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I've been using Apple Music since it launched here in the UK. I recall cancelling my Spotify subscription the same day and promptly signed up for my 3 month fre
by georgerobinson 11y ago
I've been using Apple Music since it launched here in the UK. I recall cancelling my Spotify subscription the same day and promptly signed up for my 3 month free trial to Apple Music.
Whilst there is nothing I particularly dislike about Spotify, I found it's 'Offline Mode' particularly clunky.
When I play a song on Apple Music that I have in a playlist or album, I can replay tracks without the need for a persistent 3G/4G/WiFi connection. Whilst you can do this in Spotify, I understand you have to manually click a button to enable offline playback.
Furthermore, Apple Music will shows me which tracks are cached for offline playback, since those which are not are greyed out and un-clickable, whereas I don't recall seeing anything like it in Spotify. This feature is particularly useful on the tube (London Underground for people in the USA/Europe/Rest of World) where you have intermittent WiFi at stations (in fact, by the time your phone has connected to the access point on the platform the train is already pulling out of the station - so you've got to be fast!).
However, I feel like Apple could have done better with the Apple Music experience on iPhone and iPad. For example, what is the 'For You' tab all about? Just some bouncing spheres with labels of different genres? I quite like the 'New' tab since I can quickly find popular music, but it feels too much like the iTunes Store, where you click-to-buy.
Yet, I really like the artwork they've set up for artists, and I think the player is excellent. I can't say I use 'Connect' that much, but it is an incredibly convenient way to follow artists you like and, if you're lucky, hear some B-sides that didn't make it onto the album.
I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to continue my trial with Apple Music or go back to Spotify. I just want a solid music streaming service that will 1. let me listen to the artists I love and 2. help me find other artists who I will love. I feel like neither of the two fully satisfy those requirements just yet.
Edit: I forgot to talk about Beats 1. I'm really enjoying listening to Zane Low on Beats 1 radio after his move from Radio 1.
- threeseed 11y agoThe "For You" tab is one that took a while to understand but actually one of their best features. It's actually human curated playlists based on the artists you have already listened to or liked. It's definitely a point of difference between Apple Music and the other streaming services.
- criley2 11y agoI would say the same about Spotify's Browse tab, and the Genre&Mood sections and the Discover sections. All human curated and constantly updated playlists, nothing in other services compares, although I cannot use Apple Music since it is walled-garden only.
- threeseed 11y agoI think you misunderstand. "For You" is human curated but personalised for you. It will for example show an artist retrospective if I like a similar artist or a playlist that overlaps two genres I listen to frequently. I like Spotify's playlists but these are a step above. And Apple Music is coming to Android/Windows so it won't be a walled garden for too much longer.
- georgerobinson 11y agoI must be admit I've never got past the start screen with the floating circles of genres: '80s', 'Indie', 'Rap', etc. I had no idea these led to human curated playlists.
- criley2 11y ago- Spotify has had "offline" labels for many years. Strange that you do not see them, but they are green and very prominent for songs and playlists on both Android and Windows. You have to trigger offline for Spotify normally, but the alternative is that all music you like is already cached. And, if you want that, in 2014 they did roll out that very feature. I have FAR MORE music in spotify playlists than would fit on my 64GB android device comfortably, and I don't want more than a few gigs of space on my SSD dedicated to Spotify caching. Really odd that you couldn't use these features, Spotify rolled them out years ago.