testing the Catalina Music app before I upgrade

[memphismac]

Short version: Is there somewhere online I can test/practice/preview the current version of the OS Music app?

Long version:
I'm currently running Mojave on my 2017 4k iMac, and it works fine.
But I know I'll eventually have to upgrade the OS for several reasons (security, compatibility with phones for backups, app updates, etc.)

I tried it earlier this year, but switched back. Why?
Because I have 345GB of music, and the changes from iTunes to Music were too much for me. (specifically, the way search works and the loss of the automatic "browse" view).

I realize this is relatively nitpicky and that I probably need to get over it. But before I do, is there somewhere online I can test/practice/preview the current version of the OS Music app? Just so I can get myself familiar with the way the app works before I switch cold-turkey?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Create a new Volume on your internal drive and install the latest Catalina to the new Volume. This way you do test drive what you want in Catalina and not disturb your Mojave install.

 

[mikzn]

I have a similar large amount of music files from CD's and even some of my old vinyl ripped to .mp3 in the old days - plus a ton of music purchased on the apple store and Amazon and some of my own recordings - color me paranoid - but - if one day my "Apple ID" does not work I don't want to be locked out of my 40 + years collection of music.

I have been messing with Catalina Music App vs iTunes (Mojave) since the 2 cnd beta last august. The search function in Catalina is a joke - even thought apple did quietly put back the column view 6 months after Catalina was launched
the real search function is hidden and you must constantly go to the "View" menu and select "Show Filter Field" of you can use the hot keys (Option+CMD+F) - unfortunately as soon as you move to a different screen or click with the mouse somewhere else the field disappears and requires you to invoke it again - very very frustrating .

Option (if you have multiple macs) - my solution has been to use an external 1TB media drive for the actual music files ( master folder with artists / albums / songs and cover art) and link both my Mojave MBP and my Catalina MBP and my G5 to the same drive - this means that the "Mojave/iTunes Library" and the "Catalina/Music.App Library" are different but use the same source for access of the actual music files and cover art.

This works fine for me - but you might want to choose one of the macs to be the master - or "working set up" for editing, adding new music, adding cover art, etc - since the search function is way better on Mojave - I still use Mojave for managing the media library itself - new artwork for example goes into the artists/album folder in the form of a .jpg file

Catalina / Music App works fairly well, but not as good as it was in Mojave. It would be great if the search function was restored to Catalina - but after a year this is not likely

I think all of these changes were intended to make the "Music.app" more of a marketing app for streaming music from Apple music store and to iOS devices - and more control of the users music - not something I want

My form of protest was to switch to Spotify for streaming ? - and for the monthly fee it beats the pants off "apple music streaming" in terms of selection, play lists and sync between my ipads and iphones - very happy with Spotify for streaming music

Any way don't know if this helps - it works for me - everyone has different priorities and preferences

 

[Jack Neill]

Short version: Is there somewhere online I can test/practice/preview the current version of the OS Music app?

Long version:
I'm currently running Mojave on my 2017 4k iMac, and it works fine.
But I know I'll eventually have to upgrade the OS for several reasons (security, compatibility with phones for backups, app updates, etc.)

I tried it earlier this year, but switched back. Why?
Because I have 345GB of music, and the changes from iTunes to Music were too much for me. (specifically, the way search works and the loss of the automatic "browse" view).

I realize this is relatively nitpicky and that I probably need to get over it. But before I do, is there somewhere online I can test/practice/preview the current version of the OS Music app? Just so I can get myself familiar with the way the app works before I switch cold-turkey?

The music app in .15 is trash. I have 520GB in my library and it’s slow, laggy and featureless. I think iTunes that shipped with Jaguar is better. If you up to .15 get Retroactive and try to keep using iTunes.

 

[jimw]

Given its jaded history I would recommending skipping Catalina all together and waiting for Big Sur which may be released next month or so. Hopefully Apple has learned its lesson and will do proper SQA before releasing it, addressing Class 1 and Class 2 bugs instead of deferring them or failing to discover them before general release. However, given Apple's recent software history, I am not holding my breath.

 

[memphismac]

Create a new Volume on your internal drive and install the latest Catalina to the new Volume. This way you do test drive what you want in Catalina and not disturb your Mojave install.

This worked perfectly and has allowed me to do exactly what I want to do.

And I dislike the Music app just as much as I thought I did.

Thanks!

 

[memphismac]

I have a similar large amount of music files from CD's and even some of my old vinyl ripped to .mp3 in the old days - plus a ton of music purchased on the apple store and Amazon and some of my own recordings - color me paranoid - but - if one day my "Apple ID" does not work I don't want to be locked out of my 40 + years collection of music.

I have been messing with Catalina Music App vs iTunes (Mojave) since the 2 cnd beta last august. The search function in Catalina is a joke - even thought apple did quietly put back the column view 6 months after Catalina was launched
the real search function is hidden and you must constantly go to the "View" menu and select "Show Filter Field" of you can use the hot keys (Option+CMD+F) - unfortunately as soon as you move to a different screen or click with the mouse somewhere else the field disappears and requires you to invoke it again - very very frustrating .

This is exactly my frustration. I don't mind getting adjusted to the other changes. But simply dropping this search/filter functionality is ridiculous to me.