this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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“The new station will play a curated selection of songs based on what you’ve been listening to but haven’t heard before.”

Looks interesting. To me, Apple’s curated playlists have always been superior in quality to Spotify’s but they really don’t have as vas of a selection of curated playlists. Apple Music stations are often excellent, too, if you know how to crate them.

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It takes Apple forever to add obvious features like this but I’m glad they have. I’ll use it a lot.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Call me an Apple sheep, but they usually get it right when they finally get around to something.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

There are exceptions and I think Apple Music is one of them. They've been playing catch up with Spotify. I only have Apple Music because it's with the bundle of everything else.

Edit: grammar

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That’s interesting. I had Spotify for a couple years and absolutely hated it. Moving to Apple Music was a much more enjoyable experience for me.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I tried to like Apple Music but the compatibility Spotify has with all my various speakers around the house is in a whole other league compared to Apple Music. If all I had were apple speakers, I’d probably use it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ahhh, that makes sense. My google home and Alexa’s integrate with Apple Music so when I need to listen on one of those I can. But that’s rarely how I listen. I’m either in AirPods or using my desktop monitors. I feel like for my use cases Apple Music seems to have better sound quality.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I found much better playlists on Spotify and you could make shared lists with friends. Those were the two biggest things I is.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

They’re actually adding shared playlists in iOS 17.1 (finally). As for playlists, I think it’s just up to your own preference

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I’m not a playlist guy at all. All my friends tell me I’m lame and that it’s like a better version of the mixtape but to me a playlist has never been analogous to the mixtape or burned CD. With those formats you had quantifiable time limits so you had to be very selective about what went on them.

I’m an album purist at heart, I understand I’m in the massive minority but it is just who I am.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I personally like to switch music services every year or two when things start to feel stale

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Can’t argue with that. I used to do similar. I just found after moving to Apple Music from Amazon and Spotify that I haven’t wanted to leave. I’m not constantly bombarded with podcasts when I’m trying to listen to music (looking at you Spotify) and that’s been a big UX improvement for me. I might try Tidal again at some point but when I tried it initially it was a bit clunky.

[–] AttackPanda 2 points 1 year ago

Agree on this. I dropped Spotify after the Rogan fiasco and switched to Apple Music. It’s not as good but I refuse to go back to Spotify. I really hoped that Apple would have a great product but the interface isn’t great and experience has been less than great. Happy to hear they are finally putting some resources into improvements.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not this time. I have found about 3 new (to me) country songs I like and my discovery playlist is full of nothing but twangy country , which isn’t even the genre of the new songs I do like.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Did people forget about Pandora? That’s basically what Pandora was, at least back in my day. back creaks

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

yea, for those not paying attention ... the "enshitification" has been a slow development for a while now. There was a moment back circa 2010, before google stopped being "not evil" and when the iphone/smartphone was still new and web pages were capable of doing anything and problems could be solved with apps etc etc ... that tech just seemed "good" and to be doing "good", and there were reasons to think so. But good things have been falling away slowly for years and big things turning shit too.

[–] monad 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Has enshitification already reached “gaslighting” status where people just use it when it’s not appropriate?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

We don’t get that in the UK so it’s never really been an option for us unfortunately

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ok good, but I still lack some kind of "incognito" listening mode. Spotify doesn't have this either.

I listen to music I like and then I have other music on for "cover" och concentration, like bland non engaging things in the background to cover up other intrusive noise, like family or co-workers.

Having these to fairly opposite genres mixed together isn't a great experience when it comes to history or discovery functions.

Being able to easily exclude music/playlists would be great from these types of features.

And having another account isn't an option since we are maxed out of subscriptions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is an option in Settings to use the music history played on this device (whether phone, iPad, or AppleTV) which sounds like the kind of toggle you are looking for. The setting is on by default but you can turn it off temporarily when playing something you don’t want influencing your algorithm.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Awesome, a bit cumbersome to get to but seems to be the feature I need. Thanks!!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I miss human DJ's.

To be more specific, I miss the left-of-the-dial 11pm variety.

And Shoutcast-style radio with live DJ's. I still spin up a stream every now and then, but it's not the same as it used to be.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Apple music has a sort of halfway point in the form of Radio. Pre-recorded hour or two of actual radio

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This is great, thank you.

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[–] prwnr 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I used it today for 8 hours and damm, I must say that it is quite good. Definitely better than the "keep playing song when playlist ends" or the curated weekly lists. I had to skip songs only few times and I didn't mark ANY as "dislike", where I often that to do so few times in a row on the other options.

Perhaps a change in how I use Apple Music made this better, cause I learned from some comment here or on Reddit, that the algorithm acts better if songs are marked as love/dislike to tell it the taste, not like in Spotify where it just goes along the lists or what I listened to in the past.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I have been using endless shuffle for a few years now that keeps playing songs based upon what is being played.

I start a playlist and it keeps playing until I realise it might have gone a bit off track.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I thought this is what my weekly New Music Mix playlist was meant to do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It is. But this one will just go on forever. Not entirely sure what the point of having a station and a playlist is 🤷‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It would be great if they would give some love to the apple music preview app for windows 11. It is a source of constant frustration for me, with regular crashes, wild volume changes and overall sluggishness. Sadly it's only slightly better on macOS

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

About time!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I really want to like Apple Music more but I don't know why they don't allow you to follow radio shows like: https://music.apple.com/au/curator/beats-in-space-with-tim-sweeney/1573950910 and be notified of latest mixes? Unless I'm just missing something and the feature is already there?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem I have is that I have my Apple Music family account hooked up to my Alexa’s and Sonos so the kids can listen to whatever they want and I can play music through the Sonos using Alexa when I’m cooking and can’t use my hands.

Unfortunately this means that my favourites mix and any recommendations are tainted with the godawful noise my kids call music 😂

There really needs to be a way to link an Alexa or other device to a specific Apple Music family member.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

HomePods recognize your voice and switch accounts on the fly.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Will be interesting to see what it suggests I discover. Currently it thinks I’m really into dababy and maroon 5, which aren’t my taste at all.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Spotify added an AI DJ that usually works well, except for when it plays an artist I "used to listen to a lot but not so much recently" and then 5 Machine Gun Kelly songs come on. I've listened to him for about 30 seconds in total the 6 or so years I've had Spotify and it was only out of morbid curiosity when he released a "punk" album.

Though their discovery Playlist is on point for me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Sick, hope it works well

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I tried it today and liked it so far, only one skip. For the most part it was "adjacent" to things I've listened to, and brought in a couple of new offerings. I have been really into the "My Station" stuff since it basically plays me an array of the things I already love, but the "Discovery" mode is interesting and I'll probably use it here and there to add likes to the algorithm for better suggestions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a bit late, but hey I will take it still. I tend to have pretty bad luck with discovery apps as I have narrow musical tastes, but I will give it a shot for a while.

I have had the most luck with the custom Apple Music stations honestly, seems to have the best balance of songs I know and like with newer stuff in the same vein. I am not sure I would spend as much time on a playlist entirely composed of new things.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have narrow musical tastes

Tell me about it. So often ... I'm thinking to myself ... "sighs ... it's not about the genre ... it's about being good".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

There’s this song from a Dutch band that I like, but when I start a station with it, I just know it will misinterpret the reason why I like that particular song and inevitably it’ll start playing random songs by Dutch bands.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apple surely can see the complete catalog of The Who that I have in my library, including the vinyl albums that I've ripped. Not that the Music app could see it, but Apple could also see the eye-watering amounts of money we've spent on tickets to watch 75 year old men prance around on stage (via the tickets from the last three tours in Wallet).

So what's the first song played on this new Discovery station? "Who Are You?" by...wait for it...The Who. Whether you're a Who fan or not, is there anyone walking this planet over the age of 21 that hasn't heard that song?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most of the indie artists I listen to and YouTubers publishing covers are available in Spotify but not in Apple Music. Moreover, I need to log in to apple account in macOS (system wide account) instead of just music app (app account). This is a no-go for me

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I just checked on my iPhone and I see the discovery playlist, without logging into anything else though?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Right after a Spotify price increase, I just might give Apple Music another shot today!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

wait, this wasn't a thing already? I dont use apple products so Im not familiar. YT Music has had a discovery playlist for years at this point.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Apple Music already had a discovery playlist called New Music Mix that updated weekly. This new thing is a Discovery Station.

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