Apple Music Experience Random Thoughts

Fiddytree · Jul 1, 2015

Night 1: I like the look. The balls are helpful in trying to figure out my music interests. Seems to have similar selection of music as Spotify. May have issues finding playlists of similar build to my existing Spotify playlists.

Day 1: First attempt in the wild at work. On separate laptop. Oh great. Apple's iCloud system says I am using too many computers when I am trying to create a playlist with Apple Music tracks. How is this still a thing with the music industry? Don't they know I am not a thief if I own or use more than 4 computers? Is this Apple's lack of foresight at work here?

Why is it that when I select a track I like and "Love it" there's no way I can find the tracks I marked? Not even a separate smart playlist works with this, despite fulfilling the rules of the smart playlist.

How can a company screw up helping an individual user figure out how to use a basic music streaming service? If I can't figure out how all of Apple's pieces interact with each other (iTunes proper, iTunes Match, iCloud, Apple Music), how is the average person supposed to figure this out?

As a fan of the traditional iTunes layout and functionality, I'm becoming dumbfounded as to how iTunes has become such a disaster.

Thank goodness this is a three month trial. So far I am keeping Spotify on the default.

Lutherf · Jul 1, 2015

Can't speak to any of that.

I use Pandora at work and have no need for music on my phone.

Fiddytree · Jul 1, 2015

Lutherf said:
Can't speak to any of that.

I use Pandora at work and have no need for music on my phone.

A lot of folks I know swear by Pandora, but I kind of fell in love with Spotify after ditching iTunes for Foobar 2000.

Granted I'm a bit weird, but I kind of take this mobile set-up nearly everywhere, but switch out laptops depending on what I am doing. Otherwise, I use tablets and phones, but with those I don't try to hook it up to the amp.

I also discovered something interesting. On machine 2 (pictured above), Apple Music is working much better. I'm still in the early stages of taking the long route in making sure playlists from Spotify are getting recreated in this service, but things are going much better. I was going to be gradually purchasing tracks on my favorite Spotify lists anyhow. We will see how well it does when I start reactivating more machines.

iTunes has a serious tab issue that didn't exist in the mid-to-late 2000s, and I do not blame it on the additional features. Apple had seemingly created a problem where one didn't exist prior, because navigation through the regular file, edit, etc. menus worked just fine, the playlist side bar was just fine where it was, and I didn't need to continuously question whether I was in the "right mode." It all just worked. Over the past two to three years, It's become something different and it's only grown worse with an entire service wing at our disposal. The interaction of layers involving iTunes, iTunes Match, iCloud, and Apple Music is still ridiculously treacherous (to the point where I am consciously skeptical when things are working more intuitively), but I am navigating much better.

Lutherf · Jul 1, 2015

Fiddytree said:
A lot of folks I know swear by Pandora, but I kind of fell in love with Spotify after ditching iTunes for Foobar 2000.

Granted I'm a bit weird, but I kind of take this mobile set-up nearly everywhere, but switch out laptops depending on what I am doing. Otherwise, I use tablets and phones, but with those I don't try to hook it up to the amp.

I also discovered something interesting. On machine 2 (pictured above), Apple Music is working much better. I'm still in the early stages of taking the long route in making sure playlists from Spotify are getting recreated in this service, but things are going much better. I was going to be gradually purchasing tracks on my favorite Spotify lists anyhow. We will see how well it does when I start reactivating more machines.

iTunes has a serious tab issue that didn't exist in the mid-to-late 2000s, and I do not blame it on the additional features. Apple had seemingly created a problem where one didn't exist prior, because navigation through the regular file, edit, etc. menus worked just fine, the playlist side bar was just fine where it was, and I didn't need to continuously question whether I was in the "right mode." It all just worked. Over the past two to three years, It's become something different and it's only grown worse with an entire service wing at our disposal. The interaction of layers involving iTunes, iTunes Match, iCloud, and Apple Music is still ridiculously treacherous (to the point where I am consciously skeptical when things are working more intuitively), but I am navigating much better.

WOW!!! That's something else!

I have to admit that I kind of get a kick out of how the years have allowed music to get so much more portable than when I was growing up but now you're toting around the equivalent of a super "boom box":lol:

Your Star · Jul 1, 2015

I don't get these music services. I'd rather buy my music and pick exactly what I listen too. I hate the radio style shuffle.

Lutherf · Jul 1, 2015

Your Star said:
I don't get these music services. I'd rather buy my music and pick exactly what I listen too. I hate the radio style shuffle.

That's because you're too young to have experienced the sheer joy of purchasing a whole album just because you liked two songs....and it had a cool cover.:lol:

Your Star · Jul 1, 2015

Lutherf said:
That's because you're too young to have experienced the sheer joy of purchasing a whole album just because you liked two songs....and it had a cool cover.:lol:

Oh, I've experienced that. iTunes is a dangerous place at night when drunk. :lol:

Still, I know what I like, and I don't mind taking risks of my own on music. This is just me not getting the radio, lol.

Fiddytree · Jul 1, 2015

Lutherf said:
WOW!!! That's something else!

I have to admit that I kind of get a kick out of how the years have allowed music to get so much more portable than when I was growing up but now you're toting around the equivalent of a super "boom box":lol:

I go where the music will take me

I still have an iPod Classic 160 GB, but since I am spending most of my time working on a computer anyway, I tend to let it sit at home. I also used to have a smaller amp, but that thing went dead and I haven't picked up another. And as I am basically just working from one location to the next, I just lug the bigger stuff around.

Fiddytree · Jul 1, 2015

Your Star said:
I don't get these music services. I'd rather buy my music and pick exactly what I listen too. I hate the radio style shuffle.

It kind of sounds like you were thinking that the Pandora model is the typical experience. With Spotify, Xbox Music, and Apple Music, it's all user-guided. There's radio features, but you are not in any way restricted to that. You just have access to 30 some million tracks, a pretty powerful search function, and curated playlists that allow full maneuverability.

I do both traditional purchasing and streaming. I get the exposure of the streaming services and then the addicting tracks and albums are purchased. Over the last two years it was basically a matter of whether or not I wanted it all housed in one application or not. At first I was like, that's the perfect idea...but now I am much more skeptical lol.

Your Star · Jul 2, 2015

Fiddytree said:
It kind of sounds like you were thinking that the Pandora model is the typical experience. With Spotify and Apple Music, it's all user-guided. There's radio features, but you are not in any way restricted to that. You just have access to 30 some million tracks and curated playlists that allow full maneuverability.

I do both. I get the exposure of the streaming services and then the addicting tracks and albums are purchased. Over the last two years it was basically a matter of whether or not I wanted it all housed in one application or not. At first I was like, that's the perfect idea...but now I am much more skeptical lol.

If I wanna listen to new music, I'll go to Youtube and explore the artist I'm interested in, then I'll buy their album if I like them so I'll have it on demand. I want to listen to something when I want to, not have a bunch of random songs that I may not like pop up.

Not saying these services aren't useful for other people, there're just not for me.

Fiddytree · Jul 2, 2015

Your Star said:
If I wanna listen to new music, I'll go to Youtube and explore the artist I'm interested in, then I'll buy their album if I like them so I'll have it on demand. I want to listen to something when I want to, not have a bunch of random songs that I may not like pop up.

Not saying these services aren't useful for other people, there're just not for me.

No, I am not suggesting you believe that.

I was just letting you know that while each service has its own benefits and drawbacks, you basically get to say, "I only want to listen to Johnny Cash." And then you only get Johnny Cash, whether that's the full available discography or a specific album, compilation, or even top tracks. It's entirely user guided...if you don't want to listen to "Ring of Fire" it operates exactly like your music library on iTunes or Winamp would..it's just in the cloud. Point and click on the track..and play...fastforward, reverse...basically just like most previous digital media players.

Your Star · Jul 2, 2015

Fiddytree said:
No, I am not suggesting you believe that. I was just letting you know that while each service has its own benefits and drawbacks, you basically get to say, "I only want to listen to Johnny Cash." And then you only get Johnny Cash, whether that's the full available discography or a specific album, compilation, or even top tracks. It's entirely user guided...if you don't want to listen to "Ring of Fire" it operates exactly like your music library on iTunes or Winamp would..it's just in the cloud.

Oh, I know. Just saying, I'm not even that big a fan of shuffle. :lol:

Fiddytree · Jul 2, 2015

Your Star said:
Oh, I know. Just saying, I'm not even that big a fan of shuffle. :lol:

Shuffle I love....tweaking track metadata to make sure an album is precisely gapless or making sure it only plays at a certain decibel level....grrrr....takes too long!

Your Star · Jul 2, 2015

Fiddytree said:
Shuffle I love....tweaking track metadata to make sure an album is precisely gapless or making sure it only plays at a certain decibel level....grrrr....takes too long!

Sometimes I'll listen to the same song 10 times in a row. Once it gets in my head, it's glorious.

Fiddytree · Jul 2, 2015

Your Star said:
Sometimes I'll listen to the same song 10 times in a row. Once it gets in my head, it's glorious.

Last one I did that with was

Too catchy....too damn catchy.

Found out that Apple music has tracks that Spotify no longer had access to for U.S. shores. Some of the tracks went bye-bye and I didn't hear them anymore.

Fearandloathing · Jul 2, 2015

Lutherf said:
That's because you're too young to have experienced the sheer joy of purchasing a whole album just because you liked two songs....and it had a cool cover.:lol:

And then find out the whole album is great?

Beatles 65
Jefferson Airplane Surrealistic Pillow
The Doors Light My Fire.

I remember having to sneak albums into high school to trade and lend with friends, anything stronger than the Beach Boys freaked them out.

Your Star · Jul 2, 2015

Fiddytree said:
Last one I did that with was

Too catchy....too damn catchy.

Found out that Apple music has tracks that Spotify no longer had access to for U.S. shores. Some of the tracks went bye-bye and I didn't hear them anymore.

That's another reason I like buying albums and just having them; they're never going to go away.

Fiddytree · Jul 2, 2015

Fearandloathing said:
And then find out the whole album is great?

Beatles 65
Jefferson Airplane Surrealistic Pillow
The Doors Light My Fire.

I remember having to sneak albums into high school to trade and lend with friends, anything stronger than the Beach Boys freaked them out.

Led Zeppelin I for me.

Normally though I bought from reputation alone, if not through first peaking through legally questionable sources. At the time, a lot of the albums I was pursuing were in the $20-30 range, because the rage seemed to be double albums. So, you know, Nine Inch Nails-The Fragile (which I think should be regarded as a classic), Metallica S&M. However, I would say the last album I bought from the reputation of one or two songs was.

Probably still one of my favorite albums, and all from a risky purchase based on awareness of two tracks.

Fiddytree · Jul 2, 2015

Your Star said:
That's another reason I like buying albums and just having them; they're never going to go away.

Yep. So do I. I use the streaming services as a better window into the music world than what previously existed and then buy what I must get. It's a vicious cycle...emptying my wallet more than iTunes or Amazon CD purhcases could by themselves.

Lutherf · Jul 2, 2015

Fearandloathing said:
And then find out the whole album is great?

Beatles 65
Jefferson Airplane Surrealistic Pillow
The Doors Light My Fire.

I remember having to sneak albums into high school to trade and lend with friends, anything stronger than the Beach Boys freaked them out.

I purchased many an album just because I liked the cover or the title only to discover that they were masterpieces.

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
Grateful Dead - Europe '72

and many, many more.

I also miss liner notes. That was a big part of how I broadened my musical horizons.

PeteEU · Jul 2, 2015

Fiddytree said:
Night 1: I like the look. The balls are helpful in trying to figure out my music interests.

They stole this function from other services...

Seems to have similar selection of music as Spotify.

With a few exceptions yes. One thing I hate about the music industry.. their "exclusivity" bull**** on online services.

May have issues finding playlists of similar build to my existing Spotify playlists.

And you cant export your Spotify lists to the new service... Apple blocked that ability rather quickly.

Day 1: First attempt in the wild at work. On separate laptop. Oh great. Apple's iCloud system says I am using too many computers when I am trying to create a playlist with Apple Music tracks. How is this still a thing with the music industry? Don't they know I am not a thief if I own or use more than 4 computers? Is this Apple's lack of foresight at work here?

No poor programming. iCloud has been a disaster from day one. Uptime is well below industry standards, access is horrible especially from non Apple devices and then there is the lack of basic security until recently. Also there are constant reports of problems with the whole match thing.. whatever they call it now.

How can a company screw up helping an individual user figure out how to use a basic music streaming service? If I can't figure out how all of Apple's pieces interact with each other (iTunes proper, iTunes Match, iCloud, Apple Music), how is the average person supposed to figure this out?

Well lots have been pointing out this problem for years

As a fan of the traditional iTunes layout and functionality, I'm becoming dumbfounded as to how iTunes has become such a disaster.

Wait what.. iTunes has had functionality and a logical layout.. ever?

Fearandloathing · Jul 2, 2015

Lutherf said:
I purchased many an album just because I liked the cover or the title only to discover that they were masterpieces.

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
Grateful Dead - Europe '72

and many, many more.

I also miss liner notes. That was a big part of how I broadened my musical horizons.

Me too.

I had all of them. Bat out of Hell was like that.

The cover art was often worth the cost of the record.

There was a Birds album with them as Astronauts on the cover that never even got air play in the progressive music stations, tons of stuff like that.

I now regret converting 6,000 albums, classic, rock, pop jazz to CD even though hauling them around was a great chore

ReverendHellh0und · Jul 2, 2015

Fiddytree said:
A lot of folks I know swear by Pandora, but I kind of fell in love with Spotify after ditching iTunes for Foobar 2000.

Granted I'm a bit weird, but I kind of take this mobile set-up nearly everywhere, but switch out laptops depending on what I am doing. Otherwise, I use tablets and phones, but with those I don't try to hook it up to the amp.

View attachment 67186633

I also discovered something interesting. On machine 2 (pictured above), Apple Music is working much better. I'm still in the early stages of taking the long route in making sure playlists from Spotify are getting recreated in this service, but things are going much better. I was going to be gradually purchasing tracks on my favorite Spotify lists anyhow. We will see how well it does when I start reactivating more machines.

iTunes has a serious tab issue that didn't exist in the mid-to-late 2000s, and I do not blame it on the additional features. Apple had seemingly created a problem where one didn't exist prior, because navigation through the regular file, edit, etc. menus worked just fine, the playlist side bar was just fine where it was, and I didn't need to continuously question whether I was in the "right mode." It all just worked. Over the past two to three years, It's become something different and it's only grown worse with an entire service wing at our disposal. The interaction of layers involving iTunes, iTunes Match, iCloud, and Apple Music is still ridiculously treacherous (to the point where I am consciously skeptical when things are working more intuitively), but I am navigating much better.

Nice Cans, What amp is that?

My current setup at my NYC office:

Unrepresented · Jul 2, 2015

Your Star said:
I don't get these music services. I'd rather buy my music and pick exactly what I listen too. I hate the radio style shuffle.

I'm a long time Pandora subscriber. I've already listened to the artists and the songs I know. I'm usually looking for artists and songs I'll like, but don't know about yet. Pandora's been great for exposing me to artists I'd otherwise never have discovered.

Fiddytree · Jul 2, 2015

ReverendHellh0und said:
Nice Cans, What amp is that?

My current setup at my NYC office:

Thanks for the porn.

Headroom Desktop Amp (now since a dead product). I had hesitation buying from renowned companies that were nevertheless based out of China, and liked that they were essentially from my second home state.

Tube amps interest me, but I was worried about maneuverability from location to location. Would be fun to do for a truly dedicated listening room...and I do get envious of you folks.

Apple Music Experience Random Thoughts

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