This morning, I wanted to continue listening to my audiobook of "The Book Thief" but I couldn't seem to figure out how to access it with the new Apple Music app. I finally found it hidden in plain sight—in the iBooks app where it rightfully belongs. But even though this change has me praising Apple, I have found more cons than pros when it comes to the new Apple Music app. But let's start with the pros.
What I like about Apple Music:
- The iTunes app logo! Beautiful colors!
- The ability to browse different genres (I do have my favorites, but I occaisonally like to listen to other types of music!)
- For You - pretty cool!
- Some cool Playlists, sorted by producer (Behind the Boards), sounds like, etc.
What I dislike about Apple Music:
1. Value for money - Considering it isn't as exhaustive as they make it seem, it isn't worth the price they are charging
While the free trial period is 3 months long (longer than most free trials), the service doesn't appear to be worth the money.
This service is supposed to let you listen to all music sold on iTunes, but I've found that a lot of albums I want to listen to have half the songs greyed out! And there have also been some albums that I am unable to find on Apple Music that ARE on iTunes! For the single membership cost of $9.99/month, I think I'd rather go with Spotify Premium which is the same price!
2. iOS app - The iOS app has MANY flaws. These are the ones I've found so far:
- When I click the plus sign to add songs or albums to My Music, it removes what I've added within seconds.
- When connected to my car with a USB cable or with bluetooth, albums just keep playing the same song rather than playing the next song. (This is because up next is apparently not compatible with my car.) BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY.
- "Up Next" seems to have problems remembering what has been added to it at times! It forgets often
- Radio stations (not Beats 1) aren't working with my UK Apple ID, but the option is still given... (UPDATE - NOW WORKING!)
- The ability to add music to My Music without using iCloud Music Library (which seems to delete playlists I've added)
Why can't everything be consolidated to the new Apple Music app? Why do I need a separate iTunes Store iOS app and iTunes OSX app? (And WHY do I purchase audiobooks from the iTunes OSX app, manage them with the iTunes OSX app, but then find them in the iBooks iOS app but not in the iBooks OSX app? WAY TOO CONFUSING.)
4. Consistency between OSX and iOS - What you do on your iPhone doesn't seem to copy over to your Mac, even if you are logged into the same iCloud account on both devices
You'd think this feature would be seamless, especially since Apple is constantly improving it for other apps (example: Messages, Continuity, etc.) but it definitely is NOT. None of the music that I've added to "My Music" on iTunes on my mac has shown in My Music on my iPhone.
Disclaimer: If you've found a solution to any of these problems, please let me know. Everything listed above is just the opinion of a disappointed Apple fan.
What I want to see:
- A shuffle feature for My Music and for Artists
- See a list of artists/songs/albums/playlists I have <3 d="" li="" loved="">
- The release date (day, month and year) for every album, song—I want to know what's new
- Search charts from previous years/months (time travel!)
- A better way to search for music videos - there is a wealth of videos, but they're hard to find if you don't know the name of the song!
