rbnetengr

I first heard of her when she appeared on SNL recently. Interesting performance. 

dr. x said:

I get your point but for those that do third party repair, it makes it easier for people. Some Apple Stores are far away and one might not want to drive 2 or more hours just to get their battery replaced by Apple and having to pay Apple's Tax. 

 Best Buy is an authorized repair center for Apple:

I have been an Apple Music user and subscriber for several years, and am familiar with most of the features you mentioned.  But yet I had trouble following along with some of your explanations.  Also, a feature you did not mention, but one I use frequently, is the ability to share a song, album or playlist with others.

I like the idea of Apple Music (iCloud Music) replacing the music tracks you own with potentially higher quality versions.  However, I have bee afraid to turn it on, as I once had it turned on accidentally (during an iOS update?) and it ended up either duplicating or deleting some of the music I ripped from music CDs I’ve owned for years.  So now I basically have my ripped music on my Mac, I sync it to my iPhone (iPhone X with 256GB), and then I have music purchased through iTunes, which is available to all of my devices.  Then, I listen to albums or playlists on individual devices using Apple Music.

One VERY IMPORTANT THING you failed to mention regarding Apple Music subscriptions is that it defaults to subscribing you to a monthly subscription at $9.99/mo, but you can go into your iCloud account and change Apple Music to an annual subscription of $99.99, which ends up giving you two free months compared to the monthly subscription.  For someone like me who ONLY subscribes to Apple Music, and will continue to do so for years, it makes financial sense.

-rb

Great comparison article.  Apple continues to produce quality software enhancements.  But with Memoji/Animoji, they will definitely need to add sensors to all new iPhones to get more widespread usage of these features.

lkrupp said:

Soli said:

I’m sure we’ll hear from the “Bluetooth is shitty” and “Beats is shitty” crowd any minute now, especially the Bose fanboys.

I am one who believed that Beats headphones sounded shitty. Several years ago, when Beats was on its' own, I spent an extended period of time auditioning the Beats wired headphones with my own music, which I knew very well. The Beats headphones had exaggerated bass, inaccurate highs, and just average vocal quality. 

Well, I recently spent an extended time in the Apple Store, auditioning the Bluetooth Beats Studio headphones, again with my own music, and I was highly impressed with the quality of the sound. I suspect that Apple's infusion of cash helped with improving quality, whether it is in design, and choice of materials or components.

They are definitely on my short list of Bluetooth headphones when the time comes. And right now, if you buy a new Mac or iPad, you'll get a free pair of Beats Bluetooth headphones!