The whole music app's GUI isn't great. It is quite a bit better in iOS 13 however. The Airplay UI is pretty clunky still, especially since they shoehorned in the ability to control currently playing devices - which is great, but needs a better implementation. Maybe a grid of playing devices rather than having to scroll through a linear list. But I digress..
My main complaint with Apple Music is its algorithm isn't anywhere near as good as Spotify's imo. When Siri is shuffling with music that I'll apparently like, there're two problems: one being a lack of new music, second is when it does insert new music it isn't remotely similar to music already in my library. More often than not it ends up with "Hey Siri, skip this". The "new music mix" is generally terrible and weighted toward pop crap which I don't like, and have none of in my library. It knows I don't like pop/hip hop, I've told it enough times, and yet it still pushes it over and over. Friends who have had both Spotify and Apple music seem to prefer Spotify's algorithm, which may be part of the reason people aren't taking up Apple Music quite as they were.
The curated playlists on Apple music are great, but again they're weighted strongly toward hip-hop, R&B and pop stuff and even the slightly less popular genres have a very limited number of curated playlists to choose from. For example, the "throwback" section of Apple Music has 21 playlists, 12 of those are "pop."
Not sure Iovine has had much to do with the highly computer sciencey art of algorithm writing, and there doesn't seem to be that much to show for the money he's apparently spent.
Playlists are for consumers, not for music enthusiasts, IMVHO. As such it doesn’t matter which one is better, Apple’s or Stupify’s, curated or robotic. I personally take Apple Music as a huge repository of world music, where I find what I look for almost every time. Suggestions in search results are more important for me than ready-made playlists or radio or alike. I can always find my way by following Apple Music’s search results and suggestions.
Good playlists are definitely for enthusiasts, that's how we find new music to enjoy and explore deeper. The lists may be from friends (who knows your preferences), from music magazines (whose writers you trust) or from great algorithms fed with millions of users daily listening.
I don't personally find Spotify's lists flawless, but they are far better than Apple's.
Ditto here. I was one of those people a few years back whose entire music library was deleted after a nasty iTunes upgrade. Apple, of course, insisted this wasn't possible, but years of custom tagging, sorting, correcting artwork, etc. disappeared in an instant. So I am very leery of Apple Music as my main musical library. (Don't get me started on how all world music in Apple Music is tagged "reggae." Sheesh.)
I turned to Spotify Premium a few years ago. Its prediction algorithms are downright spooky in pulling up new music and artists that I like, and they tend to be away from chart-oriented music (I haven't bothered with "pop" since the late 90s.) Of course, there are some misses, but overall, Spotify's suggestion algorithm is amazing. And I LOVE discovering high-quality new music and artists. I also have TIDAL Premium. Its algorithms used to be terrible, but over the last year they are getting closer to Spotify's. Apple's suggestions are just chart-oriented crap or old chestnuts I've heard so many hundreds of times I don't want to hear them again, ever. So much for the "Genius" function.
The other reservation I have with Apple Music is the compression. Listen to the same song on Apple Music, then Spotify Premium and you will hear a noticeable difference in detail and clarity. TIDAL Premium even more so, especially on their Master quality albums. I have Apple Music free with my Verizon wireless service, but I seldom bother with it due to the sound quality issues. And I don't like the iTunes UI in Mojave, and especially not in Music in the Catalina beta. It looks like it was designed for teenagers, not serious listeners. I don't want to focus on the visual aspects of the album or artist, I just want to see the songs listed with an option to dig deeper, like Spotify and TIDAL have. And then there's ROON, for those that want a multimedia experience with their music.
Frankly, I never did see any contribution from Iovine and his crowd. Frankly, I think the BEATS acquisition was to attract more, ahem, non-white listeners, people the early Apple Music catalog didn't seem to cater to. The Apple Music library has gotten a lot bigger, but I hardly think that was a factor in the BEATS acquisition.
When I read "artists like Drake, Taylor Swift and Chance the Rapper" I just about hurled.
Not an "artist" among them. Performers yes, artists hardly.
As to Jimmy Bovine (spelling intentional), have him pick up a guitar or sit at a piano and show us his chops. He was and is a hanger-on.
What a waste of money.
This thread is exactly as I expected. Denial that some of the biggest superstar artists in the world are actually artists, or even better, that Iovine is not one of the most successful producers in the world. Good fucking lord people.
Comments
Yawn.
I turned to Spotify Premium a few years ago. Its prediction algorithms are downright spooky in pulling up new music and artists that I like, and they tend to be away from chart-oriented music (I haven't bothered with "pop" since the late 90s.) Of course, there are some misses, but overall, Spotify's suggestion algorithm is amazing. And I LOVE discovering high-quality new music and artists. I also have TIDAL Premium. Its algorithms used to be terrible, but over the last year they are getting closer to Spotify's. Apple's suggestions are just chart-oriented crap or old chestnuts I've heard so many hundreds of times I don't want to hear them again, ever. So much for the "Genius" function.
The other reservation I have with Apple Music is the compression. Listen to the same song on Apple Music, then Spotify Premium and you will hear a noticeable difference in detail and clarity. TIDAL Premium even more so, especially on their Master quality albums. I have Apple Music free with my Verizon wireless service, but I seldom bother with it due to the sound quality issues. And I don't like the iTunes UI in Mojave, and especially not in Music in the Catalina beta. It looks like it was designed for teenagers, not serious listeners. I don't want to focus on the visual aspects of the album or artist, I just want to see the songs listed with an option to dig deeper, like Spotify and TIDAL have. And then there's ROON, for those that want a multimedia experience with their music.
Frankly, I never did see any contribution from Iovine and his crowd. Frankly, I think the BEATS acquisition was to attract more, ahem, non-white listeners, people the early Apple Music catalog didn't seem to cater to. The Apple Music library has gotten a lot bigger, but I hardly think that was a factor in the BEATS acquisition.
Oh, and a little drive-by racism.