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How Apple Music's Liking System Works to Customize 'For You' Recommendations
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I guess I'll need all three months and most likely even more time to tailor FOR YOU into really working for me.
I mostly listen to classical music and only picked classical composers and artists when I first set up FOR YOU. But Apple Music is not recommending a single classical music album for me. I guess I am starting from scratch...
I mostly listen to classical music and only picked classical composers and artists when I first set up FOR YOU. But Apple Music is not recommending a single classical music album for me. I guess I am starting from scratch...
Such a confusing experience so far. They have really outdone themselves this time.
So is there a way to create a radio station based on all of my likes and dislikes? (as opposed to a single song or artist) If there is, I don't see it. I was at WWDC and they sure made it should like this functionality was in there.
When you "Start Station" from a song, does that station persist somewhere for future reuse... E.g., somewhere in My Music, Radio, or For You?
1: Curated stations, just like curated stations on Pandora will not have "Never Play This Song" or "Play More Songs Like This" options that alter the foundation of the station. The Hearts will improve your Music recommendations and For You Section.
2: Custom Radio Stations will have the ability to both "Never Play This Song" and "Play more Songs like this" options, in addition to the Music Recommendation Hearts.
Here is a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/2rv0FWp.jpg
2: Custom Radio Stations will have the ability to both "Never Play This Song" and "Play more Songs like this" options, in addition to the Music Recommendation Hearts.
Here is a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/2rv0FWp.jpg
I have seen some good suggestions in the "For You" section along with totally unrelated ones (which I have used the do not suggest feature) one little complaint I have is that I wish it would not recommend albums, songs etc that I already own in my collection.
It seems to be the way of Apple, which I can't stand. (The way is what I can't stand; I like Apple).
"We work on this great new software with a bunch of new features, which are so intuitive, that we don't have to write a book to explain them."
Well, kiddo, Apple, friend... Some people think different, and they like to read the manuals, and that's how they learn. You should, when you invent/teach something, be aware of the 4 learning styles:
1. Kinesthetic - Hands on. They learn by doing.
2. Visual - Watching. They learn by watching others.
3. Audio - Listening. They learn by hearing the instructions
4. Reading - Writing. They learn by reading stuff you want them to learn.
Apple, could you please address these, especially 1 and 4 above (my dominant and secondary style)?
1 - Opens the box and starts clicking stuff, and eventually figures it out. (Watches the Youtube video, and pauses it to try it themselves - pop-up hints help them)
2 - Watches the guy that does #1, and learns what they need to learn (Watches the Youtube video and knows how to operate it)
3 - Listens to the guy that does #1, and learns what they need to learn (Listens to the Youtube video in the car on the way to work and knows how to do it)
4 - Reads the book and is ready to go (Prints out the release notes, reads them, and knows how to do it. If it's on the computer, can just have part of the screen listing the instructions.
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+1. That's my question too.
My main confusion after spending several hours with For You yesterday was, "Where is the Play button in For You that plays an ongoing random assortment of songs based on the likes and dislikes I've posted?" As best I can tell, that doesn't exist... but it should.
(And if it DOES exist; someone please correct me! I won't be insulted.)
Its interesting how apple is so bad at informing people what features their services have. THere should be a step by step introduction highlighting each button. Honestly im not all that impressed with Apple music. Connect seems like a rather useless feature with ugly UI. Radio is just meh... The itunes shop and Apple music are completely separated and its confusing when you enter one or the other. Why cant they do like spotify, let you search through all the library of music but grey out what you cannot listen to and give you the option to buy it? also why do I have to add every single song to my library of music? If I want to create a playlist of various songs I need to add a new cover for each and every one of them. Only apples own playlists lets you listen to music outside your personal album. Also the whole thing is slow and unresponsive when you hit play or fast forward in a song, compared to spotify which is instant. I must say that currently, the spotify app, particularly the desktop version, is miles ahead both in UI and design and in quality of the service. Itunes was a bloated, slow and messy program before they re-made itunes a while back. Now it feels bloated, slow and messy once again, great job apple! 
Also itunes store looks really bad on the PC version, with jagged unreadable fonts. If it wasn't for spotifys slow adaptation of the family plan to compete with apple I would switch right back to spotify today. I thought music and UI was apples strengths, but apple music and streaming seems like a feature they have just half-heartedly made because they felt forced to do so by competition.
Also itunes store looks really bad on the PC version, with jagged unreadable fonts. If it wasn't for spotifys slow adaptation of the family plan to compete with apple I would switch right back to spotify today. I thought music and UI was apples strengths, but apple music and streaming seems like a feature they have just half-heartedly made because they felt forced to do so by competition.
Not sure what they were thinking when they designed this. I click on one of the lists in For You and want to know more about one of the artists or an album, but the artist is not clickable and even if it was the font is just tiny. Instead I have to push the dot button on the lower left and THEN click the album icon at the top of the screen that slides in from below, which sometimes seems to work but more often then not just says resource unknown...kind of defeats the whole purpose of having the For You section which supposedly should make it easy to discover new artists/albums.
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Of course, if the quality of new music was a lot higher, there would be no need for curation, as you would like most of what you heard.
MEMO TO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: write better music and more people will buy it.
MEMO TO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: write better music and more people will buy it.
Don't believe there is an option like this. "For You" is sort of like a station (a collection of "stations") that is based on your "loved" songs. There is no "dislike" in this context by the way.
I don't know of a service that allows you to have a radio based on all your likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes are "local" to one particular radio. I don't think it's practical for them to be global. Radio station is more of a "mood" thing. If I feel like listening to "Katy Perry", I can start this kind of radio. I don't want the fact that I liked tons of "Disturbed" songs on other stations influence it.
In short - I don't think it makes sense to have a single station that is a mix of all your likes / dislikes in all stations.
It's what beta tests are for. I did my Masters Thesis on beta testing, and one of the observations I had was this:
"Ask the users what they like and dislike (randomize order of the question), and do not have the programmers or advocates in the room."
It does seem like Apple doesn't explain things to the users, and it's frustrating. Once you frustrate someone, it tends to be a downward spiral, where the best you can do is break even with their opinion.
Perhaps the question you should be asking yourself is, "Why don't you like Whitney Houston?"
She had a superb voice and inspirational songs to boot, at least in the 80s.
Seems the spirit of good taste is pervading your iPhone.
I don't know the other two you mentioned.
So far, the entire "For You" is a classic case of everyone who worked on it loves it and if you like Taylor Swift & Niki Manaj, then it works great!
If, however, you have never liked, loved, or purchased TS or NM, then how in the world do they keep showing up on my Apple music? I also deleted every "Hits" and "Pop" bubble during set up!
Furthermore, the "I don't like or please make it go away" also does not work...I have tried it on 6 different Niki Manaj suggestions and it keeps coming back.
If, however, you have never liked, loved, or purchased TS or NM, then how in the world do they keep showing up on my Apple music? I also deleted every "Hits" and "Pop" bubble during set up!
Furthermore, the "I don't like or please make it go away" also does not work...I have tried it on 6 different Niki Manaj suggestions and it keeps coming back.
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I would also like to know if it's any better than Pandora (or Spotify, for that matter).
Regarding Android, apple.com/music says it's coming this Fall. They don't say how they'll distribute it... is it just implied that they'll be going through Google Play these days, or does Android still allow you to easily install apps from anywhere? (I haven't used it in 3 years - right as Google Play was first starting up.)
I like the Apple Music and curation (even though in my experience it does not 'trump' iTR). In saying that, the UIX is definitely not the result of Steve's thinking process. Look how many separate 'how to' threads there are. This means that the app is not intuitive enough.
Apple Music doesn't feel like it's spawned from the brain of a mastermind. It's a mishmash of ideas inspired by apps already in existence, not an app that is built purely from the ground up with UIX in mind. And obviously we know this is the case because of the Beats acquisition. I am certain Steve never would've bought Beats. Apple needed a social-media type framework with the cool-factor already in place to help them get started and they needed it fast to get artists and labels onboard. 3B was the price to pay for such an app in 2015 that already had social integration and could basically be re-skinned into Apple Music because they just don't have the talent to develop original current generational apps on their own. Lesser apps were being bought for billions so 3B was par for the course. Can you think of a new app they have developed purely on their own? It certainly isn't Apple Maps and it certainly isn't Apple Music. All Apple apps have already been around for years. They've had to acquire other companies to keep their apps current.
The only reason Apple Music isn't a total disaster is because they learned to be more patient and careful from the Apple Maps fiasco. In fact I am certain they bought Beats because of the Apple Maps disaster. 3B was what it cost to help save face and ensure a somewhat copacetic Apple Music debut. Apple Music would've been a total clusterf_ck otherwise.
Apple Music doesn't feel like it's spawned from the brain of a mastermind. It's a mishmash of ideas inspired by apps already in existence, not an app that is built purely from the ground up with UIX in mind. And obviously we know this is the case because of the Beats acquisition. I am certain Steve never would've bought Beats. Apple needed a social-media type framework with the cool-factor already in place to help them get started and they needed it fast to get artists and labels onboard. 3B was the price to pay for such an app in 2015 that already had social integration and could basically be re-skinned into Apple Music because they just don't have the talent to develop original current generational apps on their own. Lesser apps were being bought for billions so 3B was par for the course. Can you think of a new app they have developed purely on their own? It certainly isn't Apple Maps and it certainly isn't Apple Music. All Apple apps have already been around for years. They've had to acquire other companies to keep their apps current.
The only reason Apple Music isn't a total disaster is because they learned to be more patient and careful from the Apple Maps fiasco. In fact I am certain they bought Beats because of the Apple Maps disaster. 3B was what it cost to help save face and ensure a somewhat copacetic Apple Music debut. Apple Music would've been a total clusterf_ck otherwise.
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From all the pandemonium I have heard from people here losing playlists, losing metadata, losing songs, having songs changed, and the UI nightmare that you and others describe, I have no interest in trying Apple Music now. I may some months down the line when the worst bugs have been ironed out.
One interesting quirk is that, even though I haven't updated iTunes or Mac OS 10.X, some of my album art has changed to the wrong covers. However, Apple have found a lot more album art for my iTunes Matched classical music, which is encouraging. It suddenly all appeared today.
I feel extremely wary of updating anything at this moment in time, and will certainly avoid Apple Music like the plague.