Previously, I've used Pandora for music discovery, and very lightly used Spotify. They both had great features, but when iTunes Radio came out, I stopped using Pandora, and now that Apple Music is here, there's not much of a reason to be using Spotify.
I was on vacation when iOS 8.4 came out, which was the release of Apple Music. We were headed to the beach that day, but before we went, I quickly updated my phone, and tried to teach myself how to use Apple Music before we got going. I saved a bunch of music for offline listening before we left, since I was low on data. I'll get back to that later.
Considering that this is the very first version of Apple Music and absolutely no one is currently paying for the service, I'm considering this to be a "beta test" of sort by Apple. They'll find the kinks along the way and work them out before people really start paying (at least I hope).
One of the things I've noticed on Twitter is people are very quick to complain about this absolutely free music they're getting. I've seen plenty of tweets saying "Apple Music sucks," or something of the sort, but I have yet to see why they are dissatisfied. Really, I'm not sure what there is to complain about, since it is completely free at the moment. Sure, there's some things I would like to see improved, though.
Negatives
For one, the design is a bit clunky, and difficult to navigate through when you're just starting out. I miss my old "shuffle" button at the top of my songs which no longer exists. Overall it needs to be improved, and navigation needs to be more smooth. Getting in and out of different menus and knowing where you are in the app needs to be made more clear.
I was also disappointed that there's no setting to quickly turn on and off what music shows up. You can head to your phone and manually opt to have offline-only music shown or also have music that will use data shown. To me, there should be an option that shows all music when you're on WiFi, and only offline music when on cellular, to conserve data.
I also had trouble with playlists. I made a playlist for a concert I'm going to in the fall, and it synced with my iTunes on the computer. Great! I later added more songs on the phone, and they did not show up on the computer, which is a pretty big deal to me, since I like things to be uniform across all of my devices.
Positives
These are negatives that aren't huge, and hopefully Apple recognizes them and works them out. There is a lot to like about Apple Music. Of course, it's free right now, meaning I can listen to plenty of songs on demand for no cost.
The visuals of the design are nice, smooth, and fit with the flat design of iOS better than the previous version of the music app.
I love having things integrated into the operating system. I didn't like having to have Spotify as a third-party app, I always wished I could have my Spotify music right into my music app. Now, in a way, that is what Apple Music has done.
Along with this integration, that means any music you have, from CDs you've burned, music you've actually purchased, or music you have from LimeWire or some other not-so-legal source, it's all in one place, ready to be listened to.
Even better than music you already have, is music that you can discover. There's already a ton available on Apple Music, but even more is coming, and it's all unlimited with no advertisements like in Pandora.
The customized playlists are great. Using the "I like this" button on the songs is a good way to get customized music for yourself. It's good for discovering new songs, and I think it's a nice touch.
You can also easily share Apple Music playlists with other subscribers. I've already found this feature to be pretty useful.
Random Notes
I'm not too sure that Beats1 Radio will take off. I've tried listening a few times, but having the power of being able to choose what songs I want to listen to really makes me not want to go back to letting a DJ dictate my music.
Also, the "connect" tab seems to be a lame attempt at making a music-only Twitter, and I think that's going to die out pretty quickly.
The Conclusion
Right now, it's definitely not worth the monthly fee. But that's why it's currently a trial! Apple is going to be working out the bad, and perfecting this service. I strongly recommend you try it for yourself, and see how you like it.
There is also a family option offered. The solo option is $9.99/month, and the family (6 accounts) is $14.99.
All in all, a great implementation of music into the operating system that I'm very excited about.
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