Apple Bringing Native Apple Music Experience to Music App for macOS

[iBug2]

What I don't get is how they are going to make it look and act like an actual app when most of the content inside is not hosted locally but is going to be rendered from web.

Any app of this form is going to to have latency one way or another. Yes they can fix certain parts of the app and make it faster, since right now it basically sucks, but it'll never work like the old iTunes, which loaded everything into memory.

 

[almeath]

What I don't get is how they are going to make it look and act like an actual app when most of the content inside is not hosted locally but is going to be rendered from web.

Any app of this form is going to to have latency one way or another. Yes they can fix certain parts of the app and make it faster, since right now it basically sucks, but it'll never work like the old iTunes, which loaded everything into memory.

It’s a horrible, lazy, approach to programming. Cynical too.. all about saving money rather than enhancing the user experience. It technically makes porting between platforms very easy but at the cost of efficiency and performance. Unfortunately, it seems to be spreading like a cancer and will likely become the norm across the industry. Microsoft is well down the path of ruining its Office suite with this approach, starting with its plans for the Mac version of Outlook.

 

[mcarland]

Good. Every other day the entire "Listen Now" section disappears, among other less frequent issues, and I have to quit and restart the app.

 

[raindogg]

Can apple fix Air Play so when I listen to my music on multiple speakers they actually stay connected for a full day?

That would be awesome.

 

[Shirasaki]

Did they ever fix that issue where if you quit Apple Music it deletes not only all your Apple Music downloads but a bunch of your purchased music and songs ripped from CDs as well?

Oh umm I feel they will never fix this because Apple Music doesn’t think you own any music, so deleting every bit of download makes sense for them, including files already there.

The issue is that it won't download the lossless files from Apple Music. It only downloads/streams the 256kbps AAC. Yes, it supports various output, and playing a number of formats. However, that's not what i'm talking about.

I’d think that’s a design choice rather than “issue”, same for 4K movie download is not supported.

 

[defunder]

Would love a search that could actually locate one of my songs.

 

[funandblindness]

Please have exclusive mode and sample rate switching

Absolutely!

 

[V.K.]

Any word on the TV app? On Mac it is in a far worse shape than the Music app IMO. Even the store interface which Apple normally pays attention to because it makes them money is terrible.

 

[svish]

Will be nice and refreshing to see the new changes.

 

[Futurix]

Looking forward to this!
I didn’t have many issues with Music, but it is still pretty sluggish (I thought it was because of its iTunes origins). And the UX in search is *****.

 

[2Stepfan]

This is slightly OT, but I’m looking forward to my new 14” MBP / Monterey being able to play music files from any source whatsoever, via multiple DACs, without occasionally stuttering. My 2013 MBP on Mojave never had this issue. The M1 Pro equipped 14” does it constantly. Seems to be CPU related.

 

[viettanium]

does iTunes Match user updated to 12.2? any issues?

 

[toxotis700]

is there any way to control apple music app in ipad from my iphone ?

 

[anthony131]

It needs far more than a coding update. I have a 2017 iMac with over 50,000 songs and don’t have any issues with lag. What I do have issues with is the horrible user interface that restricts everything to being tiny icons on my 5k screen. Additionally, shifting iPod sync to Finder (yep, still rocking a 5th gen iPod) was the single worse change for iTunes/Music. I’ve generally given up on the whole Apple Music user experience (in favor of Plex) because it’s become increasingly difficult to use across devices. Honestly, Apple’s disregard for the whole music experience (in favor of multiple cameras that stick out the back of your phone) has forced me to consider what other options there are for desktop and mobile devices.

 

[GigabitEthernet]

The problem with the Music app is that it is essentially two apps in one.

The old iTunes app and then bundled in, essentially a browser that renders AppleMusic.com.

They really should make a decision, are they going to go full browser like Spotify or are they going to full native like iTunes used to be. The half-way house is the problem.

Personally I think these web browser apps are rubbish and pale in comparison to native apps and when I am developing I avoid them at all costs.

The performance of the iTunes Store was not particularly great but I suppose you didn't spend as much time in it as you do Apple Music.

 

[davidg4781]

Hopefully they do something with Music on iOS. It’s ridiculous waiting for it to load the Listen Now tab almost every time I open it.

 

[Jack Neill]

I gave up on the music app a while ago. I just use iTunes 12.9.5 which works fantastic and isn't a lag fest. Sadly, I can't use it on my M1 but do on every other Mac I own.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Apple is rebuilding the Music app for macOS as a fully native app, according to beta code seen by 9to5Mac.

Code in the first beta of macOS Monterey 12.2, seeded to developers yesterday, shows that Apple is rebuilding the Music app using AppKit, macOS's native interface framework. The move will lead to significant improvements to the performance and experience of using the Music app, but no significant UI or interface changes.

According to 9to5Mac, the Music app is currently using JET, a technology to turn web content into native apps. The current Music app, which replaced iTunes but uses the same back-end, is heavily reliant on loaded-in Apple Music web content, which some users have criticised for having sluggish responsiveness and usability issues.

While some parts of the Music app, such as the library, were already native, Mac users will notice that searching for media in Apple Music is faster, displaying rebuilt native interfaces. As a result, scrolling, gestures, and animations are also more responsive.

Apple is likely still improving the new native parts of the app, so some interface elements or effects may currently be missing. Apple already rebuilt parts of the Apple TV app using JET in macOS Monterey 12.1.

Article Link: Apple Bringing Native Apple Music Experience to Music App for macOS

Um but wait a minute. Apple has stated both in 2020 and years before that all their apps have been created as native coded apps. Even specifically stating this on Apple Silicon announcement but you’re stating this was false before?

What real benefit which will we see, functions and all features of Apple Music are already there.

 

[dannys1]

About time! Spotify, Tidal, Deezer etc wipe the floor with the Music 'App'. Every time you navigate to browse, for you etc it's a refresh. If it wasn't for Lossless for free I'd have left ages ago.

*only for streaming.

The Music App wipes the floor with a all the others when it comes to full managing an actual music library with music from multiple source, all fully uploaded to the cloud and synced across devices. None of the others do that.

 

[dannys1]

Um but wait a minute. Apple has stated both in 2020 and years before that all their apps have been created as native coded apps. Even specifically stating this on Apple Silicon announcement but you’re stating this was false before?

What real benefit which will we see, functions and all features of Apple Music are already there.

The app is running native code - the problem is inside the app all it's doing is loading web pages in lots of places. Instead they're going to parse the data from the server and use it to display in a native interface instead of just rending a webpage.

 

[smoking monkey]

the search function in the music app is horrible. It used to be far better. Apple love fiddling with stuff that doesn't need touching.

 

[DeepIn2U]

The app is running native code - the problem is inside the app all it's doing is loading web pages in lots of places. Instead they're going to parse the data from the server and use it to display in a native interface instead of just rending a webpage.

Thanks for explaining that.

 

[iBug2]

It’s a horrible, lazy, approach to programming. Cynical too.. all about saving money rather than enhancing the user experience. It technically makes porting between platforms very easy but at the cost of efficiency and performance. Unfortunately, it seems to be spreading like a cancer and will likely become the norm across the industry. Microsoft is well down the path of ruining its Office suite with this approach, starting with its plans for the Mac version of Outlook.

Yeah but 100% native version of this app will still lag like crazy compared to the old iTunes. This is a web app now.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

I'm surprised at the AppKit part. Why not SwiftUI with how much Apple's promoting it? I don't program that much, so I don't know all the ramifications, but I would think that using SwiftUI instead would make porting between macOS, iPadOS, etc. a lot easier.

My thoughts exactly. SwiftUI would be a much better choice and would allow Apple to share significant portions of the code between platforms.

 

[yannxou]

I hope scripting is still supported and backwards compatible.. there are many apps and plugins that rely on iTunes automation.