Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Apple Music: Taking a dump on a butterfly

Russell Brown

Thu, 09 Jul 2015 11:26:53 +1200

I’m just going under the deck to detach the sub-woofers,
I may be some time…

Hahahaha ...

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 09 Jul 2015 09:47:58 +1200

In Space, and Time ... no one can hear you scream!
I got to this morning to discover that it had reverted all my changes and put all the old playlists back.
Fucksake.
I cant let you do that, Russ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qnd-hdmgfk

+ http://boingboing.net/2015/07/01/robot-kills-worker-at-volkswag.html

= **I'm just going under the deck…

Russell Brown

Thu, 09 Jul 2015 07:37:53 +1200

I should point out that I already had my son hooked up on iTunes family sharing and everything just worked perfectly for him.

Russell Brown

Thu, 09 Jul 2015 07:34:15 +1200

This is idiotic.

You know how I said I tidied up and deleted all my old playlists to impose some order and try and make my library usable on my phone?

I turned iCloud Music Library off then on again so it would re-scan and went to bed, figuring I’d…

Simon Grigg

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 22:18:18 +1200

I’d certainly recommend trying it out during the 3-month trial period, but make sure you turn off the auto-renew feature in preferences until you are sure you want to continue to subscribe once the pay period kicks in.

Which is what I did.

I too am kinda liking Beats 1…

Alison McCulloch

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 18:36:56 +1200

As one of those people who want it to "simply play [me] music", I'm really really loving Apple Music, I haz to say. Really enjoying the curated playlists, that keep getting better as I 'heart' more stuff...blasts from the past, plus previously undiscovered jazz, rock etc. I have no music…

Russell Brown

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 17:41:04 +1200

I deleted, consolidated and tidied up most of my playlists (including all the duplicates Apple Music spewed in), turned on iCloud Music Library on my phone – and it’s still showing the old mess.

Re-scanning my desktop library, again. This shit really is still broken.

Russell Brown

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 16:55:15 +1200

I'm thinking the only way to get a consistent experience across my devices is if I take the axe to my many old playlists in desktop iTunes and then switch iCloud Music Library back on on my phone. Hopefully then it'll be manageable.

Paul Baker

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 12:59:35 +1200

I'm trusting it will evolve quickly to address some of the issues users have been quickly identifying. Good column here by Ben Lovejoy, pointing out the frustration of Apple Music not 'knowing' what is already in your iTunes library: http://9to5mac.com/2015/07/07/apple-music-diary-review-one-week/#more-387820. Still for this dinosaur, who never really got into Spotify,…

Russell Brown

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 22:38:59 +1200

Yeah, I'm getting all that. Particularly loving Beats1 – Elton John's Rocket Hour show today was brilliant.

But there are still quite a few bugs and I still can't work out a reasonable way to use my iPhone for playlists etc. It's frustrating.

Paul Baker

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 15:45:59 +1200

I get all the negative concerns being expressed here, but as someone who just thought he'd have a look during the 3 month trial period, I have been really impressed so far and it is both making me think about my attitude to music (perhaps jettisoning the old-fashioned need to…

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 12:28:00 +1200

Killer bytes...
This recycling bin in Barcelona might presage the evolution of Apple's logo and customer base...

Russell Brown

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 10:40:10 +1200

Okay, looks like letting my iTunes Match subscription expire might be a risky move for now.

What a mess.

Russell Brown

Sat, 04 Jul 2015 17:43:58 +1200

I'm starting to work it out. The playlist and discovery stuff is awesome.

I think I'll have to write a Help file blog on actually using it though.

Saving things on my phone remains the big problem, because it's contingent on enabling iCloud Music Library.

Russell Brown

Fri, 03 Jul 2015 17:08:13 +1200

I'm listening to Beats1 and quite enjoying it, even if I don't like all the music. It's much better than the NZ commercial music stations. I can actually bear to listen to it and find out what the current pop music sounds like.

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 03 Jul 2015 10:10:31 +1200

signal to noise...
I reckon you could hold the vinyl record up to the camera and use software to decode the grooves into music
I have an old NZBC tone test record*, with individual tracks of different frequencies for testing equipment, each frequency is clearly different from the next. (which…

BenWilson

Fri, 03 Jul 2015 09:57:31 +1200

Dedicated hardware is a good idea, which is why they do it, but it does suffer from difficulties in updating it when improvements in the encoding/decoding algos occur. Also, it’s hardware that’s completely idle in the tiny real estate in the phone for most of the time when you’re not…

James Littlewood*

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 20:25:16 +1200

Not that I'm an expert on this sort of thing, but isn't the success of Apple, both in terms of its business and its designs, positively correlated at r=1 with the presence of Steve?

Mac Classic, iMac, wireless, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, the whole Disney thing ... what comes close…

Eediot

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 20:06:00 +1200

So it gets worse... http://mashable.com/2015/07/01/itunes-icloud-music-library-bug/

I don't even seem to be able to close iTunes down now. Everytime I do it opens up again and asked me to reconnects to iCloud, which I'm too scared to do now !

Moz

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 18:04:23 +1200

people confuse problems in the underlying level of sampling with micro-dropouts and blockiness due to data streams, disks, memory and algorithms not keeping up with the speed.

Surely the solution there is to use dedicated decoding hardware in the phone and local storage? Or at least a bigger buffer -…

Gareth

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 17:25:10 +1200

Or you can use five laser beams (and a lot of cash): http://www.laserturntable.com

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 16:03:27 +1200

But surely it wasn’t meant to work like this?

Of course it was. How can they keep you in their walled garden if they don’t tightly control what you do. The only time I ever run iTunes is when I open it by mistake,

Nah, there's really no possible benefit…

Rich of Observationz

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 15:23:27 +1200

I reckon you could hold the vinyl record up to the camera and use software to decode the grooves into music: http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/2010/04/microphotograph-of-the-grooves-in-a-vinyl-record/

nzlemming

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 14:53:22 +1200

We probably need to get bluetooth enabled prosthetic ears before the next jump in music quality can actually be appreciated.

At which point it stops being music and becomes data streaming.

BenWilson

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 14:24:26 +1200

Yup, probably most people confuse problems in the underlying level of sampling with micro-dropouts and blockiness due to data streams, disks, memory and algorithms not keeping up with the speed. Which, ironically, happens more the higher the sample rate. I'd be pretty amazeballed if anyone could really discern issues with…

bob daktari

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 13:56:32 +1200

the AAC format apple uses in iTunes at 256kbps is akin to 360kbps MP3 files so even the keenest ears probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart

BenWilson

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 13:51:56 +1200

The only time I ever run iTunes is when I open it by mistake

It was amazing how many ways there were to do this. Eventually an OS reinstall fixed it.

Having posted some snarky comment on Facebook the other day about 256kbps audio quality, I have to confess I…

BenWilson

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 13:42:58 +1200

The iTunes Music Store launched in April 2003 and we tend to forget what a lifesaver that was.

Yes, it's ironic that a enormous multi-tentacled organization finally finding a way to actually make money out of music downloads killed the ever present tendency of said corporations to try to block…

nzlemming

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 13:20:52 +1200

But surely it wasn’t meant to work like this?

Of course it was. How can they keep you in their walled garden if they don't tightly control what you do. The only time I ever run iTunes is when I open it by mistake,

Aaron Hutching

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 13:17:55 +1200

Having posted some snarky comment on Facebook the other day about 256kbps audio quality, I have to confess I can't actually tell the difference between Apple Music and Spotify...

Nice interface, but nothing on there to make me switch over from Spotify and my carefully curated playlists. However, if an…

bob daktari

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 13:12:26 +1200

I always just added albums as individual playlists, worked a treat and once listened to enough times just dumping that playlist

I've had a play on apple music or whatever one is meant to call it – the signup and personal selections are a bit tedious and as I did…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:49:11 +1200

However it is worth noting that until recently saving albums in Spotify was a laborious process. So Apple may just need a little while to get it right.

Good point. I still find Spotify a struggle.

Peter Johnston

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:38:49 +1200

I had no trouble getting everything up and running on both my iPhone and Mac, and spent most of yesterday listening to Beats 1 (except when it broke of course). Apart from the hype-y announcers I quite enjoyed it – basically it's a worldwide music radio station, which is quite…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:35:02 +1200

Matchbox 2015
Sounds way too hard.
... until the optical drive in Powerbook does (they usually do at some stage) – at which point I’ll go back to my wax Edison cylinders of Joni Mitchell albums.
There's always this retrieval method for vinyl:
You can glue a rose thorn to…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:29:10 +1200

The gateway drug of having music and playlists as simple files on a device like how they were before Apple ever invented the iPod and iTunes* has him in its vice-like grip.

The first music app I can recall using was was Cassady & Greene’s SoundJam MP, which Apple bought in…

David MacGregor

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:06:47 +1200

Sounds way too hard.

I'll just listen my Best of the Eagles CD on high rotate until it expires – or until the optical drive in Powerbook does (they usually do at some stage) – at which point I'll go back to my wax Edison cylinders of Joni Mitchell albums.

BenWilson

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:00:26 +1200

Or perhaps young Spotify users are quite used to have no music actually stored on their devices.

Damn, I blew it. My 5 year old is now used to having music stored on his device, and will be unable to ever enjoy the Apple Kool-Aid. The gateway drug of having…

Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 11:28:32 +1200

And so far, that’s the part it is getting right. It’s just the technical usability that’s borked.

Yes. Exactly.

Odd. I can do both via the "..." menu.

But Apple, why on earth can I not add a playlist to a playlist folder? Why would I have to add a…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:43:04 +1200

So that’s the challenge of online – being able to make accurate recommendations of new music that will appeal to people. Whether it’s done by clever algorithms (the red circles) or clever people (Zane Lowe), this is what Apple needs to get right.

And so far, that’s the part it…

Robyn Gallagher

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:38:21 +1200

BTW, I once read that the demise of physical music stores didn't just remove a place to buy music (that was easily substituted online), it also killed a place to find out about what new music to listen to.

So that's the challenge of online – being able to make…

Robyn Gallagher

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:34:48 +1200

I like the options of New Zealand music the red bubbles give but I wish it was more relevant. Though picking hip hop as a favoured genre, it asked me if I liked Nesian Mystik and Scribe. Yeah, I liked them 12 years ago when they were in their respective…

Rich of Observationz

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:29:46 +1200

Music players aren't hard. A bunch of files, codecs to understand those files and bang the music out on any output device. Some sort of queue manager. For bonus points, better search/selection.

Leave out glitzy skins, visualizations, proprietary index files pooped all over the filesystem, recoding, and most of all…

Matt Crawford

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:17:59 +1200

I absolutely love Apple hardware – nothing comes close. This MacAir I’m typing might be 2-3 years old, but it is a piece of genius. A perfect computer.

But every time I have the misfortune to open itunes I curse. It’s horrible. It’s a bad flashback to the worst of…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:13:39 +1200

taking a dump* on a butterfly
I get it, it's more steaming music, than streaming...

I hadn't realised you only paid for access and can't 'own' any of the music through it.
It will be interesting to hear from the artists about their returns from this service... otherwise isn't it…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:06:34 +1200

However, even though they are functional equivalents, they have very different features: you can see what you've listened to on the radio – and add tracks to your library – but can't add tracks from playlists or the playlists themselves to your library. Why?

Odd. I can do both via…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 09:35:23 +1200

Pogue has a review of Apple Music and finds fault with the lack of simplicity, but declares: "The good news is that all of this works flawlessly on day one."

Er, no, it doesn't. It does seem that most of the reviews so far have been very superficial.

Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 09:12:52 +1200

Build some kind of persistence into Apple Music itself, like any other streaming service has. It's absurd that I can't easily revisit albums and playlists I've saved (or even listened to) within the service itself.

The sheer size of the Apple Music library is its obvious strength, but boy…

Russell Brown

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 08:57:19 +1200

I've updated the post to note that, on inspection, I've realised that my desktop iTunes is now full of randomly duplicated (even triplicated!) playlists.

I've seen suggestions that having been an iTunes Match customer is part of the problem. Fortunately, I don't seem to have had my matched tracks replaced…

Ross Bell

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 08:06:42 +1200

Allow me to shit on your parade: switch to Google.

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 05:12:06 +1200

Lost masterpieces: ©olon Mac©ahon’s ‘iAm’©…
@ RB’s:
That’s two steps too many.
+ jb’s:
Can of worms and yet it worked perfectly in PalmOS….
which all reminds me of David Pogue’s TED Talk ’Simplicity sells’:
I actually got to speak to Palm when they were flying high in the ‘90s,…

jb

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 23:51:59 +1200

created by at least two distinct interest groups within Apple

I just wish that was a SINGLE interest group within Apple focusing on platform consistency and international usability.
Case in point: Nzer living in Germany. I’d like iOS to replicate OSX in its core settings – language, date format and…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 23:14:32 +1200

Status update:

On the Mac, I've established that I can:

1. Click "Add to My Music" on an album in Apple Music.

2. Once back in My Music, select all the tracks and choose the old-fangled "Create playlist from selection".

3. Locate the playlist and drag it up the column…

Eediot

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 23:09:53 +1200

Once the novelty of selecting bouncing balls of artists I liked over a coffee, and listening to a recommended Thelonius Monk track, had worn off, I went back to Rdio Premium which does pretty much everything you outlined and everything I need.

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 22:43:00 +1200

And it’s not all streaming either — the native mobile apps for Rdio (and I believe Spotify) let you sync actual song files for offline play, which is a nice halfway house.

Allegedly, Apple Music does that too. Just in a really difficult way.

Buying lossless files from Bleep.com seems…

Moz

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 22:38:16 +1200

You're not selling me on the iSuck experience, Russell. I'm waiting for a 256GB uSD card to arrive so I can reconvert my FLAC to higher quality ogg than is currently on my phone. That way I can have almost my whole library available, this time at a quality I…

matthewbuchanan

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 22:37:11 +1200

I’m scared to even try. I long-ago abandoned a purchased iTunes music library for Rdio, and its social features have kept me pretty well stocked with music recommendations from people I follow there. And it’s not all streaming either — the native mobile apps for Rdio (and I believe Spotify)…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 22:31:27 +1200

Hmmm. Bad bug ...

Just playing an album and several times the track progress has caught up with the stream. At which point, the track stops and the player flips to the next track on the list.

Gah.

mike.t

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 22:30:23 +1200

The absence of home sharing is pretty frustrating for those of us with large collections on the home Mac and use their other idevices to play it around the house...

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 22:17:07 +1200

iCloudius...
basic taste paramaters
sounds positively Oedipal...

Russell, it seems the odious iPal has taken out not only your equanimity but your spellcheck library as well
:- )

Shaun Lott

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 21:45:45 +1200

I’m inclined to think the problem is iCloud

I'm inclined to think you're right. In my experience, iCloud remains a dog's breakfast, with lots of unpredictable and unintuitive behaviours. To be avoided.

Tony Siu

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 21:23:18 +1200

I waited 2 hours for the 4 gb update (haven't done it in the while, with Xcode and Garageband too) with starts and stop. No wonder they didn't roll Everything out at once (with Apple TV later in the fall – remember iOS 7 rollout?). The playlist was a nightmare.…

Public Address

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 21:23:18 +1200

Discussion from blog post.