Apple Music va fi lanasat astazi la ora 19:00 in lumea intreaga, insa pana atunci avem si primele review-uri pentru noul serviciu de streaming audio al companiei Apple, o serie de publicatii americane avand ocazia de a testa sistemul in prealabil.
Majoritatea dintre ei s-au dovedit a fi placut impresionati de ceea ce a reusit sa creeze compania Apple si au declarat ca ar fi dispusi sa cumpere Apple Music dupa lansarea oficiala, insa unii au declarat ca interfata de utilizator pentru sistem s-a dovedit a fi putin prea complicata.
In ciuda acestui lucru, Apple Music este vazut de catre multi ca un adevarat inlocuitor pentru Spotify, sau Rdio, principalii competitori ai companiei Apple, iar avand in vedere preturile pentru care sunt oferite aceste servicii, nu este greu de crezut ca ele vor fi afectate.
Re/Code
My first impression of Apple Music is that it’s the most full-featured streaming music app I’ve seen — and heard — and the first I’d consider paying for. But it may overwhelm some users, and I’ll need to live with it more before I can reach final conclusions.
USA Today
As anyone following music knows by now, the pop superstar recently took on Apple via Twitter over a royalty payments issue surrounding the company’s nascent music service, which is available to the public Tuesday. Apple swiftly surrendered.
“I’m a big part of that and Tim (Cook) is a big part of that and we did it together,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, told me in an interview. “For us this was a really simple call. We did something we thought was compensating them, artists didn’t feel that way, and we could address it. Why wait? Luckily I work at a company where Tim and myself could make it happen very quickly.”
Beats co-founder and Apple executive Jimmy Iovine adds, “I had floor seats for this one. It was extraordinary what Eddy and Tim Cook did. We got up in the morning and I talked to Eddy. How these guys move in a company of this size, and to understand the nuance of what is going on with an artist and an industry, to get that, was nothing short of mind-blowing to me.”
Much of the Apple Music experience really is Beats Music. And this is a good thing. I always thought Beats had the best discovery mechanism of the streaming services. With live radio, human curated playlists and access to your iTunes purchase history, I’m really liking Apple Music.
Will it replace Spotify for diehard subscribers? That’s a more complicated question — and one I plan to address in Mashable‘s full review.
For now, however, the For Me section alone has made me excited about music for the first time in a long time. And that’s a good thing.
The first thing you’re asked to do when booting up Apple Music is pick your favorite genres — courtesy of some pink floating bubbles. You can tap once if you “Like” a genre — twice if you LOVE a genre.
This took me quite a while, as I can find reasons to like pretty much anything (I mean, I like reggae-inspired older-school punk, but not so much REGGAE — and I could take or leave modern reggae-inspired tunes).
I settled on LOVING indie, oldies, classic rock, rock, pop, alternative (because, you know, guitars) — which took me to the NEXT stage, where I was asked to then pick artists in those genres. I was “hmmm”ing all over the place at this point and — when the app suggested the Monkees — feeling super reminiscent for my youth and my childhood crush on Micky Dolenz. I also picked some artists like FKA twigs and Tame Impala, a.k.a. bands you have probably heard of.
I’m damned impressed. Apple Music is a quality service, with the right mix of human curation and algorithms to help users figure out exactly what they want to hear.
I can only imagine that the service will only get better from here. The more I use it, like/dislike songs, the better it will know me.
I was interacting with Apple Music the entire time I was writing this and the radio station I started listening to improved quite a bit in those hours. I’m not skipping songs, instead I have a steady diet of Slash, Godsmack, Led Zeppelin, and Metallica. It’s hard to beat that.
While other streaming services didn’t worry much about Apple in the past, Apple Music will get their attention. In fact, it’s going to grab everyone’s attention.
Rolling Stone
The Verdict: With its vast selection of music and smartly curated playlists and radio, Apple Music is robust enough to compete with, and possibly supplant, Spotify and Pandora as the go-to service for music fans. At the same time, users will need to play around with it a bit and dig to move past some of the less immediately intuitive facets (i.e., just how deep the “New” tab goes) for it to hook them.
The app’s sure thing will most likely be its Beats 1 radio with its unique input from artists. But Apple will need to work the most on “Connect,” which ought to premiere some exclusive content from big artists early.
Ultimately, Apple Music offers well-designed interpretations of the best of its competitors, availability on millions of people’s phones and premium features that will be offered at the same price as its competitors. The service makes for a welcome addition to the streaming-music landscape.
