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Did they give up on the Music app?
- Thread starter Saint_Blaise
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I would say the Music on iOS seems curiously neglected whilst the Music app on macOS is woefully neglected.
My only explanation is that 5-6 years ago, Apple had a strategy to start merging their app code base to be a 'universal' apps that worked on Mac, iOS and iPadOS, starting with content apps like Music.
If so, I suspect that this was harder than they thought and they've never launched their efforts, leaving the weird half iPadOS half macOS UI of Music to wither on the vine, in the mean time.
My only explanation is that 5-6 years ago, Apple had a strategy to start merging their app code base to be a 'universal' apps that worked on Mac, iOS and iPadOS, starting with content apps like Music.
If so, I suspect that this was harder than they thought and they've never launched their efforts, leaving the weird half iPadOS half macOS UI of Music to wither on the vine, in the mean time.
We underestimated what we had with iTunes I think.
I’m not speaking out of nostalgia, but the fact that I was literally still using iTunes up until last year and it’s just a better app than the Apple Music app.
I’m not speaking out of nostalgia, but the fact that I was literally still using iTunes up until last year and it’s just a better app than the Apple Music app.
I really hate having the media player at the bottom of the screen. Who is the idiot who decided that. I'm usually not harsh when it comes to updates, but this is incredibly short sighted and just plain dumb. I'm so used to having it at the top of the screen. I've dealt with it at the top of the screen for 20 years and I can't get used to it being at the bottom. Now, if they had a good reason to put it there, that's fine, but the idiotic part is they didn't give us an option to change it back. There is no setting to say do you want it at the top or bottom. They make these changes and forces everyone to adapt. This is the first update where I despise and F Apple for screwing this up as much as they have.
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Some more bugs in 26.1:
- Go to Current Song doesn't seem to work on playlists when the song's playlist is open.
- Go to Current Song in library forces Album view to be enabled if it's not a selected library view.
- Horizontal scrollbar is now positioned above control overlay?
- Playback from library does not follow song list order when the album changes.
New bugs in 26.1 (some had them with 26.0.1 - my Mac needed some time):
- Songs stop playing randomly.
- Songs randomly corrupt themselves and turn into a Nine Inch Nails track.
- When playing in the track view, entire albums are often skipped. I can't figure out the reason. If I select the affected albums directly, they play normally.
However, 26.1 also fixed a bug for me:
- When selecting AirPlay speakers, only the last selected speaker would play, never all the selected speakers.
It's funny: iTunes was the app that kept me using a Mac when Apple discontinued Aperture, shipped notebooks with weak keyboards, and produced Mac Minis that weren't updated for half a decade. Now Apple has great hardware, but the software quality has become really bad.
- Songs stop playing randomly.
- Songs randomly corrupt themselves and turn into a Nine Inch Nails track.
- When playing in the track view, entire albums are often skipped. I can't figure out the reason. If I select the affected albums directly, they play normally.
However, 26.1 also fixed a bug for me:
- When selecting AirPlay speakers, only the last selected speaker would play, never all the selected speakers.
It's funny: iTunes was the app that kept me using a Mac when Apple discontinued Aperture, shipped notebooks with weak keyboards, and produced Mac Minis that weren't updated for half a decade. Now Apple has great hardware, but the software quality has become really bad.
I'm still having this issue where the Music app keeps relaunching when quit. This has never happened until I upgraded to macOS 26 on MBP and it's not happening (or ever has happened) on my Mac mini running macOS 15.7.2.
I've been told to check for other apps that have access to the Music app, but even removing everything in System Settings - Privacy & Security - Media & Apple Music, I still continue to have this issue.
I'm also really struggling to find a replacement that will work with my Apple Music Library. I tried Longplay, but it's a little too simple for me. Seems like there's more alternatives on iOS & iPadOS than there are on macOS. I booted up an old Windows VM and was able to launch and update my music library in the Zune app! None of the services connect anymore, but it still connected to my drive and updated the Library. I could probably update the music on my Zune if I could fine it.
If the Music app didn't keep relaunching when I needed to quit it (like when I restart! I mean, come on!), I could TRY getting used to that really ugly & small media player at the bottom of the screen.. Maybe..
I've been told to check for other apps that have access to the Music app, but even removing everything in System Settings - Privacy & Security - Media & Apple Music, I still continue to have this issue.
I'm also really struggling to find a replacement that will work with my Apple Music Library. I tried Longplay, but it's a little too simple for me. Seems like there's more alternatives on iOS & iPadOS than there are on macOS. I booted up an old Windows VM and was able to launch and update my music library in the Zune app! None of the services connect anymore, but it still connected to my drive and updated the Library. I could probably update the music on my Zune if I could fine it.
If the Music app didn't keep relaunching when I needed to quit it (like when I restart! I mean, come on!), I could TRY getting used to that really ugly & small media player at the bottom of the screen.. Maybe..
What you're seeing may be due to an app trying to control Music using AppleScript: Check Privacy & Security → Automation for any applications where Music is enabled.
Thanks, but unfortunately that's not fixing my issue. I had BetterTouchTool listed and VLC, but I'm still seeing the Music app trying to keep opening after disabling those.
Yes! Thank you! I'll try anything at this point.. The only difference I can see between my two Macs, one having this issue and the other not, is that the one that's not on macOS 26 because it's a 2018 Intel Mac mini, and I have no interest in hacking it to run Tahoe..
Force Quitting maybe 5-6 times finally gets it to stop opening, but still. I hope that doesn't cause issues with my Music Library. I'm pretty stumped!
Does it make a difference if you quit the app with ⌘q or using the menu?
You could delete the music preferences file, but you may need to reset your music files location (which for some reason has something like <user>/music/music/music/music. I exaggerate, but it's a stupid directory imo.
I'm clutching at straws, but it's a fun game (for me) 😁
You could delete the music preferences file, but you may need to reset your music files location (which for some reason has something like <user>/music/music/music/music. I exaggerate, but it's a stupid directory imo.
I'm clutching at straws, but it's a fun game (for me) 😁
Doesn’t make a difference if I quit thru the menu or ⌘+Q. I’m not sure I wanna deal with deleting preference files at this point, though. Due to this issue, I’ve move to listening thru my iPad & HomePod instead of the MBP.
The Music app still works fine for what it does when it’s open. It’s just closing it (and keeping it closed) that’s the issue
Thanks!
This morning I installed iTunes 10.7 and was blown away at how much I loved it.
I wish I could sync my iPhone 13 Mini with it -- if so I'd be using it as my primary.
It's lightning fast and just so "essential".
Software like this that is so focused and clean, yet still attractive and with an expressive design and personality, is totally missing from Apple any longer.
Link to how if you'd like to check it out.
I wish I could sync my iPhone 13 Mini with it -- if so I'd be using it as my primary.
It's lightning fast and just so "essential".
Software like this that is so focused and clean, yet still attractive and with an expressive design and personality, is totally missing from Apple any longer.
Link to how if you'd like to check it out.
I uses the app daily and geez the controls on the bottom is just amateurish and stupid.
It also puts a huge horizontal scrollbar when in "as Songs" view, even if you sort the headers/columns such that there's nothing to scroll.
Sure, I could turn off the option (in System Settings) to have the scrollbars hidden until use, but every other app manages it, and I like to see the vertical scrollbar as it gives me a rough idea how much more of whatever isn't being shown.
Sure, I could turn off the option (in System Settings) to have the scrollbars hidden until use, but every other app manages it, and I like to see the vertical scrollbar as it gives me a rough idea how much more of whatever isn't being shown.
I mean .. lmao 🤣
This would be almost funny if it weren't released software meant to be used by the general public right now.
What are we even doin' here Apple?
Nobody asked for the mini-player to be translucent and at the bottom, on top of the App content.
Absolutely. I could see more of the important stuff (i.e. the tracks I want to listen to) if they put it back at the top where all the empty white-space currently is.
What is it even theoretically accomplishing by putting it at the bottom, on a Mac?
You aren't trying to touch it ... everything else is correctly hierarchical and your eyes are near the top of the screen for menus, the menu bar, the UI in basically all Apps.
Why on Earth move that key piece of UI to the bottom?
(to say nothing of having it be "floating over stuff that shines through")
Plus you have to hold your mouse over the timeline bar for it to bother to show you how much time the track has left.
At some point, it'll annoy me so much I'll find another app for my local/ripped tracks and cancel my Apple Music sub, as I don't want to use two apps.
At some point, it'll annoy me so much I'll find another app for my local/ripped tracks and cancel my Apple Music sub, as I don't want to use two apps.
From an actual usability standpoint, it is objectively bad design.
There's just no way to argue otherwise, on that one point (using the App and its functionality).
Imagine if, back in the day, to see the track progress on your stereo you had to go tap the screen to wake it up and show you the progress.
When I provided feedback that’s nearly what I told them. Like is this a joke on us? LOL
I had that happen to me too. I couldn't believe a $4 Trillion company could be this shoddy and amaturish.
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