Resolved Is Apple Music still a mess? UPDATE: IT IS

[gomatt]

I tried apple music when it came out and after the first major update. It was a complete mess. I mismatched my songs and had no idea what it was doing.

The BIGGEST issue was sometimes I was on an airplane, pull up Music on the iPhone, and it would say I have no music, no songs, nothing local. Many times the app screwed up so I couldn't play anything.

I have since been using Spotify but it isn't as good as Apple Music from the availability or music standpoint.

My question is, have they addressed all these issues?

Anyone have an issue where in airplane mode (or no internet access) the music app fails to load?

 

[M. Gustave]

I use it daily, and I think it's really good. I don't have any issue using airplane mode with downloaded music.

 

[Unhyper]

Since I am trying to cut down on the plethora of subscription services I use, I thought I'd centralize on iCloud. I cancelled Spotify and thought I'd try Apple Music for a month and see if I could make it work.

Streaming from Apple's library is fine. But iCloud Music Library is still a mess as far as my experience goes. Since a lot of my music collection isn't on iTunes, I thought I'd let it upload all my stuff to iCloud Music Library and I could sync/stream my songs on my iPhone or iPad.

Of course it couldn't be that simple. It couldn't just work. Every album has 1-3 tracks that iTunes won't upload, offering no reason other than "an error occurred". Some don't even produce an error, they just show a dotted cloud icon and that's it. Thus every album is missing at least a couple of songs when I try to play them back. Sometimes removing the song and readding it will work, sometimes it won't.

As much as I love being able to use Siri to pick songs, I'm not sure this headache is worth it.

 

[riverfreak]

Yes. It is still a horrible, horrible mess.

If you are JUST streaming, it sort of works. But discovery sucks. The interface is overly precious and painful to use. nd the service is often dead dog slow.

And to echo @Unhyper above, iCloud Music Library is absolutely HORRID. I mean, I cannot even believe how bad it is. Just today, I was trying to make a little video clip with some music that I OWN. iCloud Music Library actually replaced MY music with DRMed music that is now not available in iMovie. Thanks.

I'm curious to see what changes the next iteration of Music and iTunes bring. If they don't fix the major issues, I am going back to Amazon Music to make my personal library available in the cloud and Spotify for streaming new content or things I don't already have. It's a bummer, since things like Amazon Music don't integrate with things like iMovie.

 

[whsbuss]

I have NONE of these issues, period.

 

[riverfreak]

I have NONE of these issues, period.

I want to hire you as my user support team. We can save a boatload of money by saying issue can't be replicated. Poof! We'll get our issue queue down to zero in no time then go for beers, on me! Then I can fire the clowns who actually try to see what users are experiencing. UI/UX is a joke profession anyways.

 

[M. Gustave]

Wow, that's some serious anger there.
But as explained to you in the other thread, AM can't "replace" your local files with drm unless you deleted the original.

And for the record, I don't have any of those issues either.

 

[Kognito]

An honest opinion, yes it is still a bit of a mess.

I'm a big fan of Apple's products and services, they're not necessarily the most feature complete but I love the way that they're often so refined in the things they do. With that in mind, I pulled the plug on my spotify subscription a month ago and took up the 3 month free trial of Apple Music. I was optimistic and a little fed up of waiting for spotify to figure out a way to store music on the Watch that I could stream to my bluetooth headphones without needing my phone around.

I can truly say, I've tried everything I can to get along with it, but I just can't. I'm a software engineer so I'm hardly what you'd call "tech illiterate", but I've faced so many issues, mainly with merging my existing music library into the cloud. Noticed it first on my iPhone, trying to sync to my Watch would silently fail for certain songs. Further investigation showed the songs being listed as "Unable to play" when I tried to play them from my playlist yet being playable if I searched for them via Apple Music. Bizarre. The fix for this was to disable and re-enable iCloud Music Library (which then deleted all the playlists I'd created since signing up) but solved the problem.

On Mac, I've faced the same issue but on a larger scale. My pretty extensive music library has something like 50% of songs greyed out for no apparent reason. Instead of falling back to the local copy of the track, iTunes will only use the cloud streamed version which seems bizarre to me considering the music still exists locally. I've had some situations where I've had to play songs using Finder's preview function because Apple Music wasn't responding. The actual experience of browsing artists I find somewhat frustrating. I've got a 100Mb fibre connection yet iTunes still doesn't preload or cache anything meaning there's always multi second load times when browsing content that isn't in my library, makes it feel clunky (but then iTunes always has been clunky) especially when even clicking the back button forces a reload if I remember rightly. Perhaps I've been spoiled with Spotify but I'm used to having the feeling that my 'Library' is their entire catalogue, available within milliseconds even if I've never listened to the artist before.

Finally gave up today. Turned off iCloud Music Library and like a champ, iTunes nuked everything. My music library was now empty. Reverted to an old backup of my library to restore it, but this just isn't the experience that I expected. I really want Apple to succeed in the streaming arena as they have the clout that Spotify doesn't have to deal with whiney musicians, but I think I'll have to stick with Spotify a bit longer.

 

[M. Gustave]

Perhaps I've been spoiled with Spotify but I'm used to having the feeling that my 'Library' is their entire catalogue, available within milliseconds even if I've never listened to the artist before.

Well, you're comparing desktop iTunes to the Spotify app on your mobile device? Not exactly fair. iTunes is slow.

And what format were your grayed out songs? Apple Music only accepts certain formats for upload (MP3 and AAC). I also assume your initial upload finished successfully?

 

[Uofmtiger]

LoopInsight reported that AM is bringing more accurate matching by using audio fingerprints:

http://www.loopinsight.com/2016/07/...audio-fingerprint-to-apple-music-subscribers/

I never had much issue with my music, but I came from iTunes Match to AM. However, I do run across a mismatched album every now and then, but I have never been one to get worked up about it. I just choose another one of the hundreds of thousands of albums at my fingertips. If I was going to have a breakdown if I did not listen to a specific album at that moment, I would use Plex to get to it, but that has never happened, to be honest.

I rarely listen to music from downloads. When I have tested it, it has worked without a problem, though.

The iOS10 version of AM has the option to have "Downloaded Music" right on the main "library" screen. If they keep it there, you can test it very easily and often before you have to climb on a plane and rely on it. I should also note that Home Sharing is another option on this page, so at home, you can just stream your music from your iTunes Library.

It seems that everyone has their own specific use case for music. My suggestion would be to back up our music files and your iTunes library file and give it a whirl when iOS 10 is public.

 

[Kognito]

Well, you're comparing desktop iTunes to the Spotify app on your mobile device? Not exactly fair. iTunes is slow.

And what format were your grayed out songs? Apple Music only accepts certain formats for upload (MP3 and AAC). I also assume your initial upload finished successfully?

Nope, I was comparing Spotify Desktop to iTunes which should be a fair comparison, if not biased in Apple's favour as iTunes' UI is running natively whereas Spotify relies on a web view type setup for its interface to accommodate multiple platforms meaning iTunes should have the advantage.

The music app on iOS is much quicker because it uses a completely different implementation to iTunes. It's still a bit quirky but I could live with that if iTunes cloud library was working properly.

The greyed out songs should all be MP3 though I don't think the format is the issue here. Take a look at the screenshots, it seems almost completely random as to which songs are greyed out yet there's a few of them in nearly every album in my library. Each album was ripped together meaning formats and settings should be completely consistent. My only thought as to what could be going wrong is some sort of metadata mismatch.

At this point I'd be happy to keep my local music library separate (on Mac) and just use Apple Music as a streaming service without a local library being synced to the cloud. I suspect that's possible by going through each artist and deleting from My Music.

 

[whsbuss]

What I did (like many) was make a complete backup of my library. Started a new library and turned on Apple music. For those I wanted to sync via the cloud I added to my Mac library. Perfect? Nope but I'm happy

 

[Scarpad]

I use it on the beta IOS 10 and like that app much better than the previous, I stream a mix of AM and my Matched tracks, I download to the phone the tracks I listen to the most, I've had no issue

 

[Uofmtiger]

Nope, I was comparing Spotify Desktop to iTunes which should be a fair comparison, if not biased in Apple's favour as iTunes' UI is running natively whereas Spotify relies on a web view type setup for its interface to accommodate multiple platforms meaning iTunes should have the advantage.

The music app on iOS is much quicker because it uses a completely different implementation to iTunes. It's still a bit quirky but I could live with that if iTunes cloud library was working properly.

The greyed out songs should all be MP3 though I don't think the format is the issue here. Take a look at the screenshots, it seems almost completely random as to which songs are greyed out yet there's a few of them in nearly every album in my library. Each album was ripped together meaning formats and settings should be completely consistent. My only thought as to what could be going wrong is some sort of metadata mismatch.

At this point I'd be happy to keep my local music library separate (on Mac) and just use Apple Music as a streaming service without a local library being synced to the cloud. I suspect that's possible by going through each artist and deleting from My Music.

Spotify Desktop may have some disadvantages, but its big advantage is that it is centered around music. iTunes is center of Apple's ecosystem with payment processing, subscriptions, apps, backups, movies, iTunes store, and now the music service. It just has lot more to do. I think they will eventually make music a separate app from everything else, but right now it is an easy way to make sure iTunes users know about Apple Music. There is no way they would miss that opportunity.

I have Back in Black that was matched from my music collection and every song is there. So, like I mentioned above, music is too specific to the individual to really give you an accurate response. I can't tell you if the reason the files didn't match is related to your metadata, some bug/virus, some sort of network timing out issue, etc. I can only say that I matched the exact same album and it had no problems.

 

[riverfreak]

Wow, that's some serious anger there.
But as explained to you in the other thread, AM can't "replace" your local files with drm unless you deleted the original.

And for the record, I don't have any of those issues either.

I have a certain degree of expectation for a service that I'm paying for. Am I angry? No. Disappointed that a product as poorly conceived and implemented as AM has been released into this world. Time will tell though.

And for the record: I never delete anything. I've been collecting music since the 80s. I have a massive, massive collection from across the globe, much of it not available on streaming services. The bulk of the collection is whittled down to fit within the puny confines of Sonos and AM.

As for Apple Music not replacing your music with DRMed variants? Try using a song from your personal collection in iMovie on an iDevice. You can't. That;s called DRM. iCloud Music Library with Apple Music will not let you download songs to alternative synced devices without DRM. Period. Try it and tell me I'm wrong.

And as for Apple Music not replacing files in your main reference library? It most certainly can. In fact, I just discovered that it has wholesale been DELETING files from my library, leaving broken references all over the place.

 

[M. Gustave]

As for Apple Music not replacing your music with DRMed variants? Try using a song from your personal collection in iMovie on an iDevice. You can't. That;s called DRM. iCloud Music Library with Apple Music will not let you download songs to alternative synced devices without DRM. Period. Try it and tell me I'm wrong.

You're not wrong. That's how Apple Music works, and they're upfront about that. It's also not what's being discussed here, which is the claim that AM replaces your original files, in iTunes on your home pc, with drm files.

I have no idea if what you're claiming is accurate or not, but have you contacted Apple?

 

[Abstraktmind]

No problems for me.

 

[Uofmtiger]

You're not wrong. That's how Apple Music works, and they're upfront about that. It's also not what's being discussed here, which is the claim that AM replaces your original files, in iTunes on your home pc, with drm files.

I have no idea if what you're claiming is accurate or not, but have you contacted Apple?

If it is happening, it is happening to a miniscule percentage of the public. However, if people make back-ups of their iTunes library file and their music files, even if they were hit by proverbial lightning, they are still covered. It is a non-issue for a huge percentage of users, otherwise, it would not go viral when a relatively unknown blogger mentions it as an issue.

One of the issues that was being discussed is the fact that AM isn't matching some of the OP's files. There are many reasons that could happen, but I have the exact same album mentioned and all songs were matched. My guess is that there is something unique about the OP's setup that is causing the issue and it is impossible to say whether AM updates will fix that issue if the problem is rare and on the OP's end.

As for the files being DRM, all streaming services have some sort of DRM.

 

[M. Gustave]

My guess is that there is something unique about the OP's setup that is causing the issue and it is impossible to say whether AM updates will fix that issue if the problem is rare and on the OP's end.

In another thread he says that his music files are stored on a Level 5 RAID disk setup. Not exactly your typical home storage scenario.

 

[Zirel]

Streaming from Apple's library is fine. But iCloud Music Library is still a mess as far as my experience goes. Since a lot of my music collection isn't on iTunes, I thought I'd let it upload all my stuff to iCloud Music Library and I could sync/stream my songs on my iPhone or iPad.

Of course it couldn't be that simple. It couldn't just work. Every album has 1-3 tracks that iTunes won't upload, offering no reason other than "an error occurred". Some don't even produce an error, they just show a dotted cloud icon and that's it. Thus every album is missing at least a couple of songs when I try to play them back. Sometimes removing the song and readding it will work, sometimes it won't.

I'm using iTunes 12.5.0.68 and I don't have any problem with iCloud Music Library.
[doublepost=1471453316][/doublepost]

As for Apple Music not replacing your music with DRMed variants? Try using a song from your personal collection in iMovie on an iDevice. You can't. That;s called DRM. iCloud Music Library with Apple Music will not let you download songs to alternative synced devices without DRM. Period. Try it and tell me I'm wrong.

Try doing that with Spotify or Google Play Music.

You can't, obviously you can't! DUH!

And NO, iCloud Music Library won't add DRM to your songs, that's pure BS being paid to publish by AM adversaries.

 

[Brookzy]

@riverfreak - I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with iTunes and Apple Music, but your points raise a couple of questions.

The bulk of the collection is whittled down to fit within the puny confines of Sonos and AM

So more than 100,000 tracks?

As for Apple Music not replacing your music with DRMed variants? Try using a song from your personal collection in iMovie on an iDevice. You can't. That;s called DRM. iCloud Music Library with Apple Music will not let you download songs to alternative synced devices without DRM. Period. Try it and tell me I'm wrong.

I've just checked this out, and you can use a matched song in iMovie, see screenshots:

 

[Uofmtiger]

@riverfreak - I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with iTunes and Apple Music, but your points raise a couple of questions.


So more than 100,000 tracks?


I've just checked this out, and you can use a matched song in iMovie, see screenshots:

View attachment 645314
View attachment 645315

According to Macworld, Apple has lifted DRM from matched files. They will still have DRM for files originating from the service.

"You won’t need iTunes Match any more, since Apple Music will now match using acoustic fingerprinting, and your files won’t have DRM if you download them on another device."

http://www.macworld.com/article/309...tching-ditches-drm-files-for-apple-music.html

I was referring to the streaming other music part of the service where DRM will obviously continue to be used.

 

[Brookzy]

I was referring to the streaming other music part of the service where DRM will obviously continue to be used.

Some crossed wires? I was quoting Riverfreak.

 

[Uofmtiger]

Some crossed wires? I was quoting Riverfreak.

I was just clarifying that my post saying that all streaming services were using DRM was referring to the streaming portion of their services. Your post about how you could use the file in iMovie reminded me of that fact. I probably should have been more specific about why I was quoting your post.

 

[appledefenceforce]

Apple Music, and Apple news on iOS 10 are so great!