What Is Apple Music?
Apple Music works both as a standalone app but also integrates with your iTunes music library to give you access to all of the music you love, and to connect you with the music you haven’t yet heard.
Yes, it’s very like Spotify…perhaps more the lovechild of Spotify and Facebook.
Here’s a great video from MacAdvisor looking at an overview of Apple Music:
Key Features
- Exclusive artist pages
- Playlists
- Apple Connect
- 24 hour Radio station (streamed from LA, New York and London) and hosted by Zane Lowe
How to Get Started
It’s as easy as 1-2-3.
1. Download iOS 8.4 and the Apple Music App will appear in your apps
2. Launch the App and you’ll be taken to the Apple Music Splash Page
3. Enable your iTunes Store account to be automatically set up to pay for Apple Music purchases (including the $9.99/month subscription after your free 3 month trial)
Getting The Most out of Apple Music
Fill in details on the genres of music you are most into and the artists you particularly like. Music artists and bands will pop up in bubbles.
To get the most out of Apple Music, tell it which artists you love and which you don’t. Do this by tapping twice on artists you love, once on artists you like and and press and hold to say you don’t like certain artists. You can also favourite songs by using the heart icon.
Apple Music uses this information to personalise your experience, recommending what you are most likely to love.
What is Connect?
Apple Music’s Connect feature is similar to the Spotify Follow feature, but artists are given much more creative freedom for interacting with you. So we are particularly looking forward to see how artists choose to make the most of this feature.
Reviews
Before you go ahead and install Apple Music, go and read a few reviews and we’d also recommend you back up your catalogue first on an external hard drive.
You do get a free 3 month trial when you sign up, but read some of the following warnings before you do so (especially if you haven’t backed up all your music on an external hard drive yet).
There has been widespread speculation that Apple Music has had disastrous effects on some users iTunes library – check out the Apple Support Page to see a selection of issues users are facing with the new service.
Jim Dalrymple of The Loop wrote an article entitled ‘Apple Music is a nightmare and I’m done with it’ highlighting the difficulties he had adding music to his library, and the loss of 4700 songs.
What the Hi-Fi have created a video of their Top 11 tips for Apple Music: