Apple Music launched today, and so far people seem pretty happy with the new platform. But that isn’t to say that we haven’t found a few complaints to pick out.
We don’t like the new app icon, for one. And some of us are having trouble finding the music we own mixed in with all the streaming stuff. But probably the biggest issue we — and a reader or two — have had concerns the taste-selection screen when you first set up Apple Music.
Here are some of the important bubbles we couldn’t find when we first opened the new app.
Folk
Apple Music has plenty of folk music on it. Just ask Siri to play you some Phil Ochs (and you should), and you’ll be all set. But folk fans won’t get an awesome, ready-made playlist on startup like rock, electronic, and country fans do. They’ll have a little more sifting to do.
And this is true of all of the items on this list.
Soul
Soul is likely grouped under the “R&B” umbrella because it’s a sub-genre of that larger body of music. But oldies, alternative, classic rock, dance, and metal are also sub-genres, and they get their own bubbles. R&B covers a lot of ground, and fans of James Brown and Al Green may not want a playlist full of R. Kelly.
World Music
It almost makes sense that Apple wouldn’t have a World Music bubble, since that’s such a general concept that encompasses a lot of music types and groups. But if you go all the way to the bottom of your Radio tab, you’ll see a bunch of stations specifically dedicated to international hits. It even gets as granular as “French Pop,” and I’m just curious enough to click on that. So I’m gonna.
OK, that’s not really for me.
The point is that people specifically interested in World Music have that extra step and have to curate their own content. And Apple apparently knows that enough people are interested to dedicate “stations” to it. So where’s the bubble?
Where are all of these bubbles? Granted, it’s the first day, and Apple Music is definitely going to see some changes as we move forward. But these are some slight missteps that we hope Apple will address in future updates.
