Apple Imusic menu system BLOWS!

[Tremonti]

The desktop and the iphone and ipad apps are dismal at best IMO. If Apple did not sonically have better sound than Spotify, I would switch. I just think the lack of effort is apparent and over many many many years.

 

[sprint]

I get along fine with it - what's the problem specifically?

 

[weird guitar person]

iTunes peaked in usability for musicians ages ago. It’s consistently devolved over time, and if you have to ask the question, you’ve likely not followed its painful demise into the rebranded mess it is now.

 

[sprint]

iTunes peaked in usability for musicians ages ago

The OP only specifically refers to the apps not necessarily its usability for musicians

and if you have to ask the question, you’ve likely not followed its painful demise into the rebranded mess it is now.

lol - okidoke, well I guess no enlightenment for those not in the know shall be found here. I'll have to just remain skeptical in my ignorance.

 

[Sixstring]

It does have it's issues! I liked the old version of itunes better. I don't understand why people feel the need to change something that doesn't have a problem.

 

[Patzag]

I've looked for alternatives but there's been a weird degeneration of the whole industry since about IOS 7 or 8. The whole thing is geared towards marketing rather than listening so it's hard to even find your own library sometimes. And the writing is tiny and misleading. Terrible.

 

[Sixstring]

Aren't there music sites or services that stream .wav files where they don't clip the songs down? I downloaded Green Eyed Lady from iTunes and it was all cut up, that pissed me off.

 

[weird guitar person]

iTunes used to be a multi-window app, great for organizing thousands of personally ripped albums without worry. Then for example, they changed the taper on the volume pot to not go to zero. Etc., etc., etc. Years later files and meta data lost due to poor programming. If anyone has come up with an ideal alternative that migrates and syncs seamlessly, let us know?

 

[RevDrucifer]

Is this one of those UI things I just don’t get?

I’ve been using Apple Music for around a decade, occasionally they’ll move the search button or something and my muscle memory needs re-training, but outside of that I never have a problem finding what I’m looking for. The only real gripe I have, which I’m not even sure is an Apple issue, is almost every album that’s a remaster has varying track volumes on the same album. I was listening to a Lamb Of God album the other day and when the next song came on I almost blew my ears out.

 

[weird guitar person]

Is this one of those UI things I just don’t get?

I’ve been using Apple Music for around a decade, occasionally they’ll move the search button or something and my muscle memory needs re-training, but outside of that I never have a problem finding what I’m looking for. The only real gripe I have, which I’m not even sure is an Apple issue, is almost every album that’s a remaster has varying track volumes on the same album. I was listening to a Lamb Of God album the other day and when the next song came on I almost blew my ears out.

Lots to say about the possibilities but make sure you have Sound Check loudness normalization turned on or any loudness war victimized album is liable to do this.

 

[strabes]

Spotify’s max bitrate is 320kbps AAC which should be indistinguishable from lossless. Here’s an ABX test with various encoding bitrates to test if you can hear the difference between them and lossless: https://abx.digitalfeed.net/list.html

 

[Tremonti]

Spotify’s max bitrate is 320kbps AAC which should be indistinguishable from lossless. Here’s an ABX test with various encoding bitrates to test if you can hear the difference between them and lossless: https://abx.digitalfeed.net/list.html

I have listened to both side by side. Apple is clearly better sounding. IMO and many others

 

[strabes]

I have listened to both side by side. Apple is clearly better sounding. IMO and many others

Then you should have no problem passing the ABX test

 

[Tremonti]

Then you should have no problem passing the ABX test.

Not puffing chest. Just saying last time I listened to the same song on both formats, Apple sounded better. Take that for what it is worth....

 

[strabes]

Not puffing chest. Just saying last time I listened to the same song on both formats, Apple sounded better. Take that for what it is worth....

And I provided a way for you to objectively test if your perception is due to differences in encoding quality or something else.

Are you certain you had Spotify set to the maximum quality?

 

[Tremonti]

And I provided a way for you to objectively test if your perception is due to differences in encoding quality or something else.

Are you certain you had Spotify set to the maximum quality?

I did and this was a couple years ago. Maybe things are equal now???

 

[bleujazz3]

Does the OP have any suggestions as to how to improve the apps, or is this just a case of complaining about something wrong? If the former, please state them. If the latter, how does complaining help the OP personally?

Personally, I'm all for this:

 

[skolacki]

I did and this was a couple years ago. Maybe things are equal now???

Spotify will do 320kbps for both streaming and downloads. Sounds good to me.

 

[Dave Merrill]

Spotify will do 320kbps for both streaming and downloads. Sounds good to me.

I can't find any quality settings in the Spotify Android app. Am I being dumb, or does it just do the best quality it can, nothing to set?

 

[skolacki]

I can't find any quality settings in the Spotify Android app. Am I being dumb, or does it just do the best quality it can, nothing to set?

Don’t know. I run it on a PC and an iPhone. I would think the android would have it. I have a paid subscription, maybe that’s why.