Anybody else started using Beats Music this week?

[Michael CM1]

After I heard about the 14-day trial, I decided to act like the little Apple lemming I am and try out Beats Music. I have used Spotify and still do a bit with the free ad-supported playlist shuffle. But it does feel kind of stripped down at times like it's missing something. The offline mode and unlimited skips were very nice when I was a subscriber.

So I'm a couple days into my trial now, and I decided to buy a $25 card at Target that was on sale for $22.50. So I'm going to give it a couple months. I do think the curated playlists are an improvement over just algorithms. I played one today that was '00s Rock, and I swear they stole it from my favorite iTunes playlist.

The selection is pretty good. I even found the RHCP version of "Love Rollercoaster" on there, something I hadn't been able to find aside from buying the Beavis & Butthead movie soundtrack on CD. There was almost no George Carlin, but I found a number of albums from other comedians. I own most of George's stuff, but it's obvious that not everything is available.

Would love to hear some other opinions. FYI I think all of the cards for Beats Music were 10 percent off at Target in case anybody else wants to buy them. Price should be good until close tomorrow, and you can use them through the end of the year.

 

[arn]

i only recently signed up for the trial, and was pleasantly surprised by the onboarding process. nicely designed. beyond that, I haven't had a chance to really use it.

arn

 

[borninla]

I like it even more than Spotify. I think the design and overall broad database is attractive. For example, I found more singles/EP releases from Daft Punk because of how easy its categorized.

 

[gooberwilson]

I started using it and I'm glad I did. It's a great service and you can really tell that they put a lot of effort into making sure that you have an emotional attachment to the music that you listen to. The curated playlists are laid out so well. The playlists feel very human rather than just choosing random music yourself or having an algorithm choose your music. I'm really glad Trent Reznor is the chief creative officer for Beats because he really understands how music should be listened to. Iovine understands this as well. I'm really impressed with it and I think Apple made a good move by buying Beats.

 

[minisuds7]

I'm on the 14 day trial as well. The first thing that popped into my mind when I first opened the iPad app was "wow." The app is just beautiful. You can tell they put a lot of heart and work into this project. The curated playlists are terrific and as gimmicky as it sounds, "The Sentence" was very cool IMHO. I used it this morning in the shower set to "I'm in the shower & feel like working out with myself to alt rock" and gave me a sweet playlist that got me going and ready for my morning bike ride. $10/month is steep (especially for this college student), but I'm this satisfied for the next 2 weeks then I might just spring for it.

Oh, and did I mention that the app is gorgeous???

 

[nwlondonlad]

Apparently there is no desktop version for this? This would be a big deal breaker for me as I use Spotify a lot around the house.

Any which way, its not in the UK yet so guess they may address this before a global roll out

 

[Michael CM1]

Apparently there is no desktop version for this? This would be a big deal breaker for me as I use Spotify a lot around the house.

Any which way, its not in the UK yet so guess they may address this before a global roll out

I'm pretty sure you can use it via a web browser. Haven't tried that, but I've seen countless posts mentioning that.

 

[isaiahmontoya]

Beats Music

Yeah I downloaded it this week out of curiosity. Everything went really well until I found out they don’t have Metallica... I mean, c’mon. That’s kind of basics.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Yeah I downloaded it this week out of curiosity. Everything went really well until I found out they don’t have Metallica... I mean, c’mon. That’s kind of basics.

They don't have The Beatles either and that's even more basic and widely listened too. Licensing deals suck for consumers.

 

[isaiahmontoya]

They don't have The Beatles either and that's even more basic and widely listened too. Licensing deals suck for consumers.

Yeah, but that's been a known issue that Apple only recently addressed for iTunes. Not having Metallica was abrupt and unpleasant surprise. I totally expected it to be there, and I was let down.

Otherwise though, the service is pretty great. Offline play works like a dream. That "like" "love" or "hate" game you play at the beginning was really well designed. If you remember the simple illustrations for the genres, that was a nice touch.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Anybody else started using Beats Music this week?

The thing I think it's missing is a search for a particular artist in the curated section. At least I couldn't find it if it's there.



Otherwise I like it a lot more than Spotify. It's laid out better and they seem to have almost anyone I could think of ranging from well known to indie and I can't believe they're on here, at least for my social tastes which are all over the board.

 

[ignus graius]

I had a 3-month trial thanks to my AT&T Wireless account, and I ended up letting it expire. I enjoyed it for the first couple of weeks, but after a while my home screen kept suggesting the same playlists and albums that I either didn't care for or had already listened to, and at the time I wasn't able to reset my initial preferences (where you touch the circles for artists/genres you like and don't like).

I saw a lot of potential, and if I didn't already have a Spotify Premium account I would have kept the Beats subscription. Having followed Trent Reznor on Twitter, I was looking forward to Beats for a while. I love the idea of human curation. But ultimately the Beats interface felt too foreign in my iOS world, and I chose to go back to Spotify Premium.

 

[Michael CM1]

I had a 3-month trial thanks to my AT&T Wireless account, and I ended up letting it expire. I enjoyed it for the first couple of weeks, but after a while my home screen kept suggesting the same playlists and albums that I either didn't care for or had already listened to, and at the time I wasn't able to reset my initial preferences (where you touch the circles for artists/genres you like and don't like).

I saw a lot of potential, and if I didn't already have a Spotify Premium account I would have kept the Beats subscription. Having followed Trent Reznor on Twitter, I was looking forward to Beats for a while. I love the idea of human curation. But ultimately the Beats interface felt too foreign in my iOS world, and I chose to go back to Spotify Premium.

That's why I'm wanting to try it out for a couple of months. The playlists seem to change a bit. But like a news site, they'd better change over time. I have seen a couple that I really like -- Weird Al polkas! -- but I want to see a variety over time.

I also want to see what Apple does with it. I've had some neat brainstorms about integration with iTunes/Music. Basically it would be nice to open the Music app with its familiar UI and maybe have my favorite Beats playlists show up there. Or if I add artists or albums to my Beats library, they show up in the Music app.