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Wait, so MacRumors is comparing Apple Music's subscribers to Spotify's "paying" subscribers? I shouldn't have expected better.

I had Spotify for about a year or two and then Apple Music launched. Signed up for the trial and didn't use either service much. Decided to keep Apple Music and ditch Spotify for a couple of reasons.
  1. I grew very tired of the black and green color scheme.
  2. Being able to say "Hey Siri - play whatever song I want/album/genre" is excellent!
  3. Integration
Apple has some work to do on the service/interface for sure but it's a decent start and I am happy with it. I listen to music every so often but not enough to be hard core. I also enjoy having any song I want at my finger tips at any time. I also was never big on music purchasing either. Just casual all around.

"some work" to do is an understatement. It sucks, and Spotify blows it away. Expand on "Integration". My BMW works perfectly with Spotify on my iPhone, but not Apple Music. Do you even know what you're talking about?
 
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Spotify blows Apple Music out of the water, horrible over-complicated and slow UI on desktop and mobile. Horribly static homepage and crap playlists. I love you, Apple, but Apple Music blows as it is now.
I saw a tweet from someone who has contacts in the business and said Apple Music was developed by the Beats team in LA not in Cupertino. On John Gruber's most recent podcast he relayed a rumor he heard about a meeting where Jimmy Iovine argued that music shouldn't be an app, it should just appear whenever you turn on your phone. Purchasing Beats was a mistake IMO. Just because Jimmy Iovine is a big shot in the music industry doesn't mean he's the right person to create a streaming music service. I agree with Gruber. Last years WWDC was Apple's worst keynote in a long time all because of the stupid 40 minute Apple Music section. It certainly didn't deserve the "one more thing" tag.
 
This is not news. Anyone that knows anything knows that Apple's a mass market consumer electronics company that specializes in a high volume mass produced product. They would also know Apple specializes in tooting it's own horn.
 
I just love all the negative comments here. Good to know that MR doesn't make up the majority of Apple's customers...or the ones that really matter. Apple certainly didn't reach 10million users by most people here. Nice to know MR's members have little to zero control on the matter. For the rest of us that don't necessarily have a problem with everything Apple does.....
 
That's some good numbers right there.

I've decided to stay with Deezer but it was a very close call and I'm sure Apple Music will get better and better. Key differences for me were.

1 - I really like the Deezer flow function (makes great choices)
2 - FLAC files (yes I know)
3 - Free football (soccer) commentary
4 - Really like the Deezer curated playlists
5 - I can copy a playlist into iTunes for girlfriends Nano

I'll check out Apple Music again in a few months.
 
Does anyone else have a problem with the Apple Music app and bluetooth headphones? My headphones disconnect sometimes when I try to move through songs (forwards or backwards).

Overall I like Apple Music but I would like for them to tighten up the app. It seems bloated or buggy to me.
 
Apple Music got me to sign up for Spotify for three months. Doubt I will keep it running after three months, but Spotify UI is so much better than Apple Music .
 
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Just because they made 10 million users doesn't mean it's any good. That's just the power of default music app, which the first thing any iOS user will see is "Try Apple Music for free".

If Spotify was part of default music app, it would have 100 million users by now.
Subscribers means paid. That means 10 million are paying for Apple Music up from 6.5 in October. And 20 million pay for Spotify. Whatever your thoughts that's a very solid accomplishment for only being around for half a year. At this rate they'll surpass Spotify before the end of this year. It's only gonna get better. Apple Music was very glitchy in the beginning and while not perfect it's much better now. Not to mention Spotify isn't exactly easy to use either. Offering all this to users is very complex for any company to do. Both services have their strengths and weaknesses.
 
Spotify "fastest ever growth". No duh. If it were even a fraction of a percent faster it would be fastest ever. No way they got 10mm more subscribers.

The fact that Apple went from 0 to half Spotify's paying base in 6 months is crazy impressive. It's crazy to think what those numbers would have been like if it had actually worked well right out of the gate. That said, that's the past. Apple Music is default installed in every iPhone and iPad. If Apple can fix the OS X experience, they'll pass up Spotify in paid subs in a year.
 
I think it is doubtful that Apple Music will ever top Spotify. It just isn't different enough to warrant people switching to it (that is where the users will come from).

It actually is quite different, but you have it backwards, if you think anyone would swap from Spotify to Apple Music. Spotify is far superior to Apple Music.

Whereas Apple is screwing around with Beats One and trying to force people to conform and all listen to the same songs - that is, taking us back to the days of radio - Spotify is bringing us the future with Spotify Discover. They have algorithms that are able to pull crazy obscure stuff out of their collection that is perfectly tailored for you, with uncanny accuracy.

Plus the synchronized lyrics built into Spotify on the desktop are amazing. I hope they bring it to mobile eventually.
 
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I think it is doubtful that Apple Music will ever top Spotify. It just isn't different enough to warrant people switching to it (that is where the users will come from).

Omg Can you and almost EVERYBODY else get their head out of their ***** and *realize* Apple Music is NOT marketing itself to Spotify users? Get off that already. Geezus.

Earth to whoever is honestly *listening*. STREAMING IS NEW TO NEARLY THE ENTIRE PLANET FOR GOD SAKE!!!!!!!!!!

I'd guess that ONLY 100 million people GLOBALLY PAY for music streaming of some kind - maybe more but it's still such a TINY niche that Apple itself by default will help the whole industry to GROW.

Please people try your hardest to STOP the SPOTIFY vs APPLE MUSIC talk. It's so tired already.

There are tons of fish in the sea!
 
Do you want efficiency? get a cassette tape and a walkman. Take the tape, drop it in and that is it. Apple made technology clumsy and useless. I mean, when you start to add features not because they are needed but because you need to keep your employees working and show some sort of progress for the monthly board meeting....

I have this predictions that this year tech companies like Apple will start to lose value because people are just fine with what they have. Technology need to evolve based on needs and for the last 3 years we have been getting features tat are just leisure. I mean, now days is a matter of chose and taste, no need.

I have a 42: Samsung HD TV, I do not need a 4K, why? if cable companies still offering a super compress bad resolution HD signal, they are the ones who need to upgrade, not me. My iPhone 5 runs just fine, no need for a new one. The computer I am typing is a 2008 Mac pro with the 30" Apple cinema display, and guess what? I am a manager ata multi channel network. There is no need for a new mac pro unless you are into 3D or who knows what.

So, in the big picture there is no need for new technology at least in the direction things are taking.

Actually, in December I noticed something very bad, I was at Disney and I took the ride of Tomorrowland, and all the things expose to give you a look into the future were just black. I went to Epcot and the same things I saw early 90's. I saw the CES reviews... is like Hollywood... re dos, re makes. That is a convention that you need to go each 10 years and all what they are showing was showed back at Sigraph in 2007.

Any way... my worry is that we may have some sort of crisis and that will affect the economy badly in a few months, usually by Summer you will see some red alarms going off.
While I agree with much of what you are saying, I'm not sure the march of technological progress is stoppable.

Admittedly, the materialistic merry-go-round most of us seem to willingly go along with (to varying degrees) is a double-edged sword that on the one hand keeps the economy churning, people employed, the Fed collecting revenue, and stock holders happy while at the same time keeping most of us in the relative poorhouse.

In a much wider picture however, stagnation is an unnatural state that will doom us as a species, while progress (on all levels) will allow us to thrive.
 
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I still have an untouched 3 month trial. It's going to stay that way for a very long time.

Yeah, same here. Have zero plans to ever switch from Spotify. I would have considered it if Beats was not an acquisition. I don't support rap, rappers or any group that incites race or hate to achieve "success".

Apple lost me as a music customer because of that acquisition. And I'm quite aware that they don't care. This is a mutual feeling.
 
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I don't really care much for Apple Music, will never use it.
But there's one thing about it that irritates the hell out of me.

That is the fact it's integrated into the standard music app on iOS, and into the music library of iTunes.
I do not want this rubbish compromising my user experience.

I will never use paid streaming services, and seeing the garbage interface elements in spots where I can accidentally activate them is extremely frustrating.

The ideal scenario would be to have it as a seperate app, so those that don't want anything to do with it don't have to see it, and don't have to go searching for ways to disable it.
 
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