iOS 6 b4 - Every music streaming app is now low quality

[KdParker]

One thing I've noticed after upgrading to iOS 6 b4 is that every music streaming app I've tried produces low quality music, even if in the settings of the app you specifically have high quality turned on.

Apps I've tried are:
Spotify
Pandora
Slacker Radio
Soundcloud

Is it possible that Apple may be limiting the quality that music streaming apps can produce in order to push people towards it's Match service and to buy more songs on iTunes? Or maybe Apple is preparing people as it gets ready to launch it's own service?

This problem didn't happen on any other betas. I've done reinstalls of all apps, cleared them, even a full restore and set up as a new device. Thoughts?

EDIT: After downgrading to iOS 6 b3, all my streaming apps have gone back to high quality music. I'll refrain from updating until b5 or GM.

Did you try DI? This is still working with premium membership on the b4

 

[SBrooks360]

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here and say I am experiencing no problems with sound quality using Spotify and Beta 4. I'm streaming via Bluetooth to my car stereo and it sounds just as good as it ever did.

 

[0000757]

Yes, it sounds like a bug, you are running a beta after all. Report it via http://bugreport.apple.com

Audio / video bugs are not uncommon, in previous seeds (either iOS 4 betas or iOS 5, don't remember now) Streamtome video playing broke. BBC's global iPlayer app often breaks with betas. It's not a conspiracy on Apples part. Hell the last two betas had Home Sharing broken!.

I know it's beta. I just thought it was extremely odd that not only one, but all of the apps I tried were low quality. That's what tipped me off. I was simply surprised.

As for people asking for proof:
Some people are saying it's working fine, some are having the same issue. I don't have another iOS device to upgrade to iOS 6 b4 and it's late, so tomorrow I'll upgrade again and see if I have the same issue. The only steps to recreate the issue is just to upgrade. That's what happened.

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Absolutely NOT.

I edited my statement to more clearly get my question across.

 

[gforce216]

Low quality on both Pandora and Rdio for me. I let Rdio know about it and they are working on a fix. Seems like spotify releases an iOS 6 update today to fix the change in APIs.

 

[throys]

No problem playing or streaming or listening to any audio format on my iPhone including podcast, iTunes Match, YouTube etc. have you tried a clean install without restoring from old backup.

 

[sakau2007]

No problem playing or streaming or listening to any audio format on my iPhone including podcast, iTunes Match, YouTube etc. have you tried a clean install without restoring from old backup.

Did you try any of the services that are actually being reported to have problems?

 

[jabingla2810]

Apple doesn't really have to worry if some random software works with their device. They really only have to concern themselves with iTunes. The fact is, they go out of their way to make sure other software DOESN'T work with their devices.

Please don't give me that "user experience" crap. Apple devotes resources to making sure I'm forced to use iTunes. And given that iTunes is crappy bloatware, that's the complete opposite of what you are insinuating.

"User experience crap"?

User experience isn't crap, it's something thats important to all companies.

Sorry to get off topic, but there are lots of reasons Apple make you stick to iTunes, and some of them are very complicated.

I see you're not impressed with Apple just making sure all user experiences are consistent, even though its a MASSIVE part of it, but there are other reasons.

Customer support. "Hey Apple, I just plugged my iphone in and opened MusicBox instead of iTunes because I prefer it, and some of my old music won't sync"

How is Apple going to help you over a phone?
They can't recreate the problem, and even if they could they aren't experts with MusicBox.... And then times this by a thousand, in a thousand different ways, and thousands of different questions about 3rd party software.

The music and film industry. For Apple to be selling music on movies on iTunes there are certain things Apple have to do. Music recently went DRM free which has free'd up where you can play your music, but movies are still riddled with DRM.

Movie studios are scared enough that people are copying their stuff, let alone dragging their movies into 3rd party software.

It's the same store that is on your iphone. With all these new icloud things happening, it's easy for anybody to download any of their stuff to any of their devices.

People who are serious about software should build their own hardware. Self explanatory. But an example is, could any other software create an encrypted back up of your iphone?

 

[sakau2007]

Customer support. "Hey Apple, I just plugged my iphone in and opened MusicBox instead of iTunes because I prefer it, and some of my old music won't sync"

How is Apple going to help you over a phone?
They can't recreate the problem, and even if they could they aren't experts with MusicBox.... And then times this by a thousand, in a thousand different ways, and thousands of different questions about 3rd party software.

Simple... Officially support just iTunes. Here's an analogy...

You buy internet from an internet service provider. You are setting up a semi-complicated home network. You are having some issues getting it all working correctly. You are using your own routers and switches and equipment. Your ISP says "I am sorry, we cannot help you. If you would like, you can use our equipment and we can guide you through everything a step at a time."

Apple is the ISP that goes out of their way to not only not support other hardware for technologically savvy users... but to do what they can to make sure other hardware which is perfectly capable of running a complex home network does not work with their services. To me, that is pure, unadulterated garbage.

Yes, overall I understand how they want everything to be the same for all users for a variety of reasons. And I'm telling you that I don't think that's a good enough reason to force me into using their bloatware. If iTunes wasn't such a giant turd, I wouldn't care nearly as much.

 

[benfica88]

It appears the the sound player or the way it plays has been changed. In The Dark Knight game the quality of the voice overs has been drastically reduced on beta 4...

 

[PurrBall]

So my Spotfy sounded fine over AirPlay, but playing it over the phones speaker definitely sounds a lot worse than before. So I'd say there's definitely something going on.

 

[Cyclone Chris]

Found a way around this. I listen to Mog an noticed that the quality is Subpar after the latest beta. By accident, while mog was playing, I loaded up Shazam and while Shazam is loaded the audio quality is outstanding. Once you close Shazam the music goes back to low quality.

 

[Stuke00]

I tried Spotify and Tune In radio and both are subpar quality. I listen to a song in spotify synced with "Extreme Quality" then play the song from my iTunes library and the difference is very noticeable. Very crackly and no clarity

 

[fury88]

I tried Spotify and Tune In radio and both are subpar quality. I listen to a song in spotify synced with "Extreme Quality" then play the song from my iTunes library and the difference is very noticeable. Very crackly and no clarity

Wow I thought I was going crazy! I can confirm this on my end also. Quality has totally took a dump since my beta upgrade. Very bummed. Hopefully it will get straightened out soon.

 

[shawndre]

I noticed when I play pandora through the headphone jack it is low quality, but if I open soundhound, all of a sudden the quality improves.

When I stream through Bluetooth in my car it sounds fine.

 

[Stuke00]

I noticed when I play pandora through the headphone jack it is low quality, but if I open soundhound, all of a sudden the quality improves.

When I stream through Bluetooth in my car it sounds fine.

Yes bluetooth in my car I have noticed is fine. Playing thru headphones, the built in iPhone speaker, or the dock port sounds horrible.