Apple Music first impressions

[iMark]

It took over three hours today to update the Mac Mini but now I finally have had the the chance to sample Apple Music. You first need to update to iTunes 12.2 or iOS 8.4.

I have taken some samples to see whether there are differences between the Apple Music and the Spotify library. My first impressions are that Spotify has some more classical music (Linn Classical to name one label). Most of the other stuff I look at seemed similar. AC/DC now is on both platforms. Jazz is pretty good on both and Dutch language stuff seems a bit more on Spotify (a bit of surprise!).

Sound quality seems identical between the two systems. Streaming from the Mac Mini to the DAC and the stereo I honestly can't hear a difference between Apple Music and Spotify Premium.

I like the iTunes interface better than Spotify. The family subscription seems a good idea.

Anyway, the Mrs. and me will be trying Apple Music for the next couple of months, alongside Spotify.

First impressions are that for us Apple Music isn't worse than Spotify when it comes to features and sound quality and is proper competition to Spotify.

I would recommend to anyone to trial Apple's service. It's free for three months. We are now considering whether to switch to Apple Music and quit Spotify after the trial period. We have been subscribing to Spotify since 2010, so it would feel a bit like a betrayal. I would stay with Spotify if they would offer lossless streaming but that isn't on the card.

 

[Frank Harvey]

With the arrival of Apple Music, the existing music apps might up their game over the next couple of months...

 

[chebby]

All good here so far

 

[iMark]

I've been using it since yesterday, I like it. I'm not fussed on airplay though. Would it be worth while getting an ATV? The problem with airplay is that the stream has to bounce from your phone to the AVR, would the ATV grab the stream directly itself and my phone act like a remote?

We don't use an Apple TV for streaming, we use an Airport Express and a DAC.

I don't think the Apple TV has an app that let's you connect directly to Apple Music.

https://www.apple.com/appletv/whats-on/

If your phone and your AVR are on the same wifi network Airplay should work flawlessly, if your wifi is up to scratch. We have been using AirTunes/Airplay since 2010 and it works fine.

 

[emperor's new clothes]

Hi Anderson,

Yes.(itunes, not sure about Music) Download the apple remote app and off you go. Much better sq than airplay to my ears. Been using an ATV 2 (optical out) for years and might upgrade to the 4 which is due soon. Also have the sqeezebox app for the SBT (CAT5 wired) and both work a treat

 

[iMark]

Hmmm still a bit confused.

The problem with AirPlay is that if I move out of range the music stops or stutters. With Spotify this wasn't a problem when using Spotify Connect. Connect worked well because the app on my phone told the AVR what to stream but the AVR got the music from Spotify directly rather than trying to pull the music from my phone. This works exactly the same as Chromecast.

So will the ATV give me the same behaviour as described above, I'm streaming only I don't have a music collection of my own ripped anywhere.

At the moment I'm using my 8 year old MacBook to stream to the Airport Express. If you've got an other device (like a laptop) to stream than your phone and keep it nearer the AVR you should be fine. It also would drain your phone's battery less.

In our home we've got several devices that can stream through Airplay. The Airport Express is in the living room near the stereo. Since the stereo has a second set of speakers in the kitchen, I sometimes use the old MacBook on the kitchen table. I'm quite amazed that this laptop, which runs on Mac OS 10.7.5 can run the latest version of iTunes (12.2). I can also use it as a remote control for the iTunes library which is stored on a hard drive that is connected to my Mac Mini.

I suppose that the Spotify Connect app on AVR's at the moment is one of Spotify's USPs. I wonder how long it will be before we will see Apple Music on third party gear.

 

[MajorFubar]

The family subscription seems a good idea.

This clinched the deal for me, above all else. With two teenage boys badgering me for paid Spotify on their computer and devices for several months (even offering to undertake additional chores to pay for it), this deal had my name plastered all over it. I signed right up yesterday. After the family subscription service was annouced at the WWDC I thought other streaming services would be clambouring all over each other to offer something similar. Or am I (was I) the only Spotify Premium subscriber with a family.

 

[jjbomber]

After the family subscription service was annouced at the WWDC I thought other streaming services would be clambouring all over each other to offer something similar. Or am I (was I) the only Spotify Premium subscriber with a family.

I am not expecting a response for 3 months. A lot of people will sign up for the 3 month trial, as it's free. After that, the battle will really start as people have to pay and make a choice. That is when the other streaming services will start their gimmicks.

The important Apple news has been hidden. They wanted Universal Music to ban all their copyright material from YouTube and offered to pay Universal in cash for all the royalties they would lose from such a move. Universal told them where to go. It seems Apple's years of bullying may be coming to an end. Interesting times.

 

[MajorFubar]

With the arrival of Apple Music, the existing music apps might up their game over the next couple of months...

Too little too late for me And I wonder for how many others. It will be very interesting to read what percentage of subscribers continue past the first three months, should they release such figures.

 

[MajorFubar]

The important Apple news has been hidden. They wanted Universal Music to ban all their copyright material from YouTube and offered to pay Universal in cash for all the royalties they would lose from such a move. Universal told them where to go. It seems Apple's years of bullying may be coming to an end. Interesting times.

You see bullying but I see a damn clever marketing tactic that I would have tried, had I been in Apple's shoes and had I thought about it. Bit like when Microsoft threw-in Internet Explorer with Windows 95 and wiped Netscape Navigator off the face of the planet.. But I keep forgetting the once-hated Microsoft has reinvented itself as the darling of the industry, there to save us from he devil's own information technology company in Cupertino Point I'm making is they're all as 'bad' as each other; all's fair in love, war and business. Definition of a 'complainant' in legal wranglings is often 'someone who never thought of it first'.

 

[daveh75]

Oh dear...

http://mashable.com/2015/07/01/itunes-icloud-music-library-bug/

 

[tino]

Is it possible to listen to the Beats 1 radio station by normal means e.g. an Internet radio stream and not an Apple device or iTunes software? I have no interest in Apple music (I'll stick to competitor offerings) but might want to listen to the radio station from time to time.

 

[MajorFubar]

Not noticed any problems here, but seeing as all my library is ripped CDs and not iTunes downloads perhaps that makes a difference? I also unticked 'Keep iTunes media folder organised' right at the very start many years ago when I saw that iTunes wasn't filing my albums how I wanted. Maybe that's contributory too.

 

[MajorFubar]

Is it possible to listen to the Beats 1 radio station by normal means e.g. an Internet radio stream and not an Apple device or iTunes software? I have no interest in Apple music (I'll stick to competitor offerings) but might want to listen to the radio station from time to time.

Not that I'm aware, yet.

 

[tino]

Is it possible to listen to the Beats 1 radio station by normal means e.g. an Internet radio stream and not an Apple device or iTunes software? I have no interest in Apple music (I'll stick to competitor offerings) but might want to listen to the radio station from time to time.

Not that I'm aware, yet.

Thanks .. *drinks*

 

[chebby]

No problems here (been using it all day on two iOS devices and a Mac with the new iTunes).

I had to start using iBooks for Audiobooks with iOS 8.4 but that's not a huge deal.

I've never had iTunes Match (don't intend to start now) and I unticked the Cloud Music option (or whatever it's called) in preferences because my iPhone and iPad Mini are identically synced with the same library anyway.

I also backed everything up the day before the new OS-X and iTunes releases. I believe everyone (ok, almost everyone) does this before big upgrades / changes.

 

[ID.]

Running it now in Japan. As Spotify and its ilk never made it here I'm extremely pleased to have Apple Music. The catalogue seems pretty good, although there are, of course, gaps.

So far the music suggestions aren't much use. Yes, thank you for suggesting a play list that I already own 60-70% of. Still exploring some things, but I like the playlists of related artists and artists inspired by or who inspired a certain artist. I haven't done a proper comparison of the sound quality compared to the CD quality files that I own, but it seems good enough. I think it would need some boring quick A/B swapping for me to pick up the subtle differences.

 

[lpv]

so you don't experience all the problems the guys on apple forum reporting?

... beats radio ( one big c.r.a.p. anyway) won't work on mac; can't start artist or song radio of less known artists; massive mess/ errors to owned music once iCloud is on and there's no way to add songs from apple music to own playlists without using the iCloud or without adding to library; playlist created on iPhone won't appear on Mac; wrong album art.. and so on.. too many to mention.. it's beta version at best and shouldn't be called free trial cause there's not much to try.

and What's Hi-Fi gave five stars review..

LOL..

 

[jjbomber]

so you don't experience all the problems the guys on apple forum reporting?

and What's Hi-Fi gave five stars review..

LOL..

That's how Apple works. The 'invitations' come with a specific name on it and only that person can attend. If that person gives a bad review, they never get another invite. That is why we have had 20 adverts, oops, stories on Apple music in the last month. Anyone giving an honest review is cut. So the naff 256Kbps music is suddenly the greatest thing in the World. The high res being developed by Apple with Bono of U2 will be another story, but until then....

 

[chebby]

I've never had iTunes Match and never intend to use it. No need and no desire for it.

My Mac and both iOS devices have identical libraries on them so i've no need for them to share a Cloud library. I use 128GB iOS devices and 320k + 250k AAC VBR compression so space is not a problem that will drive me to any kind of Cloud solution.

I am using Apple Music in exactly the same way that I used Spotify (just for streaming) and paying the same (except for 3 months trial period with no payment at all).

I feel for those with problems. I hope they all backed up their systems - including their music, artwork and settings - the day before all the OS-X, iTunes and Apple Music updates. It was all very well publicised - globally - so I imagine most will have done so.

 

[lpv]

yeah.. true.

but I'm surprised no one here mentioned anything.. anyway... I don't use apple apps.. I only use mcintosh as a platform for far better non apple software so not a big problem for me but still I played yesterday a bit with new streaming service and it's bad.. there are better beta apps out there.

 

[lpv]

fair enough guys.. but did you try start radio from song or artist? ( try anything less popular) all I have is silence or 1 song and then silence..

or start any apple music playlist/ radio .. there's no option to go directly from tiltle/ artist name to artist page, album page

or no option to transfer playlists from other streaming services ( imagine spotify customer with massive playlists, years of adding, sorting.. and apple wants you now do it all again?.. maybe they re gonna fix it or maybe not.. but it's not there today..)

 

[chebby]

fair enough guys.. but did you try start radio from song or artist? ( try anything less popular) all I have is silence or 1 song and then silence..

Yeah, I had no problems starting up 'radio' streams from Joe Cuba (Bang Bang), Latin Boogaloo, Tango Argentina, Edith Piaf, AtomTM 'Magnifique' (I'm Going Out of My Head) and a bunch of other stuff.

 

[lpv]

I can't start ANY radio on Mac.. if I go to ' start new station from artist/ song' all I have is ' Unknown Title' for 1 second and nothing, silence.

are you doing this on Mac or iPhone?

 

[chebby]

I can't start ANY radio on Mac.. if I go to ' start new station from artist/ song' all I have is ' Unknown Title' for 1 second and nothing, silence.

are you doing this on Mac or iPhone?

I was using either iPhone or iPad but ...

I've just tried it for you on the Mac and it was ok - at least on the one attempt - just now.

No screen print for you but I clicked on the three parallel horizontal bars to the right of the Apple symbol at the top of the iTunes screen then picked a previous track from the drop-down and hovered the cursor over the three dots and selected 'New Station from Song'.

It Played Matt Munro then Acker Bilk then Some Andy Williams with no errors. (Logical choices given it started with a 'crooner'.) I stopped it after three songs. (And scooted through to the ends of the tracks to speed things up a bit.