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.
Evan Killham is a freelance writer who lives in Nebraska and isn’t interested in football, so he has plenty of time to play and think about video games. He has written for Bitmob and GamesBeat and sometimes, he even goes outside. But not too often because he’s heard there are bees out there. Occasionally, companies send free units for review. Evan subscribes to Cult of Mac’s Reviews Policy and also does not keep the items he receives for possible coverage.
7 responses to “Apple Music’s setup screen is short a few bubbles”
Seems like frivolous complaints to me considering the MAJOR flaw in this launch is the fact that Apple’s music hub, iTunes isn’t able to access Apple Music yet. You need v12.2. SO when you click on the start listening link on Apples Music page it takes you to iTunes, and iTunes pops up with an update button, which then takes you to iTunes download page to a note that says 12.2 is “coming soon”. This is the type of bone-headed crap you expect from Microsoft…not Apple!
Actually it’s available for download/update already. Check again.
Thanks! Yes, I see it now in the app store. Curious tho that this didn’t get released before the iOS update.
The bubble thing is weird — I *did* get a “World Music” bubble but not one for “Country” or “Experimental”, whatever that is! What’s up with that?!
Maybe because I’m in Germany they just assume that I wouldn’t listen to Country?!
Well I have seen all of the above, folk, world music, and soul. it seems like the screen is too small to show all the genres… The trick is to hold down on a genre you will never listen to and it will remove it from the list, wait a few secs and it will then add a new genre. It also works for the bands screen. If you don’t like say AC/DC (blasphemy) you can permanently remove it from your selection, tap the more artist button in the lower right hand corner and new artists will start appearing! Oh I’m in the UK BTW! P.S. If all the above is bull I apologise! It’s late and I’m tired!
I wouldn’t say it’s bull but it’s not right either. ;)
An hour ago I went to set up Apple Music on my Mac as well and didn’t notice that I was still logged in with my US account — and not only did I get other genre suggestions (like “Country”) but also in “Connect” I could follow groups like “Apple R&B” and others. None of those showed up after I switched back to my German account. That’s kinda weird.
Everyone should listen to Phil Ochs, one of the best songwriters the US has ever produced.