Apple Music needed to make the most out of Apple Watch?

[chiltern14]

I’m currently with Spotify Premium and am looking to get the Apple Watch 5 when it comes out in September (will be my first AW). I’ve heard that Apple Music is leagues ahead of Spotify and its competitors when it comes it Apple Watch integration, with it being the only service that allows music to be downloaded to the actual watch so that it can be used for running, for example, with only the AirPods and not the phone (and I’m definitely not going for the LTE/4G model, only the GPS one), while other services need the phone?

Apple Music never really appealed that much since it felt too walled into the Apple ecosystem for a streaming service, and Spotify always seemed like the obvious choice, but if AM would make the Apple Watch much more capable then I guess I would consider the switch (or at least try the 3 month trial). All my other devices (iPhone, MacBook, AirPods, iPad) are Apple so AM might be a logical choice....

Any advice would be great! Thanks

 

[casperes1996]

I mean, the Spotify app on the Apple Watch is quite nicely made I think. I'd actually say it's a nicer UI than Apple Music on the watch. But I'm very happy with Apple Music overall, and I'd still recommend it over Spotify

 

[chiltern14]

I mean, the Spotify app on the Apple Watch is quite nicely made I think. I'd actually say it's a nicer UI than Apple Music on the watch. But I'm very happy with Apple Music overall, and I'd still recommend it over Spotify

Thanks for the advice. Can Apple Music playlists still be shared with non-Apple Music users? Of course they wouldn’t be able to play them through Apple Music’s service, but could you get a shareable URL that links to the list of songs, as is possible with Spotify? Or does the lack of a free plan rule this out? If so, it does feel like it might be possibly a slightly too ‘closed off’ (probably a better expression for that) platform. Of course Apple wants to keep users within their ecosystem, but share-ability is a key feature in a music streaming service.

 

[Shirasaki]

Thanks for the advice. Can Apple Music playlists still be shared with non-Apple Music users? Of course they wouldn’t be able to play them through Apple Music’s service, but could you get a shareable URL that links to the list of songs, as is possible with Spotify? Or does the lack of a free plan rule this out? If so, it does feel like it might be possibly a slightly too ‘closed off’ (probably a better expression for that) platform. Of course Apple wants to keep users within their ecosystem, but share-ability is a key feature in a music streaming service.

Apple Music can share playlist to other Apple Music user with a shareable link afaik. I don’t use Apple Music, but Apple touted the sharing feature when debuting Apple Music back in iOS 8.4. It should not matter whether you have a trial plan or not.

 

[chiltern14]

Apple Music can share playlist to other Apple Music user with a shareable link afaik. I don’t use Apple Music, but Apple touted the sharing feature when debuting Apple Music back in iOS 8.4. It should not matter whether you have a trial plan or not.

Thanks for the info. It’s sharing with non-Apple Music members that I believe probably doesn’t exist, so that those without a subscription can’t even view the contents of a playlist, which seems a very insular approach for Apple to take considering they’re not the most widely used music streaming service. But I guess that’s the ecosystem for you haha

 

[ericwn]

Thanks for the info. It’s sharing with non-Apple Music members that I believe probably doesn’t exist, so that those without a subscription can’t even view the contents of a playlist, which seems a very insular approach for Apple to take considering they’re not the most widely used music streaming service. But I guess that’s the ecosystem for you haha

Im not sure how a non-subscriber would use a shared playlist? How would Spotify do that? If I’m not using their service am I not left with having to look at the list and type everything in manually into my music app of choice?

 

[Monkswhiskers]

You can't download playlists to the watch from Spotify unless you use the Apollo app which can be a bit buggy.

 

[chiltern14]

Im not sure how a non-subscriber would use a shared playlist? How would Spotify do that? If I’m not using their service am I not left with having to look at the list and type everything in manually into my music app of choice?

Well you could at least view the playlist (with Apple Music I am unsure whether a playlist can even be viewed outside of a subscriber’s app), and it could be shuffle played if the viewer had Spotify’s free plan.
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You can't download playlists to the watch from Spotify unless you use the Apollo app which can be a bit buggy.

Thanks for the confirmation. Shame Spotify don’t do something about this. I wouldn’t have thought it would be hard to implement?

 

[casperes1996]

Well you could at least view the playlist (with Apple Music I am unsure whether a playlist can even be viewed outside of a subscriber’s app), and it could be shuffle played if the viewer had Spotify’s free plan.

Pretty sure you can see it. I can try sending you a link to something and you can test. I believe it just opens it in a web browser or the Music/iTunes app as unplayable but viewable.
I even believe there's an app that takes an Apple Music share URL and finds all the contents of it on Spotify and creates as well matched a playlist there as possible. Missing songs will be ignored, songs that only exist in different editions will be attempted matched. - Saw it once, but can't for the life of me remember it's name.

Here's a link to something I just quickly threw together to test it. 99% sure you can view it without subscription. Maybe even hear previews like on the store.
https://music.apple.com/dk/playlist/testplay/pl.u-zaB6iMz7qDz

OK, little thing; The link has /dk/ in it. So it may actually be region locked? I don't know how Apple does it with Apple Music, but with the stores you can't use stores outside of your region and the link clearly holds the info that it's from a. Danish set Apple Account.

 

[StaceyMJ86]

Pretty sure you can see it. I can try sending you a link to something and you can test. I believe it just opens it in a web browser or the Music/iTunes app as unplayable but viewable.
I even believe there's an app that takes an Apple Music share URL and finds all the contents of it on Spotify and creates as well matched a playlist there as possible. Missing songs will be ignored, songs that only exist in different editions will be attempted matched. - Saw it once, but can't for the life of me remember it's name.

Here's a link to something I just quickly threw together to test it. 99% sure you can view it without subscription. Maybe even hear previews like on the store.
https://music.apple.com/dk/playlist/testplay/pl.u-zaB6iMz7qDz

OK, little thing; The link has /dk/ in it. So it may actually be region locked? I don't know how Apple does it with Apple Music, but with the stores you can't use stores outside of your region and the link clearly holds the info that it's from a. Danish set Apple Account.

I’m in the US, an Apple Music subscriber, and was able to view your test playlist.

 

[mk313]

Pretty sure you can see it. I can try sending you a link to something and you can test. I believe it just opens it in a web browser or the Music/iTunes app as unplayable but viewable.
I even believe there's an app that takes an Apple Music share URL and finds all the contents of it on Spotify and creates as well matched a playlist there as possible. Missing songs will be ignored, songs that only exist in different editions will be attempted matched. - Saw it once, but can't for the life of me remember it's name.

Here's a link to something I just quickly threw together to test it. 99% sure you can view it without subscription. Maybe even hear previews like on the store.
https://music.apple.com/dk/playlist/testplay/pl.u-zaB6iMz7qDz

OK, little thing; The link has /dk/ in it. So it may actually be region locked? I don't know how Apple does it with Apple Music, but with the stores you can't use stores outside of your region and the link clearly holds the info that it's from a. Danish set Apple Account.

I’m in the us and NOT an apple music subscriber and I could see the playlist just fine

 

[casperes1996]

I’m in the us and NOT an apple music subscriber and I could see the playlist just fine

There you go then. Perfect.
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I’m in the US, an Apple Music subscriber, and was able to view your test playlist.

Hope you enjoyed Alanis Morissette and Vitamin String Quartet.