Apple Music

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#1 Apple Music

Post by Cressy Snr »

Hmm...Interesting.
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#2 Re: Apple Music

Post by Cressy Snr »

Well.... I signed up for the free three month trial, and I must say, I'm very very impressed.
After iTunes had spent several hours last evening, uploading all my music library to iCloud, I woke this morning to a set of recommended music, that was frankly spot on aligned to my musical interests.
The thing must have analysed my music library and used this to recommend new stuff it thought I'd like.

There is a lot to explore and keep me busy for a long long time to come.
I usually spend around £30 - £40 a month on music from the iTunes store, so the £9.99 a month subscription fee will save me a great deal of dosh.

Sound quality is superb.
I'm aware of course that Apple is not breaking any new ground with the Apple Music service. I mean, Spotify, Deezer etc have been doing this for years, but I would have never considered streaming services before. Apple Music sort of presented me with a no-brainer really. I am part of the Apple ecosystem anyway, so it would have been silly in the extreme, not to have a at least tried A.M. out.

I can see where Greg was coming from with his enthusiasm for streaming music services.
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rowuk
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#3 Re: Apple Music

Post by rowuk »

Great! No reason to apologize. We know why we use Apple and why we have no need to evangelize........
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Greg
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#4 Re: Apple Music

Post by Greg »

Thanks Steve.

OK, I'm still experimenting with streamed music services and have not yet concluded the best options. a lot of it is down to the catalogue the services have to offer. Tidal is good for recent stuff but rubbish for something historical. Deezer is pretty good on contemporary music but their indexing is crap. Qobuz is OK for classical but there are issues with their search engine and anything contemporary has a heavy French bias which, being a French company is understandable.

I'm interested in the new Apple service. how comprehensive is their catalogue and at what resolution do they stream their service?
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#5 Re: Apple Music

Post by Cressy Snr »

Greg wrote:
I'm interested in the new Apple service. how comprehensive is their catalogue and at what resolution do they stream their service?
Well...
The catalogue is pretty comprehensive with over thirty million tracks (about the same as Spotify)
The streaming resolution is the same as the paid downloads ie 256Kb/S AAC, which is directly equivalent to 320Kb/S mp3 and to be honest, I can detect absolutely no difference between 256K AAC and CD resolution; none whatsoever.
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#6 Re: Apple Music

Post by Cressy Snr »

Really enjoying the Apple Music experience, particularly the playlists it creates.

For instance, I wouldn't call myself a rocker by any stretch of the imagination, but when the "For You" screen suggested Eric Clapton's early 70s project, Derek and the Dominoes "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" I thought I'd give it a try and was bowled over. Don't laugh; I have never heard the album apart from the obvious hit single from it.
I'm also, after a lot of years of not doing so, listening to full albums.
I've been listening to stuff by The Byrds, Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan's early acoustic work, Cat Stevens, Tom Petty, and basically enjoying stuff I would not normally consider. My main interests of R&B, blues, soul, funk and jazz, have also been throwing up some interesting stuff to listen to.

So I would recommend Apple Music, if you live in the Apple ecosystem, but FFS if you already have an iTunes Match account, don't opt to enable the iCloud Library, at least not at the moment anyway; there are some reports of your existing iTunes library's tags being being royally screwed up if you do.
I have had no problems whatever, but I have never used iTunes Match, so was unaffected.
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#7 Re: Apple Music

Post by mainscablesrus »

I hate apple, this is another load of nonsense, no mention of sound quality is there? At least Tidal state CD quality.

To existing Apple fans its a no brainer if you like i-tunes and crappy sound quality, I prefer TIDAL and Spotify.
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#8 Re: Apple Music

Post by Cressy Snr »

I don't give a monkeys fuck about sound quality these days.
Neither does my system. :wink:
Last edited by Cressy Snr on Sun Jul 05, 2015 5:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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#9 Re: Apple Music

Post by Paul Barker »

For the few seconds my Beresford DAC produced an output today (and then reverted to it's favourite position of producing no sound) it sounded great on iTunes.

I haven't subscribed to any streaming at this moment in time. Allowed my devices to update today so could get it if I decide to. I would follow your lead Steve and go with Apple in such a situation.

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Cressy Snr
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#10 Re: Apple Music

Post by Cressy Snr »

Well,
A week into the Apple Music experience, I'm loving it to bits.The "For You" part of the service has learned a lot about my musical tastes and is now presenting me with stuff I've never heard of before, that nevertheless, hits exactly the right note.
Also there need be no apologies about sound quality. It is first-rate.

I've discovered more new stuff over the past week than I've discovered over the past five years. Good job I'm on a 100Mb, unlimited data broadband plan with Virgin Media. :wink:

As an example, Apple Music has discovered my love of different kinds of latin and easy listening/lounge music and I am currently listening to a curated playlist called "Beach Lounge" that appeared today in my "for you" section. It is made up of tracks from artists as diverse as Jack Constanzo's Latin Fever Orchestra, Bert Kaempfert, Esquivel, The Meters, The Bar-Kays, The Beach Boys, Ferrante & Telcher, and excellent music by The Turtles, I've never come across before.

I'm also getting plenty of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jnr, Etta James, Anita O'Day, Sarah Vaughan, Julie London, plus loads of R&B Rock 'n Roll and soul. It's also putting Frank Zappa in front of me, and there is some of it that ain't half bad actually.
Sheik Yerbouti seems good album to me.

Not 'Arf ! :D
Think I'll be subscribing when the three month free trial ends.
I now get the reasons why people like Spotify, Deezer etc.
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pre65
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#11 Re: Apple Music

Post by pre65 »

So, can you keep any music you like ?
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Cressy Snr
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#12 Re: Apple Music

Post by Cressy Snr »

Well you can if you keep paying your subs.
Like any of the subscription services, stop paying and the music you were using stops working.
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pre65
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#13 Re: Apple Music

Post by pre65 »

SteveTheShadow wrote:Well you can if you keep paying your subs.
Like any of the subscription services, stop paying and the music you were using stops working.
Ooh,Err. So if you stop paying you have nothing but memories ?
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Cressy Snr
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#14 Re: Apple Music

Post by Cressy Snr »

Yep,
That's about the size of it.
You can still buy music off the iTunes store, if you really do want a particular album/song on a more permanent basis
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rowuk
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#15 Re: Apple Music

Post by rowuk »

It was only a matter of time before the uninformed started trashing Apple music/iTunes/Apple. As far as Tidal stating quality: since when was the resolution of the master a sign of anything? I can upsample 128kb MP3 to any other format. Tidal only gives us that number. Start taking a close look at your HD purchases. It is often sickening!

I think it is great that we have a choice and can make any personal decision based on anything that we believe/know. I guess we could complain about roads that have been built too, but at the end of the day we all follow the route that WE choose.

It is simply amazing how the music industry fell asleep on streaming and how little that they have to say about what is available and how.
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