Apple's Bozoma Saint John on Apple Music: 'We're Developing Something Very Special'

[robbyx]

I have a very large personal music library and I don't pay for enough monthly data on my cellular plan to stream music as much as I listen.

I want to know what Apple, Spotify, Pandora, and anyone else has to offer an offline listener like me.

The fact is, none of these services offer me a damn thing. Great, I can listen to any album in the iTunes library. Oh wait... I'm mobile and can't use the data... I want a curated list.... oh that's only for streamers...

Video program says add absolutely nothing to Apple Music or the Beats 1 programming. I can't afford the data to stream the music, how am I going to stream video?

Also; Beats 1 is for a specific audience. Like all other FM radio stations, it's made for the popular music fan. If you don't like what's on the radio, you're not likely to enjoy Beats 1.

Until data limits are more affordable, offline options need to be included. And that's my reason for not being on Apple Music. It's a waste of money for me right now and I buy plenty of music that I actually enjoy.

Where can Apple Music fill in the gaps for me? Cause I'm not seeing a single benefit.

I have a very large library too and I find Apple Music is worth the money as a means of trying before I buy. It costs less than one album per month and I can listen to anything I want. When I find something I really like, I buy the CD or lossless audio files.

A few music loving friends and I suggest albums to each other all the time via Apple Music. Sure, I could use another service like Spotify for exactly the same thing but Apple Music is very well integrated with my existing iTunes library. Finally, you can download Apple Music tracks for offline listening.

 

[Dareen333]

Apple needs to distribute internet service and they will be able to do a lot more.

 

[EdT]

Millennial here as well, I also am ashamed of the mumbling rap artists we've made famous

At a very minimum, 90% of the music produced by any generation is either horrible, bad, or forgettable. The 8% that is good will hang around for 10-15 years, while the really good and great music can survive for decades. I doubt that this generation's music will be that much different from any music from the 20th century.

What distresses me is Apples push to find the lowest common denominator- music so bland it appeals to (or at least doesn't greatly offend) everybody. During every other music era there were always the outliers, records or radio stations or small venues that appealed to people that liked what the masses weren't consuming. Most times that type of music just died, never really noticed, but sometimes it got noticed, and picked up, by the mainstream. Usually music as a whole was better for it.

I am not excited about any company deciding that they should control what people hear, whether it's Pandora, Spotify, I Heart Radio or Apple.

 

[MarkB786]

Well, I have been hearing the "something special is coming" line from Cook et. al. for years and for many product lines. Nothing yet, so I am not holding my breath for this one either.

 

[t76turbo]

Yes except you can't hear exactly what you want on Pandora unless you pay for their streaming music subscription. Everyone on Pandora always asks this same question until they realize that people who pay actually get to hear all music on demand instead of listening to a station and skipping half of the tracks because they don't feel like hearing them.

I can hear the general type of music I want. Which is what I am looking for. Not listening to the pop that is on the radio today.

If I want to hear exactly the songs I want to hear, I will make a play list out of the 40 gigs of music I own.

I look at it as more of a radio station for MY kind of music where there is none today(I listen to heavy rock, metal, etc)

But I guess if a person doesn't own any music I see your point.
[doublepost=1484694438][/doublepost]

what about the 20 million plus subscribers...??

There's a sucker born every minute.....???? I don't know. I just don't see it personally.

 

[theheadguy]

I would have thought they'd discontinue it (like Ping or Connect) if it hadn't been successful. Clearly there are enough listeners.

There are enough people willing to buy the Airport Extreme and they still decided to discontinue it, and that was a quality product that contained innovation and potential.

How about no? It is the best part of Apple Music IMO; the best way to discover new and trending music. Plus most of the shows are really good.

Sorry to hear you're on the same station so much. Hope you can discover some music outside of the Beats 1 ecosystem soon. Until then, enjoy the replays and the "shout-outs" to various cities. I do enjoy their curated playlists across many different genres of music, though.

 

[oldmacs]

Will it involve the ability to hide Apple Music completely? While I love the ability to minimise the now playing screen + use up next, everything else about the music app since iOS 8.4 has sucked. Give me the ability to choose what is along the bottom screen.

The other great thing it could involve is no more exclusives. Exclusives (no matter on what platform) really suck for music lovers.

 

[unobtainium]

What they need is better music discovery. Spotify has them so beat in this area. Using (good) algorithms is the only way to go, personal "curation" just doesn't work with millions of subscribers and diverse tastes.

 

[miamialley]

That's Kobe Bryant.

 

[Benny L]

please elaborate on this. Because from what I've seen..... Apple is doing just fine. Asking Apple..... or anyone to catch up to Netflix is a very tall order. Seeing as Netflix practically created, defined, and redefined the market. Legitimate TV offering is something Apple's success with iTunes has going against them.

the ENTIRE movie/TV market saw what happened to the music business after Apple took over. They have made it their mission NEVER to allow any one company to do that to them.

[doublepost=1484703967][/doublepost]If i have to elaborate you must be a tim cook fan- thus elaborating is useless.
Keep using your outdated and flat apple tv and itunes and keep all your fingers crossed that something is coming down the pipeline as long as cook is around.
Get your ouija board out and ask tim himself -lol
Let us hear if you hear anything- lol

 

[2010mini]

[doublepost=1484703967][/doublepost]If i have to elaborate you must be a tim cook fan- thus elaborating is useless.
Keep using your outdated and flat apple tv and itunes and keep all your fingers crossed that something is coming down the pipeline as long as cook is around.
Get your ouija board out and ask tim himself -lol
Let us hear if you hear anything- lol

I am neither a fan on TC or SJ. I don't give a crap about either. I don't worship at the altar of Apple.

I am however, a fan of facts. But it seems all you have are insults to try and mask that you have none.

 

[jjhny]

It gets more ridiculous everyday - it's starting to sound like BS Microsoft was spewing when they released the Zune.

Seriously - just fire Tim Cook already.

 

[Benny L]

Jjhny- AMEN BROTHER!
Have a great eveing , sir

 

[Benny L]

Well, I have been hearing the "something special is coming" line from Cook et. al. for years and for many product lines. Nothing yet, so I am not holding my breath for this one either.

Well said sir, that is what i am talkin about.
Until cook is gone apple will continue their death march.
The appleheads will follow cook blindly , in their eyes apple and cook can do no wrong and all these promised
"The next best thing" promises will continue to give us minimal yearly equipment upgrades and cook will continue to treat us like mushrooms and feed us bulls&@t- that is cooks apple

 

[acrakes]

Everyone on the planet will listen to, no, *engage with* Apple Music, or I'll keep yelling at Larry in this very healthy and substantive way.

For those who haven't heard of "man spreading", it's taken to be a sign of male entitlement to public space, with men spreading their knees too wide, blithely taking up room someone else might need. There was a poster campaign against it, IIRC, on the New York subway system, and young women took photographs of offenders, silently seething, and uploaded them to the Internet to complain about the audacity of men to claim more space and breathing room than they exactly require. All the time. Everywhere. They're everywhere.

 

[poverby]

As a stock holder I want Apple Music to work and be profitable. But for the life of me I cant see someone paying their subscription fees when I can hear free music semi tailored to my tastes on services like Pandora.

I guess I hope their big changes are successful......

Apple become MTV now? I guess we don't know yet; but I think we are witnessing "diworsification" in the process here. Video creation is not Apple's forte. I am a stockholder as well and as such, I hope they invest elsewhere (or buyback some stock).

 

[lowendlinux]

Ms. Saint John has a mega watt smile I wish the rest of the Apple staff did too.

 

[groove-agent]

Special doesnt always nean better. I swear apple has a "special" dictionary of adjectives theyre allowed to use: "magical", "amazing"...

I can only imagine how awful the music app is going to be when this is launched. Remember what it looked like after Apple music subs were launched? It was an awful mess.
[doublepost=1484757579][/doublepost]

One thing AM can do for me is to let me use the music I download to DJ!

Youre technically supposed to pay royalties to the artists if you use their music to make money, just like radio stations. Thats why you cant do it.

 

[Gary03mw]

something special?

Perhaps for Millenials and modern R&B but for the rest of the world? They'll go yawn, you call that Music?

I get tired of hearing old, bitter, nostalgic people complain about current music. Don't get me wrong I love older music. Bowie, Springsteen, The Cure, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc are all great. But none of that diminishes more current bands like Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Alabama Shakes, etc. This generation really does have it made. We have more new music than ever and we get to go back and experience decades worth of classics. If you can't find good content you're either stuck in the past and biased or just not trying.

 

[routine_analyst]

Clueless.

Apple has forgotten its own tenet for simplicity. It was the elegance of their software/hardware/experience that won the hearts of people. Now they are solving matters by throwing more ingredients into the mix. They should return to focusing on the few things they did best and quit trying to own every goddamn thing.

Reportedly, Apple doesn’t conduct focus groups to gauge customer preferences. Instead, Apple determines what is best. Maybe they should start asking.

Focus groups are worthless. You hold a pencil in front of a cows face and ask it what it would like to see improved. They stare at you a moo. Pencil remains as is.

You mention Apple should get back to focusing on the few things they did best. Not having focus groups is an example of what they have always done best.

 

[melendezest]

" Apple's Bozoma Saint John on Apple Music: 'We're Developing Something Very Special' "

I don't believe ANYTHING Apple says these days.

I need to SEE it.

 

[Gary03mw]

The negativity here is pretty remarkable sometimes. This is a good move by Apple. As hardware becomes more and more commoditized the way to differentiate has always been content. Things that are exclusive to a platform. Content holds a great deal of value and this is a logical extension of what Apple already does.

 

[wigby]

I can hear the general type of music I want. Which is what I am looking for. Not listening to the pop that is on the radio today.

If I want to hear exactly the songs I want to hear, I will make a play list out of the 40 gigs of music I own.

I look at it as more of a radio station for MY kind of music where there is none today(I listen to heavy rock, metal, etc)

But I guess if a person doesn't own any music I see your point.
[doublepost=1484694438][/doublepost]

There's a sucker born every minute.....???? I don't know. I just don't see it personally.

I own about 75 GB of music and still subscribe. Half of the time I listen to Apple Music and the other half I'm listening to my own catalog. And I listen to podcasts 99% of the time anyway. For me it's all about the convenience of being to call up any song I want at anytime. I rarely ever need this but I'm willing to pay to have it.
[doublepost=1484775559][/doublepost]

Beats 1 is live internet radio that sucks, just like Ping and Connect.

You might think it sucks but Beats 1 is an entirely different thing altogether. I like the Beats 1 style and some of their special shows but they play way too much hip hop but that's the youth market they are trying to appeal to out of the box. They were rumored to be introducing other genres of Beats radio. A heavy metal Beats 5 would be amazing to me.

 

[Dysnomia]

Geez... Apple turning into MTV :/

Would be good to have something dedicated to music.

 

[thekeyring]

Thanks, I know that I can manually change the order of the songs but I wanna have my playlist automatically sorted with the newest song at the top. I can do this in iTunes but not on my iPhone, which really really sucks because I have a playlist with more than 500 songs and I always have to scroll down for a minute to be able to listen to my recently added songs.

Ah, fair point. I would expect Music on iOS to have the same features as the music section of iTunes, if not more. It's a shame that it doesn't.

There are enough people willing to buy the Airport Extreme and they still decided to discontinue it, and that was a quality product that contained innovation and potential.

Focus! http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/629613-people-think-focus-means-saying-yes-to-the-thing-you-ve