this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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Apple Music isn't the best streaming music service — it's just the least annoying::Competitors like Spotify and YouTube Music may be your first choice for music on Android, but you might want to reconsider

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Yah no. Apple's insistence on making everything a pain in the ass if you don't own an Apple device makes it a nonstarter, and YouTube Music just works.

My kids have iPads because they're both artists, but I'll be damned if they're getting any money from me for their craptacular - and yes, deeply annoying - music service. Hell, even setting up the iPads was annoying, because I don't have any Apple devices of my own, and family controls require them, even though there's no reason it couldn't be done on a website.

Fuck Apple.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Hade you tried setting up an Xbox without being a Microsoft user?

Fuck Microsoft.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago

What kind of illogical comment is that? First, you bring in Microsoft to a discussion it is not a part of; second, just because Microsoft does it wrong, it doesn't give Apple a license to do things the convoluted way too.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Apples and oranges. For all its faults (and there are lots), Microsoft doesn't require you to own a Microsoft phone or tablet in order to set up an XBox's parental controls. You can do it from a website with any device you want - including the Linux machines I use almost exclusively for computing.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Can you give me an example of where Apple requires you to have one of their devices to set up a different device? As far as I am aware this isn’t the case, and I believe that is actually illegal in the us.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You have to have a Mac or iOS device configured with a parent's account to set up shared apps and parental controls on iPads for kids. That's because there is no web interface to configure them.

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

That seems insane to me. Obviously using a parent account makes sense. I wonder if it’s just insanely difficult to find? I know I can change family settings on the website, but have no idea about parental controls. It seems like it’d be illegal to require a second device to set up the first device, no?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Believe me, if it existed, I would have found it. I spent hours searching, and basically all of Apple's documentation said you needed to go to your own Mac or iOS device to configure it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Yeah that’s insane to me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

If you want to register a laptop with the apple business manager you have to use the configurator mobile app, so not even having another apple pc is sufficient, to set up a mobile device you have to use the configurator desktop app.

https://support.apple.com/guide/apple-business-manager/add-devices-from-apple-configurator-axm200a54d59/web

[–] [email protected] -5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

“Ive never used this service. I don’t intend to use this service. Having never tried, I will assert that this service is hard to use. The web interface is basically the same as popular competitor Spotify, but I have decided this company in particular is the worst. All of the companies that demand my loyalty suck, but this one sucks more because I don’t use it. Google and android are great because Apple sucks.”

They all suck. Companies are inherently greedy and selfish. But don’t confidently say something untrue because you don’t like the company that makes something. If your only input is based on biased hate, maybe just let that one go. Give input on things you have experience with and enjoy. Idk why you think Apple Music is so hard and deeply annoying. The website works fine and seems pretty basic as shit to me.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Spotify does have a terrible interface though.

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

lol I won’t disagree with you here. And I’m not saying Apple Music has a good interface. Just that it’s no worse than Spotify or Amazon.

I’ve never used YouTube music, so I can’t say, but if it’s anything like YouTube, I’m sure I’d hate it too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I like YTM. The play button has never defaulted to random order, and it's all pretty logical.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've used Apple services. My kids have iPads. The parental controls and shared app library controls required for them was a pain in the ass to set up, because there is no web interface for it. You have to use the iOS or MacOS app store for certain steps.

I succeeded only because I managed to get a hold of an old, unused Mac from my work, which I could configure with my Apple account.

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

I can’t speak to parental controls, as I’ve not ever and hopefully will never set them up. That could be a completely valid point. I don’t know, and I wasn’t talking about that.

What I want to know is whether you’ve used Apple Music to come to the conclusion that it is craptacular and deeply annoying.

I’m not saying Apple doesn’t have some shitty services. I just think Apple Music isn’t one of them, and I’d like to know how you arrived to that conclusion.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Admittedly it's been a few years since I messed around specifically with Apple Music, but my recollection is that its recommendations were mediocre, it made playing a full album unreasonably complicated, and its playlist tab was horrible (at least on iOS).

If it's changed for the better, I'm sure there are plenty of genuine fans, but it lost me pretty permanently with the experience that was available around 2020 or so.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I use it because it came bundled with Apple one. I’ve found it to be really solid personally. I can’t speak to YouTube music as I haven’t used it, but Apple Music is just as good as Spotify and Amazon music in my personal experience.