Apple Music is reaching its milestones pretty soon and the company has all the reasons to be overwhelmed. Apple’s streaming service has officially passed the 10 million paid subscriber level. And what makes the fact special is the history that says that it took its rival Spotify six full years to reach there.
Though, this lead does not make Apple Music the better player. The numbers only tell one side of the story. The mechanism with which Apple Music works is different. The software is already baked in the entire software lineup and is available across all the lineages from iPhones to iPads to Mac computers. This gives Apple Music an extra edge over Spotify as the latter has to be downloaded and paid for separately.
Growing but there is scope for improvement
Apple Music was also available to millions of people through the already existing devices. In fact, when it was launched in June, it had more trial subscribers than the number of paid subscribers it has right now. The free trial is available for three months and Apple cunningly charges Apple Music’s $9.99 monthly fee once the free trial ends unless you opt out. There have been reports that Apple Music is riddled with bugs and a muddled interface.
Apple Music’s “For You” recommendation engine lacks behind when compared to Spotify. Spotify’s search is better and more crisp. The “Connect” feature helps you to get closer to the artists. But the glitch is it is just a half-baked version of iTunes. There were some important updates with Apple Music that helped to eliminate few highly annoying bugs but there is still so much to be fixed. At this very moment, all the reviewers will agree that Spotify Premium is the best music service you can buy right now. The price of the service is same as Apple Music and it has a slick user interface. It offers more than Apple Music and has a more crisp way of discovering music. It also has some unique features like Discover Weekly playlist. It offers every member an individualized playlist each Monday morning, thus, Musical Mondays that help you shun the blues.
Apple Music will have to maintain the mark
This does not mean that Apple Music is a bad music service. But when you compare it as a product offered by Apple, it is subpar. It is nowhere close to the perfection and lacks on functionality. There are some major changes that are required in the “For You” feature and it would be better if the company chucks the “Connect” feature completely. The “New” section also needs some crucial improvements.
Though it needs construction, it is unlikely that Apple will and this is a lesson Apple learnt after Apple Maps. Apple knows that it is not about how is the product rather it is about how many people are having it. This is the reason Apple Maps has three times more users than Google Maps on the iPhone right now. Apple Music might lack in features and is totally lagging behind but having a big subscription base of 10+ million ought to help Apple figure out which features to add, subtract and change over time.
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