6 ms·

iTunes is absolutely terrible. I did several updates for my girlfriend and friends, and none of them figured out iTunes. Most of them downgraded.

by why-el 11y ago

geophile 11y ago
Spotify is a possible replacement (even without their streaming and music finding services), but I find that application quite buggy.
- afandian 11y ago
  Spotify's approach to customer engagement and accountability is a little better than Apple's in that they have a product support forum. But their contempt for the customer seems to be about the same WRT to removing features on a whim. They removed a deal-breaker feature a couple of years ago (filter a list for a song) and have only just managed to put it back, only half working, now. I don't know how bad iTunes has got (haven't used it in 5 years) but I can't recommend Spotify as a replacement. If anyone does have any suggestions, I'd be very glad to read them!
- x0x0 11y ago
  spotify is pretty crappy (experiences on android): * they broke google maps for about 3 months. Originally, when google maps needed to give audio directions, music would pause. It worked. Some moron decided, instead, to make the audio keep playing but make it quieter while google maps was giving audio directions. What he or she actually did is to mute google maps. This persisted for 3 months while assholes there made excuses (how fucking hard is git revert) and claimed bluetooth audio wasn't supported and therefore customers had no grounds for complaint. What was particularly frustrating across the 100 page support threads was the fact that this bug was so obvious that clearly not a single employee uses the android app or gives a damn about the experience. * spotify added a moronic "control spotify from other devices" feature. What this does in reality is this: listen to spotify on your way to work. At work, set your phone down and start listening to spotify on your computer. The next time you get a txt or interact with your phone (ie enter your pin into the lock screen), the spotify session that's been lurking steals control of your mac and jumps back to whatever you'd been listening to hours ago on your phone. The cure is to always leave spotify in offline mode and/or kill the task when you're done listening to it. * listening to files you own -- eg a concert recording unavailable in spotify -- while theoretically supported, is just janky. * If you make the mistake of allowing spotify to go online on your phone, it eats battery life. * there's a long list of other bugs, but I now wait at least 3 months before installing any updates and archive previous apks so that I can revert their idiocy. I really need to get on figuring out how to import their playlists into something better.
  - m3rc 11y ago
    Holy crap yeah, I don't know what other app was put together so poorly as Spotify. It wakelocks like hell, it crashes constantly, none of the menu items make sense, AND aren't consistent with where you are in playing songs, it seems totally random as to whether songs show up in your queue or disappear, your history sometimes stores albums and sometimes songs, it goes on and on. I use spotify mostly as just a grooveshark replacement, but as soon as my trial is up I'm ditching the fucking thing.
  - afandian 11y ago
    How do you avoid updates? Just never quit?
    - x0x0 11y ago
      phone: set manual updates only and never approve them; laptop: archive the entire directory structure and replace it =P all devices: wonder why the fuck I have to do this and why spotify can't get their shit together
      - afandian 11y ago
        It's SAAS. It's the future. Get with the program. (Thanks hadn't thought of going to those lengths)
  - hokkos 11y ago
    1/ never had that problem 2/ this is the single best feature of spotify vs the others, I love plugin my android smartphone in my audio system, and to control the music from my ipad, computer. The problem you talk about never happens to me, it shows a popup about if I want to continue here, but only if I go into the app. 3/ I had no problem with that, but it would be better if it uploaded the music to listen on other devices, this is the major pain point about spotify. 4/ what ? only if you ask some playlist to be synchronized it download them and then stop, or are you talking about the fact that it shows the currently playing song on others devices, just swipe out the app, but I am not sure it consume a lot. 5/ I didn't had a lot of problem with the android app
- ohitsdom 11y ago
  Spotify seems determined to force me to listen to albums on shuffle.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - jen729w 11y ago
    After you've tapped a track in the main list of tracks to start it playing, tap the skinny "playing" bit at the very bottom. It should pop up the full screen player. Is the shuffle icon selected (green)? I had the same issue a while back and I was infuriated at myself for not figuring out the solution.
    - ohitsdom 11y ago
      No I found that, but it switches back pretty often. Can't find a pattern, it's annoying.
etimberg 11y ago
I've been liking Google Play Music so far.
- at-fates-hands 11y ago
  My only issue with GM is the portability. I work out frequently, and lugging around a large smartphone isn't the best scenario for simply listening to music. I'm looking into getting a smaller MP3 player and putting my GM library on that to achieve the level of portability I need for my music.
  - DonnyV 11y ago
    Your entire music library doesn't have to live on your device. Just stream it right from GM or cache the albums you want to listen too.
    - jacquesm 11y ago
      What really gets me is that some scrappy start-up tried to launch a service like that in the 00's and got totally burned by the labels because it was not 'fair use' but now google does it it is ok.
      - m3rc 11y ago
        Yeah, shit like that really does suck. At the very least, we get that kind of service now.
      - danielweber 11y ago
        I believe that Apple and Google got permission from the labels to do it.
        jacquesm 11y ago
        Fair use shouldn't require permission.

iTunes is absolutely terrible. I did several updates for my girlfriend and friends, and none of them figured out iTunes. Most of them downgraded.

by why-el 11y ago

iTunes is absolutely terrible. I did several updates for my girlfriend and friends, and none of them figured out iTunes. Most of them downgraded.

geophile 11y ago

Spotify is a possible replacement (even without their streaming and music finding services), but I find that application quite buggy.

afandian 11y ago
Spotify's approach to customer engagement and accountability is a little better than Apple's in that they have a product support forum. But their contempt for the customer seems to be about the same WRT to removing features on a whim. They removed a deal-breaker feature a couple of years ago (filter a list for a song) and have only just managed to put it back, only half working, now. I don't know how bad iTunes has got (haven't used it in 5 years) but I can't recommend Spotify as a replacement. If anyone does have any suggestions, I'd be very glad to read them!
x0x0 11y ago
spotify is pretty crappy (experiences on android): * they broke google maps for about 3 months. Originally, when google maps needed to give audio directions, music would pause. It worked. Some moron decided, instead, to make the audio keep playing but make it quieter while google maps was giving audio directions. What he or she actually did is to mute google maps. This persisted for 3 months while assholes there made excuses (how fucking hard is git revert) and claimed bluetooth audio wasn't supported and therefore customers had no grounds for complaint. What was particularly frustrating across the 100 page support threads was the fact that this bug was so obvious that clearly not a single employee uses the android app or gives a damn about the experience. * spotify added a moronic "control spotify from other devices" feature. What this does in reality is this: listen to spotify on your way to work. At work, set your phone down and start listening to spotify on your computer. The next time you get a txt or interact with your phone (ie enter your pin into the lock screen), the spotify session that's been lurking steals control of your mac and jumps back to whatever you'd been listening to hours ago on your phone. The cure is to always leave spotify in offline mode and/or kill the task when you're done listening to it. * listening to files you own -- eg a concert recording unavailable in spotify -- while theoretically supported, is just janky. * If you make the mistake of allowing spotify to go online on your phone, it eats battery life. * there's a long list of other bugs, but I now wait at least 3 months before installing any updates and archive previous apks so that I can revert their idiocy. I really need to get on figuring out how to import their playlists into something better.
- m3rc 11y ago
  Holy crap yeah, I don't know what other app was put together so poorly as Spotify. It wakelocks like hell, it crashes constantly, none of the menu items make sense, AND aren't consistent with where you are in playing songs, it seems totally random as to whether songs show up in your queue or disappear, your history sometimes stores albums and sometimes songs, it goes on and on. I use spotify mostly as just a grooveshark replacement, but as soon as my trial is up I'm ditching the fucking thing.
- afandian 11y ago
  How do you avoid updates? Just never quit?
  - x0x0 11y ago
    phone: set manual updates only and never approve them; laptop: archive the entire directory structure and replace it =P all devices: wonder why the fuck I have to do this and why spotify can't get their shit together
    - afandian 11y ago
      It's SAAS. It's the future. Get with the program. (Thanks hadn't thought of going to those lengths)
- hokkos 11y ago
  1/ never had that problem 2/ this is the single best feature of spotify vs the others, I love plugin my android smartphone in my audio system, and to control the music from my ipad, computer. The problem you talk about never happens to me, it shows a popup about if I want to continue here, but only if I go into the app. 3/ I had no problem with that, but it would be better if it uploaded the music to listen on other devices, this is the major pain point about spotify. 4/ what ? only if you ask some playlist to be synchronized it download them and then stop, or are you talking about the fact that it shows the currently playing song on others devices, just swipe out the app, but I am not sure it consume a lot. 5/ I didn't had a lot of problem with the android app
ohitsdom 11y ago
Spotify seems determined to force me to listen to albums on shuffle.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- jen729w 11y ago
  After you've tapped a track in the main list of tracks to start it playing, tap the skinny "playing" bit at the very bottom. It should pop up the full screen player. Is the shuffle icon selected (green)? I had the same issue a while back and I was infuriated at myself for not figuring out the solution.
  - ohitsdom 11y ago
    No I found that, but it switches back pretty often. Can't find a pattern, it's annoying.

etimberg 11y ago

I've been liking Google Play Music so far.

at-fates-hands 11y ago
My only issue with GM is the portability. I work out frequently, and lugging around a large smartphone isn't the best scenario for simply listening to music. I'm looking into getting a smaller MP3 player and putting my GM library on that to achieve the level of portability I need for my music.
- DonnyV 11y ago
  Your entire music library doesn't have to live on your device. Just stream it right from GM or cache the albums you want to listen too.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    What really gets me is that some scrappy start-up tried to launch a service like that in the 00's and got totally burned by the labels because it was not 'fair use' but now google does it it is ok.
    - m3rc 11y ago
      Yeah, shit like that really does suck. At the very least, we get that kind of service now.
    - danielweber 11y ago
      I believe that Apple and Google got permission from the labels to do it.
      - jacquesm 11y ago
        Fair use shouldn't require permission.