Apple Launches Apple Music Beta Website With iOS 14 Design and 'Listen Now' Tab to Replace 'For You'

[MacRumors]

Apple recently relaunched its Apple Music beta website to add a "Listen Now" feature that replaces the "For You" tab from the standard Apple Music website.

Listen Now is similar to For You, featuring Top Picks based on usage habits, recently played songs, and automatic playlists like Favorites Mix and Chill Mix, and it is updated with new suggestions regularly.

The new beta page, initially noticed by 9to5Mac, mirrors the new "Listen Now" tab that was introduced in Apple Music in iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and macOS Big Sur, and it exists alongside the non-beta Apple Music website. Apple has also redesigned the beta Apple Music website to resemble the design of the Music app in iOS 14.

Apple made a web version of Apple Music available in September 2019, and the web experience exited beta in April 2020. Apple Music on the web lets Apple Music subscribers sign in to access their music libraries, playlists, personal mixes, and recommendations. Music content plays right in the web browser, so the web experience makes Apple Music available on any device.

Apple Music on the web does not offer certain features that can be found in Apple's dedicated Apple Music apps like the option to see lyrics for songs that are playing.

The beta web experience is likely to replace the existing web experience when iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and macOS Big Sur launch to the public this fall. The beta site can be accessed at beta.music.apple.com, while the standard site is still available at music.apple.com.

Article Link: Apple Launches Apple Music Beta Website With iOS 14 Design and 'Listen Now' Tab to Replace 'For You'

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I rock with Spotify!

 

[Bandaman]

I rock with Spotify!

Yeah I can't ever switch to anything else unless other streaming services stop sucking so badly with recommended music.

 

[macdos]

Top Picks based on usage habits

That is so gonna conserve your already limited exposure to music.

And that's why I am still oldskool, collecting actual digital files, making an effort in discovering both old and new music of all kinds. Wish they had an “AI” for that.

 

[Bandaman]

Top Picks based on usage habits

That is so gonna conserve your already limited exposure to music.

And that's why I am still oldskool, collecting actual digital files, making an effort in discovering both old and new music of all kinds. Wish they had an “AI” for that.

It's called Spotify.

 

[rwxx]

Top Picks based on usage habits

That is so gonna conserve your already limited exposure to music.

And that's why I am still oldskool, collecting actual digital files, making an effort in discovering both old and new music of all kinds. Wish they had an “AI” for that.

I haven't found Apple Music's suggestions very interesting. I'm like you. If I like it, I want the digital files. No DRM. I want lossless audio. I still buy music. I spend 5x or more per month buying music than I do on my Apple Music subscription. I use Apple Music to preview albums and then buy the ones I really enjoy. I find most of my new music via friends and a few weekly "new music" emails from sites like Bleep and Boomkat.

I'm not wild about Apple Music overall, but it's the only service with a desktop (Mac) app that does a good job of supporting existing music collections. It's not perfect. I often struggle with iCloud Music Library and iTunes Match glitches. These days I think supporting existing music collections is largely a left-over and therefore doesn't get much attention when it comes to fixing issues or new features.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I rock with Spotify!

You make Jesus weep with Spotify. Apple needs you.

 

[coolfactor]

1. Stance: Company X needs competition!
2. Stance: I will only use Spotify, nothing beats it!

Funny how humans have double-standards. Apple Music is pretty good, and Spotify would not be as good as they are unless Apple cracked open the industry.

Now, what I find amusing about this is how Steve Jobs once says that "web-based music stores were `bleh!`"... and they were. And ever since Apple switched to HTML for iTunes, the experience has also degraded. I can't stand some of the design decisions, although I think that Apple has learned a few lessons in the past few years. The Mac App Store was absolute trash until the latest version.

 

[triangletechie]

I still don’t understand why Apple doesn’t have radio stations that you can improve with thumbs up/down like you can on Pandora, Spotify and Amazon.

 

[chinito77]

Thanks MR, I gave it a listen this morning but not too impressed. Only because I don't want to pay to put my music in the cloud and since I live in Japan, the selections are rather slim. I mostly use Soundcloud and Youtube for my music streaming needs.

 

[4jasontv]

1. Stance: Company X needs competition!
2. Stance: I will only use Spotify, nothing beats it!

Funny how humans have double-standards. Apple Music is pretty good, and Spotify would not be as good as they are unless Apple cracked open the industry.

Now, what I find amusing about this is how Steve Jobs once says that "web-based music stores were `bleh!`"... and they were. And ever since Apple switched to HTML for iTunes, the experience has also degraded. I can't stand some of the design decisions, although I think that Apple has learned a few lessons in the past few years. The Mac App Store was absolute trash until the latest version.

Three questions.

1. What did Apple crack open?
2. Isn't Spotify the google of Music discovery?
3. What version of iTunes switched to HTML?

 

[dwaltwhit]

Somehow I missed the launch of the browser version of apple music. Probably because I have 0 non Apple computers

 

[thingstoponder]

What makes it iOS design? It looks exactly like the Mac app. That term is so overused.

 

[apple_unreal]

I make a living trying to avoid having to deal with "Apple Music". If I write what I think about Apple and these apps I won't be banned from Mac Rumors, I will be taken to court and sentenced to not ever touch internet again.

 

[a104375]

If it actually worked 99% of the time that'd be an improvement. But for me it's always every other day unknown errors that result in nothing working, or the web player not even loading.

 

[amartinez1660]

Top Picks based on usage habits

That is so gonna conserve your already limited exposure to music.

And that's why I am still oldskool, collecting actual digital files, making an effort in discovering both old and new music of all kinds. Wish they had an “AI” for that.

This is true, however I have found the Friday’s New Music playlist to have similar music that I might like plus a few mutants here and there that I might or might not enjoy.
In fact I look forward to Friday’s now as it has been resulting in quite some discoveries for me personally.

 

[incoherent_1]

It's called Spotify.

Came here to say this. Spotify's discovery engine is lightyears ahead of Apple Music.

 

[Shirasaki]

A small rant: WHY Apple Music app on iPad keeps deleting playlist I am synced using iTunes? iOS 14 beta 4.

To the topic, it looks like Apple is trying to go to a direction where design across multiple apps are somewhat consistent. It is good, as before, inconsistencies creep in all over the place. iOS 14 music app design is my favourite so far, slightly above iOS 9 version and much better than whatever iOS 10-13 has offered. I don't use Apple Music subscription but it is good to see web version using the same design as everywhere else.

Apple writes strict design guidelines to developers. At least respect those guidelines written by themselves.

 

[inkswamp]

Top Picks based on usage habits

That is so gonna conserve your already limited exposure to music.

And that's why I am still oldskool, collecting actual digital files, making an effort in discovering both old and new music of all kinds. Wish they had an “AI” for that.

It's strange to me that someone identifies digital music files as "old school." You want truly unpredictable exposure to unexpected music? Find a good radio station. That's old school.

 

[inkswamp]

Came here to say this. Spotify's discovery engine is lightyears ahead of Apple Music.

Not in my experience. For some reason, Spotify seems to perpetually think my interests in heavy metal, 90s grunge, Rush and Pink Floyd means I will love playlists filled with electronic and dance music.

 

[RickDEGH]

Well, this is probably the only reason why I was going to upgrade from my 2012 Mac Mini. I’ll keep in and use the website to have a uniform experience with my iOS/iPadOS devices.

 

[Jon B M]

Make sense, since the “For you” suggestions never seemed to be targeted for me.

 

[DamoTheBrave]

Curious - when I access the beta site and am signed in I get a message CONTENT_EQUIVALENT whenever I attempt to play anything.

 

[Marzzz]

Apple suggests entire genres of music of which I have absolutely no interest. They are completely tone deaf...

 

[Smartass]

I tried spotify recently, and i havent stopped using it ever since - and i've been using Apple music since its launch in 2015! Also, its 2020 and there is still no crossfade option in apple music! And their music suggestions is crap, they just keep forcing ****** known artists that they probably have a lucrative contracts with. And the app is ****, spotify is far more intuitive even when it comes to a simple function as liking a song.