I've been running Apple Music and Spotify in parallel for a few weeks now to see if I'm ready to jump ship from Spotify. I used a paid service (Soundiiz) to copy all my playlists and favorites to Apple Music. It worked really well, but so far I really find Apple Music's interface -- especially on the Mac -- to be very weak. I'm gonna give it a little longer because Apple Music incorporates my personal library in a way Spotify doesn't. But so far I'm really kind of baffled by how bad it is.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Can we talk about how Apple Music is a mess on Monterey?
- Thread starter DHagan4755
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Now that macOS Monterey 12.3 has been publicly released, Apple Music is still fairly buggy. It's thoroughly disappointing. Apple needs to blow up the Apple Music app & start over.
The ‘deleted’ Matched files still being present in the cloud is something I have noticed fairly recently. At this stage I’m assuming it’s (yet another) bug with their back end.
Does anyone else have the bug where when viewing your library in “Songs” with the column browser enabled, the scroll bar keeps jumping back to the top of the library? I’m having this issue in all iterations of Music since Catalina and it’s infuriating.
Yes. It jumps all the time. Not specifically to the top in my case, but somewhere else in the song list.
1. Since the upgrade to 12.3 - with a playlist that's a mix of music and music videos; it stops playing when what it completes playing video and the next in the playlist isn't video. So a list of three items: music - video - music; will stop after the second item
2. For a long time - in 'get info', the genre dropdown is a complete mess, e.g. selects the item in the list which is one below the item you choose
3. When it's playing music videos, clicking away and back from the window with focus sometimes mean the mouse disappears... ditto the keboard ceases to function
4. Has Sound Check ever worked?
2. For a long time - in 'get info', the genre dropdown is a complete mess, e.g. selects the item in the list which is one below the item you choose
3. When it's playing music videos, clicking away and back from the window with focus sometimes mean the mouse disappears... ditto the keboard ceases to function
4. Has Sound Check ever worked?
I think Sound Check does exactly what it's coded to do…but it may not give the results a user expects when he imagines what "Automatically adjusts song playback volume to the same level" means.
THIS THING: Apple Music have started to stream cd and HiRes quality files. It's important, as -for music lovers- now you get at least same quality as cd, and pay monthly not just for compressed files: it's like renting a huge collection of published real (bit by bit) albums. Very nice.
Apple say that HiRes, beyond 96kHz (Apple Music serves up to 192kHz files) can be read with a dedicated DAC. No more explicit instructions or how-to from Apple.
The internal DAC in Macs can be configured in "Sound MIDI SetUp Utility.app" (in Utilities folder), but it stays the same -chosen samplerate- whatever file is played (up to 96kHz).
I've chosen to set my external DAC to 192, and internal (I use it sometimes) at 96kHz. Is it adequate to use "fixed" setting for every file? It doesn't automatically change when 44, 48, 96, 192kHz is playing.
Some third part music players can override OS setting and adjust automatically (my external DAC shows "sample-rate" in a screen, Audirvana works as expected).
AND: (I think this is irritating). If you use Apple Music in a iOS device, all settings work perfectly well, automatically and without needed human intervention. I can connect my external DAC (Topping D10s) to lightning plug in iPad, and sample rate changes accordingly when listening to a list with varied qualities.
It just works.
Which one is the correct way of listening HiRes? The macOS way or iOS way? Perhaps it's indifferent...I don't know. And not a word is told in Apple's documentation in web, AFAIK, apart from selling the feature.
Why can't macs do this?:
(cd quality is ok for me, but I DO notice and appreciate a difference from old AAC files).
Apple say that HiRes, beyond 96kHz (Apple Music serves up to 192kHz files) can be read with a dedicated DAC. No more explicit instructions or how-to from Apple.
The internal DAC in Macs can be configured in "Sound MIDI SetUp Utility.app" (in Utilities folder), but it stays the same -chosen samplerate- whatever file is played (up to 96kHz).
I've chosen to set my external DAC to 192, and internal (I use it sometimes) at 96kHz. Is it adequate to use "fixed" setting for every file? It doesn't automatically change when 44, 48, 96, 192kHz is playing.
Some third part music players can override OS setting and adjust automatically (my external DAC shows "sample-rate" in a screen, Audirvana works as expected).
AND: (I think this is irritating). If you use Apple Music in a iOS device, all settings work perfectly well, automatically and without needed human intervention. I can connect my external DAC (Topping D10s) to lightning plug in iPad, and sample rate changes accordingly when listening to a list with varied qualities.
It just works.
Which one is the correct way of listening HiRes? The macOS way or iOS way? Perhaps it's indifferent...I don't know. And not a word is told in Apple's documentation in web, AFAIK, apart from selling the feature.
Why can't macs do this?:
(cd quality is ok for me, but I DO notice and appreciate a difference from old AAC files).
Music on the Mac has been an ugly sh#†-show since Apple re-jiggered iTunes to have a store in it years and years ago. They bloated the app to death trying to make it the catch-all for all things iOS. They had the opportunity to fix it when they stripped everything out and made it nothing more than a music app and still managed to create a mess. Too many features that try to make it easier and it does nothing but make listening to music as difficult as possible. There isn't a single feature of the Music app that works as intended 100% of the time.
Apple Music (the service) is just as big a mess. Trying to figure out exactly what happens when you turn on iCloud music library is overly complex – and despite the fact that Apple claims that nothing is done with your actual music files, there are countless accounts of people's entire music collection being replaced with Apple's versions of song files (which aren't the same as the ones they had in their own collection). I don't know if those users did something to mess it up, but I'm not willing to risk it.
Apple Music (the service) is just as big a mess. Trying to figure out exactly what happens when you turn on iCloud music library is overly complex – and despite the fact that Apple claims that nothing is done with your actual music files, there are countless accounts of people's entire music collection being replaced with Apple's versions of song files (which aren't the same as the ones they had in their own collection). I don't know if those users did something to mess it up, but I'm not willing to risk it.
But there are some that for me fail 100% of the time, especially around the latest release and video
E.g. For me:
- Play a music video
- Minimise the window while it's playing
- Move focus to a different app
- Maximise the music video window while it's still playing the same track
Robust management of artwork - ha ha ha
Then as you say there are those that might work most of the time but aren't 199% reliable ... sometimes none of the volume controls work, on screen or on the Apple keyboard
And so on.
Has anybody figured out a way to force a delete of an uploaded song? It's getting pretty annoying now.
Interesting solution I inadvertently stumbled across. Using the app WebCatalog, I was able to "install" a web-based Apple Music app. Sure, it's most likely Electron-based. It's probably ultimately PWA-based, which leads me down another annoyance with macOS & PWAs. But hey at least this works better than the actual native Apple Music app. Go figure!
Shows up in System Information as an iOS app haha
this app is definitely a mess. for me it constantly alerts me that i need to upgrade even though i'm not playing on other devices. i'm just using it on my phone now. this gives you the watch support. generally homepod minis are also confused sometimes taking over from the phone, and even just starting to randomly play. everything is up to date.
spotify is terrible. come on. no lossless. old airplay. they treat artists like crap too. i switched back to apple music and other than the mac app i'm satisfied.
What the hell does Apple music do in the background that causes every streamed song to stutter/glitch slightly at 15 seconds? It drives me nuts...
I thought it was just one of the many HomePod problems, but it turns out it happens on my M1 MacBook Air too, whether I'm streaming to the HomePods or not.
I thought it was just one of the many HomePod problems, but it turns out it happens on my M1 MacBook Air too, whether I'm streaming to the HomePods or not.
I got free time today and tomorrow and updated some of my playlists for hours only for it to be reverted to its previous contents a few hours later. So upsetting.
I have different issues than most of you folks. I was using my 2010 Mac Pro until a few months ago when I bought a Mac Studio... This was the first time in my long association with Apple that I didn't Migrate anything and I'm still Installing stuff. Pain in my arse. And, for some reason PhotoShop is causing me grief... and I'm also one of the guys having the Monitor Issue where Monterey doesn't see Other Companies' Monitors...
As for Music: I’m a lot like all of the guys in “High Fidelity.” I like my Music very accessible with Info and Different Covers in Folders and all that stuff. For me it’s like my old shelves with my LPs on them. And with my new LD 31.5” 4K Monitor I can look at high-res Artwork even bigger than my old LPs. The only things missing are the Tactile experience and the Smell of Mildew. I love that smell. Old Comics smell like that too. I wonder if there’s an essential Oil with that scent?
Issues: If I rip Flacs with XLD and then add them to Music, when I drop them in my PlayList, no matter where I drop them, they goes to the End of the PlayList…. Then I scroll-down and drag the songs to where I want them, then when I drop them where I want them, they go where I put them, but the List goes back to the End.
My other annoying problem is when I start-up Music the Song’s Volume bounces Down and Up…
As for Music: I’m a lot like all of the guys in “High Fidelity.” I like my Music very accessible with Info and Different Covers in Folders and all that stuff. For me it’s like my old shelves with my LPs on them. And with my new LD 31.5” 4K Monitor I can look at high-res Artwork even bigger than my old LPs. The only things missing are the Tactile experience and the Smell of Mildew. I love that smell. Old Comics smell like that too. I wonder if there’s an essential Oil with that scent?
Issues: If I rip Flacs with XLD and then add them to Music, when I drop them in my PlayList, no matter where I drop them, they goes to the End of the PlayList…. Then I scroll-down and drag the songs to where I want them, then when I drop them where I want them, they go where I put them, but the List goes back to the End.
My other annoying problem is when I start-up Music the Song’s Volume bounces Down and Up…
Me: creates a new playlist
Apple Music: "Updating Cloud Music Library"
Apple Music: "You must merge your library with iCloud"
Me: yes, like every single time I open this app, go on then
Apple Music: "An unknown error has occurred"
Me: adds songs to playlist
Playlist: remains empty
Me: grinds teeth, waits a while, adds the songs
Playlist: remains empty
Me: does it again
Playlist: suddenly populates with 11 copies of every song and also there are 7 copies of the playlist and also Apple "matched" my different versions of songs with *different lengths* because why not, even though I renamed the songs, the albums, and changed the artwork
Me: did Spotify ever fix the way they handled local files? Because this is why I switched…