Apple Music streams music bleep-free unless you take some action. Photo: Wikipedia
Apple Music is the latest way to stream a ridiculous number of tunes on demand. And with all that variety, you’re going to get some cursing in there. It’s just how a lot of musicians work.
But if you don’t want to hear all of those bleepables and swears, it’s a pretty quick fix to keep it from showing up in your stream. Here’s how to do it.
Taylor Swift fans aren’t the only ones with reasons to celebrate Apple Music.
Apple’s new streaming service boasts over 30 million songs. That’s according to the company, anyway; we definitely haven’t counted them. And even though it’s only a day old, it’s looking like it could have a chance to cut into the business of rival streamers like Spotify. And part of how it’s doing that is by landing content for its library that the other people don’t have.
Here are five albums Apple Music can brag about. Other than 1989, we mean. Because everyone knows 1989 is on there.
Like mix tapes for modern lovers. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
One of the cool things you can do with a streaming service like Apple Music, Spotify, or Rdio, is making and sharing playlists. It’s a way to seriously curate your own musical taste, and then show off by sending along to others.
It’s not super tricky, but the downside of such a new user interface like the one in the just released Apple Music is that things may not be where you think they should be.
With that in mind, let’s jump right in and make a new playlist. Then let’s learn how to share it with our Apple Music buddies.
iCloud Music Library is almost identical to iTunes Match with one glaring issue. Photo: Apple
Well iCloud Music Library is pissing people off already. The new service almost identical to iTunes Match has a DRM problem. Turned on, iCloud Music Library is taking the music you rightfully own and place in your iTunes library and automatically adding DRM protection to it. In essence, it’s placing a lock on music that’s already yours.
Tim Cook talks Apple Music at WWDC 2015. Photo: Apple
Apple Music, the new song-streaming platform that started rolling out yesterday, is currently free for everyone while the company shows off how cool its new product is. After the three-month trial period that we’re all enjoying, however, using the full set of features will cost you.
But for people in developing countries, the burn won’t be nearly as bad.
Maybe wait until you try this on your own Mac. Photo: Apple
Several iTunes users have taken to the Apple Discussion forums to complain about iCloud Music Library — part of the iTunes 12.2 update — has destroyed their music libraries.
Discussions user Tuff Ghost explains that everything was fine with his 13,000 song iTunes library, until he installed iTunes 12.2 on his Mac and allowed it to enable iCloud Music Library.
“All of the (sic) sudden it starts overwriting my album art with completely wrong art (example: Weezer showed art for a Radiohead album) on both my iMac AND my iPhone, screwing up metadata by putting random songs in albums where they didn’t belong (there was a Cursive album where the first track was listed as a Foo Fighters song).”
When he clicked to listen to a song, it would play a completely different one, like the metadata for the files was completely incorrect.
If this is happening to you, another Discussions user may have found a solution.
Apple Music isn’t available on Android yet — though it is coming — but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on Beats 1 radio. Thanks to a new web app, you can tune into the 24/7 worldwide broadcast on Android and other unsupported devices right away.
If you’re a wannabe Apple Music customer, but currently running the iOS 9 beta, have no fear — since Eddy Cue has confirmed via Twitter that a new beta seed is on the way, offering compatibility with Apple’s newly-launched streaming music service.
Cue didn’t give a precise timeframe, but did note that it would be, “early next week.” Apple’s most recent iOS 9 beta on June 23. Since the company typically releases new beta seeds at fortnightly intervals, it would make sense if the next one arrives next Tuesday.
If you're looking to catch up with Beats 1, here's how you do it. Photo: Apple
One of the most highly-touted aspects of Apple Music is the streaming service’s focus on human curation — epitomized by its Beats 1 radio station, which skips algorithmic recommendations in favor of real, breathing human DJs.
If you miss out your favorite show, however, or else want to listen to the music selected by one DJ minus the chat, a neat feature of Apple Music is the ability to easily access the playlist of past shows.
Things are looking good for Beats 1 and top DJ Zane Lowe, one of the world's top radio personalities. Photo: Apple
So far, Beats 1 has been absolutely great. I’m a fan, and it’s been less than 24 hours!
Apple’s new global, 24/7 radio station is everything I hoped for — a discovery-oriented platform showcasing what’s new and what’s good. Of all the features of Apple’s big update to its Music services, Beats 1 is what I most looked forward to.
“Our genre is ‘great,'” explained DJ Zane Lowe on his opening show Tuesday. “That’s all we’re looking for.”
And that’s all I’m looking for too. In fact, I’m already obsessed with A$AP Rocky, who was played on Lowe’s show and I’d never heard before (yeah, I know I’m sad). A$AP Rocky is just one of half-a-dozen new artists I’ve tagged in iTunes for further exploration, including Beck, who I thought I hated.
I’m actually worried how I’m going to keep up. But isn’t this what radio is for?
Add your unique username for Apple Music Connect before someone else snags it. Screen: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
When you sign in to Apple Music, you have access to Apple’s new music-centric sharing and socializing system, Connect.
While Ping may have come to an an ignominious end, Connect has the advantage of being integrated into the new, exciting Apple Music to the very core, and will let everyone signed into an Apple ID account (not just Apple Music members) use the system to follow their favorite artist.
When you comment on a Connect post, though, you’ll be known by a user name, which uses the @ symbol just like Twitter.
If you want to have something unique, though, you’ll need to act quickly and enter it now, before the service gets clogged up with all the other people that might want your specific user name. Here’s how to do just that.
Some things are missing from this picture. Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac
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.
You'll still get your three months, just not charged for the fourth automatically. Screen: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
So, you’ve gotten the three month trial subscription for Apple Music, right? How exciting!
Chances are, you’ll forget all about it and, whether you love the service or not, you’ll get auto-charged in September for the $10 to $15 you chose when you signed up for your Apple Music subscription.
If you want to make sure that you aren’t automatically charged again, here’s how to turn that function off.
Excitement for Apple Music came with an enthusiastic farewell to Spotify for some on Twitter. Photo: Twitter
Two minutes after Apple Music launched Tuesday, Hans Metzke was listening to it on his device. He hit pause on his excitement to send out this Tweet: “And we’re live! Awesome! Bye Spotify.”
Apple Music users immediately took to social media to sing the praises of Apple’s new music streaming service. At the same time, many were saying farewell to music streaming’s current king, Spotify.
Whether Apple Music, which is currently free for the three months, will usurp Spotify or the other big player, Pandora, remains to be seen.
Discover stuff large and small with Apple's new Music service. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
I’m a streaming music junky. I gave up collecting, owning, and maintaining music files on my own Mac years ago and I’ve never looked back. It’s the only sensible way to have access to millions of songs without having to worry about storing them.
I’ve used and tested Rdio, Spotify, Beats Music, and other on-demand streaming services over the past few years, so it made sense to check out Apple Music, the new on-demand service to come out of Cupertino.
It’s going to take some time to dig in deep, but so far, Apple Music is proving to be an amazingly comprehensive streaming music product that focuses on discovery, something that the competition struggles with. Within minutes of downloading iOS 8.4, I’m already listening to a playlist of artists I know as well as those I don’t – a perfect blend of old and new.
I’ve found a new streaming service to love in Apple Music, and I think you will, too.
Apple Music sounds like a game changer. Photo: Apple
Apple Music is set to launch at 11am ET/8am PT today, alongside the release of iOS 8.4. As we count down the minutes, however, we can entertain ourselves with the first batch of “early impression” reviews for Apple’s new streaming music service.
Has Apple done it again? With minor quibbles, the answer certainly seems to be a resounding “yes.” Check out some of the review highlights below:
If your Apple Watch stops responding to your iPhone, you can reboot it or you can turn the Bluetooth connection off and on. If that doesn’t work to reconnect your Watch, you might need to reset it, and then you’ll need to re-pair it.
iTunes Match is getting a big upgrade from its early days. Photo: Apple
With one day to go until Apple Music officially launches with iOS 8.4, Eddy Cue has revealed that Music’s iTunes Match integration will soon let users upload 100,000 of their own songs to iCloud for streaming at any time.
This week: the cool features in the new iOS 9 and El Capitan betas; Taylor Swift starts a royalty battle with Apple; the ridiculously low payouts artists get from music streaming; the new Macbook’s big missing feature; and the magic of Apple advertising.
Our thanks to Bushel for supporting this episode, the simple-to-use cloud-based tool that anyone can leverage to manage the Apple devices in their workplace. Get Bushel for free for up to 3 devices when you sign up at Bushel.com/cultofmac.
To succeed in tech, you must be a master of innovation. No two companies understand this better than Apple and Google, which have become kings of the industry thanks to a string of incredible ideas that have shaped the technology we rely on today.
But which company is continuing to innovate in 2015? Is it Apple, with its fitness-focused Apple Watch, Apple Pay, and a new streaming service that hopes to save the music industry? Or is it Google, with Google Glass, self-driving cars, and secret robots?
Amazon’s Echo — an odd voice-activated domestic hub — just went on sale to the general public. If you’ve got $200 to burn, I recommend it. It’s oddly great — and it gives you a glimpse of the future.
If Apple’s Siri-controlled HomeKit comes close, controlling your home by voice is going to be a lot of fun.
Your Apple Watch band contains some cutting-edge fabrication technology that could extend into other fashion accessories, according to a patent filing released today.
The patent describes an ingenious method for molding “woven fibers” into any desired shape and securing them without stitching.
Touch ID as you know it could be about to change. Photo: Apple
Recent reports claim that Apple is looking to eliminate the need for a physical “home” button on future iPhones by integrating Touch ID fingerprint sensors into the main display. Now we have the patent application to prove it!
Published Thursday, Cult of Mac got its hands on a patent application entitled “Fingerprint Biometric Sensor Including Drive Signal Level Updating,” which reveals how Apple has been exploring processing circuitry capable of acquiring fingerprint data by using special “sensing pixels” within screens.
Taylor Swift, who made Apple blink this week by criticizing the company for initially denying musicians royalties during the free trial period of its new streaming service, now has her gaze square on the photographer who implied her stance is hypocritical.
Swift, through a spokesperson in England, said music photographer Jason Sheldon misrepresented the contract shooters sign before her concerts, saying it does not force them to sign away the rights to their shots.
The next bendgate may be on purpose. Photo: Halloween Costumes
If you’ve been waiting for Apple to make an iPhone with a flexible OLED display, you may be getting your wish — although not for at least a few more years. According to a new report coming out of South Korea, Apple is “very likely” to release its first iPhone with a flexible OLED display in 2018, and the company’s display suppliers are currently “working on it.”
Does this mean we’re about seeing bendgate part two?