Apple Music-All information provided here

horgan_p

Sad Professor wrote: »

Are you sure about us getting iTunes Radio with iTunes Match? That's how it is in the US and Aus, where the radio stations are free with ads and iTunes Match users get them ad-free and skippable. But that hadn't rolled out internationally yet and radio is currently listed as a feature of Apple Music.

If it turns out the same as the US here (and theres no reason it wont) then I personally would struggle to justify €100 + per year. 17 year old me , who has time on his hands to listen to music would love this.

Liamario

Spotify is sufficient for me, especially when I can stream my music on the PS4. I don't think this will be something that Apple will allow to happen.

Sad Professor

horgan_p wrote: »

If it turns out the same as the US here (and theres no reason it wont) then I personally would struggle to justify €100 + per year. 17 year old me , who has time on his hands to listen to music would love this.

I wouldn't assume it's the same as the US. It wasn't before. I'm an iTunes Match subscriber and had no access to iTunes Radio prior to signing up to Apple Music. Maybe the upgrade to iOS 8.4/iTunes 12.2 changed that, but I didn't think to check before signing up.

Maybe somebody with iTunes Match who hasn't signed up to Apple Music yet can confirm if they have access to iTunes Radio?

Sad Professor

Liamario wrote: »

Spotify is sufficient for me, especially when I can stream my music on the PS4. I don't think this will be something that Apple will allow to happen.

You never know. They are doing an Android app and adding Sonos support.

Uberbeamerman

Is it possible to get it on prepay ie instead of Apple dipping into your credit card every month? ie could you just top up with a 25 euro voucher every two months (use the extra few bob some place else like on apps)

Sad Professor

Uberbeamerman wrote: »

Is it possible to get it on prepay ie instead of Apple dipping into your credit card every month? ie could you just top up with a 25 euro voucher every two months (use the extra few bob some place else like on apps)

You can with everything else on the iTunes/App Store, including subscriptions, so I see no reason why not. But you will still have to have a credit card associated with the account.

jack presley

Uberbeamerman wrote: »

Is it possible to get it on prepay ie instead of Apple dipping into your credit card every month? ie could you just top up with a 25 euro voucher every two months (use the extra few bob some place else like on apps)

I pay for a magazine subscription in newsstand that way so I can't see why you wouldn't be able to pay for this that way.

Antibac

Uberbeamerman wrote: »

Is it possible to get it on prepay ie instead of Apple dipping into your credit card every month? ie could you just top up with a 25 euro voucher every two months (use the extra few bob some place else like on apps)

I use the iTunes vouchers and it wouldn't let me set up the free trial until I had the 9.99 balance on my account. After that it let me do it. I intend to do it this way as I tend to pick up the iTunes cards when they are on offer. Makes it even cheaper!

Uberbeamerman

Antibac wrote: »

I use the iTunes vouchers and it wouldn't let me set up the free trial until I had the 9.99 balance on my account. After that it let me do it. I intend to do it this way as I tend to pick up the iTunes cards when they are on offer. Makes it even cheaper!

Better still! Cheers Antibac

sozbox

Anyone able to stream Beats 1 over Airplay? I can stream songs fine but when I switch over to the radio station ir cuts out and goes back to the laptop speakers. Annoying.

Mimikyu

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keith_d99

Is there a Cross-Fade option/feature? ... very handy in Spotify for playlists

Don't want to kick-off my 3 month trial to find out there is not!

Mimikyu

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Sad Professor

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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iTunes Match is more or less built into Apple Music. The only difference is the matched files you download for offline listening are DRM'd. You can still opt for an iTunes Match subscription for 25 a year, but if you plan to stay with Apple Music there's not much reason to keep both.

iCloud Music Library has to be enabled on all your devices for library syncing, which is pretty much borked at the moment tbh. Apple seem to have built library syncing on the iTunes Match backend, which never worked properly to begin with.

keith_d99

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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Thanks look like no cross-fade so .... Spotify Premium still winning for me

Higher bit-rate too

320k Vs 256k

miralize

256 kbps AAC. http://9to5mac.com/2015/06/09/apple-music-quality/

keith_d99

miralize wrote: »

256 kbps AAC. http://9to5mac.com/2015/06/09/apple-music-quality/

Plenty of debate there ... Apparently Spotify don't use MP3, they use Vorbis

Sharp2012

Absolutely loving apple music, hell of a lot better than spotify

Sad Professor

256 AAC used by Apple is superior to 320 MP3. I don’t know about the Ogg/Vorbis codec used by Spotify. I think it might have an advantage at lower bitrates.

keith_d99

Sharp2012 wrote: »

Absolutely loving apple music, hell of a lot better than spotify

Why?
Anybody willing to do a "comparison" review?

Apple Music Vs Spotify Premium

banquo

At launch: Looks too complicated.

First look: Hmm, could have been better.

After two hours of use: Take my money, this is extremely well executed.

Mimikyu

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Sad Professor

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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You might need to disable and re-enable iCloud Music Library on everything (choose merge not replace - and if it fails, keep trying). Matching and uploading tracks on your main library might take a while and can permanently stall.

lee_baby_simms

Not near enough diversity on Beats 1. There's far too much emphasis on saccharine R&B/HipHop/pop. Also theres far too much talking over the beginning and end of songs from DJs and constant "BEATS 1" id's running through songs, one of the reasons I don't listen to broadcast radio. I'll be sticking with KEXP.org

That said, the streaming service seems excellent. Hats off to apple from a technical point of view, its worked flawlessly for me since yesterday evening. Impressive considering it was a worldwide launch.

miralize

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

Not near enough diversity on Beats 1. There's far too much emphasis on saccharine R&B/HipHop/pop. Also theres far too much talking over the beginning and end of songs from DJs and constant "BEATS 1" id's running through songs, one of the reasons I don't listen to broadcast radio. I'll be sticking with KEXP.org

That said, the streaming service seems excellent. Hats off to apple from a technical point of view, its worked flawlessly for me since yesterday evening. Impressive considering it was a worldwide launch.

I'm going to tune in with Zane whenever I can though. Excellent taste & variety

lee_baby_simms

miralize wrote: »

I'm going to tune in with Zane whenever I can though. Excellent taste & variety

Yeah true, it'll be interesting to see where Beats 1 will be in 6 months. I'm definitely not writing it off.

SpaceTime

keith_d99 wrote: »

Plenty of debate there ... Apparently Spotify don't use MP3, they use Vorbis

Ogg Vorbis sounds better at lower bit rates (100kbps or so) as it does not cut off the trebles as harshly as AAC so you might notice it on a poor mobile broadband link.

Once you go above 160kbps they both sound very similar though.

Tidal uses FLAC (Free Lossless Audio codec) so they're claiming to deliver 44 kHz, 16bit, and 1411kbps bitrates.

I've compared to Apple Music and Spotify and there is a noticeable difference. Both sound a little 'tinny' in comparison on good headphones with a good sound card.

But for €19.99 / month it's a bit steep!

A lot depends on your ears, your brain and mostly your hardware - headphones and quality of sound card and ability to stream fast make all the difference.

Lossy codecs rely on your auditory system in your brain to fill in the blanks by basically removing bits of the sound and your brain fills in the blanks. It's a bit like the same (albeit more complicated) concept that allows television our cinema to create the sense of motion by showing you what are in reality a series of rapidly changing still frames. Your brain fills in the blanks automatically.

The issue is that some people will find low quality lossy encoding tiring to listen to or annoying as your brain has to do more work to hear the music and you get a sense of fatigue.

Some people are just much, much more sensitive to auditory changes than others and will hear the compression. It just depends on your brain and audio cortex's ability to pick out oddities in sound, so it's highly subjective.

For most people what Apple are offering is 'grand'

Also, it seems that there'll be higher bit rates with iOS 9!

iniall

keith_d99 wrote: »

Why?
Anybody willing to do a "comparison" review?

Apple Music Vs Spotify Premium

Not exactly in-depth, but it's a start:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/01/apple-music-spotify-how-do-they-compare

CountingCrows

Can't seem to find how to play/create a station based on artists I'm following or songs I marked as 'Loved'. Looking for something similar to Spotify where it'll suggest songs it thinks I'll like. All the suggested playlists seem static.

Zcott

CountingCrows wrote: »

Can't seem to find how to play/create a station based on artists I'm following or songs I marked as 'Loved'. Looking for something similar to Spotify where it'll suggest songs it thinks I'll like. All the suggested playlists seem static.

I've been playing the jazz radio playlist and marking the ones I really like with the heart, and it's been gradually refining the stuff it plays.

Also, the playlists it offers in the You tab are pretty good and right up my street.

The other option is to press the three dots in the bottom right and choosing Start Station.