It's not bad, I actually think the UI is pretty good, and I haven't had any of the library issues other people have had, but I kinda think Apple should've used the opportunity to launch Music as a new app for the Mac and take it away from the bloat of iTunes.
I stick to facebook (Connect) and Soundcloud (Stream/Playlists).
- - - - -
Why still call it iTunes instead of Apple Music?
There's no dedicated website for Connect? Like a Connect web app for the desktop computer.
If you are going to be paying for access and VIP features, why not having a year subsription option? 9,99€/month or 99,99€/year
Apple Music is too much feature laden. Very unlike Apple. It reminds me of their Mail app of yesteryear, when it tried to do everything: RSS feed, notes, etc.
Connect and beats1 could easily be standalone apps. Data from one app could be transferred to the other app. This way you're creating a richer experience. You're also creating a cleaner mindset as the user has app specific expectations when he opens the app: you could add better targeted features to each app. I can imagine the Connect app to have an event option.
iTunes will not stream Beats 1 radio to AirPlay (from Mac). Everything else streams but once you start Beats 1 the AirPlay icon disappear. It works on iOS 8.4 though.
So far - so good. No major problems to speak of and the new discovery features are much appreciated. All of my existing radio stations showed up as expected on the Radio page along with the newly curated stations. I haven't noticed any difference in performance, behavior, or appearance between music I ripped from CDs versus iTunes purchases. The "Store" menu is now the "Account" menu and iTunes Match is hidden. I still see iTunes Match as a listed service in my account but it appears to have been subsumed into the Apple Music machinery.
One oddity - the relationship between My Music and Apple Music on the iPhone is drastically different than it is on OS X. If I select one of my paid albums on my iPhone I usually (but not always) get a "More by artist..." and "You may also like..." list of other albums, which gives me access to other albums from my collection and Apple Music that I can play directly. On the desktop (OS X) I don't get the same behavior and only get a "Show Related" button that takes me to the iTunes Store to purchase additional music. Odd to say the least. I've also had 3-4 iTunes crashes on OS X on different machines. The iPhone experience is great but the OS X team is obviously a few steps or more behind and not quite ready for prime time.
Once the dust settles from the initial rollout Apple will have to decide what the heck it wants to do with iTunes Match. It seems more like "iTunes Mismatch" in light of Apple Music.
I have two comments on testing the new ?Radio (on my Mac) so far ...
Wow and wow.
The human curation isn't a gimmick after all. Just to test, I selected Gordon Lightfoot Beautiful Radio and so far the 15 songs have been 100% in line with that style. Loved everyone and even haven't heard a few before but all from artists I really like. Never once has there been anything that doesn't 'fit'. I was very skeptical but if this keeps up I'm sold. Hats off to Jimmy.
The audio quality is staggering, it makes me think of my beloved 1980's high end Hi-Fi system in the richness of the sound. I have it playing via Airplay to my main audio system but It even makes my MacBook Pro's speakers sound amazing.
I stick to facebook (Connect) and <span style="line-height:1.4em;">Soundcloud (Stream/Playlists).</span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">- - - - -</span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">Why still call it iTunes instead of Apple Music?</span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">There's no dedicated website for Connect? Like a Connect web app for the desktop computer.</span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">If you are going to be paying for access and VIP features, why not having a year subsription option? 9,99€/month or 99,99€/year</span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">Apple Music is too much feature laden. Very unlike Apple. It reminds me of their Mail app of yesteryear, when it tried to do everything: RSS feed, notes, etc.</span>
Connect and beats1 could easily be standalone apps. Data from one app could be transferred to the other app. This way you're creating a richer experience. You're also creating a cleaner mindset as the user has app specific expectations when he opens the app: you could add better targeted features to each app. I can imagine the Connect app to have an event option.
I found the 'new' tab in iTunes very intuitive. Took me seconds to figure it out and get my curated radio station blasting out.
There are more people with serious OCD issues than you might think and they all post. The entire process went flawlessly for me. iPhone 6 updated to iOS 8.4 in under 30 minutes, signed up for Apple Music without issue, iMac updated to Yosemite 10.10.4 in under 45 minutes, updated to iTunes 12.2 without issue. Apple Music works fine on both the iPhone 6 and the iMac. It has been an almost perfect launch of a HUGE project, probably the best I’ve experienced. Predictions about overloaded servers proved nonsense, no delays, no slowdowns. Apple had their shit together on this one.
I've had similar experiences.
I was delighted to learn that everything I searched for that I don't already own showed up, and I was able to add those albums to "My Music" and to be able to "Make available for offline."
These are really good times to be an Apple Zealot and to be surrounded by all these fruits of the Apple ecosystem.
Can't wait for the next iPhone, though I love my 6+ dearly.
Why did Apple make this so damn complicated and confused? I want to have a single Play button to start me listening something. Why do I need to select a playlist that they recommend. I have couple of questions:
- how do I see the list of songs that I liked (press heart symbol on top). Heard a great song and it's not in play history and I can not find it
- how do I listen to a playlist of different genres mixed. Now I have alternative playlist and will play me alternative music only, how do I get him to play me songs from different genres
- where I select which artist do I like.. it only offers me like 10 or so artist I can select... how does this influence my radio? of course I like 1000 artist not only 10...
For me it's confusing, but I do like it... need to get used to it I guess.
Incidentally I asked Siri "What is Apple Music" (it gave me Apple.com) and "What is Beats 1 radio" and it had no answer. Come on Apple... at least use Siri to properly market and sell your own services.
When adding a song from "Apple Music" into my library and then downloading them, both my Macs iTunes hang and trip out while downloading, until it's done. It's not a problem, but it's not a smooth download. Even for one song.
Apple Music is interesting; although, some users say that it is not user-friendly. But the new iTunes releases are great. [URL=https://hec.su/2PM]New iTunes[/URL]
Okay, I played around with the Apple Music free trial.
Oh man, Apple is making this way too complex:
You cannot listen to the complete song in the iTunes Store? What the heck?
There's no newsfeed of all artists in Connect? Am I supposed to check their stream in OSX one by one?
The intro bubbles are obscure. Especially when they ask you to select artist names. I didn't know half of them.
For You is Not For Me. I prefer discovering music through other people. As I do right now with Soundcloud.
What Apple could do to improve the experience:
Just have the song in one place with the option to like, to stream or to buy.
Buy Soundcloud if you're serious about Connect.
Get rid of the app store in iTunes. iPhone and iPad apps belong ... in the App store.
Same to iTunes Uni, Books, Tones and Movies. They contribute nothing to the Apple Music experience. Give them their own space to shine.
I have switched off the auto renewal option in Apple Music.
I kind of prefer it being in a separate section tbh. If it was built into the iTunes store, I think there would be a bit of a pressure to buy. I like it right now, there's no price tags or anything, it's just separate.
Comments
If you think iTunes Apple Music UI is good, you haven't used Spotify
But, glad to be back in iTunes for my music. It'll get there.
It's not bad, I actually think the UI is pretty good, and I haven't had any of the library issues other people have had, but I kinda think Apple should've used the opportunity to launch Music as a new app for the Mac and take it away from the bloat of iTunes.
Ok, Apple Music is not for me.
I stick to facebook (Connect) and Soundcloud (Stream/Playlists).
- - - - -
So far - so good. No major problems to speak of and the new discovery features are much appreciated. All of my existing radio stations showed up as expected on the Radio page along with the newly curated stations. I haven't noticed any difference in performance, behavior, or appearance between music I ripped from CDs versus iTunes purchases. The "Store" menu is now the "Account" menu and iTunes Match is hidden. I still see iTunes Match as a listed service in my account but it appears to have been subsumed into the Apple Music machinery.
One oddity - the relationship between My Music and Apple Music on the iPhone is drastically different than it is on OS X. If I select one of my paid albums on my iPhone I usually (but not always) get a "More by artist..." and "You may also like..." list of other albums, which gives me access to other albums from my collection and Apple Music that I can play directly. On the desktop (OS X) I don't get the same behavior and only get a "Show Related" button that takes me to the iTunes Store to purchase additional music. Odd to say the least. I've also had 3-4 iTunes crashes on OS X on different machines. The iPhone experience is great but the OS X team is obviously a few steps or more behind and not quite ready for prime time.
Once the dust settles from the initial rollout Apple will have to decide what the heck it wants to do with iTunes Match. It seems more like "iTunes Mismatch" in light of Apple Music.
Well, just to be clear. Until today I had a perfectly organized iTunes Library. All metadata, covers, etc. 100% in order.
Below a picture of 12.2's greatness (be warned, approx. 80% of my over 4000 albums are messed up like this now):
Well if this happens to my Library I am gonna shot my self ... grrrr
Wow and wow.
The human curation isn't a gimmick after all. Just to test, I selected Gordon Lightfoot Beautiful Radio and so far the 15 songs have been 100% in line with that style. Loved everyone and even haven't heard a few before but all from artists I really like. Never once has there been anything that doesn't 'fit'. I was very skeptical but if this keeps up I'm sold. Hats off to Jimmy.
The audio quality is staggering, it makes me think of my beloved 1980's high end Hi-Fi system in the richness of the sound. I have it playing via Airplay to my main audio system but It even makes my MacBook Pro's speakers sound amazing.
I found the 'new' tab in iTunes very intuitive. Took me seconds to figure it out and get my curated radio station blasting out.
This appears on Apple.com after you click on the link to Apple Music:
How can anyone read that white type on a light colored background? Or is it just me?
It's just you. Do you live to complain?
There are more people with serious OCD issues than you might think and they all post. The entire process went flawlessly for me. iPhone 6 updated to iOS 8.4 in under 30 minutes, signed up for Apple Music without issue, iMac updated to Yosemite 10.10.4 in under 45 minutes, updated to iTunes 12.2 without issue. Apple Music works fine on both the iPhone 6 and the iMac. It has been an almost perfect launch of a HUGE project, probably the best I’ve experienced. Predictions about overloaded servers proved nonsense, no delays, no slowdowns. Apple had their shit together on this one.
I've had similar experiences.
I was delighted to learn that everything I searched for that I don't already own showed up, and I was able to add those albums to "My Music" and to be able to "Make available for offline."
These are really good times to be an Apple Zealot and to be surrounded by all these fruits of the Apple ecosystem.
Can't wait for the next iPhone, though I love my 6+ dearly.
Who are you, again?
I found the 'new' tab in iTunes very intuitive. Took me seconds to figure it out and get my curated radio station blasting out.
Since you mentionned the 'new' tab, I will tiptoe the free Apple trial. For now.
Why did Apple make this so damn complicated and confused? I want to have a single Play button to start me listening something. Why do I need to select a playlist that they recommend. I have couple of questions:
- how do I see the list of songs that I liked (press heart symbol on top). Heard a great song and it's not in play history and I can not find it
- how do I listen to a playlist of different genres mixed. Now I have alternative playlist and will play me alternative music only, how do I get him to play me songs from different genres
- where I select which artist do I like.. it only offers me like 10 or so artist I can select... how does this influence my radio? of course I like 1000 artist not only 10...
For me it's confusing, but I do like it... need to get used to it I guess.
Strangely, it happens on the iPhone, not iPad.
(And, people who complain about the complaints can please f*** off, for all I care
Add: It's happening on the iPad too. Also, it just stops randomly, midway through a song. Or it skips to next. Great.
Quote:
I found the 'new' tab in iTunes very intuitive. Took me seconds to figure it out and get my curated radio station blasting out.
Quote:
Since you mentionned the 'new' tab, I will tiptoe the free Apple trial. For now.
Okay, I played around with the Apple Music free trial.
Oh man, Apple is making this way too complex:
What Apple could do to improve the experience:
I have switched off the auto renewal option in Apple Music.
Okay, I played around with the Apple Music free trial.
Oh man, Apple is making this way too complex:
What Apple could do to improve the experience:
I have switched off the auto renewal option in Apple Music.
I kind of prefer it being in a separate section tbh. If it was built into the iTunes store, I think there would be a bit of a pressure to buy. I like it right now, there's no price tags or anything, it's just separate.