Am I the only one who thinks that  music app is a disgrace?

[omakad]

As a long time Spotify user I gave  music few weeks to see if they can win me over, but they didn't. As a matter of fact if someone else released app as buggy as this I would not give them more then few days. Here is why.

- Desktop and mobile apps don't have the same features.*

- UX is not polished, things like setting up new playlists or editing are small text links that are hard to find or click on especially when running or does my any kind of exercise.

- Saving songs in the play list doesn't always save the song.*This is a huge fail.

- Saving songs to new playlist requires you to first create the playlist separately them go back to the song and add it to it.*Why?

- Playlists don't always sinc between desktop and mobile.*

- You can't start a radio station based on your music in the playlist.*

- You can't click on musicians name and go to their discography.

- You can't click on the album of the song that's playing and go to that album. You have to search for it in the search. Very bad when you are running or walking.*

- You can't switch tracks in the miny player. It requires you to click the mini player to get the controls exposed. Extra click needed.*Spotify is the same.

- For you section doesn't remove suggestions that you label as not liked. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Kind of like adding songs to playlist.*

- For you section keeps suggesting current pop music even thought I clearly listen to that 5% of the time.*

- Though Apple music has way more tracks including foreign music it's never suggested no matter how long you listen too it. Only US music is suggested.

- On locked screen you can only like the song. You can't dislike it or make it never play. Again it's inconstant and it allows you to do it in some instances but not in others. I realize this may be licensing issue but it's a UX nightmare.

All this combined, especially when Spotify app is so polished = fail. I really wanted it to work but as it is it will only appeal to new streaming subscribers that have never tried anything else.

Am I wrong? What are your experiences and should this be tolerated by software giant like apl who prides itself on ease of use and it always just works?

By the way I'm not a hater. I've been exclusive apple user for years I have an iMac, MBA, MBP, iPhones and iPads and  watch and ton of their pro software. They have been great but it seems they started slipping.

 

[kch50428]

Disgrace is rather strong... there's lots of opportunity for improvements... and comparing a service that's been around for but a few weeks to one that's been around for 9 years is a bit like comparing the iPhone of today to the first one ever and lamenting the first one is so lacking... my $0.02

https://www.apple.com/feedback/#mn_p

 

[Just_Me_D]

I'm sure there are a few others who feel the same way as you do, but I'm not one of them. Music does what I need it to do - stream the type of music I like to listen to when I'm in the mood to listen to good music. Anyway, as time goes on, I'm sure Apple will make it even better.

 

[dchandler]

Umm...... I think disgrace is a strong word for something that just came out but I must say that do like like Spotify over Apple Music right now. I do see the potential in Apple Music and I'm going to continue to use it. Just give it sometime for Apple to work out the bugs before you trash it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sting7k]

If you are using an already existing subscription service I can see why one would be upset. I've never used one before so I have no frame of reference.

It needs some work but it wouldn't call it a disgrace. I am doing OK with it. I do find Apple Music to be fairly unintuitive to use on both mobile and desktop. But I'm learning more each day as I play around. Songs stream just fine and I do like having all my music in one location.

 

[Wotchered]

Disgrace is the wrong word, Inept is more suitable.

 

[iEd]

I don't think it's a disgrace. I don't use the streaming side yet. To me the My Music UI I doesn't have a good flow to it or look. It seems crowded.
I love the look when you select a Artist in your library or playlist.



Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus using Tapatalk

 

[Spencerdl]

I don't think it's a disgrace, but I will admit it needs some work. I happen to like it and it works for me the way I listen to streaming music and MyMusic. The Album ArtWork is second to none. One thing I can say about Apple, They believe in improvement, give it some time and it will probably be the BEST Streaming Music app available.

 

[iEd]

All software mobile or desktop is a work in progress. That's the nature of the beast.


Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus using Tapatalk

 

[anon(4698833)]

It's hilarious that you would use a word like "disgrace"...a bit overdramatic in my opinion, but hey, you're entitled to your opinion.

To answer your question...I think calling it a "disgrace" is ridiculous, and I feel you're probably one of, if not THE only person that regards the service as such.

Is Apple Music perfect? Not at all. I'd be hard pressed to even call it a "good" option...but the truth is, it's brand new and because of it's late entry into the scene, it's being compared to products (Pandora, Spotify, etc) that have had A LOT of time to polish their offerings quite a bit, and no doubt from A LOT of previous user feedback.

Apple Music will evolve and improve over time. Jumping the gun and defining what it is based on the first swing is not a fair approach as a consumer...people should know that products are very rarely well accepted right from the start...Apple just has a really impressive track record of doing it more often than not when they enter an arena. Apple Maps should be a very telling story about how Apple can, at times, release something lack luster and turn it into a fantastic option for those who use it.

At the end of the day...turn the drama queen labeling down a bit, and I can see your concern with the product. I would heavily advise you give Apple Music some time to be shaped and configured to be a nice offering...but you're obviously not obligated to, and you have other options (that are already up and running at full speed) which makes it easy to walk away from the service and never look back...always remember though, options ALWAYS make the end user experience better, so approaching a brand new service with such disdain is not helping yourself at all, as it essentially eliminates an option.

 

[clareberry]

Disgrace is the wrong word, Inept is more suitable.

Perhaps "disgrace" is the wrong word, but when Apple has created a history of providing a well-conceived experience with so many of their product offerings this does seem like a huge disappointment. Our experiences with new products have been much more gratifying and that is what the consumer expects from Apple. I, personally, am disappointed with the features that I had come to know and love have been taken away without warning and don't seem to be available in any way. I miss quite a few stations that were available and now are not there. It is disappointing somewhat of a "fall from grace" to those of us who have been part of their music products since the beginning.

 

[Hernandezy5]

LOL, it's just a music app, Spotify. I think they will fix it, don't be worried. If you use Windows Phone you'll be mad I guess.

 

[qbnkelt]

A disgrace? Nah....I've seen disgraces....this isn't one. Unpolished? Yes. Needs improvement? Yes. Only Apple feature that has made me want to smash my iPhone? Yes. But disgrace? No.

I've seen plenty of disgraces elsewhere. Apple Music isn't one.

 

[jweihrauch]

As a long time Spotify user I gave  music few weeks to see if they can win me over, but they didn't. As a matter of fact if someone else released app as buggy as this I would not give them more then few days. Here is why.

- Desktop and mobile apps don't have the same features.*

- UX is not polished, things like setting up new playlists or editing are small text links that are hard to find or click on especially when running or does my any kind of exercise.

- Saving songs in the play list doesn't always save the song.*This is a huge fail.

- Saving songs to new playlist requires you to first create the playlist separately them go back to the song and add it to it.*Why?

- Playlists don't always sinc between desktop and mobile.*

- You can't start a radio station based on your music in the playlist.*

- You can't click on musicians name and go to their discography.

- You can't click on the album of the song that's playing and go to that album. You have to search for it in the search. Very bad when you are running or walking.*

- You can't switch tracks in the miny player. It requires you to click the mini player to get the controls exposed. Extra click needed.*Spotify is the same.

- For you section doesn't remove suggestions that you label as not liked. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Kind of like adding songs to playlist.*

- For you section keeps suggesting current pop music even thought I clearly listen to that 5% of the time.*

- Though Apple music has way more tracks including foreign music it's never suggested no matter how long you listen too it. Only US music is suggested.

- On locked screen you can only like the song. You can't dislike it or make it never play. Again it's inconstant and it allows you to do it in some instances but not in others. I realize this may be licensing issue but it's a UX nightmare.

All this combined, especially when Spotify app is so polished = fail. I really wanted it to work but as it is it will only appeal to new streaming subscribers that have never tried anything else.

Am I wrong? What are your experiences and should this be tolerated by software giant like apl who prides itself on ease of use and it always just works?

By the way I'm not a hater. I've been exclusive apple user for years I have an iMac, MBA, MBP, iPhones and iPads and  watch and ton of their pro software. They have been great but it seems they started slipping.

I'd say you were quite passionate about the music app...I don't like the layout and find it cumbersome. I do believe there will be ways that Apple optimizes the experience. However, like most Apple 'innovations', people get used to it and it becomes normal.

 

[omakad]

Link Bait

Ok I'll admit "disgrace" may have been little strong of a word, and it was more a link bait as I wanted to hear from others that may feel that Apple music is not up to par with other offerings out there. I'm new on iMore forums so I was not sure if I will get any traction. I will agree with couple of you that think that in it's present form service is not polished or good.

New Users

I totally understand how Apple Music will once again revolutionize music industry due to hundreds of millions that will have instant access to it. People that may have never heard of likes of Spotify or Rdio and have never tried streaming services. Yes, I'm sure for most Apple music is new, cool and acceptable.

Buggy Software

On the other hand, for a customer that has been using other streaming services, as I have, they will find Apple music less then satisfactory. Here is where my frustration is coming from. iTunes has been a bloated service for years. For a company that prides it self on Music, they should really do something about it. I understand that this is a huge undertaking, but none the less it needs to be done.

It's true that up until couple of years ago Apple had great in must cases bug free software that just worked. They even advertised it as such. I don't think that has been the case as of lately, and as an Apple user that pays premium for their devices and services, I expect more. Or i expect what I got when I started using the years ago. This isn't just a issue with Apple Music.

Apple Music

Now, I understand that, Music is new and bugs are possible, but considering that Apple purchased Beats Music which was in itself MOG and established music streaming service, and then that they took 2 years to release the service, I would not expect bugs that are found in v1 of Music. The service is not hitting the minimum as far as I'm concerned. The fact that songs disappear from play lists and others are not syncing with iTunes is a huge problem. The UX is in my opinion clunky and really bad in comparison with competition. You can't start radio stations based on your play lists, you can't go into albums or artist discographies directly from the song you are listening too, but instead you have to search for it separately and so on. The search is also horrible and it has been though all of their software. I think they had plenty of time to release better first version software then they did.

Hopefully It will get fixed

Yes, I'm sure all this will get fixed eventually, but what if it doesn't? What if we get another iTunes? Will people like me ever give it another chance? I think they may loose a lot of subscribers this way, and hopefully this will not become another Ping.

In any case, besides calling it disgrace, none of you guys told me if anything bothers you in this service? I'm sure there are things that are annoying but you are dealing with it as those things may not be annoying enough. I have personally, give it a fair use. I even cancelled Spotify for a month so I can only use Apple Music and get used to it, but there are just too many things that are done wrong and others have done a much better job.

PS. I forgot to mention, is it me, or Apple songs load way slower then Spotify? I have a feeling that each track is larger in size or something. Sometimes it take couple of seconds to load the next track?

 

[Jessica75]

Just wait and be patient.

 

[Tartarus]

Apple Music

The UX is in my opinion clunky and really bad in comparison with competition. You can't start radio stations based on your play lists, you can't go into albums or artist discographies directly from the song you are listening too, but instead you have to search for it separately and so on.

Yes, you can. You just glanced at the app, decided already you would rant about it and created this thread.

If you took any look at the app, you would notice when playing a song, like you would notice in that screen, at the bottom, there are three dots. did you even take an effort to tap on it?? Please do. I beg you. Because if you did, you would see an arrow pointing right >
If you tap that arrow you go to this screen

Hey look at that? What's that?? Without going to the search section in the app, I landed on the supposedly only able to reach on Spotify and others, album page the song is part of. So far, this screen only shows songs of that album in your library. But hey, we're not done yet. You want more, you'll get more. What's that?? On that screen. Oh wait, it tells me what album it is and right under it it tells me who the artist is. But we're still not done, because we want to see the artist page. Just effing tap on that artist name then. What are you waiting for?

Wowsers, god bless humankind, god bless Apple. They're not dumb. They're not doing so bad at all.. It's the effing artist page, with two subsections. One about songs on My Music and one 'All'. I've done this all without searching as you ranted about. See, life is not that bad, Apple not even close to bad as you suggested. Wow look at that, the oh so horrible UX as you call the UI (user interface) shows a picture of the artist, the option to follow said artist and gives you loads of options, with even the ability to start a radio based on that artist.

The search is also horrible and it has been though all of their software. I think they had plenty of time to release better first version software then they did.

That's your opinion, not a fact and not shared by loads of people. You're entitled to have an opinion of course, but don't come here saying it like you did a market research and found out everybody thinks so.

Hopefully It will get fixed

it's not broken, thus there is nothing to fix

Yes, I'm sure all this will get fixed eventually, but what if it doesn't? What if we get another iTunes?

What on earth is wrong with iTunes? Elaborate.

Will people like me ever give it another chance? I think they may loose a lot of subscribers this way, and hopefully this will not become another Ping.

People who aren't willing to even try out the app, tapping on every single button because they're scared of doing something wrong will always exist. But they're negligible, as the majority of people are trying out every single thing of Apple Music (this is MY opinion, but I guess I am not wrong)

In any case, besides calling it disgrace, none of you guys told me if anything bothers you in this service?

Yes, some stuff are bothering me, and I already created several threads and posts about it and I am not willing to summarize them here again, I am too lazy for that, as you are lazy to do a forum search on Apple Music.

I'm sure there are things that are annoying but you are dealing with it as those things may not be annoying enough.

Exactly

I have personally, give it a fair use.

No sir, you have NOT, if you did, you wouldn't have created this thread.

I even cancelled Spotify for a month so I can only use Apple Music and get used to it, but there are just too many things that are done wrong and others have done a much better job.

That's where you're wrong. You haven't done a lot of a job then, to get used to it. And those things that are wrong, only exist in your eyes and head, and has nothing to do with what others think about it.

PS. I forgot to mention, is it me, or Apple songs load way slower then Spotify? I have a feeling that each track is larger in size or something. Sometimes it take couple of seconds to load the next track?

Yes that's true. I don't know why and have no worries about agreeing with you on this single point. I think it won't take a long time before that lag goes away. A lot of people are trying the heck out of Apple Music, doing lots of stuff at the same time. I suppose in a short time the users will get acquainted with the service and Apple servers will go faster because they aren't making overtime keeping up with everything.

Don't forget a lot of people are uploading/downloading/adding/deleting/re-adding songs to the service. Once this is over, the service will work very smooth, I'm sure of it. presumption


And this sir, is my rant.

 

[omakad]

Not here to argue, but I did test the app and clicked on everything. Check and you will see that you can't get to artist page or album page from radio or play lists. And this is where most of music discovery happens. This is where one would need it the most. The fact that you can get there in one instance and not in the other is a definition of bad interface. Also the fact that you have to make an extra click to three dot button is also bad. That's a lot of extra clicks for no reason. Spotify like the name of the artist and album to corespondent artist or album pages.

I would suggest you give Spotify a try and you'll see that Apple's app is really bad in comparison.

Google what people think of iTunes. There is plants written by beginners and pro users for years now. Same thing with Thor search. Ok I feel like I'm repeating myself. Clearly we are not on the same page. Maybe I'm just too picky with my software. I love Apple but I think they botched this device and the app.

 

[Tartarus]

Nah. Spotify has in my opinion a too dark UI with black background and so on. I didn't find it intuitive like Apple Music, it's a third Party app and I just don't like it for no obvious reason.

I like Apple Music just because it's Apple Music. I'm biased and I will never going to give Spotify a fair try. I don't and won't want to like it.

Who on earth decides to use on a black theme based UI. It's like it's developed by Satanists or emos.

Furthermore, in Spotify you need to tap on 3 dots as well, so you're talking gibberish.

I have only been not able to go to an artist page on Beats 1 radio, whereas in other curated radios it was with the same ease as described in my previous post.

I won't say Apple Music is perfect, but it's damn too appealing to the eye and the user friendliness is perfect in my own opinion.

Of course there are some kinks to be straightened in the app, but it's coming. Be sure of that.

To be perfectly clear, I'm on iOS 9b4 at the moment, so it could be that iOS 8.4 doesn't have some options.
Then again, in 2 months time you will be able to upgrade to ios9 as well and see what a fine service it really is.

Like with everything, Apple never enables all options at once with their products and services.
They have time and time again limited options and stuff on both hardware as software. This only for the simple fact of providing a 100% perfect product or service.

But than again, I'm an Apple lover and I am biased against all non-Apple software and hardware.

 

[Scatabrain]

For some having their purchased music in one app like itunes and streaming in another like spotify will be easier for them.

I love the combination. And then add Connect and live radio. Wow!

You can get to an artist. It could be made easier though. In Spotify I had an even more annoying problem while searching that seemed to always take me in a circle back to the artist rather then to the album or track I was trying to find. I find artist, then album much more easily with Apple even with the new version. With the added bonus of adding albums and songs to my library - Wow!

Connect needs some maturing and artist participation before it is good. It will get better. It is exciting to think that indies could potentially dominate in this area in the future.

The canned radio stations are as boring as before. Live radio is cool and has a ton of potential. I like that it is there.

It is a lot to put in one place. Including the discovery pages which I don't use much. It needs some work in places but the combo is already better for me then having streaming apart from purchased library. I love it.

The family plan and all device access is a great value. I believe i will spend a lot less on music and my family benefits a lot more from it.