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I am all in on Apple and only a few dollars away from the Apple One bundle being worth it for me but I just don't like Apple Music. The UI is just too difficult

I am all in on Apple and only a few dollars away from the Apple One bundle being worth it for me but I just don't like Apple Music. The UI is just too difficult to use and it feels slower than it should be, definitely slower than Spotify. While I have no love for Spotify's podcast ventures and dislike them trying to push me to listen to podcasts on their platform, I do love it for music and it "Just Works". Also I can use Spotify with my Echo's in ways that don't work with Apple Music. Yes, you can play Apple Music through the Echo's but only using your voice. With Spotify I can throw music to an Echo or a group of them and control it all from my phone.

hbn 5y ago
Spotify is a nonstarter for me because I can't upload my own music. I don't want to be beholden to whatever they decide I can listen to, and there's lots of music I want to listen to that's not in any streaming catalogue. edit: note I say "upload," not syncing local files to my phone. I want a built-in streaming catalogue + cloud music locker that all my devices stream from, not something I have to manually transfer files between for every device
- joshstrange 5y ago
  That's completely fair and I even pay for iTunes Match even though I don't really use it anymore, it and Apple Music never meshed well in my experience but maybe it's gotten better. There is a way to listen to your own music in Spotify (even mobile) [0] but it might be a little shaky, I doubt they care much about it. I've used it before but only on desktop. [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-upload-music-to-spotify https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-upload-music-to-spoti...
  - hbn 5y ago
    I've read up on Spotify's custom library stuff, and it seems to just be a weird hack that only works on one device. What I really want is a music locker I can stream to any device to fill in the gaps that aren't available in the streaming library.
    - jhoechtl 5y ago
      We had it all with Google Music
- NobodyNada 5y ago
  You can upload your own music, it's a bit janky sometimes but it works: https://support.spotify.com/us/article/local-files/ https://support.spotify.com/us/article/local-files/ In Spotify's settings on your PC, you can configure directories to look for "local files". Then, you can make playlists of local files and they will sync to your other devices over your local WiFi network.
- zora_goron 5y ago
  You can import local files to Spotify [0] and if you download the playlist for offline use on your mobile device, they'll be synced over from your desktop [1]. [0] https://support.spotify.com/us/article/local-files/ https://support.spotify.com/us/article/local-files/ [1] https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/Syncing-Local-Files-from-Desktop-app-to-Mobile-app/td-p/5063522 https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/Syncing-Loc...
  - Ch4otic 5y ago
    The problem with Spotify's Local Files feature is that the music you add cannot be added to Liked Songs. They must be in a playlist in order to be synced across. As someone who listens to their music by just tapping shuffle on Liked Songs, this is a no-go.
- mosiuerbarso 5y ago
  Have you considered Jriver cloudplay: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Cloudplay https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Cloudplay It's not free but Jriver is a pretty good media player for local files. The one downside of Jriver is their android/apple apps are a bit crap, but there are 3rd party alternatives.
robbiep 5y ago
I agree that Spotify is a much better ‘listening experience’ (ie discoverability etc) but the problems I have between Spotify and my HomePod(s) is almost enough for me to switch back to music - it is infuriating, needing to reboot the HomePod to get it to play anything again (apparently an issue with Spotify not supporting airplay 2 but the flow on effects are weird)
- joshstrange 5y ago
  Yeah, I've thought that if I ever go all-in on the HomePods then I might use Apple Music just for them (like I said, I'm close to getting the Apple One bundle once my last trial runs out) but the Echo's are a lot more open and play nice with Home Assistant. If I want to replace all my Echo's with HomePods (mini I guess since that's all there is) it would close to $1K and I'd have to use Home Assistant's HomeKit integration and every experience I've had with HomeKit (or HomeBridge) has been bad. Sure it works great for a few weeks, maybe months, but then it just stops working and you have remove and re-add everything (and re-add them to the right rooms, the HomeKit setup is so terrible).
- deanc 5y ago
  I got a HomePod mini last week. I have used Spotify probably about 20-30 times by tapping it with my phone or using AirPlay from the control Center. Zero issues. The lack of _native_ Siri support is a joke though. Spotify really need to pull their finger out on that one.
JimBlackwood 5y ago
I’m with you here. While I don’t have the same issues as you, Apple Music sometimes feels like a beta version to me. Spotify does too, sometimes. One giant annoyance with Apple Music is their artist matching/suggestions. I have a few artists with very generic common names. Anytime another artist with the same name releases another album, it’ll be wrongly matched to the artist I listen to for a few weeks. More annoyingly, I keep getting the other artist in my recommendations constantly! Two examples would be SIERRA (techno) and ALEX (synthwave). SIERRA often gets mismatched with Sierra and now I keep ending up with weird spanish music in my recommendations. With ALEX it’s with ALEX&RUS which is some russian rap duo. Super annoying.
- whiddershins 5y ago
  I have an artist with a name conflict and even though I have control of the “official” artist distribution page for my work and have reached out to Spotify (and Apple) repeatedly, this other artist with the same name keeps appear amongst my tracks. Super frustrating.
kitsunesoba 5y ago
The thing that kills Spotify for me is how pushy it is combined with the frequent unnecessary UI changes. The lack of an API that allows track playback is a huge, huge bummer too (look up the saga of libspotfy if curious) — shockingly, Apple Music is more open in this regard, with multiple alternative third party clients being available thanks to JS and native Mac/iOS SDKs.
- e40 5y ago
  I'm curious what UI changes you're talking about. I can't remember the last time there was a UI change, and I've been using them for 5+ years. In fact, as I was reading these comments I was thinking they've been totally stagnant UI-wise, and the only hate I for the iOS app is the pop ups for events, etc. I make a point to never read any text in them and dismiss immediately.
  - kenhwang 5y ago
    The big one pinning podcast recommendations to the home screen above the fold with no option remove it. Same with unremovable "recommended" playlists that mix music with podcasts. Podcast settings are at the top of the list in settings too. But because podcasts are treated equally to music on every page and user backlash to remove podcasts, they added [Music] and [Podcasts & Shows] filter buttons to the header of those pages, wasting page real estate. But the slap in the face is it doesn't even remember to keep those filters applied. Plus, even if you actually like some podcasts, it'll randomly swap out [Your shows] section for podcast [Recommendations] instead.
    - e40 5y ago
      OK, I ignore podcasts in Spotify. I use Pocket Casts. You're right, there should be an option to remove/move it.
  - ccritter 5y ago
    In the last year there was a rather large UI overhaul on the desktop client [0] that was met with mixed reactions from its users (doing a search in their community forum can locate some such threads). I for one was left with a bad taste in my mouth when it launched due to some pretty major changes of how libraries and albums were handled. Though some things have been fixed, I'm still sour on a lot of the changes. [0] https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-03-25/introducing-a-new-spotify-experience-across-desktop-app-and-web-player/ https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-03-25/introducing-a-new-sp...
notreallyserio 5y ago
The UI on Apple Music is atrocious. It isn't possible to go back a track when using their radio mode, nor is it possible to even see what the previous song was in case you decided you want to hear more by the artist or whatever. Truly awful design.
- travelbyphone 5y ago
  Use the bottom right icon on the “now playing screen” to go back on your played history
  - notreallyserio 5y ago
    IIRC that shows the history of tracks you've played from your own playlists or when you play specific albums and songs, but not if you're using the radio feature (where you start playback by pressing the center and not the bottom right of the tile).
    - joshstrange 5y ago
      I think this is indicative of the whole Apple Music experience. They are like 80% there but that last 20% is what makes a product feel polished and easy to use. It's like they half-implement things or get them to a state and say "good enough" and never look back. Really that describes most Apple-created apps. They really want to create an app, release it, and move on. They don't understand these things need constant improvements and even apps that do get some love only get updates once a year (usually) meaning that /at best/ they jump frog the competition once a year then fall behind almost immediately. A lot of their apps don't even getting in spitting range of 3rd party apps right after an update. Like their new paid podcast thing was like 5-10 years late and will probably see 1 update a year at best.

hbn 5y ago

Spotify is a nonstarter for me because I can't upload my own music. I don't want to be beholden to whatever they decide I can listen to, and there's lots of music I want to listen to that's not in any streaming catalogue. edit: note I say "upload," not syncing local files to my phone. I want a built-in streaming catalogue + cloud music locker that all my devices stream from, not something I have to manually transfer files between for every device

joshstrange 5y ago
That's completely fair and I even pay for iTunes Match even though I don't really use it anymore, it and Apple Music never meshed well in my experience but maybe it's gotten better. There is a way to listen to your own music in Spotify (even mobile) [0] but it might be a little shaky, I doubt they care much about it. I've used it before but only on desktop. [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-upload-music-to-spotify https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-upload-music-to-spoti...
- hbn 5y ago
  I've read up on Spotify's custom library stuff, and it seems to just be a weird hack that only works on one device. What I really want is a music locker I can stream to any device to fill in the gaps that aren't available in the streaming library.
  - jhoechtl 5y ago
    We had it all with Google Music
NobodyNada 5y ago
You can upload your own music, it's a bit janky sometimes but it works: https://support.spotify.com/us/article/local-files/ https://support.spotify.com/us/article/local-files/ In Spotify's settings on your PC, you can configure directories to look for "local files". Then, you can make playlists of local files and they will sync to your other devices over your local WiFi network.
zora_goron 5y ago
You can import local files to Spotify [0] and if you download the playlist for offline use on your mobile device, they'll be synced over from your desktop [1]. [0] https://support.spotify.com/us/article/local-files/ https://support.spotify.com/us/article/local-files/ [1] https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/Syncing-Local-Files-from-Desktop-app-to-Mobile-app/td-p/5063522 https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/Syncing-Loc...
- Ch4otic 5y ago
  The problem with Spotify's Local Files feature is that the music you add cannot be added to Liked Songs. They must be in a playlist in order to be synced across. As someone who listens to their music by just tapping shuffle on Liked Songs, this is a no-go.
mosiuerbarso 5y ago
Have you considered Jriver cloudplay: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Cloudplay https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Cloudplay It's not free but Jriver is a pretty good media player for local files. The one downside of Jriver is their android/apple apps are a bit crap, but there are 3rd party alternatives.

robbiep 5y ago

I agree that Spotify is a much better ‘listening experience’ (ie discoverability etc) but the problems I have between Spotify and my HomePod(s) is almost enough for me to switch back to music - it is infuriating, needing to reboot the HomePod to get it to play anything again (apparently an issue with Spotify not supporting airplay 2 but the flow on effects are weird)

joshstrange 5y ago
Yeah, I've thought that if I ever go all-in on the HomePods then I might use Apple Music just for them (like I said, I'm close to getting the Apple One bundle once my last trial runs out) but the Echo's are a lot more open and play nice with Home Assistant. If I want to replace all my Echo's with HomePods (mini I guess since that's all there is) it would close to $1K and I'd have to use Home Assistant's HomeKit integration and every experience I've had with HomeKit (or HomeBridge) has been bad. Sure it works great for a few weeks, maybe months, but then it just stops working and you have remove and re-add everything (and re-add them to the right rooms, the HomeKit setup is so terrible).
deanc 5y ago
I got a HomePod mini last week. I have used Spotify probably about 20-30 times by tapping it with my phone or using AirPlay from the control Center. Zero issues. The lack of _native_ Siri support is a joke though. Spotify really need to pull their finger out on that one.

JimBlackwood 5y ago

I’m with you here. While I don’t have the same issues as you, Apple Music sometimes feels like a beta version to me. Spotify does too, sometimes. One giant annoyance with Apple Music is their artist matching/suggestions. I have a few artists with very generic common names. Anytime another artist with the same name releases another album, it’ll be wrongly matched to the artist I listen to for a few weeks. More annoyingly, I keep getting the other artist in my recommendations constantly! Two examples would be SIERRA (techno) and ALEX (synthwave). SIERRA often gets mismatched with Sierra and now I keep ending up with weird spanish music in my recommendations. With ALEX it’s with ALEX&RUS which is some russian rap duo. Super annoying.

whiddershins 5y ago
I have an artist with a name conflict and even though I have control of the “official” artist distribution page for my work and have reached out to Spotify (and Apple) repeatedly, this other artist with the same name keeps appear amongst my tracks. Super frustrating.

kitsunesoba 5y ago

The thing that kills Spotify for me is how pushy it is combined with the frequent unnecessary UI changes. The lack of an API that allows track playback is a huge, huge bummer too (look up the saga of libspotfy if curious) — shockingly, Apple Music is more open in this regard, with multiple alternative third party clients being available thanks to JS and native Mac/iOS SDKs.

e40 5y ago
I'm curious what UI changes you're talking about. I can't remember the last time there was a UI change, and I've been using them for 5+ years. In fact, as I was reading these comments I was thinking they've been totally stagnant UI-wise, and the only hate I for the iOS app is the pop ups for events, etc. I make a point to never read any text in them and dismiss immediately.
- kenhwang 5y ago
  The big one pinning podcast recommendations to the home screen above the fold with no option remove it. Same with unremovable "recommended" playlists that mix music with podcasts. Podcast settings are at the top of the list in settings too. But because podcasts are treated equally to music on every page and user backlash to remove podcasts, they added [Music] and [Podcasts & Shows] filter buttons to the header of those pages, wasting page real estate. But the slap in the face is it doesn't even remember to keep those filters applied. Plus, even if you actually like some podcasts, it'll randomly swap out [Your shows] section for podcast [Recommendations] instead.
  - e40 5y ago
    OK, I ignore podcasts in Spotify. I use Pocket Casts. You're right, there should be an option to remove/move it.
- ccritter 5y ago
  In the last year there was a rather large UI overhaul on the desktop client [0] that was met with mixed reactions from its users (doing a search in their community forum can locate some such threads). I for one was left with a bad taste in my mouth when it launched due to some pretty major changes of how libraries and albums were handled. Though some things have been fixed, I'm still sour on a lot of the changes. [0] https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-03-25/introducing-a-new-spotify-experience-across-desktop-app-and-web-player/ https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-03-25/introducing-a-new-sp...

notreallyserio 5y ago

The UI on Apple Music is atrocious. It isn't possible to go back a track when using their radio mode, nor is it possible to even see what the previous song was in case you decided you want to hear more by the artist or whatever. Truly awful design.

travelbyphone 5y ago
Use the bottom right icon on the “now playing screen” to go back on your played history
- notreallyserio 5y ago
  IIRC that shows the history of tracks you've played from your own playlists or when you play specific albums and songs, but not if you're using the radio feature (where you start playback by pressing the center and not the bottom right of the tile).
  - joshstrange 5y ago
    I think this is indicative of the whole Apple Music experience. They are like 80% there but that last 20% is what makes a product feel polished and easy to use. It's like they half-implement things or get them to a state and say "good enough" and never look back. Really that describes most Apple-created apps. They really want to create an app, release it, and move on. They don't understand these things need constant improvements and even apps that do get some love only get updates once a year (usually) meaning that /at best/ they jump frog the competition once a year then fall behind almost immediately. A lot of their apps don't even getting in spitting range of 3rd party apps right after an update. Like their new paid podcast thing was like 5-10 years late and will probably see 1 update a year at best.