Filip Brož I have been using the music streaming service Apple Music literally since the first minute of its launch, i.e. since June 30 of last year. Until then I was using competitor Spotify. I continue to pay this so that I have an overview not only of how it is developing, but above all whether there are new performers and offers. I also marginally watch Tidal because of the lossless FLAC format.
In the time I've been using music services, I've noticed that users generally fall into two camps. Apple Music supporters and Spotify fans. I have repeatedly been a participant in many discussion threads on social networks, where people argued with each other about which is better, who has a bigger and better offer or a nicer application design. It's all a matter of taste and personal preference, of course. I was already enchanted by Apple Music from the beginning, so I stuck with it.
In large part, this is certainly an affection for Apple as such and its entire ecosystem, because not everything was completely rosy from the beginning. The Apple Music mobile application faced criticism from the beginning, and I had trouble getting my bearings in the beginning. Everything was more complicated and longer than it should have been. Nevertheless, I eventually got used to Apple Music. That's why I was extremely curious about the experience I would have with the brand new look of the service in iOS 10, in which the Californian company was going to correct its biggest mistakes.
After a few weeks of testing, I learned even more what was wrong with the original Apple Music…
Redesigned application
When I first started Apple Music on the iOS 10 beta, I freaked out like many other users. At first glance, the new application looks very comical and ridiculous - large font, as for children, unused space or smaller images of album covers. After a few weeks of active use, however, the situation has completely reversed. I deliberately picked up the iPhone of a friend who, like me, has a larger Plus and is not testing the new system. The differences were absolutely obvious. The new application is much more intuitive, cleaner and the menu menu finally makes sense.
When you turn on Apple Music on the latest iOS 9.3.4, you'll see five menus in the bottom bar: For you, News, Radio, Connect a My music. In the new version, there are the same number of tabs, but they welcome you on the start screen Library, For you, Browsing, Radio a Search. The changes are often small, but if I were to read both offers to a complete layman who has never seen Apple Music in his life, I bet he would have a more concrete idea after reading the new offer. It is easier to deduce what is under individual items.
Library in one place
The Californian company took numerous user feedbacks to heart and in the new version completely unified your library into one folder, instead of the original My music. Under the tab Library so now, among other things, you will find all your created or added playlists, music downloaded to your device, home sharing or artists divided by albums and alphabet. There is also an item there Last played, nicely chronologically from the newest to the oldest in cover style.
Personally, I get the most joy from downloaded music. In the old version, I was always fumbling about what I actually had stored on my phone and what I didn't. I could filter it in different ways and see a phone icon for each song, but overall it was confusing and confusing. Now everything is in one place, including playlists. Thanks to this, some significant options for filtering or opening various sub-menus have disappeared.
New playlists every day
When clicking on a section For you it may seem like there is nothing new here, but don't be fooled. The changes concern not only the content page, but also the control. Some people complained in the previous version that to get to an album or a song, they had to scroll down endlessly. However, in the new Apple Music, you move by flicking your finger sideways, when individual albums or songs are placed next to each other.
In the section For you you will come across again Last played and now there are several playlists in it, which are compiled according to different methods. For example, based on the current day (Monday Playlists), but also divided based on the artists and genres that you play most often on the streaming service. These are often playlists familiar to Spotify users. Apple wants new thanks to professional curators, create music playlists tailored to each user. After all, this is exactly where Spotify scores.
Then when you transfer to the original form of Apple Music in iOS 9, you will find in the section For you such a vague mix, as if it was cooked by a dog and a cat. Mixing in playlists created by computer algorithms, other random albums and tracks, as well as an endless supply of often unrelated music.
In the new version of Apple Music, the Connect social network completely disappeared from view hardly used by users. It is now very subtly integrated in the recommendation section For you with it being clearly differentiated from the rest of the offer. You will come across it only when scrolling down, where a bar with a title will refer you to it Posts on Connect.
I'm looking, you're looking, we're looking
Thanks to the fact that the Connect button has left the navigation bar in the new version, there is a place for a new function - Search. In the old version, this button was located in the upper right corner, and I know from personal experience that it was not a very happy placement. I often forgot the location of the magnifying glass and it took me a while to realize where it actually was. Now the search is practically always visible in the bottom bar.
I also appreciate the recent or popular search offer. Finally, I know at least a little bit about what other users are looking for too. Of course, just like the old version, I can choose whether the app should search just my library or the entire streaming service.
Radio
The section has also been simplified Radio. Now I only see a few basic and most popular stations, instead of searching through music genres. The Beats 1 station, which Apple heavily promotes, reigns supreme in the offer. You can even view all Beats 1 stations in the new Apple Music. However, I personally use the radio the least of all. Beats 1 is not bad though and offers interesting content such as interviews with artists and bands. However, I prefer my own music selection and curated playlists.
New music
What does one do when looking for new music? Viewing the offer. For that reason, Apple renamed the section in the new version News na Browsing, which in my view describes its meaning much more. It is important to mention that, as with other menu items, in Browsing you no longer have to scroll down to find new content. Actually, you don't need the bottom at all. At the top, you can find the latest albums or playlists, and you can get to the rest by opening the tabs below them.
In addition to new music, they have their own tab as well as playlists created by curators, charts and viewing music by genre. Personally, I very often visit the curators tab, where I look for inspiration and new performers. Genre search has also been greatly simplified.
Design change
The new Apple Music application in iOS 10 always uses the cleanest and whitest possible design, or background. In the old version, some menus and other elements were translucent, which caused poorer readability. Newly, each section also has its own header, where it is stated in really large and bold letters where you are right now. Perhaps - and certainly at first glance - it seems a little ridiculous, but it serves its purpose.
Overall, Apple's developers have worked to ensure that there are not so many controls in Music, which is most noticeable on the player that you call up from the bottom bar. The heart symbol and the item with upcoming songs disappeared from the player. These are now located under the currently playing song, when you only need to slightly scroll down the page.
The buttons for play/pause and moving songs forward/backward have been greatly enlarged. Now I can also easily download the given song for offline listening using the cloud symbol. The rest of the buttons and functions were hidden under the three dots, where the already mentioned hearts, sharing options, etc. are located.
In the player itself, the album cover of the currently playing song was also reduced, mainly again for the purpose of greater clarity. Newly, to minimize the player (downloading it to the bottom bar), just click on the top arrow. In the original version, this arrow was only at the top left, and the player was spread over the entire display area, so that it was sometimes not clear at first glance which part of Apple Music I was in. The new Apple Music in iOS 10 clearly shows the window overlay and the player is visibly differentiated.
In short, Apple's effort was clear. During the first year of collecting valuable feedback from users - and that it was often negative - Apple Music decided to significantly rework in iOS 10 so that the core remained the same, but a new coat was sewn around it. Fonts, the layout of individual menus were unified, and all side buttons and other elements that only created chaos were ordered for good. Now, when even an unknown user visits Apple Music, they should find their way around much faster.
However, everything mentioned above is acquired from the previous test versions of iOS 10, within which the new Apple Music is still in a kind of beta phase, even for the second time. The final version, which we will probably see in a few weeks, may still differ - even if only by slight nuances. However, Apple's music application already works without problems, so it will be more about tuning and solving partial problems.
I have exactly the same feeling. I would just like to be able to switch the font to a normal size. The app is clean, fast and easy to navigate, but such a large font just seems like an unnecessary waste of space. Otherwise, I was thinking of switching back to Spotify, but this version of AM suits me perfectly. Btw did apple drop the track repeat option or I just didn't find it?
You can find repeats of a song by moving the song up, as if you want to look at the following songs.
Thank you!
Well, I think at WWDC, it was said that the font size can be changed. But I haven't found it anywhere yet, so maybe they'll just add it.
I hope I haven't found it anywhere yet. You can change the font size at the system level when it reaches a fairly reasonable size at the minimum, but the font in the rest of the system is then very thin.
Does the sound drop when playing songs downloaded locally from Apple Music and losing/restoring the signal (e.g. in the subway when arriving at the station)?
does scrobbling to last.fm work anymore or is it a mess again? It's the only reason why I have absolutely no interest in AM (of course in combination with the fact that I then have spotify)
This pointlessness cannot be compared to Spotify at all. Spotify has no competition at the moment
Does Apple music already have a remote control function? Do I let the mac play on the amp and control the IP music remotely, or do I also switch between devices? From anywhere within wifi range. No problems in Spotify.
remote? I've been using it for a couple of years
However, even today Apple Music does not support the Apple Lossless format, so my interest is still zero.
Moreover, the design is very subjective, I wasn't convinced even after a few weeks.
Hello, I'm a little confused about the new audiobook behavior. When I changed the file type from Music to Audiobook in iTunes, they were moved to the Audiobooks folder in iTunes, but I can't get them to my iPhone with iOS 10 (Beta) in any way. And they're not even in iBooks. Is this due to iOS beta or am I doing something wrong?