Eddy Cue 'Thrilled With the Numbers' as Apple Music Hits 11 Million Users

[Shirasaki]

There's more Japanese music than Spotify, but there's less now than there was on iTunes Radio, which is annoying.

I can still purchase them from iTunes store. But let me find it in apple music? No way.

That. Out. Again. Out.

 

[Steve121178]

I couldn't even see out the three month trial period. Signed back up to Spotify last night. Tired of wrestling with that UI and having my music getting messed up across computers. Too many issues. Playlists are poor compared to Spotify at the moment and it really offers nothing to set it apart. Maybe i'll try again in 6 months time.

I didn't even bother with the trial. Spotify Premium does everything I need.

 

[decafjava]

I can still purchase them from iTunes store. But let me find it in apple music? No way.

That. Out. Again. Out.

That's good, I would like more exposure to Japanese music. Who knows maybe it will be more visible on AM in the future - especially as Japan is an important market for Apple.

 

[Shirasaki]

That's good, I would like more exposure to Japanese music. Who knows maybe it will be more visible on AM in the future - especially as Japan is an important market for Apple.

No need to mention over half Japanese uses iPhone rather than their own brand phones.

 

[lucansmiles]

Not going to argue with the rest, but what does that even mean? Either an encoder is good or it's not. There's no part in an encoder that analyses what the producer intended. It just does what it does, block by block. If you say that this is ensuring that the audio recording is appropriately reproduced, then every modern audio encoder does that. Everything else just sounds like PR garbage.

You are right. An encoder cannot know what the producer intended. My bad! I agree that every modern audio encoder appropriately reproduces the audio recording, but only above a certain bitrate, and that's kinda what I meant to say. 192kbps usually introduces audible artifacts, so it does not appropriately reproduce the audio recording. With iTunes Plus there's no bitrate second-guessing, it's 256kbps.

 

[TechZeke]

I don't get these types of services. I guess I am officially old. If I love something I hear, I buy it, and I don't pay for radio!

Actually, I'm with you there. I've been using Apple Music for the music discovery, then just buy it on iTunes. For the $10/month, I found it much better to just buy the songs I want without the hit on my data plan. Plus, I like the supporting the artists I like. Buying one song is probably worth a few hundred plays on Apple Music streaming for an artist.

 

[lazard]

No need to mention over half Japanese uses iPhone rather than their own brand phones.

because the iPhone is a fashion accessory and status symbol in Southeast Asia.

 

[nburwell]

Maybe I am the only person on here who loves it and has had very few issues! I was a spotify user but hated the UI. I picked Apple Music up straight away, found it really simple to use and have had no issues with my library of 20,000 tracks.

I have to agree here. I've never been a huge fan of Spotify's UI. Honestly when I first used Apple Music, I was immediately drawn to how bright and vibrant the colors were compared to the drab black background of Spotify.

But for me, content and Spotify's superior playlists win out over Apple Music's UI.

 

[nburwell]

Seriously, aren't they really good? I was skeptical on week 1 but by the end of the playlist I must have created new playlists for half the artists they suggested. A lot of them were just deep cuts too, stuff with a handful of listens I never would have found otherwise.

I totally admit I'm in love with Spotify and I think it's one of the greatest things to come around in a while. I was hugely skeptical of streaming music services five years ago, but as a music lover with broad taste I quickly became utterly obsessed with it. Truly doesn't matter to me that I don't "own" the music - I hardly ever dig into my old 20k song deep iTunes library anymore. The discovery aspect is so much more important to me. It's like browsing the web, you just start listening and dig deeper and deeper.

I couldn't agree more about the Discovery Weekly playlist. When I first got the email about it, I figured it would be a bunch of tracks that I already knew about/listened to. But low and behold, I've discovered a handful of new bands strictly because of that playlist. I finally have something to look forward to every Monday!

Like you, I absolutely love Spotify. It's by far the most used app on my iPhone. I know Apple Music has only been around for over one month, but they have a lot of catching up to do if they want to me to ditch Spotify and have me give them $10/month.

 

[GhostRaider]

And how do you know that "a lot of people will drop it"? Do you have any information that no one else does have?

Even if everybody complaining on Macrumors and any other sites would drop it (which they won't, not everybody), that would be a small % of the total trials... Many users are happy with the service (myself included) and will not drop it..

I'm not sure if you're defending Apple or what but let's be honest. People like free stuff. Why not use the free trial and take advantage of it? Second, not everyone is gonna use Apple Music. Other people like Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and so on. A lot of people have Android phones so Apple Music isn't really promoted on that platform. People like to buy music instead. People like to listen to free music instead. People like to pirate. How can you say that it would be a small %? And for student who go to college, why would they pay Apple $10 when Spotify is only $4.99? Plus if they have a PS4, how can they use Apple Music in-game? The only app on PS4 for music is Spotify.

Again, we'll see after the trial.

 

[navaira]

I am not saying I'm a typical AM user, but as of today, I am definitely not going to use it once the free trial ends. (I hardly use it anyway – if anything, it showed me how happy I am with Spotify Premium.) If they manage to get the Android app out before September 30, I will give it a try. If they manage to expand iCloud capacity to 100k songs and fix all the library-destructing errors before September 30, I will give it a try. I'm sure Apple Music has great potential, but I am not going to stick around for three years paying 10 euros a month to see what happens.

 

[69650]

I signed up for the free trial but haven't used it since the first few days because it's so confusing. I would prefer a separation between content I've purchased and Apple Music content. Unless they radically improve it I won't be paying for it.

 

[Shirasaki]

because the iPhone is a fashion accessory and status symbol in Southeast Asia.

And this market becomes more and more important.

Despite that, it's hard to understand Apple Music doesn't even support Japanese artists connect. Seems that they want to destroy their ping 2.0.

 

[Itzamna]

I'm not sure if you're defending Apple

Im not defending anyone, i just don't agree with all the overreaction and despair that is abundant on these forums anytime Apple launches anything...

How can you say that it would be a small %?

I haven't... I just said that the % of people complaining on these forums is way too small for some people infer that this represent "lots of people dropping"...

Again, we'll see after the trial.

That's what i always said, be it here on this thread or any other thread about this matter...

 

[\-V-/]

I can still purchase them from iTunes store. But let me find it in apple music? No way.

That. Out. Again. Out.

Yeah... that's annoying. I also hate that bands like ONE OK ROCK/My First Story/etc., which could stream fine in iTunes Radio, were no longer available for streaming when Apple Music released. So there's even less streaming options than before Apple Music debuted. Blah.

 

[robertosh]

Why? I haven't decided yet myself. I am also evaluating Prime Music. Haven't decided which I like better. I doubt I'll keep both.

I love music and discover new bands, etc.. but Apple Music doesn't work very well for me in terms of suggestion of bands, and stations (I listen metal, industrial, etc.. maybe is a problem related to these styles).

I have problems too with the speed and performance cause I live in Spain and here Apple services don't run very well.