It hasn't really run off iTunes for 3-4 years now. I can't remember the last time I had to launch it. Besides, whilst iTunes isn't great, if most crapware was even as good as iTunes then there wouldn't be much of a problem.
The non-removable Apple apps on iOS that exist only to up-sell other Apple "value add" services like Newsstand, Apple Watch, iBooks, Game Centre even iCloud to lesser extent are far more annoying to me.