Apple Music-All information provided here

DubDJ

Tried switching to the student tier and was told my institution wasn't included. Strange one, it's one of the bigger Irish colleges.

Sad Professor

I guess it hasn't signed up to UNiDAYS's scheme. Is it on Campus.ie?

chrislad

DubDJ wrote: »

Tried switching to the student tier and was told my institution wasn't included. Strange one, it's one of the bigger Irish colleges.

I can't even try. The link is active for me now, after being not there all day, but it just takes me to the page to download iTunes, when I click on it from in iTunes!

DubDJ

Sad Professor wrote: »

I guess it hasn't signed up to UNiDAYS's scheme. Is it on Campus.ie?

Yeah, it's listed on the unidays website too. Campus is no problem, used the student discount with campus before too. Just strange the Apple Music discount isn't eligible.

chrislad wrote: »

I can't even try. The link is active for me now, after being not there all day, but it just takes me to the page to download iTunes, when I click on it from in iTunes!

Strange, I get a page to sign up to unidays. Or sign in using the link below it. Only started working late tonight though.

Catherine!

I used the 3-month free trial of Apple Music from September to December last year. I liked having my music library integrated with my streaming tracks, but the main turn-off for me was the fact that when I had Apple Music switched on, I could no longer add tracks to my iPod Touch by ripping a CD.

I have gone back to Spotify and sometimes use premium if they have a special offer going.

Sad Professor

Catherine! wrote: »

I used the 3-month free trial of Apple Music from September to December last year. I liked having my music library integrated with my streaming tracks, but the main turn-off for me was the fact that when I had Apple Music switched on, I could no longer add tracks to my iPod Touch by ripping a CD.

If Apple Music is enabled in iTunes and on the iPod Touch this is very straight-forward. You rip the CD in iTunes, it automatically adds it to your iCloud Music Library. Then you can stream it or download it on your iPod Touch. No need to connect the Touch to iTunes.

jackinthemix94

Must admit, the fiver a month has tempted me to sign up. I might wait for the revamp though to definitely decide.

Sad Professor

I'm not so sure the revamp is going to be that extensive anymore, at least if what Macrumors reports about iTunes is anything to go by. Sounds like damage control rather than a substantial rethinking of the interface. Unless they have bigger plans for iTunes down the road.

Apple should bite the bullet and phase out Windows support since that's what's holding iTunes back. Windows users hate iTunes anyway. No reason to continue to punish Mac users.

DubDJ

Sad Professor wrote: »

I'm not so sure the revamp is going to be that extensive anymore, at least if what Macrumors reports about iTunes is anything to go by. Sounds like damage control rather than a substantial rethinking of the interface. Unless they have bigger plans for iTunes down the road.

Apple should bite the bullet and phase out Windows support since that's what's holding iTunes back. Windows users hate iTunes anyway. No reason to continue to punish Mac users.

Doesn't make sense to discontinue it, it's still needed for certain cases like restoring devices etc. Can't just drop support for that many Windows uses.

Makes more sense to maybe release a stand alone device manager, maybe the I could see iTunes being dropped for Windows. Still surprised they haven't split it out into different parts yet.

Sad Professor

They can't just drop Windows support on a dime, I agree, but they could start to phase it out. Leave Windows users with the current version and just release bug fixes. The Mac version probably have undergone a major upgrade years ago if not for Windows support. I mean, had iPhoto been a Windows app would Apple have been able to just scrap it and start from scratch with the new Photos app? Not a chance. They'd still be dithering over it like they are iTunes.

I've become sceptical of the benefits of splitting iTunes into different apps. The music player/library, iTunes Store and Apple Music catalogue should all be integrated in the one app. Any proposed redesigns I've seen that have suggested splitting Apple Music and/or the iTunes Store into separate apps really aren't thinking the implications of that through. If there's a problem with iTunes at the moment, it's that these three things aren't integrated enough.

They could take out the video player/library functionality and the device management, I guess, but I'm not convinced that either of those things are adding that much bloat to the app. And device management seems like something that will eventually be handled by iCloud anyway. It's already basically redundant for most users, except those with older devices or no WiFi.

DubDJ

I'd just prefer an app that plays music, and not have apps tethered, as well as all the other features iTunes supports. A strategic rethinking of the whole app situation is needed by Apple imo. Mac, has few apps trying to do everything, iOS has separate apps for everything that can't be removed.
In general I like Apple Music, I don't see the whole problem with the layout needing a redesign. It's working almost flawlessly for me now too. I agree with the connect tab being demoted though.

Niemoj

I don't really see the value in the student discount tbh considering Spotify is €5 by default through Vodafone and is arguably and much better service.

I suppose if you'd rather have the integration of having everything Apple then it'd be a good choice.

Sad Professor

Niemoj wrote: »

I don't really see the value in the student discount tbh considering Spotify is €5 by default through Vodafone and is arguably and much better service.

I suppose if you'd rather have the integration of having everything Apple then it'd be a good choice.

Yeah but if you aren't with Vodafone and have an iPhone with a library of purchased and ripped music, Apple Music is the better option, teething issues aside.

Sad Professor

DubDJ wrote: »

I'd just prefer an app that plays music, and not have apps tethered, as well as all the other features iTunes supports. A strategic rethinking of the whole app situation is needed by Apple imo. Mac, has few apps trying to do everything, iOS has separate apps for everything that can't be removed.
In general I like Apple Music, I don't see the whole problem with the layout needing a redesign. It's working almost flawlessly for me now too. I agree with the connect tab being demoted though.

Connect is awful and I don't know how anyone approved it.

Apple's traditional problem with services (as per Steve) is that they didn't view services as being services. They viewed them as features. That's starting to change. The question is are they now viewing services as services or are they viewing them as ways of generating more money from their existing user base. Hopefully the former for our sake.

Albert_Camus

Sad Professor wrote: »

Apple should bite the bullet and phase out Windows support since that's what's holding iTunes back. Windows users hate iTunes anyway. No reason to continue to punish Mac users.

Why what's the story here, how is Windows holding iTunes back?

Sad Professor

Albert_Camus wrote: »

Why what's the story here, how is Windows holding iTunes back?

Because it's a cross-platform app and anything they want to do to iTunes on the Mac they have to do for iTunes on Windows. So a ground-up re-write or splitting it into multiple apps becomes a much bigger deal and something that might not be practical with the Windows version. It's easier to just keep doing what they've been doing: give it a new dash of paint every other version and keep cramming features in, hence the bloat.

Albert_Camus

Sad Professor wrote: »

Because it's a cross-platform app and anything they want to do to iTunes on the Mac they have to do for iTunes on Windows. So a ground-up re-write or splitting it into multiple apps becomes a much bigger deal and something that might not be practical with the Windows version. It's easier to just keep doing what they've been doing: give it a new dash of paint every other version and keep cramming features in, hence the bloat.

I can't imagine thats the reason its rubbish

What do they develop them in?

Sad Professor

I'm speculating, of course. But turning iTunes into a suite of of apps doesn't seem particularly practical on Windows.

Albert_Camus

Sad Professor wrote: »

I'm speculating, of course. But turning iTunes into a suite of of apps doesn't seem particularly practical on Windows.

Ah it'd be fine.

Niemoj

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah but if you aren't with Vodafone and have an iPhone with a library of purchased and ripped music, Apple Music is the better option, teething issues aside.

It's not a big deal to sign up for Vodafone though, you just get a sim, sign up for the offer and top it up and you instantly save 50% on Spotify and unless the music you have is Taylor Swift or someone else not on Spotify then wouldn't your purchased music be there already?

Having said that I think AM is good value in terms of family plans, that's something Spotify severely lacks.

BigMoose

Niemoj wrote: »

Having said that I think AM is good value in terms of family plans, that's something Spotify severely lacks.

Exactly this - the one reason I'd switch from Spotify to AM is the mad cost of family plans on Spotify for >2 people compared to AM. I wrote to Spotify who didn't care if I left or not. Reason I didn't switch is that AM doesn't support android tablets that the kids would be using. Annoying!

Niemoj

BigMoose wrote: »

Exactly this - the one reason I'd switch from Spotify to AM is the mad cost of family plans on Spotify for >2 people compared to AM. I wrote to Spotify who didn't care if I left or not. Reason I didn't switch is that AM doesn't support android tablets that the kids would be using. Annoying!

So what are you using right now if I might ask?

Even if you went through Vodafone which is undoubtedly a good offer it'd still cost €15 for 3 accounts compared to €15 for 6 through AM I believe.

BigMoose

I'm paying 15 for Spotify for me and the wife, I'm too tight to pay for it for the 2 kids too! It's very annoying though that AM is the same price for 6. If they sort their android tablet support out I'd move.

Sad Professor

One thing I really miss about Spotify: being able to remotely control what music is playing on my Mac from another device. Very handy when you have wireless headphones. Apple's Remote app on iOS still hasn't been updated for Apple Music and is kind of crap anyway. I assume Apple is planning to integrate this remote functionality into iTunes and iOS's Music app at some point. Hopefully in the forthcoming update.

chrislad

Finally got my Unidays set up, but I'm still having issues. The website still only opens the iTunes download page. Am I correct in assuming you need iTunes installed (I'm testing from a different PC, not my own at the moment)

Zcott

chrislad wrote: »

Finally got my Unidays set up, but I'm still having issues. The website still only opens the iTunes download page. Am I correct in assuming you need iTunes installed (I'm testing from a different PC, not my own at the moment)

Yes, because it puts you through to Apple Music. Also will work on an iOS device.

jack presley

Is this true or is something else at play?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqur3jhjoJs

Sad Professor

I don't have the patience to listen to that guy's Youtube diary. But I assume he's talking about what iMore have been writing about.

These "Apple Music deleted my library" claims have been around since the service launched. At least 75 percent of them are due to user error. Basically the user matches their library with Apple Music and then deletes their local files. Don't ask me how. iMore suggest the people are confused by Apple's on-screen warnings and click the wrong button. Then they disable Apple Music and forget to re-enable it. This is what happened to Jim Dalrymple, though it took him quite a while to admit it. More recently it seems there's a database bug in the latest version of iTunes that actually can cause lost data, though I don't really understand the technicalities.

iCloud Music Library is a buggy mess, however. Apple built it on the iTunes Match backend. iTunes Match was a paid-for beta service that never worked properly but Apple thought it was wonderful and made it the basis for Apple Music with disastrous results. Especially for former iTunes Match subscribers who let their subscriptions expire.

My local files are intact but I have loads of tracks that are currently showing as "no longer available" in iCloud and won't upload either. Meaning I can see but not play them on anything but my main library. A lot of them are Neil Young or Radiohead. Young isn't available on Apple Music but is on the iTunes Store and my iTunes Match subscription recently expired and it seems iCloud Music Library doesn't know what to do. Radiohead recently switched their catalogue over to another label which resulted in everything being pulled and re-added to Apple Music. Once again iCloud Music Library doesn't know what to do and has decided the safest course of action is to do nothing. Silent failure - which is very common problem with Apple these days.

I'm probably going to have to manually reset my iCloud Music Library, which is a big job since Apple no longer give you an option to do it. Probably because they are afraid what would happen.

FourFourRED

jack presley wrote: »

Is this true or is something else at play?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqur3jhjoJs

Yes.

It would make sense for everyone to backup their entire music library before enabling iCloud music library on their iTunes PC/Mac for use with Apple Music.

Previously ripped mp3's are now DRM protected after they are "matched" with the Apple Music catalogue.

When Apple Music subscriptions ends. You can't play your music.

Sad Professor

FourFourFM wrote: »

Previously ripped mp3's are now DRM protected after they are "matched" with the Apple Music catalogue.

This should not happen unless your your local files were deleted, either deliberately, accidentally or by this recent iTunes database bug.

I just checked and all my ripped files are intact and have not been DRM'd.

Apple Music cannot DRM local files that were previously DRM-free.