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Apple Music is a frustrating mess
- Thread starter riverfreak
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I think you can use Apple Music without enabling iCloud Music Library but then you can't save music to your library.
True. It takes away what to me is the most important functionality, but it's true indeed.
Personally, that is the way I treat my Mac Mini at home. I saved the iTunes library and then created another library and matched my music to iCloud. Then I deleted that library and went back to my old library with iCloud off. I mainly did it that way so I could have my lossless files on my main media computer without intermingling with matched files. Of course, Home Sharing is built into Apple Music on iOS, so I turn that on when I am streaming from iOS at home. Away from home, on my laptop and iOS devices, I just use the Cloud for everything.
Even when matching is an issue away from home, which for my 25000 song library it is rare, I still have access to the actual files via Plex or DS Audio (Synology server) if I just can't live without hearing a specific song/album at any given moment (that hasn't happened yet, but if there is a music emergency where I have to hear a live recording that Apple matched incorrectly, I am covered).
Also, I know some people just want Apple to load up the actual file that is in iTunes. However, that has its own issues. It could take months to upload for those of us with larger than normal libraries and most of us also have data caps on our internet services. In the long run, people getting huge bills from their cable services related to Apple uploading music would be a PR nightmare. Also, Apple would still want to transcode them to AAC, so that would be another thing in their way. For those with file formats that are less than 256k, they would lose the benefit of Matching in respects to sound quality.
While I am on the subject, I don't have a problem with the way the artists are sorted. Going by the first letter of the name works for everything, while going by last name does not. In other words, there are a lot of artists without last names, so they have to be sorted by first letter (Little Richard, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, etc.), so for consistency it makes sense to just sort everything by the first letter. More people would be confused the other way around.
Personally, I like Apple Music. I don't think it is perfect, especially the matching process, but the benefits of having most of my own music available from one app makes it a better fit than the services that don't have any of my own music. Also, Siri is the trump card that beats every service on iOS.
Good points on the problems with uploading everything.
But I can't agree with you on sorting. "Little Richard" is not his name, it's a stage name. It would be filed under L in a library or record store, not R. The name of the artist is "Little Richard". There would be no entry in the last name field.
You sort by last name if present, if not, by first name. Not hard. But embarrassing that Apple Music can't get it right and doesn't instill much confidence in me that they can actually deal with my data. Even iTunes has (had?) an option for choosing how you want to sort. They should have retained for AM.
I think it is a matter of opinion. Most people haven't been to a record store in years, but they are used to using computers. Computers sort by the first letter in a file name. I have been using the app since it launched and I never even thought about the sorting.
"2. Having to toggle between "All Apple Music" and "My Music"
I understand the rationale for this in some situations. But this toggle is too prominent. You shouldn't have to toggle back and forth all the time as it destroys the perception of integration"
While I am here, I thought I would also comment on your second complaint. Once again, this is a matter of opinion. I like having my music and saved music in a separate location for easy access. I don't really care or want to use a service that worries about the "perception of integration" at the cost of my time. I just want it to work for my purposes without having to go through a bunch of submenus to find what I am looking for.
This feature becomes more important at home when I want to access Home Sharing (to get access to my lossless library). I want to be able to find my specific files easily. I would be more disappointed with some sort of limited button approach that leaves me hunting for everything.
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I love you a bit now
Play Music from Google allows upload of up to 50k songs. It took me about 12 hours to upload my 31k. No matching problems until I tried their premium service, at which point I started immediately getting incorrect tracks. Wow, Google, well done.
But there's a very simple way to fix Apple Music and I am hoping for it in iTunes 12.4: add a right-click option "Incorrect match" and upload only those songs.
My complaints:
Not sure if Apple Music tries to play from your library first if it's available or not, but Hoobastank is incredibly lousy quality.
They need a way to play all songs by a particular artist instead of just the top songs. I selected an artist yesterday that I know has a lot of songs but I found myself going through the same 30 tracks on a 3 hour trip. I want a section where it play's all of their songs in album release - track order. Discography mode ftw.
Not sure if Apple Music tries to play from your library first if it's available or not, but Hoobastank is incredibly lousy quality.
They need a way to play all songs by a particular artist instead of just the top songs. I selected an artist yesterday that I know has a lot of songs but I found myself going through the same 30 tracks on a 3 hour trip. I want a section where it play's all of their songs in album release - track order. Discography mode ftw.
I love you a bit now
Play Music from Google allows upload of up to 50k songs. It took me about 12 hours to upload my 31k. No matching problems until I tried their premium service, at which point I started immediately getting incorrect tracks. Wow, Google, well done.
But there's a very simple way to fix Apple Music and I am hoping for it in iTunes 12.4: add a right-click option "Incorrect match" and upload only those songs.
It sounds like Google matches them, too. My collection is hundreds of GBs, so there is no way they can copy that much data very quickly. My Comcast cap ( though they allow you to go over for a fee) is 300GBs per month. Even if I had speeds fast enough to upload my music in a day, I would go over my monthly cap before the music was completely copied.
I tried the Google premium service when it came to market. It choked on my files and I got tired of re-running the application, so their app has about 8000 of my files. I wasn't a fan of their service at all. It was 7.99 a month rather than the 9.99 I was paying for Mog, and even then, it wasn't worth it. I bet things are better now, but the inability to work with Siri on iOS is the reason I won't be testing it again. If I could pick another service to get Siri, it would be Tidal (thanks to the Roonaudio experience), so Google Play would be farther down the list. The main upside is YouTube Red or whatever they call it now, but it would be much more compelling if I was on Android.
They didn't match anything until I enabled streaming. Even files with glitches played with glitches, and I had an option to redownload everything. But when I enabled streaming, the streaming library took precedence over my own, and that's when I got that magical Apple Music "it matters which remix it is!!!" feeling. The only thing they'd have to fix is give own files preference over streaming, but then I assume they wouldn't pay artists.
Give me that "incorrect match" button I want Apple and I'm yours.
Give me that "incorrect match" button I want Apple and I'm yours.
Yes – on the desktop. But as long as they don't fix syncing to my phone, I'm sticking with Spotify.
Hi All,
(Posted this in my own thread but thought you might have some input.)
I was very glad to hear that the latest iOS update included an option to NOT add a song to My Music when adding it to a playlist (both cloud and offline mode).
However, I cannot for the life of me now delete music I have already added to My Music! If I search for a group or song it shows up in My Music and when I go to the playlist and delete it there it is removed everywhere...
Is there a way I can (either in iTunes or on the iPhone) delete these songs so that they do not show in My Music but will still appear in a playlist?
Many thanks!
(Posted this in my own thread but thought you might have some input.)
I was very glad to hear that the latest iOS update included an option to NOT add a song to My Music when adding it to a playlist (both cloud and offline mode).
However, I cannot for the life of me now delete music I have already added to My Music! If I search for a group or song it shows up in My Music and when I go to the playlist and delete it there it is removed everywhere...
Is there a way I can (either in iTunes or on the iPhone) delete these songs so that they do not show in My Music but will still appear in a playlist?
Many thanks!
When I used Apple Music, there was no way to add a song to a playlist w/o adding it to My Music so I can't help you.
now u know how i feel.... Its like that on desktop to, so u'r not missing anything...
Thankfully the pressure of "having" to deal with Apple music rests easy because i DRM free it all, so they can do what they want... I have what i want too. Thanks a bunch Apple
Adding an Apple music song/album to separate playlist on Mac, then adding it to the main playlist as well in iTunes sees different cover art for same song/album
Well done Apple
Now tell me, this is an iTunes issue. Version 12.3.3
I went back to Play Music for good. I cancelled Play Music last month to try Apple Music exclusively. Apple Music has excellent sound quality but that is all that is good about it. So I use Android sue me the app is horrible. I launch it "
Unfortunately Apple Music has stopped" Okay launch it again. Then I am browsing albums "Unfortunately Apple Music has stopped" Then just listening to music it hogs the most battery life.
The worse is iTunes locking up and freezing all the time. I already turned off auto renewal again and my sub ends on May 7th.
Unfortunately Apple Music has stopped" Okay launch it again. Then I am browsing albums "Unfortunately Apple Music has stopped" Then just listening to music it hogs the most battery life.
The worse is iTunes locking up and freezing all the time. I already turned off auto renewal again and my sub ends on May 7th.
Apple Music is, in my experience, a mess. It does completely inexplicable things to playlists. Songs mysteriously disappear from playlists. Songs that I KNOW I've downloaded to my phone suddenly aren't there anymore. Playlists that I sort in iTunes refuse to sync to the iPhone, or show up, but out of order, or in alphabetical order, even though they aren't ordered that way in iTunes on my computer. The only way I've found to fix is to delete the songs, wait for the empty playlist to show up on my Phone, then add songs in the right order, and hope it syncs correctly. Oh, and for me the "For You" feature is almost useless....
AM is a huge disappointment from a company I used to be a big fan of. Between it and Maps, Cook has overseen at least two massive debacles. Then add to the mix the lack of attention to computers, and the new iPad "Pro" for which they jacked up the price (in the past they used to upgrade specs, but not the price - and you can't even get a 128Gb Air 2), Apple is losing the plot.
AM is a huge disappointment from a company I used to be a big fan of. Between it and Maps, Cook has overseen at least two massive debacles. Then add to the mix the lack of attention to computers, and the new iPad "Pro" for which they jacked up the price (in the past they used to upgrade specs, but not the price - and you can't even get a 128Gb Air 2), Apple is losing the plot.
Every single day I open Macrumors hoping to find iTunes 12.4 is out and every single day I am disappointed. I don't know if it's going to fix Apple Music but I would love it if it happened. Spotify rolled out an "update" which broke Search – "An unknown error has occurred". Will they roll out a fix? Yes, in two weeks, because that's how they work. In the meantime just try not searching for anything, problem solved!
I agree except I hope everyday I open Macrumors to see that Apple Music now has a web player that works in Safari and Chrome browser.
In iOS Music app, there used to be a "Show complete album" option at the bottom of the track list of an album in case only part of the songs were added to My Music. Now (I assume after 9.3.1 update) it is gone? Opening the menu from the "..." button and tapping on the album cover still opens the same track view without the songs selected to My Music.
Is the "Show Complete Album" now completely removed or is there still some other superhidden way?
Is the "Show Complete Album" now completely removed or is there still some other superhidden way?
How can Apple Music have over 10 million paid subscribers with all of these issues many that still have not been fixed that should have been.
For power users there are still some annoying bugs. But for the average or even novice user, it's fine. Siri integration is near flawless or just wanting to pick up the app and listen to music is perfectly fine. It's when you dig deeper you get the issues