Apple Music assistance please

Cafe Society
1

I am in the process of switching from Spotify to Apple Music. I was able to transfer my playlists successfully, and I think I am ready to live with Apple, but I am frustrated with a couple of things. Maybe I am just overlooking something.

Note that everything I am referencing is in relation to accessing Apple thorough my laptop, not my phone.

Spotify has, I believe, software that I download to my PC. Apple is a website that I go to to manage my music.

My main frustration is that I cannot seem to manage my Apple music from my laptop. In Spotify I can browse, select a playlist or song, and tell it to play on my Echo devices. Within the Apple site, it seems that I can only play my selection on my laptop.

Note that I can play my Apple content on Echo by giving a verbal “Alexa” command. But I would much rather control the music in my home from my laptop.

Am I missing something, or is this not possible with Apple?

And don’t get me started on Apple’s inability to sort music.

Thanks!

mmm

2

No, Apple Music is much better done through applications. The website is slow and annoying. On MacOS there is an Apple Music app. On Windows there is iTunes (which is also slow and annoying).

Unless you have iOS devices and a Mac laptop, that’s the limitation of Apple Music.

Spotify has Spotify Connect, where you can tell it to play on any other connected device from another and pick it up or control it from other connected devices. It’s one of Spotify’s greatest features. No other music service has this.

3

I thought iTunes was going the way of the Dodo?

Damn, I might have to do without Neil and Joni. Not an easy sacrifice for me. The Spotify interface, while not perfect, beats the hell out of the Apple Music one.

mmm

4

It’s been going the way of the dodo for like 3 years on Windows. As you can imagine, Apple’s development for Windows is waaaay down their list.

5

Use iTunes on a Windows machine. If you think that Apple writes good software, iTunes on Windows will disabuse you of that notion. But it can manage play lists much better than Apple Music on an iPhone.

6

Heck the Apple Music app on MacOS is terrible. Though I’ve heard since MacOS 12.2, they’ve actually fixed the issues with it. I have yet to check.

7

I was baffled that you cannot even sort your playlist within Apple Music. So, if I have a 700-song playlist and I want to determine if “Muskrat Love” is on it, I guess I have to scroll through all 700 songs looking for it.

Also, if I instead just search for “Muskrat Love”, then click to add it to the playlist, Apple Music does not (I don’t think) notify me that it is already there, as Spotify does.

mmm

8

So, which music service will do the best job of protecting me from ever hearing “Muskrat Love”? :beaver:

I’m old school, I rip CDs or vinyl (gotta preserve those scratches, young’uns!), or download music, and it’s all in Vintage iTunes on a Vintage Mac. And I love it.

Everything’s in manually-manipulated playlists, and I can move things around or delete or “Sort By ___” easily.
It WILL tell me “Do you want to add the same song to your ‘Oldies’ playlist?” (“Reeeally? Now be honest, you just forgot it was in there, that’s all right…”)

9

That’s how I do it. The output goes into the main stereo (or as we used to call it, “Hi-Fi”). I can play anything at any time, in any order, and I can access it from my phone if I am too lazy to walk over. I got my Neil, my Joni, CSN, whoever.
’
Including Muskrat Love. :slight_smile:

10

OK, I’m leaning toward keeping Spotify. Apple Music is free for the first 3 months so I have plenty of time to ponder this.

I have a good sized chunk of Neil Young’s music on CD. I’ll have to investigate adding those to Spotify. Joni and Crosby, Stills, and Nash as well.

If Dylan ever jumps ship I’ll be a man in turmoil.

mmm

ETA: I feel it necessary to mention that I loathe Muskrat Love, and my only reason for searching for it would be to ensure that it is nowhere near any playlist of mine.

11

I’ve been using iTunes on a Mac and iPhone ever since it came out. It was never very good and it gets worse with every so called update.

Apple is not very good at software design, but they are good at creating an eco-system that locks you in and keeps competitors out.

12

I would say that if you have a Windows computer and you plan to use it for music listening and curation, that Spotify is better than Apple Music in terms of usability.

Moral reasons can tip the scales of course (whether it’s hiring a racist anti-vaxxer or paying artists more per stream).

I have Apple Music for a very simple reason - it’s thrown in with no added cost with my Verizon cell phone plan.

I will note there is also Tidal (which actually pays artists more per stream than Apple, but which charges you extra for lossless - edit: It appears that lossless is now on their regular $9.99 plan, but for HiFi Plus, which includes Atmos and Master quality which isn’t all that is their $19.99 plan).