Yesterday’s iTunes update brought a few improvements to Apple Music as it lives on the Mac and PC. The minor tweaks and bug fixes are always welcome, but Apple Music still has a long way to go before the experience is where it should be, particularly in iTunes.
“Welcome to Spotify, Mr. President,” tweeted the streaming music giant Friday morning. That’s right: The president of the United States just shared two vacation playlists — and he didn’t use Apple Music.
The two music lists, titled “The President’s Summer Playlist: Day” and “The President’s Summer Playlist: Night,” contain 20 songs each, showing an eclectic taste with a diverse artist representation, including the Isley Brothers, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding and (ugh) Coldplay.
Along with the public release of iOS 8.4.1, which added lots of fixes for Apple Music and Beats 1, Apple also has a bevy of iTunes improvements ready today.
Apple just released iTunes 12.2.2, and the update makes using Beats 1 and Apple Music in iTunes a slightly less horrible experience.
We’re eagerly anticipating iOS 9 next month, but Apple’s got a few more fixes to give us in iOS 8.4.1, which is likely the final mobile upgrade to iOS 8.
Apple released iOS 8.4.1 to the public this morning, bringing with it a number of performance enhancements and bug fixes, plus some nice updates for Apple Music and Beats 1.
Apple Music has some amazing playlists created just for you, with humans behind the scenes making perfect mixes of music that fits your specific style and music tastes.
You can make your own playlists, too, and share them out to friends and family, but what if you want to see other people’s playlists? There’s just no way to pop on to Apple Music and see what playlists strangers are making.
Now, however, a new website called Playlist Hunt brings you the next best thing: a site dedicated to sharing and playing playlists by its members.
Beats 1 radio has been arguably the best feature to come out of Apple’s foray into the streaming music world. With its fabulous lineup of rotating DJs and artist radio shows, Beats 1 has become a great place to discover new music, but many users have complained the station focuses too much on hip-hop and plays the same songs too often.
To identify Beats 1’s true taste in music, a new study analyzed data on more than 12,000 songs played on the station from early July to early August. After crunching the numbers, they found Beats 1 has something other radio stations lack: scarcity.
Once Apple Music finds its groove there’s going to be no way for rivals to compete with the service, according to Beats co-founder and Apple exec Jimmy Iovine.
“Curation is a big thing to us, and no one is going to be able to catch us or do it better,” Iovine says in a new interview, in which he stresses Apple Music’s not-so-secret weapon — human focus.
#FightingWords.
Apple Music may have attracted criticism from big name Apple pundits recently, but it’s still killing it when it comes to subscribers.
According to a new interview with Eddy Cue, Apple has secured 11 million trial members so far, with 2 million of these opting for the $14.99 monthly family plan rather than the $9.99 standard one.
Apple Music now offers replays of several Beats 1 shows through a feature called Beats 1 Replays.
These full replays aren’t particularly easy to find, but here’s how you can locate them and catch up with shows you’ve missed in their entirety.
Apple Music has its share of big-name supporters from the world of music, but Oasis’ Noel Gallagher isn’t one of them.
The outspoken musician — who has taken issue with just about every topic under the sun at some time or other — criticized Apple Music for its Beats 1 radio station and its “Connect” feature.
Apple’s creation of the Beats 1 radio station has been one of the best parts about the company’s new Apple Music streaming service, but it might not be Apple’s only station for much longer.
As part of the deal Apple signed with major labels ahead of launch, Apple Music has the option to expand its lineup of Beats radio stations nearly at will, according to a new report citing sources with knowledge of the situation.
Taylor Swift shares a few more details about her Apple Music beef and subsequent reconciliation in the latest issue of Vanity Fair, while reserving her harshest words for Apple’s streaming rival Spotify.
Apple Music may have come under fire from big-name Apple commentators but you can’t say that the service hasn’t delivered when it comes to artist exclusives.
Over the weekend, Dr. Dre announced on his Beats 1 show The Pharmacy what, for long-time hip-hop fans, may be the most exciting exclusive of all: His first album since 1999’s The Chronic 2001 is debuting on Apple Music and iTunes this Friday.
If you’ve been having problems with Apple Music and iCloud Music Library incorrectly matching songs in your library, you’re far from the only one. It turns out the reason is that Apple Music doesn’t use the same method for matching songs you own as iTunes Match does. This results in significantly more errors and frustrated users.
Though iTunes Match used acoustic fingerprinting to identify songs you own and match them for all of your devices, Apple Music uses the metadata of those songs. That means if you change something as simple as the title and artist, it could match to an entirely different song despite the unchanged audio.
More than two weeks after seeding the next incremental beta update for iOS 8.4, Apple has made iOS 8.4.1 beta 2 available to developers.
Maybe you’re like me, and you’re interested in trying Apple Music. Maybe, though, you feel locked in to Rdio or Spotify, because over the years you’ve set up an extensive library of favorites and playlists. Favorites and playlists you count on.
Well, good news! Migrating your whole life to Apple Music is just $4.99 away.
In great news for music lovers, T-Mobile is adding Apple Music to its “Music Freedom” program, meaning customers can now listen to Apple’s streaming music service without using up their monthly data allowance.
T-Mobile already offers Spotify, Pandora, Google Music and more than two dozen other streaming services on Music Freedom, and users were apparently clamoring for Apple Music to be added to the list.
Some of the streaming numbers on Apple Music’s biggest tracks — particularly on newer hip-hop songs — are said to be rivalling the number of listens on Spotify, according to a new report.
Apple Music has only been around for a month, but music label insiders claim it has already surprised people by attracting more than 10 million subscribers.
After exclusively debuting Drake’s Meek Mill diss track “Charged Up” last night on Beats 1, Apple Music scored another excellent exclusive today, only this time from Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
Watch it below:
Apple Music’s edge over streaming services like Spotify, Rdio and Pandora means that Apple gets to take a 30 percent cut of rivals’ App Store subscriptions — thereby forcing them to jack up their prices or lose money.
It’s the subject of a current FTC antitrust investigation, but according to Rutgers University law professor Michael Carrier, while it may be harsh, it’s probably not illegal.
Drake showed himself to be smarter than many musicians (or at least to have better advisers) when he ducked out on the opportunity to be part of Jay Z’s Tidal debacle and instead went full-bore with representing Apple Music.
From posing with his Apple Watch Edition and rocking a sweet vintage Apple jacket at the Worldwide Developers Conference, to having his own show on Beats 1, Drake’s about as Cupertino as it gets these days. And according to the new track he dropped over the weekend, he’s more than happy about it — even if he’s still “got love” for the folks at Tidal.
You couldn’t blame the folks behind non-Apple streaming music services being worried when Apple Music was announced — but according to Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews, there was nothing to worry about.
Pandora’s Q2 revenue came in better than expected at $285.6 million, largely thanks to solid growth on the advertising side, which increased 30 percent year-over-year.
This week: some pundits are fed up with Apple music, but you know what? We’re not. Plus: Apple’s Back To School promotion is finally unveiled; Apple Watch topples expectations, gets an insane satisfaction rating; iOS devices cross a major threshold; plus we answer your questions on an all-new #CultCastQnA.
Our thanks to lynda.com for sponsoring this episode. Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at lynda.com.
Show notes ahead. Bon appétit.
It was inevitable that the success of Apple Music was going to have some people screaming about anti-competitive practices, and that’s exactly what happened. Yesterday, senator (and former SNL alumni) Al Franken threw his hat into the ring by writing a letter requesting that the Justice Department take the matter seriously.
iOS 9 beta 4 is out for developers two weeks after beta 3’s release as expected. It’s time for the usual roundup of new goodies in the latest beta and beta 4 doesn’t shy away from the tradition. It’s not nearly as big of a release as last time with Apple Music and Apple News both making their debut, but beta 4 still brings some nice improvements and tweaked features. Let’s get right into it.
