Apple Music launches and there's a lot to digest: a first look and impressions
Apple Music launched at precisely 4PM UK time today - 8AM PST - and here’s a first look at the new music streaming service from Apple, together with a timeline as to how long it will take you to get going.
First hurdle: the service requires users to update iOS to its latest version, iOS 8.4, so get your device and check for updates in 'Settings'.
16:01 - The download is just over 200Mb and took about four minutes to download.
16:05 - After downloading, the update took a few minutes to prepare itself.
16:17 - The phone (finally) installed iOS 8.4 and rebooted so we’re good to go.
Second hurdle: interestingly, there is no prompt when the iPhone restarts pointing users to the new Music feature. In order to access the service, users need to head to the Music app (with a new multi-coloured logo). At this stage, there will be a prompt to join the new service for three months for free, and subsequently you’ll need to accept iTunes’ new terms and conditions.
iTunes choose to phrase the sign-up as a “Buy” option, but rest assured that you won’t be charged if you cancel before the end of the three-month trial.
After that is all done, the fun begins.
The bottom left icon on the app is called “For You” and when tapping on it the app prompts you to choose from a pretty wide-ranging list of genres and decades in a bubble-like interface, after that the choice is narrowed down as the app asks you to select a few of your favourite artists. A nice little touch is that you can tap twice for artists you really love an the bubble gets bigger.
Once that’s done you can take a peek at the “New” section, which shows new music, hot tracks and recent releases. Front and centre are "1989" by Taylor Swift, an album that had eluded streaming service thus far, as well as the back catalogue of AC/DC, who have decided to jump on the streaming bandwagon today even though they have not given the exclusive to Apple as their catalogue has also hit Spotify and other services today.
This section also appear to house - somewhat confusingly - Apple’s curated playlists. It takes some scrolling to get to them, but they include the picks by Apple Music Editors, playlists matched to activities and playlists compiled by well-known music curators. The latter category includes playlists by Shazam, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, NME, DJ Mag, Q Magazine, Vice and Mojo. This is a pretty good selection of respected music publications, and each of them has provided Apple Music with a bunch of playlists.
The central “Radio” section is devoted to Beats 1, and is available to all iOS users, even non-subscribers. The radio officially kicked off at 5PM with Zane Lowe (see Rockol' coverage of the radio's launch for more details).
Then there’s the new “Connect” network, which enables subscribers to follow artists, who can share updates, videos, photos and more. It is a little messy right now and it is not clear whether the updates are done specifically for Apple Music or pulled from other social media, however this will hopefully be refined over the coming months.
Finally, the crown jewel of the app, the “My Music” tab which remains similar to the previous one but enables users to mix music they have in their own libraries with all the music in the world.
This is nothing new to those who have been enjoying streaming services for a long time, but the idea of having all the music in the world in the palm of your hands is going to be pretty mind-blowing to a big segment of iOS users who have never tried a music streaming service before.
Re/Code's Walt Mossberg who stated that the service is robuts but confusing is probably right: Apple Music has huge potential, but its goal is to capture the mainstream users that have not yet tried their hand at streaming music, and the iterface is so full of features that it risks scaring them away. Here's to hoping that they'll just turn on Beats 1 and ease into the service gently...
(Andrea Leonelli)