I’ve been very vocal about the problems I’ve had with Apple Music since it was released, but the service has improved quite a bit over the last couple of months, so I should be just as vocal about that. One of the more significant improvements I’ve found is with Apple’s built-in radio stations. In fact, it’s changed how I listen to music.
I always listened to the music in my library, instead of songs on the radio. I’m not sure if I listen to music differently than other people or what it was, but Apple’s choice of songs on streaming radio never really worked for me.
When I have people over, or I’m driving, I want to hear songs that are familiar. If I select an AC/DC track, I expect to hear Rock songs, and songs that I know well. I really enjoy a drive with AC/DC, Metallica and other bands like that blasting away.
Apple seems to have figured that out because recently, that’s exactly what I’ve been getting. Songs I know, hit after hit, with very few exceptions.
I stopped using the “Play More Like This” feature in the radio stations. I just let Apple’s algorithm choose the songs for me without any intervention. I don’t know why, but overall, the station does much better without me messing with it.
That brings up a problem ‘I’ve always had—how do I find new music? There’s not much new music in the stations I make, and that’s perfectly fine, because I’m looking for familiarity with those stations. So, I turned to Apple’s built-in music stations.
The one I listen to the most is Hard Rock. When I’m in the mood for background music, or I’m exercising, or otherwise in the mood to find new music, I’ll play the Hard Rock station.
I’ve been impressed and surprised by how much new music I’ve found. There’s definitely been some changes to the way Apple is curating the stations because the song choices and different—and much better—than when the service started.
I’ll often “Love” a song when listening to the station. This affects how “For You” works, so Apple Music will begin to recommend more music and bands like the songs I’ve previously loved. That leads to more new music.
When I first started using Apple Music, I thought “For You” would be the way I’d find most of my music, but it’s actually through the curated radio stations that I’ve been most successful. “For You” has become a secondary path for playlists and albums that I can use, and I do.
I’ve found myself reaching for my iPhone to “Love” a song only to see that I already did—that’s when I add it to my library. Sometimes I add it on the first play, but if I try to “Love” a song a second time, I must really like it.
I’ve been using Apple Music like this for a couple of months and it’s working really well for me. In fact, it’s rare that I’ll play an album from my library anymore—in the past, that’s all I’d play.
I’d really like to have an area in the Apple Music app where I could see all the songs that I’ve “Loved” over time. There is some great music that I need to add to my library.
For now, this method of listening to some of my favorite songs and finding new music is working quite well for me.
I found the same thing as you Jim. When I used the Play More Like This, I was often disappointed in the selection & mix of what came afterward, but by leaving that alone & simply clicking on the Love icon, the selections were better and made more sense both in the category of the music I was listening to and the mix from one song to the next.
You can create a smart playlist in iTunes to show your loved songs and then you’ll have what you want. That’s how I use it. I set it to 100 loved songs at random not heard in the past 3 days and I have a perfect station for myself.
Is there a way to make a smart playlist from items you’ve “loved” though? I haven’t been able to find a way to do that (and keep in sync over various devices) without downloading the song. So, yeah, nice feature, but a little half-baked (or just user error on my part).
I still find that the absolute best way to find new music is to ask friends and family. I have a handful of friends who can usually point me to something new (to me) every few months.
I just have a playlist Loved is True. I haven’t downloaded any songs to my iPhone and it works for me, however, I am wondering if you have to have it added to your music for it to work, which would be a huge bug. I’ll have to test that.
Incredibly helpful @theundertrader:disqus I hadn’t used Smart Playlists and this worked fantastically!
My tip in exchange. When you My Music pull the entire screen down and Apple added Shuffle All a few updates ago.
My friends and family all have completely different tastes in music. Gone are the days (60’s and 70’s) when we were all on the same bandwagon, no pun intended.
Amazing!
The reason I am giving Apple Music a second chance is the buggy behaviour of Spotify’s app in Carplay, where Apple Music works flawlessly. Otherwise, I despise everything in current Apple Music app. They don’t have a coherent way to discover new music. Spotify’s every Monday new music finds for me really gems, not of bands I already know but really new music, people (or even genres) I actually ignored. Apple Music feels like what it actually is, the streaming branch of iTunes. So Apple just had to enter that market too (mind the ways you already pay them to buy songs and the ridiculous fee for iTunes Match to have your already bought music on the cloud). Lame. Lets hope in my 3 month free trial Spotify improves their Carplay reliability so I can totally ditch Apple’s pathetic music app.
Great post! I created André Gagnon station and now I got just the music I really like.
“mind the ways you already pay them to buy songs and the ridiculous fee for iTunes Match to have your already bought music on the cloud”
This doesn’t have anything to do with Apple Music.
Another brilliant idea!
Actually I think it does, since Apple currently has three different services (iTunes Music, Music Match and Apple Music) under the same iTunes roof. Just read around how bad this is for users experience. Nobody really knows where his music is and how many times he has to pay to have it on the cloud or streamed. Its a mess and Apple knows that (hopefully).
Apple Music could be a really great service making recommendations for example by combining one’s local music library and his current music tastes. Plus add some social features with real benefit for its users and not another pathetic ad channel like connect. They are not open to the world (that’s why everyone is going to Spotify to share his playlists) and if they are OK with that, they will lose it.
Well you have to do a little work if you want to truly discover new music. Like Jim said, the radio stations work well, as well as the “A-List” & “Hot Tracks” playlists.
‘Mess’ and ‘pathetic’ are strong words for a fledgling service – I suppose some folks are having trouble remembering the days before we had access to millions of songs at the touch of a button.
I’ll also never understand the need to trash – go back to Spotify and complain to them about your CarPlay issues. 😛
Well, everyone knows that Apple Music sucks at finding things you like. They are just happy to serve you some A-lists and Hot tracks that they choose based on their likings, not their obviously tasteless customer.
And of course radio stations cannot be listened to offline, which is not that rare even nowadays. That’s why this download button still exists in all premium music streaming services.
Yes their music streaming service is very young, but they are far too long in this music business to be excused for launching a sub par service.
In any case, you must get used to strong words and opinions when it comes to Apple’s succeeds and failures. All fanboys love this company so much they sometimes hate it too.
I think we’re just at different levels of expectation and satisfaction with the service – not sure you shouldn’t immediately go back to Spotify.
Yes, a long time in the business of making songs available for purchase, not streaming.
See, I don’t get worked up as much as others – I’ve lived through the dark ages of home computers (PC and Mac), so this is all gravy.