Apple Music
Before services like Spotify started appearing in the U.S., the most trusted way people gained legal access to digital music was by purchasing songs and albums on iTunes or other competing websites. While streaming music services changed the industry for listeners by letting us search and stream from enormous collections of songs for free, apps like Spotify and Rdio haven’t gotten the experience right. I have been using Apple Music since its initial launch on June 30th of this year, and I love the service because it integrates Apple’s catalog of music with my own, provides intuitive, easy ways to discover new music and connect with artists you love, and values curated and editor listening recommendations. Although the small details haven’t been refined yet on Apple’s part, the concept of a better digital music experience is here and that’s what is so exciting to me.
Apple Music lets you retain your current collection of digital music while giving you nearly complete access to their large and comprehensive library. For people who have been collecting purchased music for years, there is no need to worry about losing track of their thousands of bought songs. The “New” section also highlights hot and noteworthy new music that you can stream or add to your library with a tap, and search functionality of either Apple’s library or yours is snappy and smart. Apple boasts their Music service as a one-stop shop for listening, discovering, and connecting with artists, and it’s true—especially when it comes time to play that song you need to hear in this exact moment.
Another one of my favorite things about Apple Music is how fun it is to discover new music I’m looking to hear. If I feel like perusing a specific genre, I can select it from the menu in the New section. Hot tracks, new albums, and other featured music will appear. It’s easy to dig deep and explore more music through related content and playlists, and if I want to see what else is new I can use the “Connect” section to follow and enjoy the latest music and news from artists I already listen to. Twitter remains my go-to place for reading music news, but Apple’s push for connecting artists with their fans is brave considering many artists will likely be reluctant to post updates to yet another social platform. Connect still shines because of its bold concept, and it will be interesting to see how Apple, artists, and fans decide the feature’s fate.
The third and most unique aspect of Apple Music that other services fail to offer is expert music recommendations. Not only does Apple provide recommendations, curated new music and playlists, but they show written copy alongside the content that is highly accurate and insightful (similar to the iTunes Store but often more concise, and better). As someone who genuinely loves music, it is heartening to see that love reflected in the service through these touches of human care. An example from my experience when all of these aspects came together is when an Intro to Vampire Weekend playlist appeared in my “For You” section, with a description I deeply admired: “Anyone thinking literate, worldly indie pop would be a fad is sorely mistaken.” In the moment I read the playlist’s description in my feed, I felt like Apple Music understood my tastes and passion for music; it was cool because of the technological aspect, but also welcoming from the human touch of emotion, and it made me smile!
Apple Music editors have won my heart to the streaming service pic.twitter.com/NjpBirNTY4
— Ted Boyer (@tedboyer) July 22, 2015
My experience with Apple Music so far this summer has been overwhelmingly a positive one. I’m not one to say this is an out-of-the-box perfect service, in fact, I believe it has a long way to go before the mainstream will catch on to its brilliance. But the elements behind Apple’s big idea—a music service that gets you and your tastes, and also gets out of the way—are fabulous.