Apple Music update lets Android users save songs to SD cards

AppleInsider · February 4, 2016 12:09AM

Apple in an update to the Android version of Apple Music on Wednesday added the ability to save downloaded songs to an SD card, greatly increasing the offline listening library capacities for phones running Google mobile operating system.

In the latest Apple Music for Android version 0.9.5 release notes, Apple says the added SD card functionality will allow users to keep more music offline. Unlike Apple's own iOS devices, certain Android handsets come with built-in SD card slots to expand internal storage capacities

As noted by The Verge, most users will be saving songs to microSD cards that, while less capacious than the full-size SD card format, offers an advantageous value proposition compared to iPhone and iPad. For example, a 128GB microSD card that effectively doubles the space of Apple's largest preconfigured option can cost as little as $13 on Amazon.com.

Today's update also includes a full schedule of Beats 1 shows and adds new browsing options for Composers and Compilations, which Apple says helps surface classical music and movies soundtracks.

Apple first launched an Android version of its music streaming service in November, granting users access to curated playlists, live Beats 1 radio, iTunes Connect and iTunes purchases. The company has yet to release statistics on Apple Music's Android user base, and Google Play offers equally vague metrics, saying the app has been downloaded between one million and five million times.

Apple Music version 0.9.5 is a free update from the Google Play app store. Apple is still offering a 90-day free trial for new users with subscriptions starting at $9.99 per month.

msantti · February 4, 2016 12:21AM

Wow.

A feature Apple denies us.

redefiler · February 4, 2016 12:34AM

msantti said:

Wow.

A feature Apple denies us.

No thanks, I'll keep paying Apple to not use SD cards and totally f*%$ing ghetto mobile device features. It's 2016, and the pro tip is shuffling a couple gigs of internal storage with Apple Music or a cloud storage service is much cheaper, faster and convienent than offloading music files onto stupid storage wafers.

cnocbui · February 4, 2016 12:36AM

msantti said:

Wow.

A feature Apple denies us.

Of course. Apple wont let you have cards. They have to make money somehow.

msantti · February 4, 2016 12:37AM

cnocbui said:

msantti said:

Wow.

A feature Apple denies us.

Of course. Apple wont let you have cards. They have to make money somehow.

But of course!

rogifan_old · February 4, 2016 12:40AM

cnocbui said:

msantti said:

Wow.

A feature Apple denies us.

Of course. Apple wont let you have cards. They have to make money somehow.

Do all Android phones have SD cards? I thought the Galaxy line got rid of them.

cnocbui · February 4, 2016 12:51AM

rogifan_old said:

cnocbui said:

Of course. Apple wont let you have cards. They have to make money somehow.

Do all Android phones have SD cards? I thought the Galaxy line got rid of them.

Yes, Samsung got rid of cards in the S6 because they equipped it with a new very fast memory system - like putting an SSD in a phone. The memory controller they used could only do a single bus. The bus would have been limited to the speed of the slowest memory connected. Samsung didn't want their snazzy new feature nobbled by users sticking comparatively slow cards in. It is rumoured the S7 - but not the Edge :-( - will have a card slot again. They almost certainly are now using a memory controller that can handle two buses at different speed or maybe they have come up with new cards that are a lot quicker.

Most Android phones appear to take cards, there seem to be a few more cropping up that don't, but I suspect that isn't for the reason Samsung dropped them.

SpamSandwich · February 4, 2016 1:13AM

How many more billions off the stock will this contribute?

mac_128 · February 4, 2016 2:21AM

I wonder if Apple will now allow iTunes to save songs to SD cards connected to the camera kit which now works on the iPhone for the first time?

I currently transfer movies into my iPad this way, and just yesterday was looking for a way to transfer a photo from my iPad to my iPhone when my internet was out. Having a way to do this, even in a pinch would be fantastic.

Somehow I feel like this puts a great deal of pressure on Apple, and they wouldn't do it if they weren't planning to offer something similar to Apple customers in the future as well. Even so, it's disappointing that Android customers got it first.

Frankly, an "upgrade" like this would be something worth announcing at an event with a new iPhone, flagship or not.

thewhitefalcon · February 4, 2016 2:49AM

Jobsian_Funk said:

" For example, a 128GB microSD card that effectively doubles the space of Apple's largest preconfigured option can cost as little as $13 on Amazon.com."

This author would be well advised to stick with Apple products. This is like claiming that you can get a Rolex for $50 on the streets of New York.

Yeah, SD card performance varies so widely it's insane. And that's not even bringing up the counterfeits.

cali · February 4, 2016 3:04AM

WHY did Apple have to give these cheapskates a piece of their ecosystem?........

thewhitefalcon · February 4, 2016 3:15AM

cali said:

WHY did Apple have to give these cheapskates a piece of their ecosystem?........

In theory it's the same reason they ported iTunes to Windows, but really, it's just one more way to get money from them. Same with Beats.

Rayz2016 · February 4, 2016 7:33AM

cali said:

WHY did Apple have to give these cheapskates a piece of their ecosystem?........

Because hardware sales are slowing down so, for the time being at least, the ecosystem has to pick up the slack.

cnocbui · February 4, 2016 9:04AM

cali said:

WHY did Apple have to give these cheapskates a piece of their ecosystem?........

Because there are just so many other alternatives Android users they could use they need to offer something to make their offering attractive enough for people to pay for.

Jobsian_Funk said:

" For example, a 128GB microSD card that effectively doubles the space of Apple's largest preconfigured option can cost as little as $13 on Amazon.com."

This author would be well advised to stick with Apple products. This is like claiming that you can get a Rolex for $50 on the streets of New York.

Each to their own. I recently popped a 64Gb card in my phone to give me more storage space for music, photos, videos and apps. It's nice to be able to do that and not have to buy a new phone. Can you imagine if Apple made DSLRs with fixed memory?

mac_128 said:

I wonder if Apple will now allow iTunes to save songs to SD cards connected to the camera kit which now works on the iPhone for the first time?

I currently transfer movies into my iPad this way, and just yesterday was looking for a way to transfer a photo from my iPad to my iPhone when my internet was out. Having a way to do this, even in a pinch would be fantastic.

Somehow I feel like this puts a great deal of pressure on Apple, and they wouldn't do it if they weren't planning to offer something similar to Apple customers in the future as well. Even so, it's disappointing that Android customers got it first.

Frankly, an "upgrade" like this would be something worth announcing at an event with a new iPhone, flagship or not.

This is one of the things I hate about iOS - not being able to do file transfers via Bluetooth. Couldn't you use Airdrop?

bulldogs · February 4, 2016 11:01AM

redefiler said:

msantti said:

Wow.

A feature Apple denies us.

No thanks, I'll keep paying Apple to not use SD cards and totally f*%$ing ghetto mobile device features. It's 2016, and the pro tip is shuffling a couple gigs of internal storage with Apple Music or a cloud storage service is much cheaper, faster and convienent than offloading music files onto stupid storage wafers.

As someone who owns Apple, Android, Windows and Linux devices you have no idea what you are talking about - particularly with the "cheaper, faster, convenient" thing. Especially since Android phones - gasp! - ALSO OFFER CLOUD STORAGE OPTIONS making them equivalent with Apple products in this regard. SD cards are merely another option for people who want and need them. It is CHOICE. Because your preferred product doesn't offer choice and flexibility in this area, you denounce products that do have them. Whether arrogance, absurdity or (more likely) insecurity, it is not a helpful attitude.

cropr · February 4, 2016 11:47AM

cnocbui said:

cali said:

WHY did Apple have to give these cheapskates a piece of their ecosystem?........

Because there are just so many other alternatives Android users they could use they need to offer something to make their offering attractive enough for people to pay for.

Each to their own. I recently popped a 64Gb card in my phone to give me more storage space for music, photos, videos and apps. It's nice to be able to do that and not have to buy a new phone. Can you imagine if Apple made DSLRs with fixed memory?

This is one of the things I hate about iOS - not being able to do file transfers via Bluetooth. Couldn't you use Airdrop?

SD cards are slower and less reliable than built-in memory, so you should be a little careful when using them. Storing music for offline listening is great, storing apps on it or data that is not copied somewhere else, is not such a good idea. Google has disabled running apps from SD cards in the recent versions of Android, and that is not without a reason.
With this move Apple acknowledges that general offline storage has a value and that the limited file management capabilities of iOS also have some downsides. Apple just told the world that I should use the Android app for the Apple Music service, it has a killing feature not available on iOS.

cnocbui · February 4, 2016 11:55AM

cropr said:

cnocbui said:

Because there are just so many other alternatives Android users they could use they need to offer something to make their offering attractive enough for people to pay for.

Each to their own. I recently popped a 64Gb card in my phone to give me more storage space for music, photos, videos and apps. It's nice to be able to do that and not have to buy a new phone. Can you imagine if Apple made DSLRs with fixed memory?

This is one of the things I hate about iOS - not being able to do file transfers via Bluetooth. Couldn't you use Airdrop?

SD cards are slower and less reliable than built-in memory, so you should be a little careful when using them. Storing music for offline listening is great, storing apps on it or data that is not copied somewhere else, is not such a good idea. Google has disabled running apps from SD cards in the recent versions of Android, and that is not without a reason.
With this move Apple acknowledges that general offline storage has a value and that the limited file management capabilities of iOS also have some downsides. Apple just told the world that I should use the Android app for the Apple Music service, it has a killing feature not available on iOS.

I have never had an SD or micro-SD card fail in any way. I buy Samsung Class 10s. I have had a couple HDs in Macs fail, however.

birko · February 4, 2016 12:45PM

mac_128 said:

Somehow I feel like this puts a great deal of pressure on Apple, and they wouldn't do it if they weren't planning to offer something similar to Apple customers in the future as well. Even so, it's disappointing that Android customers got it first.

Frankly, an "upgrade" like this would be something worth announcing at an event with a new iPhone, flagship or not.

The reason that Android got it first is that there are millions of android users who cheaper phones with only a few gig of built in memory left over after OS and pre-installed apps are taken into account. A significant incentive for a large potential market.

iTunes is huge on windows PCs, and Apple want Apple Music to be the same on Android devices. Good tactics if you ask me.

rogifan_old · February 4, 2016 12:46PM

thewhitefalcon said:

cali said:

WHY did Apple have to give these cheapskates a piece of their ecosystem?........

In theory it's the same reason they ported iTunes to Windows, but really, it's just one more way to get money from them. Same with Beats.

I don't see it as the same as porting iTunes to Windows at all. My guess is they did it because Beats Music was already on Android and bringing Apple Music there wasn't really a threat to Apple hardware sales.

WiseGuy · February 4, 2016 2:48PM

mac_128 said:

I wonder if Apple will now allow iTunes to save songs to SD cards connected to the camera kit which now works on the iPhone for the first time?

I currently transfer movies into my iPad this way, and just yesterday was looking for a way to transfer a photo from my iPad to my iPhone when my internet was out. Having a way to do this, even in a pinch would be fantastic.

Somehow I feel like this puts a great deal of pressure on Apple, and they wouldn't do it if they weren't planning to offer something similar to Apple customers in the future as well. Even so, it's disappointing that Android customers got it first.

Frankly, an "upgrade" like this would be something worth announcing at an event with a new iPhone, flagship or not.

I only wish I could use my iPhone as a flash drive. Plug in to a PC or Mac, copy paste and go. Of course, that might need a new file management system, so I guess that's wishful thinking.
That's the only thing I miss from Android...

volcan · February 4, 2016 9:02PM

WiseGuy said:

I only wish I could use my iPhone as a flash drive. Plug in to a PC or Mac, copy paste and go. Of course, that might need a new file management system, so I guess that's wishful thinking.
That's the only thing I miss from Android...

Walled garden is there to prevent people from accidentally downloading malicious files. iOS only allows files that are compatible with your iOS apps. If you have enabled iCloud Drive on your device, you can access compatible files in the cloud though. You might want to check out Documents 5 app also, which is a handy free app that allows you send iCloud files to be opened with alternate apps other than the default as long as they are supported file types. iCloud drive for Mac or Windows allows any type of file to be transferred and the iCloud file system can be browsed, unlike with iOS. So bottom line, you really don't need your iPhone to act like a flash drive. Just use the cloud, although the default storage is a little small at 5GB. Google Drive and Dropbox are two other options.

Apple Music update lets Android users save songs to SD cards

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