Apple Music Search Not Working for Some Subscribers

[viachicago22]

You can always use the superior service, Spotify, as an alternative. :-D

Better music discovery. 320 Kbps higher quality tracks. More intuitive UI. Free add supported tier. Family subscription support.

Literally the only con of Sporify vs. Apple Music is that it doesn't have Siri integration, but that's only because Apple holds the key to that castle and they aren't letting anyone in.

I still am torn to be honest. I like the easy integration of AM on all my devices (I know Spotify has a Mac app but I play AM through Apple TV a lot). I like the visual appearance of AM and that there are lots of layers to explore. But there's a lot to be said about Spotify's simpler, more utilitarian app that is much faster and just works. I listen to AM with High Quality on Cellular toggled on....is that comparable to Spotify's quality?

 

[joueboy]

I used to remember when MobileMe had troubles and they extended our subscription. Hoping Apple will compensate us from this trouble, I'll take one month free.

 

[TMama858]

Yep! Started last night on my 6S and continues into today....annoying!! Hope it's fixed soon.

 

[timborama]

Same issue here on 6 family devices. After the Safari Search bar crash issue last week now this I am starting to lose some confidence that Apple has their act together. I mean really.

"starting"?? Where have you been. Sadly that ship has sailed.

 

[Captain Nougat]

I still am torn to be honest. I like the easy integration of AM on all my devices (I know Spotify has a Mac app but I play AM through Apple TV a lot). I like the visual appearance of AM and that there are lots of layers to explore. But there's a lot to be said about Spotify's simpler, more utilitarian app that is much faster and just works. I listen to AM with High Quality on Cellular toggled on....is that comparable to Spotify's quality?

Yes, Apple Music streams high quality music at 256 kbps AAC which is as good or better than Spotify's 320 kbps MP3. I think they use 192 ogg vorbis for the desktop.

 

[SimonTheSoundMa]

You get what you pay for.

100% Uptime with Spotify in my experience.

Why I stopped my Apple Music subscription. It was hardly table, some of the time iTunes loaded no content on the pages, or songs played for 2 seconds and stopped. Skipping between tracks you had to wait at least 5 seconds for the music to buffer up.

Since then I have tried Spotify, not a single problem.

 

[luckydcxx]

iPhone 6S+, 9.3 beta 2. Down for me starting this morning.

 

[nburwell]

This happened to me this morning. I thought It was the cell network/wifi, but glad to see it's not. I did just perform a search a couple minutes ago and everything worked.

 

[keifer.street]

I still am torn to be honest. I like the easy integration of AM on all my devices (I know Spotify has a Mac app but I play AM through Apple TV a lot). I like the visual appearance of AM and that there are lots of layers to explore. But there's a lot to be said about Spotify's simpler, more utilitarian app that is much faster and just works. I listen to AM with High Quality on Cellular toggled on....is that comparable to Spotify's quality?

You can still listen to Spotify on your Apple TV. While there isn't a dedicated app for it (yet), you can AirPlay from your phone to your TV and it plays beautfully with all metadata, album art, etc being transferred to the TV as you play music.

And Apple's highest quality doesn't compare to Spotify's 320kbps. I know this based on practical testing and true bitrate between both services. because when I use high quality on AM vs. Sptofiy's 'Extreme' quality, I have to turn the music up much louder on AM (using the same song) on my car to get the same volume as Spotify.
[doublepost=1454348219][/doublepost]

Yes, Apple Music streams high quality music at 256 kbps AAC which is as good or better than Spotify's 320 kbps MP3. I think they use 192 ogg vorbis for the desktop.

Spotify's 320 kbps MP3 is actually better than Apple's 256kbps AAC. You're wrong here. If you don't believe me, test it yourself. Get the same track in both services and listen to them both really loud. You'll find you have to turn Apple Music much louder to get the same volume when compared to Spotify. Regardless (even if the above wren't true), this higher quality option is either not present (or not working) when listening to Apple Music's radio service...

 

[Mad4WDW]

You can always use the superior service, Spotify, as an alternative. :-D

Better music discovery. 320 Kbps higher quality tracks. More intuitive UI. Free add supported tier. Family subscription support.

Literally the only con of Sporify vs. Apple Music is that it doesn't have Siri integration, but that's only because Apple holds the key to that castle and they aren't letting anyone in.

Go home you're drunk

 

[cincyunixguy]

What's interesting about this problem is it happens on my iPhone and iPad (all of a sudden today), but it doesn't happen on my wife's iPad. The difference is she doesn't use her music app and me opening her's today as a test was the first time (probably). But I could search Apple Music on her device just fine and it listed the results as expected. So it appears regular users of the Apple Music have the problem.

 

[TsMkLg068426]

Wish they would remove iTunes Radio from Apple Music and change the music audio quality instead.

 

[jglove42]

The best thing about Spotify vs Apple Music is that Spotify is its own distinct app, rather than trying to roll it all into one app. I like keeping my own music collection distinct and separate from my "rented" music.

Yeah, but with all those bells and whistles that Spotify has, their family pricing is complete crap when compared to Apple Music.

I imagine the majority of the population cares more about price than "enhanced UI" or any other "superior" features.

Personally, I wouldn't mind switching to Spotify, but their pricing is just out of touch with reality for family use.

 

[dloomer]

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-music-vs-spotify-is-there-a-difference-in-sound-quality/

 

[Mascots]

This happens to me on the reg - it seems like a connection to the server stalls and Music search won't work until I restart the app.

Hmm.

 

[AntonLee]

Since they killed free iTunes Radio, this is totally useless for me anyway. I guess that's a positive, right?

Exactly. Finally a problem Apple has taken away from me before it affected me.

 

[navaira]

It'd be bigger news if things on Apple Music actually worked.

You beat me to it. I was going to post "one day I will see a news item 'Apple Music works as intended' and I will fall to my knees and praise the Gods for smiling upon us, but that day will not be today".

I've tried four streaming services in the last days. AM remains the worst with the lack of matching. Enabling streaming on Google Play Music replaces my tracks with Google's tracks, which is not the right idea with some of them. Spotify is the least bad of them but I wonder how good the iPhone client is, as the Android one is terrible, some of the bugs go back to 2013 and nobody seems to care enough to repair them. None of those services actually 100% does what it says on the tin. I'm stuck with two music players on my phone so that I can actually listen to what I want to listen to, the way I want to hear it.

Give up on iCloud "integration" Apple and be great.

 

[Mums]

Just stopped by to say **** AM. Eddy Cue needs to be canned.

I'm not into witch hunts but you are right - Eddy Cue needs to be fired from Apple. But then, what would it matter at this point?

 

[dloomer]

I don't really like posts that try and thrust personal preferences on the rest of us. If you prefer Spotify, great, and you're in the majority. But it shouldn't cause disbelief that there are others who don't value the same features that you do. It also gives the impression that you must think that Apple Music users just haven't done their homework, and you know better.

If anything, one would think that Apple Music users have thought through their options more than those on other platforms. After all, they had several years to try out Spotify before they had even heard of Apple Music. And a good portion of them likely were forced to leave Rdio, and came to Apple Music after giving their options a good hard look (and again, I expect more went to Spotify, but that's beside the point here).

 

[navaira]

If anything, one would think that Apple Music users have thought through their options more than those on other platforms. After all, they had several years to try out Spotify before they had even heard of Apple Music.

The happiest AM users I meet are generally ones who 1) don't have a library of their own, so AM's "matching" can't ruin it, and/or 2) never tried any other streaming service before, so naturally this one is great for them.

 

[Mockenrue]

Spotify's 320 kbps MP3 is actually better than Apple's 256kbps AAC. You're wrong here. If you don't believe me, test it yourself.

I subscribe to both for that reason. I initially quit Spotify after many years for the Apple Music family plan. My bias going in was that the sound quality would be about even. But when I listened on my good headphones and DAC or through my Home Theater, I kept finding the Apple Music sound quality to be seriously lacking on many recordings - particularly in terms of sound stage and separation, but also in bass response and clarity at the high end (especially with Jazz and Progressive Rock). Sometimes it was so night-and-day that it must be differences in the encoding process rather than just the output format and bitrate. Other times it's pretty close, but I had some buyers remorse after spending many hours converting all of my playlists and personal music over to Apple. I really *wanted* Apple music to sound as good.

Then I tried Tidal HD, but didn't like the the interface or discovery, and the sound quality improvements were much more subtle over Spotify (maybe nothing more than confirmation bias). So I quit Tidal and re-added Spotify Premium. I'm paying for two services because Apple music works better for the family, and I like their discovery, Siri integration, etc. Though I'll admit, I often find something in Apple and switch over to Spotify to actually listen to it!

 

[dloomer]

The happiest AM users I meet are generally ones who 1) don't have a library of their own, so AM's "matching" can't ruin it, and/or 2) never tried any other streaming service before, so naturally this one is great for them.

I'm a mostly happy Apple Music user. The matching (and then fixing the matching) process was painful and I will wholeheartedly concede that point. I could create a big list of mistakes it made over and over again that should have been caught in QA. The good news is, I shouldn't have to go through it again, as it's been years since I've ripped or torrented a CD.

The things I like about AM are far from one-size-fits all. Siri integration is almost a must when you do a lot of listening in the car and are accustomed to Siri Eyes-Free. Also, I find it fantastic that I can put my own music on iCloud -- stuff that isn't in AM or Spotify at all, or alternate (bootleg) versions of things that are up there -- and integrate it seemlessly with my streaming library. My own music can now co-exist in a single playlist with music I've never owned. It's beautiful.

I did use both Spotify and Rdio for a while. Rdio won out for me. I was on the fence about going back to Spotify -- their UI sure ain't all that -- but the two features above settled it for me. I'm now starting to get into the curated playlists which may turn out to be a third thing that keeps me here.

 

[bilibug]

So it seems that this thread is getting derailed by arguments regarding encoding formats and superior streaming services. However, I think the original topic warrants discussion - how serious is the failure of the search feature for a paid subscription service that utilizes and touts it as its major core function? In may ways, this is not unlike the program guide not being available for cable TV service or Netflix. It is a serious error that significantly impacts usability of a paid service.

 

[12vElectronics]

Yeah this happened to me this morning!

Siri couldn't even find songs on Apple Music.

Siri play Mac Demarco... Sorry Jyby something went wrong...

I was enraged because I have no music on my phone and my commute is 30 minutes lol what a morning

First world problem right?

 

[jacjustjac]

The search has been broken since launch. Almost every other time I try to search, it brings up nothing. The difference between then and now is, force quitting the app always fixed it then. But still even then it involved stopping what was currently playing. I've been hugely disappointed in the interface. Spotify's is much cleaner and easier on the eyes. And playlist curation and new music discovery just seems more accessible in Spotify. That's why I have to keep both. I just wish there was a way to sync playlists!