Virtually every other music manager supports watch directories. Its omission from iTunes isn't due to them overlooking the feature. Rather, it's a coercive measure to try and push users towards acquiring all their new music through the iTunes Music Store.
It becomes the "path of least resistance" when you intentionally omit features to make all other paths harder.
That's quite a theory. Wouldn't one expect to find other instances of such coercive omission? And yet, double-clicking a file in the Finder or Explorer still opens it in iTunes, which by default copies the track into your library. Ripping CDs still works the same. Drag and drop still works the same.
No, I think it has more to do with watch folders not being a feature in high demand than any conspiratorial nonsense.
Virtually every other music manager supports watch directories. Its omission from iTunes isn't due to them overlooking the feature. Rather, it's a coercive measure to try and push users towards acquiring all their new music through the iTunes Music Store.
It becomes the "path of least resistance" when you intentionally omit features to make all other paths harder.