Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Apple Music: Taking a dump on a butterfly

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  • Paul Baker,

    I get all the negative concerns being expressed here, but as someone who just thought he'd have a look during the 3 month trial period, I have been really impressed so far and it is both making me think about my attitude to music (perhaps jettisoning the old-fashioned need to own!) and immediately exposing me to more sounds (and rekindling enthusiasm for trying the new). Apart from the odd crash of iTunes, it works as advertised for me and I particularly enjoy the ability to add stuff to my music library and download to listen to offline. My only disappointment (but one I fully understand given that I am not purchasing music this way) is that I cannot get music without purchasing it onto my ancient 10-year old iPod that I use in the car. I'd certainly recommend trying it out during the 3-month trial period, but make sure you turn off the auto-renew feature in preferences until you are sure you want to continue to subscribe once the pay period kicks in.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2015 • 5 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Paul Baker,

    Yeah, I'm getting all that. Particularly loving Beats1 – Elton John's Rocket Hour show today was brilliant.

    But there are still quite a few bugs and I still can't work out a reasonable way to use my iPhone for playlists etc. It's frustrating.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Baker, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I'm trusting it will evolve quickly to address some of the issues users have been quickly identifying. Good column here by Ben Lovejoy, pointing out the frustration of Apple Music not 'knowing' what is already in your iTunes library: http://9to5mac.com/2015/07/07/apple-music-diary-review-one-week/#more-387820. Still for this dinosaur, who never really got into Spotify, the positives are outweighing the negatives - and having caught the tale-end of the Rocket Hour show I have to agree about Beats 1.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2015 • 5 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Paul Baker,

    I'm thinking the only way to get a consistent experience across my devices is if I take the axe to my many old playlists in desktop iTunes and then switch iCloud Music Library back on on my phone. Hopefully then it'll be manageable.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I deleted, consolidated and tidied up most of my playlists (including all the duplicates Apple Music spewed in), turned on iCloud Music Library on my phone – and it’s still showing the old mess.

    Re-scanning my desktop library, again. This shit really is still broken.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Alison McCulloch,

    As one of those people who want it to "simply play [me] music", I'm really really loving Apple Music, I haz to say. Really enjoying the curated playlists, that keep getting better as I 'heart' more stuff...blasts from the past, plus previously undiscovered jazz, rock etc. I have no music collection to speak of, having never really made the time or taken the effort to gather one (that energy and those resources instead went into books)...but I love music. So this is perfect for me. (Just rediscovering Soul II Soul as I type... ahh, the late 80's)

    Since Feb 2008 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg, in reply to Paul Baker,

    I’d certainly recommend trying it out during the 3-month trial period, but make sure you turn off the auto-renew feature in preferences until you are sure you want to continue to subscribe once the pay period kicks in.

    Which is what I did.

    I too am kinda liking Beats 1 for a vaguely adventurous background noise and I'm hearing pop that I'd miss otherwise.

    What I don't like is the attempt to overlay an homogenised Western ideal of what pop music is on the planet. I think that's a little ugly. As a Thai guy said to me "it's not our music" - and it's not. It's not what kids listen to here. At least in this part of the world, it's kinda alien and perhaps falls into that oft-stated mis-notion that Western tastes dominate the world.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    This is idiotic.

    You know how I said I tidied up and deleted all my old playlists to impose some order and try and make my library usable on my phone?

    I turned iCloud Music Library off then on again so it would re-scan and went to bed, figuring I’d let it upload my gigabytes of unmatched tracks to see if that solved things.

    I got to this morning to discovered that it had reverted all my changes and put all the old playlists back.

    Fucksake.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I should point out that I already had my son hooked up on iTunes family sharing and everything just worked perfectly for him.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Russell Brown,

    In Space, and Time ... no one can hear you scream!

    I got to this morning to discover that it had reverted all my changes and put all the old playlists back.
    Fucksake.

    I cant let you do that, Russ...

    + http://boingboing.net/2015/07/01/robot-kills-worker-at-volkswag.html

    = I'm just going under the deck to detach the sub-woofers,
    I may be some time...
    ?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    I’m just going under the deck to detach the sub-woofers,
    I may be some time…

    Hahahaha ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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