As someone who is 90% full-on invested in the Apple ecosphere (phone, watch, tablets, AppleTVs, growing smart Home with smart devices, all computers are macOS and have subscriptions to some of their services... but use Dropbox in favour of iCloud, Amazon Prime in favour of AppleTV, etc... hence not 100%)
...and also as someone who is trapped in a mishmash hellscape blend of Sonos and Apple speakers, I'm really interested in ... and really confused by this post.
(I totally get all the points you're making about not switching and not doing things better and being wedded to a music library. I have also posted similar sort of ramblings about the importance of digital music libraries in the past... https://www.matt-thornton.net/general/i-finally-moved-my-music-library-to-a-nas/... the point being that if I only ever stream then I tend to 'lose' new music I've found, it comes and go and never seems to stick, and that is disastrous.)
The reason I've never fully cut over to Apple music is I think what you're describing above - the fact there is no way to run a centralised music library in Apple music without having a computer active all the time. Like if I want music on in the kitchen in the morning, I don't want to have to wake up my laptop/computer first. This is why Sonos works well, because although my music library is controlled my Music on macOS on one my computers... the media itself is on a NAS, so Sonos can index it, and I can access it anytime without having to have a computer on.
(This does mean things like playcounts and recommendations etc. don't work so well but hey ho.)
(I also have very strong feelings about what Sonos has become over the last few years and I am not investing in any more of their stuff. But for now, their kit is still better than Apple's.)
So the fact the Watch used to have control over a physical macOS Music app is news... didn't even know there was one which has now been taken away. The thought of basic controls on it seem OK, but the thought of trying to find / start a new playlist or album etc. sounds janky as all hell? I've switched to Siri now which means I can usually instruct 'play <x> album in <y> location' and this works pretty well.
The confusing bit tho - the FLACs/MP3s in your digital library - are they not available on the streaming service(s)? Does Apple music not do an Amazon equivalent of a mirrored library - i.e., any music that you've bought legitimately e.g., as a CD - would then usually mean you have a digital copy of it as well which you can stream?
I don't think it's unfair to say that your specific use case is likely to be in the minority of all use cases. And I would imagine for the mostpart, the people who insist on maintaining high quality digital (or even physical) music libraries are unlikely to be doing that on consumer grade / mass market gear such as Apple or Sonos.
Appreciate the comment, Matt! Very interesting to read.
So, I basically have my entire music library on my phone, my computer, and a NAS drive. Because my laptop often stays in either one of two places (the study or the front room) I tend to drive most of my listening from there, and can easily make more specific choices on my phone, rather than my watch — which is more for altering volume and changing tracks. Or was, I should say.
In the moments when I don't want use my computer, as all the music is downloaded to my phone, I can play it from there.
Generally, I'm not a fan of streaming services. I prefer to have my music owned and under my control. The idea of an artist deciding they don't want their music on Spotify, like Neil Young did, is something I have no desire to be impacted by. I don't have much of a desire to build a mirrored library, something I know I could do with Apple Music, because my current setup works for me.
I subscribe to Spotify and YouTube, which enables me to play background music while I work, and discover new artists, without acquiring it blind.
Regarding Apple, I know for sure that I'm a niche use case, but my issue isn't so much that I'm not being catered for (I could write a thesis on how the Apple Music macOS app fails as a media player), it's that a feature I used regularly was actively removed. There's little chance that Apple will suddenly start designing its apps for people who still own their digital music, but all I ask is they maintain their current software in a usable state. Getting rid of features for little if no discernable reason is not something I find acceptable in this age. But, of course, what am I gonna do? Write a little piece about it?
As someone who is 90% full-on invested in the Apple ecosphere (phone, watch, tablets, AppleTVs, growing smart Home with smart devices, all computers are macOS and have subscriptions to some of their services... but use Dropbox in favour of iCloud, Amazon Prime in favour of AppleTV, etc... hence not 100%)
...and also as someone who is trapped in a mishmash hellscape blend of Sonos and Apple speakers, I'm really interested in ... and really confused by this post.
(I totally get all the points you're making about not switching and not doing things better and being wedded to a music library. I have also posted similar sort of ramblings about the importance of digital music libraries in the past... https://www.matt-thornton.net/general/i-finally-moved-my-music-library-to-a-nas/... the point being that if I only ever stream then I tend to 'lose' new music I've found, it comes and go and never seems to stick, and that is disastrous.)
The reason I've never fully cut over to Apple music is I think what you're describing above - the fact there is no way to run a centralised music library in Apple music without having a computer active all the time. Like if I want music on in the kitchen in the morning, I don't want to have to wake up my laptop/computer first. This is why Sonos works well, because although my music library is controlled my Music on macOS on one my computers... the media itself is on a NAS, so Sonos can index it, and I can access it anytime without having to have a computer on.
(This does mean things like playcounts and recommendations etc. don't work so well but hey ho.)
(I also have very strong feelings about what Sonos has become over the last few years and I am not investing in any more of their stuff. But for now, their kit is still better than Apple's.)
So the fact the Watch used to have control over a physical macOS Music app is news... didn't even know there was one which has now been taken away. The thought of basic controls on it seem OK, but the thought of trying to find / start a new playlist or album etc. sounds janky as all hell? I've switched to Siri now which means I can usually instruct 'play <x> album in <y> location' and this works pretty well.
The confusing bit tho - the FLACs/MP3s in your digital library - are they not available on the streaming service(s)? Does Apple music not do an Amazon equivalent of a mirrored library - i.e., any music that you've bought legitimately e.g., as a CD - would then usually mean you have a digital copy of it as well which you can stream?
I don't think it's unfair to say that your specific use case is likely to be in the minority of all use cases. And I would imagine for the mostpart, the people who insist on maintaining high quality digital (or even physical) music libraries are unlikely to be doing that on consumer grade / mass market gear such as Apple or Sonos.
Appreciate the comment, Matt! Very interesting to read.
So, I basically have my entire music library on my phone, my computer, and a NAS drive. Because my laptop often stays in either one of two places (the study or the front room) I tend to drive most of my listening from there, and can easily make more specific choices on my phone, rather than my watch — which is more for altering volume and changing tracks. Or was, I should say.
In the moments when I don't want use my computer, as all the music is downloaded to my phone, I can play it from there.
Generally, I'm not a fan of streaming services. I prefer to have my music owned and under my control. The idea of an artist deciding they don't want their music on Spotify, like Neil Young did, is something I have no desire to be impacted by. I don't have much of a desire to build a mirrored library, something I know I could do with Apple Music, because my current setup works for me.
I subscribe to Spotify and YouTube, which enables me to play background music while I work, and discover new artists, without acquiring it blind.
Regarding Apple, I know for sure that I'm a niche use case, but my issue isn't so much that I'm not being catered for (I could write a thesis on how the Apple Music macOS app fails as a media player), it's that a feature I used regularly was actively removed. There's little chance that Apple will suddenly start designing its apps for people who still own their digital music, but all I ask is they maintain their current software in a usable state. Getting rid of features for little if no discernable reason is not something I find acceptable in this age. But, of course, what am I gonna do? Write a little piece about it?