Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Getting Started With Apple Music and Beats 1 on iOS, Mac and PC

jayducharme said:
Tried that. I'm one of Apple's Beta testers, and iTunes tells me I've already updated to 8.4 (even though it's just the Beta version). I'm pretty sure the problem is that I have the Beta. My wife's iPhone and iPad updated without issue. I assume a fix will be along in the next few days.
Click to expand...

I had the same thing. You can get it to work OTA if you delete the beta profile from Settings > General > Profiles. Then restart the phone, and check for updates again. It should actually get past the 'update requested' this time and install. After that, be sure to reinstall your beta profile from the beta seed site.
 
ck2875 said:
I had the same thing. You can get it to work OTA if you delete the beta profile from Settings > General > Profiles. Then restart the phone, and check for updates again. It should actually get past the 'update requested' this time and install. After that, be sure to reinstall your beta profile from the beta seed site.
Click to expand...
Brilliant! That fixed it. Thanks!
 
Not sure if this is widely known but if you have El Capitan beta 2 you can download iTunes 12.2 separately and install. It works and I'm playing with it now after first enabling on one of our iPhones.

If this was mentioned previous in this forum I haven't read all of it.
 
ApfelKuchen said:
We'll have to stay tuned on this, there's no official support documentation on the Family plan that I've found (it may be buried in the Terms and Conditions for all I know).

But to speculate? Family plan will most likely be available to those using Family Sharing - each family member has their own Apple ID and iTunes account. Families who use a single iTunes account can probably use the Individual account, but I couldn't tell you if they'd run into limitations.

Speaking specifically to your shared iCloud account? It definitely pays to get each family member their own iCloud account - each then gets 5 gb of free storage, each will have their own contacts and calendars, etc. In other words, if you'd prefer to have privacy for each family member, this is the way to go. If this sounds appealing to you, first look into Family Sharing (read the support documentation) - if you have kids under 13, Family Sharing allows you to create "under-13" accounts, with additional parental control over kids' purchasing activity (those can only be created from Family Sharing, so setup Family Sharing before creating accounts for the kids).

One of the downsides of a family using a single iTunes/iCloud account is that everyone has the same password. I've heard about more than a few families where the kids were able to take over the family's account (not sure I want to explain how, though it's definitely not rocket science or any kind of hack - all they need is the password). Family Sharing allows the parents to lock down access to their personal accounts and info.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response! The reason why I asked is this.

We are a family of 4. Since we all got iPhones a few years ago, it's been that we all use my dad's iTunes & App Store account for purchases, while we each do have our own individual iCloud accounts.

Thus, with the individual Apple Music plan, all our devices naturally use his iTunes Store account. I have turned on iCloud Music Library because I figured that since we all have our own iCloud accounts, our music wouldn't crisscross.

Well, that's exactly what's happening. The only workaround is to flip the switch to show music that's ONLY on my phone, and even then, playlists that my other family members create do show up (empty). Do we need to set up an iCloud Family Share and switch to the Family plan in Apple Music to have our OWN music libraries and prevent crisscrossing? Or is there no way to prevent crisscrossing while sharing an iTunes account?
 
pk7 said:
Thanks for your response! The reason why I asked is this.

We are a family of 4. Since we all got iPhones a few years ago, it's been that we all use my dad's iTunes & App Store account for purchases, while we each do have our own individual iCloud accounts.

Thus, with the individual Apple Music plan, all our devices naturally use his iTunes Store account. I have turned on iCloud Music Library because I figured that since we all have our own iCloud accounts, our music wouldn't crisscross.

Well, that's exactly what's happening. The only workaround is to flip the switch to show music that's ONLY on my phone, and even then, playlists that my other family members create do show up (empty). Do we need to set up an iCloud Family Share and switch to the Family plan in Apple Music to have our OWN music libraries and prevent crisscrossing? Or is there no way to prevent crisscrossing while sharing an iTunes account?
Click to expand...

Since my initial reply, Apple's released its Apple Music support site. https://www.apple.com/support/music/

You're sharing an iTunes Store account - what you do with your iCloud accounts has nothing to do with your business relationship with iTunes. [Yes, you'd setup Family Sharing by accessing iCloud settings, not iTunes Store... I'm sure they had their reasons - probably that, as time goes by, there will be more Family Sharing features that rely on iCloud (there's already the shared calendar and photo album, I suspect we'll eventually see a shared photo library, shared contacts....)]

Here are some key points: With an Apple Music individual membership, only one device/computer can stream Apple Music at a time (if music is downloaded to the device, it can be played, however). As you've already learned, all the devices signed into that individual account will show the same library, playlists, etc.

With a Family membership, each family member can stream at the same time, and each family member's library will be independent of the others (iTunes Store purchases made with one account will still be shared with all). Since you already have separate iCloud accounts... I'd say, spend the extra $5/month.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pk7
ApfelKuchen said:
Since my initial reply, Apple's released its Apple Music support site. https://www.apple.com/support/music/

You're sharing an iTunes Store account - what you do with your iCloud accounts has nothing to do with your business relationship with iTunes. [Yes, you'd setup Family Sharing by accessing iCloud settings, not iTunes Store... I'm sure they had their reasons - probably that, as time goes by, there will be more Family Sharing features that rely on iCloud (there's already the shared calendar and photo album, I suspect we'll eventually see a shared photo library, shared contacts....)]

Here are some key points: With an Apple Music individual membership, only one device/computer can stream Apple Music at a time (if music is downloaded to the device, it can be played, however). As you've already learned, all the devices signed into that individual account will show the same library, playlists, etc.

With a Family membership, each family member can stream at the same time, and each family member's library will be independent of the others (iTunes Store purchases made with one account will still be shared with all). Since you already have separate iCloud accounts... I'd say, spend the extra $5/month.
Click to expand...

Got it. Thank you for your help! :)
 
ApfelKuchen said:
Since my initial reply, Apple's released its Apple Music support site. https://www.apple.com/support/music/

You're sharing an iTunes Store account - what you do with your iCloud accounts has nothing to do with your business relationship with iTunes. [Yes, you'd setup Family Sharing by accessing iCloud settings, not iTunes Store... I'm sure they had their reasons - probably that, as time goes by, there will be more Family Sharing features that rely on iCloud (there's already the shared calendar and photo album, I suspect we'll eventually see a shared photo library, shared contacts....)]

Here are some key points: With an Apple Music individual membership, only one device/computer can stream Apple Music at a time (if music is downloaded to the device, it can be played, however). As you've already learned, all the devices signed into that individual account will show the same library, playlists, etc.

With a Family membership, each family member can stream at the same time, and each family member's library will be independent of the others (iTunes Store purchases made with one account will still be shared with all). Since you already have separate iCloud accounts... I'd say, spend the extra $5/month.
Click to expand...

May I actually trouble you with one last questions?

When my dad sets up Family Sharing, which account should the rest of us be signed into under the iTunes & App Store setting? Can we keep signed into his or should we all sign into our own before he sets it up? (Remember that it's his card we use for purchases)

Thank you again!
 
Nunyabinez said:
Match has its problems, but they are not any of those you identified. In fact, Match can be frustrating because even if you have crappy meta data, it doesn't fix it and you can't get it to correct your data. For me (and it sounds like you) that isn't a problem because I am quite fastidious about my tags and artwork.

Where Match is irritating is when it matches an album except for one track (often a popular track). Or, when it matches to a clean version when you have the explicit version or vice versa. There is no way to correct bad matches. Again for me it is not a big deal because my main library is all lossless, and if Match can't match a track it uploads it and converts to an ACC 256k which is the same as the matched tracks (but leaves your original untouched). If you have lower bit rate songs though it can leave you with 10 tracks of AAC 246k and 1 track MP3 160K. In real world probably not a big deal.

I do have to say that despite its shortcomings, Match is awesome. Especially for me because I have multiple machines and devices and all my music is available on all devices without having to worry about capacity and syncing. So, you might want to reconsider.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info I will consider. I have had some strange iTunes issues that go back to around December of last year. For example I put a song on a playlist, and then synced it to my iPhone. When I went to play it off my phone later, I thought it was strange that the song title was one thing but instead Lenny Kravitz' Butterfly was playing. I looked at my phone and the artwork and song was Butterfly but the song name, artist, and album listed was what I had actually added to the playlist. I went back to my Mac and found that the Lenny Kravitz track had replaced the other song in my library and the two songs were not even the same length or file size. I had to go to an incremental backup I have to fix it. This happened several more times over the next few months, but I believe it has stopped. One of my issues was that it also jumbled my Blind Melon Soup album. The first track and one other stayed correct, but the 3rd and 4th tracks swapped as did several other consecutive pairs. When playing the 3rd song, what plays is actually the 4th but it has the 3rd song's name. The files are actually switched. Correcting it was a pain.

I personally don't use Lossless, probably because my hearing isn't great to begin with. Too many hard rock shows in the late 80's and 90's. Though I can sometimes hear how flat a song does sound in digital compressed format compared with CDs or vinyl. I've never wanted to deal with the storage issues of Lossless or having to potentially keep multiple copies for AAC v. Lossless. I probably also don't know enough about it to have an appropriate methodology.

I guess to try Match now means getting the Apple Music subscription for $10-15 per month as I'm not sure if Match is still independently available for $25 per year. I don't see myself wanting the streaming subscription aspect, or a reason to spend $120-180 per year. And while I will listen to Beats 1 from time to time as well as the older ad-supported Apple Radio stations, that is free and doesn't require the subscription. I don't actually get the ads from the Apple Radio stations as long as I listen to them at home over WiFi, which is nice.
 
Has anyone figured out how to watch music videos? I've been through all the menus and still can't find it.
 
Does anyone know how to add a track from Beats 1 to a playlist with iTunes? Can't find it anywhere.
 
I think someone has already asked this, but if I have a 320kbps song in my library and I sign up for Apple Music, will it stream that song as 320kbps? Or will it compress it to 256kbps (like the other songs in the store)? The answer to this question might determine whether or not I sign up, so if anyone can answer this that would be awesome! :D
 
indoorsy said:
I think someone has already asked this, but if I have a 320kbps song in my library and I sign up for Apple Music, will it stream that song as 320kbps? Or will it compress it to 256kbps (like the other songs in the store)? The answer to this question might determine whether or not I sign up, so if anyone can answer this that would be awesome! :D
Click to expand...

If you are referring to the Match functionality, here is what will happen. First of all, in the originating library, nothing will happen to the files. If you had a 320k song, it stays a 320k song. If iTunes can match your track with one in the iTunes store it will add the track from the store to your cloud and those tracks are all 256k AAC. If you play it on your phone or download it to another Mac you will get the 256k file.

If Match can't match your file it will copy it as is, bit rate and all to the cloud, unless it is lossless and then it will convert it and upload it as a 256k AAC. Again, your source file will remain whatever it was.

So here's a scenario. You have an album in 320k. Match analyzes it and finds all but one track. You download the album to a different Mac. On your original Mac you have 10 tracks at 320k. On the Mac you downloaded to from the cloud you have 9 tracks of 256k AAC and 1 track at 320k.

Just a note, you don't have to ever download to any devices, including Macs, you can always stream, assuming that you have internet. So, I have a massive library on physical media on my Mac Pro, but all my other devices can access all my music without it taking up any storage from the cloud. Files on my Mac Pro are almost all lossless. The files I stream are almost all 256k AAC, either matched or converted and uploaded.
 
Why did all my music on my iPhone get deleted after updating to 8.4? I can't even reinstall it through iTunes. WTF!
 
iTunes Match is causing so many problems, is there a way to turn it off while being an Apple Music subscriber?


If a local song happens to be the same title and artist of a song from Apple Music, it replaces it.

Mixtapes tracklistists are being replaced with songs from Apple Music.

Artwork is being replaced.


This needs to be fixed by Apple ASAP!
 
When will Apple Music be available to all counties on their list?

I'm in Israel and am currently unable to do anything new....
 
MacRumors said:
Apple-Music-Black-Banner-250x125.jpg
Click to expand...
looks like big crap:
• at least since yesterday no beats 1 (doesn't load, just loading spinner)
• same for "for you" category
• no sound for "my music" (just playing, no sound)
•

what good should this "service" be good for ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back