Slimming down the bloated iTunes

How do you supersize a simple music manager? Ask Apple. The Windows version of iTunes 8, released earlier this month and quickly patched after it caused an outbreak of blue-screen crashes, is a 64MB download. (For the sake of comparison, Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP is just over 24 MB.) The full iTunes 8 installation takes up nearly 200MB of space on a Windows PC.

As it turns out, the iTunes installer has been bulking up for the past year or two. Don’t be fooled by the filename: iTunes801Setup.exe, the most recent version as of this writing, includes much more than the iTunes client. Without any disclosure and without your consent, the iTunes 8 setup program installs kernel-mode drivers, multiple system services, and at least one add-in. It takes a supersize helping of chutzpah to create an ad that criticizes Windows for its “bloat” and then deliver an upgrade with as much unnecessary junk as this one.

The last time I wrote about this, several commenters defended Apple by insisting that every component in that full install was necessary, and that trying to carve away any of those bits will degrade Apple’s awesome end-to-end experience. I’ve looked at the iTunes installer on multiple Windows machines and am convinced that those Apple defenders are wrong. If you’re like most people, you don’t need any of that additional junk. In this post, I’ll explain how you can figure out which parts of the package you need, and then show you how to wrestle control of iTunes back.

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  QuickTime is Apple’s multimedia framework, a collection of codecs, plugins, DLLs, and several players designed to help you play back digital media files in most popular formats. The big selling point is support for the QuickTime movie (.mov) format, via the standalone player or an embedded ActiveX control.
  
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  iTunes is Apple’s all-purpose media player/device sync application. If you own an iPod, this is the only officially supported way to interact with it, although third-party alternatives are available. iTunes also provides access to the iTunes store, and if you own an iPhone you must use iTunes to activate it, update its firmware, and sync its content with your PC.
  
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  Bonjour is Apple’s implementation of the open-source Zeroconf, a multicast DNS responder used to discover services on a local area network. It’s installed by default with the iTunes download and also installed silently with some Adobe products, a decision that “freaked out” some Adobe customers. Adding unauthorized peer-to-peer services on a corporate network is a distinct no-no, as a number of customers have told Apple on their support forums. (The response? Crickets.) If you want to share iTunes libraries over a network or use Apple TV, you need Bonjour. If you have a printer attached to an AirPort device, you should use Bonjour. However, if you simply want to play media files and sync your iTunes library with your iPod, you don’t need Bonjour. (And Photoshop users can safely remove it as well unless they have a Version Cue server on their network.)
  
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  Apple Mobile Device Support is the synchronization framework for the iPhone and iPod Touch family of “mobile devices.” This package is not necessary if you have any other member of the iPod family, including the Classic, Mini, Nano, or Shuffle, which sync just fine using just the basic iTunes app.
  
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  MobileMe is the support software that enables synchronization of email and contacts and calendar items with Apple’s MobileMe service (previously .Mac). It is included with the iTunes installer to update existing installations, but is no longer installed as part of a default new setup.
  
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  Apple Software Update is a utility that checks for new versions of Apple software installed on your PC. It also pushes new Windows-compatible Apple software programs. Understanding how this utility works is crucial; it can and will install software you have explicitly rejected if you don’t monitor its actions carefully.
  

Performing a selective iTunes install involves three steps:

1. Extract the installer files you need to a local folder.

2. Run the installers with the proper command-line switches.

3. Prevent Apple Software Update from undoing your careful work later.

I believe most Windows users can safely slot themselves into one of the following five installation scenarios. Use the bold-faced text to determine which one applies to you, then follow the accompanying instructions.

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  Quicktime.msi /passive
  
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  iTunes.msi /passive