these are permissible. Or make a Windows version that get security updates and nothing else and make it available to the general public. Car makers don't change the stick shift functionality after you've bought the car (maybe Musk has the ability to do this, but the people who have licensed the right to drive a Tesla deployment are a unique population for now).

And further tangent -- wouldn't it be a cool concept if we could buy car hardware and then license the OS (Tesla/GM/Audi/BMW/etc.) we wanted to run on it separately? Cool as in a security and logistical nightmare, but cool conceptually nonetheless.