Apple Music
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- jtb261
So let's talk about this in detail. Here are my complaints:
The on boarding was pointless. They brought this into the fold from Beats Music and it's an interesting concept that's poorly executed. The options are all pre-seeded and they're probably ok for a lot of people, but if your tastes are specific it blows. And this is what Apple is claiming they can do best.
They're using worthless software to determine your tastes. What this should be driven by is search, and a ranking algorithm that let's you confirm what it turns up. They literally have an index of your music on the phone already in many cases that comes complete with play counts and genre. They can discern very quickly which genres you like and which artists you listen too. Use that data to seed the music selection of the on boarding bubbles and let me correct your softwares assumptions about my taste. IMO this would lead to much better recommendations off the bat. They're already using search to match my supplied data against their lists. It'd be so much better if the initial input was stronger. Then there's this:
Connect is a big let down. If Apple tried they could make something that's as appealing as MTV was in the 80's and captures our attention the way Facebook does. But it won't, because the presentation layer is weak and the tools for artist to post are non-existent. Here is the interface by which artists are able to post to connect:
In general it's a lot of stuff that looks like this:
and it's pretty shit. I've found dozens of really bad layout and interaction flaws hidden deep in the app that make me feel like this wasn't well thought out at all.If Apple was serious about this they'd have built something as powerful as YouTube for artists to use. Instead we get another weak stab at social media from Apple.
Ultimately it seems like they don't care about making great software anymore rather it feels like they care about selling devices, and this was just another feature requirement to edge out Samsung.
- Here's the last thing I think the app gets really wrong.
In lui of a better way of determining taste the UI shouldn't be so focused on programming what I likjtb26 - e, or showing me options. It should be asking me what I want to listen too. And letting me shape the experience I want.jtb26
- hahaha at the photoMiguex
- Nice write up bubba. I totally agree with you. They will get the kinks out. I hate not being able to search by records labels.dibec
- It looks like it pulled in my iTunes preferences a little in the form of artists I'm "following." Not sure if that's informing content though.monospaced
- support for Sonos is for the end of the year, so i'll waitlajj
- I get annoyed that we can't search through record labels too dibec. I thought that would be the best way of finding/supporting new artists?Ianbolton
- Ha! This post making it to the front page crashed my CloudApp account.jtb26
- I might have to kill the images :(jtb26
- Here's the last thing I think the app gets really wrong.
- sarahfailin0
It's called getting your own MP3s. There's no ads. You control your playlist. You listen to entire albums. Hell you can even pay for them if you want to. ...Or not.
- buying mp3 is a thing of the past. pay for wavs if you dj or buy tangible format if you truly want to support.Miguex
- to be fair, one of the great things about all these streaming services is that you can discover new musicmonospaced
- You can still discover new music: www.mp3.com has a Free MP3 of The Day. BOOM.nb
- I discover/buy most of my music from Bandcamp now - I don't stream anything and gladly pay for individual albums instead of a subscription.face_melter
- yea. Im with face_melter bandcamp ftwAl_dizzle
- Oh yeah bandcamp is very popular among 27 - 40 year-old men.nb
- a "free mp3 of the day".... oooooh wow! [sarcasm]iCanHazQBN
- yuekit2
I think what is needed maybe is a redesign of iTunes. Considering the design talent at Apple and that this is one of their most used apps it's surprising they can't provide a better user experience.
The changes they made about a year ago still feel like a step backwards. The search is worse than it used to be, and in general there is a poor sense of where you are in the app. So Apple Music, being shoehorned into iTunes, suffers from the same flaws.
- it is beyond awfulmonospaced
- its not so much that their app started going backwards, but the fact that there are app already doing what they offer and look betterMiguex
- Yeah, recent change just feel like moving around deckchairs. They need to do an iMovie/Final Cut X style burn it to the ground and redo the whole thing.Nathan_Adams
- This is the first version of their music streaming service. Maybe it'll get better? I still want record label search.Ianbolton
- feel4
- inteliboy1
what the fuck is going on over at Apple? feature overloaded itunes, stupid extra 2 physical buttons watch interface, axeing anything pro about their pro software, phones copying the stupid fad of large phablets etc etc.
Seems like all they do these days is listen to what their shareholders want... which most of the time is rubbish and without vision.
- Their shareholders are ecstatic btw, and the people keep buying nonsenseWeyland
- I dunno. Due to endless problems, I finally relented and replaced my Apple TVs and iTunes with a Roku boxes and Plex and I am bloody thrilled.ETM
- Apple was supposed to alleviate my headaches and now-a-days they cause the majority of them.ETM
- Only really long term share holders are happy, below the 200 day moving average now, which hasn't happened in yearsformed
- Ben990
Do you have ownership of what you download with Spotify?
- Spotify is just streaming.monospaced
- You cannot download albums for offline listening?Ben99
- yeah, but you don't actually have the files... so technically you aren't really downloading them? Apple Music also has offline listening. same crapmonospaced
- but you really download the tracks with AppleMusic. You have the files on your hard disk.Ben99
- really? I thought you had to buy tracks through iTunes store to actually have the mp4 filesmonospaced
- the files are *.m4p (not mp4) and are DRMed, as soon as you cancel your membership the file is asking for login info to listen to it.Ben99
- But you really have the files locally on your hard drive.Ben99
- I saw in Google some tools to remove the DRM on Spotify files, so i guess its the same thing for Spotify, you can download the tracks.Ben99
- I guess legally you don't own them since you really only pay to stream. Hence the drm. Makes sense.monospaced
- I've become less concerned with actually owning music files. It's just sound. As long as I can access the sound somehow, it's fine.iCanHazQBN
- ... and doesn't take up storage on my HD. If I have a laptop with 250GB HD and 50GB is music, that's a big chunk of memory used up.iCanHazQBN
- Streaming through Spotify still takes up HDD space - audio is cached as it plays and is reset after a time - they removed the option to limit the storage.face_melter
- Ben994
Here's a picture Apple Music's Artificial Intelligence :
"I see you own and like the Black album of Metallica, so here, the Black album of Metallica, take a listen, i think you'll like it"
- utopian1
Apple Music is a mess, and it's alienating the company's biggest fans
Apple Music is shaping up to be Apple's worst received product launch since Apple Maps in 2012.
Apple Music, released in June, was supposed to be Apple's big splash into the world of subscription on-demand music and online radio. But it seems to have a lot of bugs.Longtime Apple watcher Jim Dalrymple wrote about his experiences last week, saying that the Apple Music app on his phone deleted more than 4,000 songs after presenting a bunch of confusing options that were hard to override. (He later got most of it back.)
- most likely a rushed release prompted by the streaming-music competition that has become such a circus!Krassy
- just cannot believe they used itunes, when half their biggest fans hate it already... terrible business decision. could have created a better ap in weeks withfadein11
- their resources.fadein11
- Yeah, true. However, iTunes is hated by the biggest fans, but not by the wider audience.... and they're after the wider audienceKrassy
- I think the wider audience tolerate a bad product because they dominate that market - not really Apple's ethos to be satisfied with sub-standard products, orfadein11
- never used to be.fadein11
- yup. sad but true.Krassy
- I think iTunes is despised by the larger audience too. THat's just me guessing though.monospaced
- Ben991
i'm trying to delete ALL my music library to have a fresh start with only what i really want, lots of junk accumulated during the years.
My desktop iTunes is empty, no music. (all my music is backuped on another drive+cloud, dont worry)
But my iPhone keep downloading my whole music database like i've never deleted it... Because i was using the iCloud music collection option... Like deleting on my desktop work but iCloud nope.
FUCKING HELL APPLE!
- Just turn off iCloud temporarily?monospaced
- Another Apple Innovation®utopian
- i turned it off and on... all my shit come back everytimeBen99
- just called support. they told me to do something that didnt work... I have an appointment tomorrow at a Genius Bar for a battery replacement, will talk to themBen99
- If you delete the songs from a computer with iTunes Match turned on, it works. I just tested it. If the file is also in your computer it'll warn you.monospaced
- i never subscribed to iTunes Match... The dude at Apple told me the same thing.Ben99
- i managed to succeed! That was SUPER complicated and unfriendly. -1 for Apple.Ben99
- If you didn't subscribe then why would you even expect them to be connected? Anyway glad you got it fixed.monospaced
- fadein111
Another Apple update screwing with people's lives.
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2015…- it's really unfortunate they didn't overhaul iTunes, because I am also frustrated with the confusing interface(s) ... wouldn't call it live-altering though :)monospaced
- So true about lots of points in this article.Ben99
- @mono - well they claim every update is life changing so if it fucks up surely the same applies.fadein11
- I missed that claim.monospaced
- Sorry I mean't every rehashed catch up productfadein11
- lol, i knowmonospaced
- inteliboy1
I mean itunes really is a frustrating piece of shit to use.
- https://www.youtube.…dorf
- It has become bloated to all hell now - they should tear off the iOS app store and join it with the OS X app store - leave iTunes just for music.face_melter
- Ben991
the worst part of it for me is the nonsense of their UI ergonomy.
- majority of people must be totally lost in it.Ben99
- you said that already ,I thought.monospaced
- i know. i like repeating myself.Ben99
- ideaist0
I've been on board thus far for NEARLY everything Apple since switching over from a PC environment in the late 90's.
That being said, alternatives to Apple Music (across device):
-
PLEX -> https://plex.tv/
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VOX & Loop -> http://coppertino.com/
-
Both of the above allow you to "own" your library rather than stream it abandoning ownership is favour of stream ability.
Apple, like any company of its size cannot be jack of all trades and we have the obligation to adjust to said shortcomings and use smaller, superior software/services/etc.
- ownership is favour = ownership IN favourideaist
- the ownership is the point that will surely make me drop Apple Music. If i stop paying in 5 years, i will lose access to all the music i've downloaded.Ben99
- If you stop paying with any streaming service you lose the ability to listen too.monospaced
- jagara1
Any opinion on this?
"Apple Music Could Wreck Your iTunes Library": http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewan… ?
I DON'T want them to change my custom tags / artwork and whatnot. And i DON'T want to upload my obscure stuff...
- Miguex0
In regards of the "I have obscure music that is not available on spotify" kind of comments.
Let's start by saying that if it's truly obscure, chances are it won't be available on any other music service out there, that specially goes for itunes as well.
For those that don't know, Spotify, on top of having the "online radio streams" and the "select most commercial music and stream" deals. It also offers "combined playlists" meaning that you can make your own playlist of music that you stream + music that you own (mp3, wav, aiff, etc.) all of it it's in one place, no need to switch between apps, no need to open pandora, last fm, rdio, itunes, etc. everything works under one app.
Plus, their UI is really nice across all devices
- The handling of local files is terrible. It finds them but just gives me a enormous list. Search is bad at returning local results over Spotify Catalogue.jtb26
- It won't be available on streaming service, but you can actually buy the album or DL it. Indie artists make a lot more money when you buy as opposed to stream.yuekit
- Actually, buying mp3 makes little to nothing to the artist, unless you are buying directly from them. If you want to support go to their shows, or buy the merchMiguex
- Maybe you're right. The bottom line for me is that these streaming services still don't have a lot of stuff I want to listen to.yuekit
- ernexbcn2
It's like Netflix, do you download movies on netflix to keep for yourself? no.
They allow to download the files for offline listening (or viewing) but as soon as you stop paying they are gone.
- HijoDMaite0
Apple Music, iCloud Music Library, iTunes?
What the Actual??
I just need to know if and when I stop paying Apple Music $9.99 per month, do I get to keep the albums I have downloaded while paying for the service?
- ^^^^^
"the files are *.m4p (not mp4) and are DRMed, as soon as you cancel your membership the file is asking for login info to listen to it."HAYZ1LLLA - got it.HijoDMaite
- ^^^^^
- Wolfboy1
@Ben & Mono
The whole online/offline/tracks on your hard drive is one of my bugbears when it comes to Apple music too.
At the start of this year I spent ages re-ripping my hard collection as lossless files; getting anal about tack titles, art work etc. It took me a few months to complete the project. When Apple Music came along I switched on all the various bits and bobs to get the most out of it and I suddenly started getting duplicated tracks, incorrect art work and lower bit rates; I believe this happened because I'd changed meta data on the existing tracks in my library so Apple no longer recognised them.
I've read in many places from people who are equally nerdy when it comes to their library that they've encountered the same problems. So after the Spotify Discover Weekly appeared (as previously mentioned by Mono) I took the decision to keep my own music and streaming music separate.
I have also recently started a Sonos system at home, so iTunes has pretty much been relegated to just being the base library and ripping software because I'm using Sonos' software & apps with a NAS drive. This also lets you use Spotify at the same time as accessing your library anyway.
- iCanHazQBN0
I've been using Spotify Premium for the past few days. Love how easy it is to discover new, good music in the Browse section.
Haven't tried Apple Music yet. Is it similar to Spotify?
- i think yes. but the A.I. is kinda dumb for suggesting you stuff.Ben99
- Browsing isn't quite as good in my opinion. Spiritual wins here too.monospaced
- Spotify not spiritual. Lolmonospaced
- i heard Spiritual is tha shit right now in Bangladesh.Ben99