Buy this book. IMMEDIATELY!
"Television Is the New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of Old Media In the Digital Age": http://amzn.to/1f95jtf
The first thing I do every morning is check the headlines in the "New York Times" app, to see if the world blew up. I'd like to check the "Wall Street Journal" app but its functionality is essentially zero, it won't update. What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where America's number one business news source can't distribute its own information? One in which everybody's clueless as to what's really going on.
It started with "The Long Tail," Chris Anderson's book giving hope to all the nobodies that the internet would save them, would finally grant them recognition and an income. Meanwhile, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have been completely ignored.
We were told the internet was gonna eat everything that came before, positively decimate it. What happened to music and then news would chomp up every industry as Google and Facebook got richer, as we all listened to the proclamations of Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page.
But this isn't true.
Monday I was immediately hooked by a "New York Times" opinion piece entitled "How Television Won The Internet": http://nyti.ms/1GI5rFR Read it. You can even click away from my diatribe, I'm cool with that. Michael Wolff's piece delineates what's going on now. But nobody wants to listen.
Everybody wants to believe we're in the midst of a revolution. But maybe we're not! Maybe the prognosticators are invested in the new digital sphere or are truly clueless. Because the reality is the internet has become a vast wasteland of linkbait. Even worse, it does not pay. That's right, internet advertising rates keep going down, so your only hope is to grow your audience, by making ever blander trainwreck content. It's a fool's errand, a death spiral, and we're in the process of tuning out. Think about it, how many times have you seen the same linkbait about celebrities? But it's even worse, the ads on this stuff don't pay dividends, so companies want to cough up even less for it.
But everybody's paying for television.
Not network. Network was kinda like today's web. Made for everybody, resonating with nobody, beholden to advertisers. At least before Les Moonves got involved, Les made the cable companies pay for carriage.
Herein this book you have explained the history of cable television as well as the history of the internet. But nobody wants to know it. Because that would mean the world isn't full of opportunity, that you can't topple established parties with the click of a mouse. Turns out those who know how to make longform content that soothes and titillates us, that draws us to it, win in the end. The digital content online is just a sideshow.
Kind of like YouTube. Which now wants to be television. They've been telling us this for years. First investing in those who don't know how to make it, losing millions in the process. Now wanting to be involved with the usual suspects. Like Netflix, which produced "House Of Cards" and "Orange Is The New Black" and...
Netflix is just another cable outlet. An HBO that is streamed. Only the delivery method is new. The rest is basic television.
And you wonder why everybody is getting into production. Because that's where the eyeballs are, that's where all the money is.
This book has gotten absolutely no traction because it was written by Michael Wolff. The internet entrepreneur turned advertising guru who left his wife for a young whippersnapper and is hated by everybody. Wolff might have gotten this article in the "Times," he must know someone, he must be owed a favor, but there's been a veritable blackout on his treatise.
I was astounded to find out the book was ALREADY OUT!
That's right, I went directly to Amazon after reading the "Times" piece, once I saw it was written by Wolff knowing there must be a book involved, but in today's world the hype comes weeks before release. You're aware if you care. But not with Wolff's book. At this late date, almost two weeks after publication, the book has TWO REVIEWS on Amazon! That's like getting your record played on your kid's internet radio station, worse.
You see life is about clubs. And Wolff ain't in it. Neither were Zuckerberg or Page, but they are now. They give away money the way the old wave philanthropists tell them, they stow the hoodie, they show up at charity events, and they slowly realize they've got to have television. Have you noticed the Facebook leaks about video streaming this week?
But even worse, the more you're in the club, the more myopic you become. That's the problem with Apple, it was an enterprise that thought different, run by a renegade who was hard to get along with at best. Tim Cook is warm and fuzzy. Jimmy Iovine is the poster boy for the club. Hell, Apple Music is made for the music industry, not Apple or consumers!
So all innovation comes from renegades. And cable TV was built by renegades. And now its inheritors are reaping the benefit.
Don't think about cable systems. They're gonna be fine, they're the internet pipe so they're protected.
Don't think basic cable airing the detritus of networks, although there is money in that, for the producers, especially if the series are hits. But the truth is this content has now moved to the web too. "Seinfeld" on Hulu is no different from "Seinfeld" on basic cable. The TV producers have just found another place to sell and distribute their content!
"Seinfeld" is mass.
"Breaking Bad" is not. But it turns out the future is in niche. I'm not talking tiny niche, like electronic klezmer, I'm just saying by having edges you appeal to an upscale core that appreciates the effort and is willing to pay for it. Teens go to the movies, oldsters stay at home and experience their subscriptions.
Wolff's book is not a simple read. He tries to go Gladwell but fails. He injects some real life stories but they're too short and he goes on theorizing. But the content is unreal! Wolff is saying everything you know but cannot put a finger on, that you think no one is paying attention to.
Yes, the internet has become a vast wasteland.
Yes, the internet is a vast sea of political correctness where you must be fearful of faux pas.
Yes, scripted entertainment is fulfilling, the entertainment paragon of our day.
Everybody in entertainment should read this book.
No, everybody in DIGITAL MEDIA should read this book!
We've been sold a bill of goods. Remember the dot com era? When everybody was gonna get rich and recessions were a thing of the past?
Well the truth is these internet behemoths are not as revolutionary as you think. Even Apple wants in on TV. Although the producers are wary of ceding territory.
We live in a land of television.
Which is really about story.
Which is really about life.
And that's what we want.
________________________________________
Some quotes:
"And that, to a great extent, helps answer that inexplicable and frustrating question for digital people as to why television advertising hasn't followed the American audience to its digital destinations - digital has defined itself as lower-end junk."
"Digital media wasn't stealing television's business; it was entering it."
"An analyst at the investment bank RBC Capital Markets, David Bank, summed up the dynamic and Google's quandary in late 2014: an entire week of YouTube is roughly as valuable to major advertisers as a single, first-run episode of 'The Big Bang Theory.'"
"What seemed clear is that the future of YouTube was not YouTube. It was the established video marketplace."
"As the value of amateur video sinks, the hope at YouTube, and now, too, at Facebook, is in 'premium video.'"
"Facebook might now still exist in something of an independent world of its own making, but in a world of exclusivity and of ultimate premium content, leverage is at best divided between producer and and distributor, between buyer and seller, and invariably tipping toward the hit maker."
"And sports is money - pure and simple, brute and blatant. The appeal of technology is that you don't need money; you're offering efficiency and innovation, and profound changes in behavior. Sports goes to the highest bidder."
"Information and entertainment (i.e., content) had to be cheaper, it had to be more plentiful (i.e., more space and time to fill), and, seeking ever more traffic, it had to appeal to a wider and wider audience.
The methods almost everywhere were aggregation, a modest repurposing of the same material from site to site, user-generated content, a kind of democratized or amateur - and cost free - approach to information and entertainment (similar to one's sister playing the piano for houseguests in the 1920s), and bulk production, from the truly cynical and valueless, to the recruitment of lots of young people to do the best and fastest they possibly could (at the cheapest price), to the goofiest kind of mass sensibility (the cat videos and much other viral pulp), which would become the main drivers of social media.
It was in this that digital media (or all but the most specialized part of it) became the new wasteland."
"A moralistic intensity consumes the Internet, lynch mobs pursuing all sorts of political correctness and constant challenges to ideological purity and unrighteous behavior and thought standards and new family values. While television elevates exactly the opposite life view. Its heroes are flawed men and women."
"Digital media prosecuted all manner of isms and language and thought deviations, constantly trying to expose the hidden malefactors, while television was celebrating, and profiting from, the expansive view that human nature was complex, perverse, ever secretive, and never what it seemed."
"The peculiar development, full of dramatic irony, is that television, with its more circumscribed audiences making much more active selection and choice, becomes upscale media, and digital, with its mass reach and reflexive actions, becomes the downscale side."
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Friday, 3 July 2015
Thursday, 2 July 2015
Apple Music-Day Three
1. It's about the money.
Never lose sight of this. Apple Music will only be a success if ninety days in, a great proportion of those kicking the tires pay to subscribe. And this is doubtful. Because most people are cheap and the only way you can compete with free is to provide a service you can't get elsewhere, that is so good people clamor to pay for it. As long as music is free on YouTube, as long as Spotify has a free tier, Apple Music is screwed.
2. All the buzz is about the radio station.
Conversation is about Beats 1, not the on demand streaming service. And this is death for Apple, because Beats 1 may be good for the music industry, it might break records, but it does not generate cash, it does not help Apple's bottom line. And if you don't think that's all Apple cares about, you've never sat in on an earnings call, you've never been the victim of a Carl Icahn or Daniel Loeb attack.
3. No explanation.
We had a WWDC introduction, but no advertising campaign illustrating what Apple Music is and why we need it. To assume the public knows is to assume they're aware you can synch tracks to the handset such that no cellular bandwidth costs are involved. Most of the public still doesn't know what on demand streaming is. It's dubious whether most of the PRESS knows what on demand streaming is. In the wake of the Apple Music launch, numerous publications have posited the question whether the public needs streaming music, each and every one of these has included Pandora as an option. Yes, you stream Pandora, but Pandora is like the school cafeteria whereas on demand streaming is like a grocery store. Everybody hates the cafeteria, you get limited choice at best and then endless repeats, whereas the supermarket lets you purchase whatever you want. Furthermore, in music, you don't have to cook it! But you do have to find it.
4. No online tutorial.
You're on your own, even though you're paying. What is this, video games?
That's right, video games come with no instructions, no manual, you're supposed to figure it out by yourself. Many do, a lot don't. Which is why video games have a wall around them, you're either a gamer or you're not. And profits have been hurt by the move to mobile gaming, which is not only cheaper, but usually less complicated. Apple Music is a maze you can't get out of, that most people don't want to get into!
5. Wrong target.
The scuttlebutt is whether Apple will beat Spotify. That's like asking if the Brewers will beat the Rockies. Only the hardest core will care. So far the story is too inside baseball. Those not already paying attention won't.
6. Steep learning curve.
If you can use all the elements of Apple Music, you work there.
7. Lack of functionality.
You can't import Spotify playlists, even though Spotify allowed you to import your iTunes library upon launch. You've got to take a big tent approach, you've got to satiate the talkers.
Apple Music will win or lose on buzz.
Wait a second, as I established above, it can't win, it's gonna close everybody out of their free account after ninety days, what a disaster. But to the degree it wants traction it's got to get everybody talking about Apple Music, the on demand streaming service, the one people pay for. Hell, the company can't even leverage the artists! There's no "I Want My Apple Music" campaign. And, Beats 1 is too cliquey, a club that not only most people feel left out of, but most acts. If you didn't get an invitation to host a show are you really gonna talk up the service? Fans respond most to acts, but they're beholden to their wallets.
So we've got a worldwide radio station, whoopee! As one online commentator wrote, isn't that what internet radio is, haven't we had that for eons? The only difference is we're supposed to believe in Zane Lowe, and most people have never heard of the dude until just recently.
We live in a customizable world. Apple Music on demand streaming allows this. But it's not so easy to use and the company is mum on how to use it.
Is this any way to run a business?
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Never lose sight of this. Apple Music will only be a success if ninety days in, a great proportion of those kicking the tires pay to subscribe. And this is doubtful. Because most people are cheap and the only way you can compete with free is to provide a service you can't get elsewhere, that is so good people clamor to pay for it. As long as music is free on YouTube, as long as Spotify has a free tier, Apple Music is screwed.
2. All the buzz is about the radio station.
Conversation is about Beats 1, not the on demand streaming service. And this is death for Apple, because Beats 1 may be good for the music industry, it might break records, but it does not generate cash, it does not help Apple's bottom line. And if you don't think that's all Apple cares about, you've never sat in on an earnings call, you've never been the victim of a Carl Icahn or Daniel Loeb attack.
3. No explanation.
We had a WWDC introduction, but no advertising campaign illustrating what Apple Music is and why we need it. To assume the public knows is to assume they're aware you can synch tracks to the handset such that no cellular bandwidth costs are involved. Most of the public still doesn't know what on demand streaming is. It's dubious whether most of the PRESS knows what on demand streaming is. In the wake of the Apple Music launch, numerous publications have posited the question whether the public needs streaming music, each and every one of these has included Pandora as an option. Yes, you stream Pandora, but Pandora is like the school cafeteria whereas on demand streaming is like a grocery store. Everybody hates the cafeteria, you get limited choice at best and then endless repeats, whereas the supermarket lets you purchase whatever you want. Furthermore, in music, you don't have to cook it! But you do have to find it.
4. No online tutorial.
You're on your own, even though you're paying. What is this, video games?
That's right, video games come with no instructions, no manual, you're supposed to figure it out by yourself. Many do, a lot don't. Which is why video games have a wall around them, you're either a gamer or you're not. And profits have been hurt by the move to mobile gaming, which is not only cheaper, but usually less complicated. Apple Music is a maze you can't get out of, that most people don't want to get into!
5. Wrong target.
The scuttlebutt is whether Apple will beat Spotify. That's like asking if the Brewers will beat the Rockies. Only the hardest core will care. So far the story is too inside baseball. Those not already paying attention won't.
6. Steep learning curve.
If you can use all the elements of Apple Music, you work there.
7. Lack of functionality.
You can't import Spotify playlists, even though Spotify allowed you to import your iTunes library upon launch. You've got to take a big tent approach, you've got to satiate the talkers.
Apple Music will win or lose on buzz.
Wait a second, as I established above, it can't win, it's gonna close everybody out of their free account after ninety days, what a disaster. But to the degree it wants traction it's got to get everybody talking about Apple Music, the on demand streaming service, the one people pay for. Hell, the company can't even leverage the artists! There's no "I Want My Apple Music" campaign. And, Beats 1 is too cliquey, a club that not only most people feel left out of, but most acts. If you didn't get an invitation to host a show are you really gonna talk up the service? Fans respond most to acts, but they're beholden to their wallets.
So we've got a worldwide radio station, whoopee! As one online commentator wrote, isn't that what internet radio is, haven't we had that for eons? The only difference is we're supposed to believe in Zane Lowe, and most people have never heard of the dude until just recently.
We live in a customizable world. Apple Music on demand streaming allows this. But it's not so easy to use and the company is mum on how to use it.
Is this any way to run a business?
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Bobo Banned!
I'm sick of Amy Schumer, but I can't get enough of Bobo.
Can we just see "Trainwreck"? Do we have to endure another three weeks of hype?
Amy Schumer was a less than Whitney Cummings beauty who made it on caustic remarks. She was the girl in your class who you hung with and suddenly wanted to make love to. She was America's sweetheart.
Then she made a movie with Judd Apatow and we haven't stopped hearing about it since. Howard Stern interviewed her on Tuesday.
Welcome to America, where we have to endure endless hype for a momentary affair. At least the Super Bowl has commercials to go with the game, they have a longer lasting appeal. But these movies and records? They rarely live up to expectations and they're gone almost instantly.
Kinda like the Alabama Shakes LP. They put it out and people stopped talking about it.
Will the same fate hit Beats 1? Is it the new Turntable.fm? We had weeks of notice, building up to a three day frenzy, and now no one is talking about Beats 1 anymore. But at least it's on every day, maybe it will flourish. That's the game today, to be in it constantly, to put your head down and do the work.
I know Amy Schumer's story. How she studied theatre in Maryland, how she switched to comedy in NYC, how she screwed a wrestler and doesn't get as much sex as we think. She's repeating it again and again, playing to the deep seats. We early adopters are everything.
That's right, you can only rely on your core, like Bobo.
Bobo is a retired driving instructor who wears a wig. His IQ is challenged, but he is married, he does have children. He's Howard Stern's number one fan, and he got banned.
Did you see that Howard ankled AGT? A worthless show that paid dividends for Mr. Stern. It made him warm and fuzzy for America, showed his soft side, he leveraged his visibility to get A-List guests on his radio program. And the interviews are the nougat that keeps the show newsworthy.
But Bobo and the rest of the Wack Pack are the nuts and bolts that hold it together.
Bobo sold out the show.
That's right, he made a deal with "General Hospital" to mention the soap opera five times in a phone call. But it was a prank, and he got banned for fifteen shows, until September 21st.
Howard's only gonna do fifteen shows until September 21st? How am I gonna cope?
Even worse, how's BOBO gonna cope!
I didn't think I cared, but I do. Because Bobo lives for the show. And it's amazing what people will do for fame and money, never mind love.
We all want a piece of the action, we're all just a breath away from selling out for something better. We live in a giant "Let's Make A Deal" nation where we want what everybody else has got, why are they living a life so much better than ours?
The torture.
Even better, the bit.
Everybody weighed in on potential judgment. Howard rendered the sentence. Ralph is going to be the probation officer.
And...I thought I didn't care when I did.
That's your goal, to get us to care. The content is secondary to the delivery. I'd heard Bobo had been banned for days. But when I heard the evidence just now, when I heard the courtroom drama, when I pondered Bobo's fate...
I smiled.
And that's all I'm looking for in this life.
A little connection and a little laughter.
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Can we just see "Trainwreck"? Do we have to endure another three weeks of hype?
Amy Schumer was a less than Whitney Cummings beauty who made it on caustic remarks. She was the girl in your class who you hung with and suddenly wanted to make love to. She was America's sweetheart.
Then she made a movie with Judd Apatow and we haven't stopped hearing about it since. Howard Stern interviewed her on Tuesday.
Welcome to America, where we have to endure endless hype for a momentary affair. At least the Super Bowl has commercials to go with the game, they have a longer lasting appeal. But these movies and records? They rarely live up to expectations and they're gone almost instantly.
Kinda like the Alabama Shakes LP. They put it out and people stopped talking about it.
Will the same fate hit Beats 1? Is it the new Turntable.fm? We had weeks of notice, building up to a three day frenzy, and now no one is talking about Beats 1 anymore. But at least it's on every day, maybe it will flourish. That's the game today, to be in it constantly, to put your head down and do the work.
I know Amy Schumer's story. How she studied theatre in Maryland, how she switched to comedy in NYC, how she screwed a wrestler and doesn't get as much sex as we think. She's repeating it again and again, playing to the deep seats. We early adopters are everything.
That's right, you can only rely on your core, like Bobo.
Bobo is a retired driving instructor who wears a wig. His IQ is challenged, but he is married, he does have children. He's Howard Stern's number one fan, and he got banned.
Did you see that Howard ankled AGT? A worthless show that paid dividends for Mr. Stern. It made him warm and fuzzy for America, showed his soft side, he leveraged his visibility to get A-List guests on his radio program. And the interviews are the nougat that keeps the show newsworthy.
But Bobo and the rest of the Wack Pack are the nuts and bolts that hold it together.
Bobo sold out the show.
That's right, he made a deal with "General Hospital" to mention the soap opera five times in a phone call. But it was a prank, and he got banned for fifteen shows, until September 21st.
Howard's only gonna do fifteen shows until September 21st? How am I gonna cope?
Even worse, how's BOBO gonna cope!
I didn't think I cared, but I do. Because Bobo lives for the show. And it's amazing what people will do for fame and money, never mind love.
We all want a piece of the action, we're all just a breath away from selling out for something better. We live in a giant "Let's Make A Deal" nation where we want what everybody else has got, why are they living a life so much better than ours?
The torture.
Even better, the bit.
Everybody weighed in on potential judgment. Howard rendered the sentence. Ralph is going to be the probation officer.
And...I thought I didn't care when I did.
That's your goal, to get us to care. The content is secondary to the delivery. I'd heard Bobo had been banned for days. But when I heard the evidence just now, when I heard the courtroom drama, when I pondered Bobo's fate...
I smiled.
And that's all I'm looking for in this life.
A little connection and a little laughter.
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Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Discovered On Apple Music
"Long Way Down"
The SteelDrivers
I forgot it was Chris Stapleton's previous band.
I downloaded three playlists to my phone. "Singer/Songwriter Highlights 2015," I wanted to catch up on what I might have missed, "The A-List: Singer/Songwriter," since it'd had been so rewarding at home, and then "The A-List Country," because I like the faux rock. But then I didn't want to hear any of them and ended up listening to the "Undisclosed" podcast. Are you catching this? Turns out "Serial" was professional broadcasters doing a cursory number, but once you get professional attorneys and investigators involved they uncover things that make all the difference, like everything that was supposed to happen on the key day didn't, despite prosecutors introducing evidence to that fact. Bottom line, you need money to persevere, to win in America, to hire those who can get deep into the weeds and exonerate you, or flummox the opposition to the point where you skate.
But when I got home I was in the mood for music again. So I pulled up "The A-List: Americana," now that I was in a wifi zone.
I heard a song off of Neil Young's new "Monsanto" album. I loved that someone cherry-picked it for me, the full album was too daunting.
And I liked the Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard track, "It's All Going To Pot," which I'd read about and hadn't listened to. Furthermore, the hype on Ry Cooder's playing on Sam Outlaw's LP was well-deserved, but Sam has got the voice of a songwriter, if you know what I mean.
But then I discovered the SteelDrivers.
Funny thing about music is you know it when you hear it, kind of like what Potter Stewart said about porn, being able to discern what was obscene when he saw it.
That's the problem I've found with most of the Spotify playlists, too many tune-outs, I feel like I'm panning for gold in a stream that's been panned out, where people have planted imitation gems in order to frustrate me. Whereas I find the hit to shit ratio on Apple Music's curated playlists that much better.
"Long Way Down" sounds like an outtake from "O Brother." Only in this case, it's an original. At least I think it is, there are no credits on Apple Music. Stuff like this is never gonna make the radio, but it's the kind of music you play at home that satisfies, that makes you want to see the band live to immerse yourself in the sound and enjoy.
It starts off slow and easy, as if the band is tuning up, or the guitarist is waiting for everybody else, it's anything but the balls to the wall intro featured in the pop and rock we hear on the radio.
And then the rest of the band falls in and it starts to swing. You're enraptured immediately, taken back to that cabin in the woods, where the squirrels traipse and AT&T provides no signal.
The verse has melody. The fiddle is not superfluous, but integral, it adds flavor.
But then comes the piece-de-resistance:
"So far down that it ain't got a bottom
Thought you had wings but I guess you ain't got 'em
Fallen angel don't look now..."
I started jitterbugging in my seat. I couldn't stop. Still do, every time I hear the track, and right now I've got it on endless repeat, it sounds as good as last night, which is the mark of true greatness.
The album was cut in Muscle Shoals. Actually, that's the name of it, "The Muscle Shoals Recordings," so I'm even further intrigued, I suspect authenticity.
So I just pulled up the LP. But I couldn't get past the first track.
SEE IF YOU CAN!
https://itun.es/us/GVfi7?i=991976423 (This is the link Apple Music renders. Unfortunately, it takes you to the traditional iTunes page in your browser and when you click on "View In iTunes"...nothing happens. Well, I tried it again and iTunes did launch, but it's synching my iPhone and iPad for the zillionth time today...I haven't got time to wait to see if the track comes up in Apple Music.)
So...
View it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-IOLc5emC4 (where it's free and easy, literally...)
Or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7wjrb2vIbPKvCmfEEga1sO
P.S. The video almost ruins the song, it eviscerates the magic. Maybe, when music moves to streaming services, video will retreat to the back seat, where it belongs.
________________________________________________
E-MAIL OF THE DAY
Great feedback on Apple Music. Totally agree with so many of the UI issues. Thank you for letting us know where to find the playlists. You're right - they are a highly valuable part of the service and I didn't find them until your instructions. I can't imagine why they buried them like that.
Here's another one that's bugging me - I can go to an artist and select "Follow." What does THAT even do? Does it affect customization under "For You"? Is it the same as inflating the bubbles twice? Does it add content to Connect? I can't tell.
Jarrod Kopp
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The SteelDrivers
I forgot it was Chris Stapleton's previous band.
I downloaded three playlists to my phone. "Singer/Songwriter Highlights 2015," I wanted to catch up on what I might have missed, "The A-List: Singer/Songwriter," since it'd had been so rewarding at home, and then "The A-List Country," because I like the faux rock. But then I didn't want to hear any of them and ended up listening to the "Undisclosed" podcast. Are you catching this? Turns out "Serial" was professional broadcasters doing a cursory number, but once you get professional attorneys and investigators involved they uncover things that make all the difference, like everything that was supposed to happen on the key day didn't, despite prosecutors introducing evidence to that fact. Bottom line, you need money to persevere, to win in America, to hire those who can get deep into the weeds and exonerate you, or flummox the opposition to the point where you skate.
But when I got home I was in the mood for music again. So I pulled up "The A-List: Americana," now that I was in a wifi zone.
I heard a song off of Neil Young's new "Monsanto" album. I loved that someone cherry-picked it for me, the full album was too daunting.
And I liked the Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard track, "It's All Going To Pot," which I'd read about and hadn't listened to. Furthermore, the hype on Ry Cooder's playing on Sam Outlaw's LP was well-deserved, but Sam has got the voice of a songwriter, if you know what I mean.
But then I discovered the SteelDrivers.
Funny thing about music is you know it when you hear it, kind of like what Potter Stewart said about porn, being able to discern what was obscene when he saw it.
That's the problem I've found with most of the Spotify playlists, too many tune-outs, I feel like I'm panning for gold in a stream that's been panned out, where people have planted imitation gems in order to frustrate me. Whereas I find the hit to shit ratio on Apple Music's curated playlists that much better.
"Long Way Down" sounds like an outtake from "O Brother." Only in this case, it's an original. At least I think it is, there are no credits on Apple Music. Stuff like this is never gonna make the radio, but it's the kind of music you play at home that satisfies, that makes you want to see the band live to immerse yourself in the sound and enjoy.
It starts off slow and easy, as if the band is tuning up, or the guitarist is waiting for everybody else, it's anything but the balls to the wall intro featured in the pop and rock we hear on the radio.
And then the rest of the band falls in and it starts to swing. You're enraptured immediately, taken back to that cabin in the woods, where the squirrels traipse and AT&T provides no signal.
The verse has melody. The fiddle is not superfluous, but integral, it adds flavor.
But then comes the piece-de-resistance:
"So far down that it ain't got a bottom
Thought you had wings but I guess you ain't got 'em
Fallen angel don't look now..."
I started jitterbugging in my seat. I couldn't stop. Still do, every time I hear the track, and right now I've got it on endless repeat, it sounds as good as last night, which is the mark of true greatness.
The album was cut in Muscle Shoals. Actually, that's the name of it, "The Muscle Shoals Recordings," so I'm even further intrigued, I suspect authenticity.
So I just pulled up the LP. But I couldn't get past the first track.
SEE IF YOU CAN!
https://itun.es/us/GVfi7?i=991976423 (This is the link Apple Music renders. Unfortunately, it takes you to the traditional iTunes page in your browser and when you click on "View In iTunes"...nothing happens. Well, I tried it again and iTunes did launch, but it's synching my iPhone and iPad for the zillionth time today...I haven't got time to wait to see if the track comes up in Apple Music.)
So...
View it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-IOLc5emC4 (where it's free and easy, literally...)
Or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7wjrb2vIbPKvCmfEEga1sO
P.S. The video almost ruins the song, it eviscerates the magic. Maybe, when music moves to streaming services, video will retreat to the back seat, where it belongs.
________________________________________________
E-MAIL OF THE DAY
Great feedback on Apple Music. Totally agree with so many of the UI issues. Thank you for letting us know where to find the playlists. You're right - they are a highly valuable part of the service and I didn't find them until your instructions. I can't imagine why they buried them like that.
Here's another one that's bugging me - I can go to an artist and select "Follow." What does THAT even do? Does it affect customization under "For You"? Is it the same as inflating the bubbles twice? Does it add content to Connect? I can't tell.
Jarrod Kopp
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Gray Day
We don't get them too often in Southern California. And never during the summer.
I didn't move to Los Angeles for the weather, but it's a nice extra. It's great to make plans and not have to worry if it's going to rain. But today it did, rain that is. Just a few sprinkles. But in the decades I've lived here this has only happened twice before, a couple of years back and last Saturday, when Dark Sky said it was going to rain in 11 minutes.
It's kind of like earthquakes in Oklahoma. They're not supposed to happen. And we can argue whether today's monsoon-like atmosphere in SoCal is induced by man, all I know is my mood has been completely different. I've got this great urge to go to the lake.
Oh, we have lakes in SoCal, but they're gigantic and sometimes manmade. But that pond, in the midst of a forest... Those rarely exist.
On the east coast when the weather gets warm you sometimes go to the beach, I spent a lot of time in the sand by Long Island Sound. But sometimes you'd go inland to the lake. With its murky water sans salt. Go far enough north and the water gets clean, crystal clear in fact, but it doesn't warm up until late in the season, when you're already thinking about school, and now school starts in the middle of August.
But it didn't back then.
The Beach Boys said that summer means new fun. And that's what I liked about growing up. Every summer there was something different. I went to camp. I got older and took a canoe trip down the Allagash in Maine. I went to Philmont Scout Ranch. And then I got older, into college, and summer was for work. And I need a break, that's what today's weather has taught me, it has set my mind free, to a-wandering, thinking about mood and experiences from the past.
Ever drive around a New Hampshire lake on a day that threatens rain? When it could pour and you'd end up going to the movies or reading a book or playing board games? It could just as easily get sunny, and then you'd dive in and swim out to the raft. Or not.
That's one thing I miss about the east coast, the interior. And the proximity. The interior mind...wherein it's about personal development, burnishing your ability to express yourself, to have thoughts, to know that life is chiaroscuro and those who win all the time are lying, or missing out. And everything's just a few hours away in New England. Whereas once you've been to Santa Barbara and San Diego you've exhausted exploration in SoCal. Oh, there's Big Bear too, but the truth is the rest of the destinations are hours away.
And they're all kind of the same. Broad desert landscapes. Whereas the east is about nooks and crannies, a different vista around every corner.
Then again, easterners feel they're superior. They've had it harder. They know better. Whereas the west is the land of personal development, where you're free to become who you want to be. And I like being the master of my own domain, not having to recite my SAT scores and alma mater on a regular basis. And then there are days like today, when I've just got the urge to drive inland, buy some chips, read the newspaper, be out of cell range, dig deep into an activity and feel both part of a continuum and not. Knowing that life is about feeling, and feeling so much.
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I didn't move to Los Angeles for the weather, but it's a nice extra. It's great to make plans and not have to worry if it's going to rain. But today it did, rain that is. Just a few sprinkles. But in the decades I've lived here this has only happened twice before, a couple of years back and last Saturday, when Dark Sky said it was going to rain in 11 minutes.
It's kind of like earthquakes in Oklahoma. They're not supposed to happen. And we can argue whether today's monsoon-like atmosphere in SoCal is induced by man, all I know is my mood has been completely different. I've got this great urge to go to the lake.
Oh, we have lakes in SoCal, but they're gigantic and sometimes manmade. But that pond, in the midst of a forest... Those rarely exist.
On the east coast when the weather gets warm you sometimes go to the beach, I spent a lot of time in the sand by Long Island Sound. But sometimes you'd go inland to the lake. With its murky water sans salt. Go far enough north and the water gets clean, crystal clear in fact, but it doesn't warm up until late in the season, when you're already thinking about school, and now school starts in the middle of August.
But it didn't back then.
The Beach Boys said that summer means new fun. And that's what I liked about growing up. Every summer there was something different. I went to camp. I got older and took a canoe trip down the Allagash in Maine. I went to Philmont Scout Ranch. And then I got older, into college, and summer was for work. And I need a break, that's what today's weather has taught me, it has set my mind free, to a-wandering, thinking about mood and experiences from the past.
Ever drive around a New Hampshire lake on a day that threatens rain? When it could pour and you'd end up going to the movies or reading a book or playing board games? It could just as easily get sunny, and then you'd dive in and swim out to the raft. Or not.
That's one thing I miss about the east coast, the interior. And the proximity. The interior mind...wherein it's about personal development, burnishing your ability to express yourself, to have thoughts, to know that life is chiaroscuro and those who win all the time are lying, or missing out. And everything's just a few hours away in New England. Whereas once you've been to Santa Barbara and San Diego you've exhausted exploration in SoCal. Oh, there's Big Bear too, but the truth is the rest of the destinations are hours away.
And they're all kind of the same. Broad desert landscapes. Whereas the east is about nooks and crannies, a different vista around every corner.
Then again, easterners feel they're superior. They've had it harder. They know better. Whereas the west is the land of personal development, where you're free to become who you want to be. And I like being the master of my own domain, not having to recite my SAT scores and alma mater on a regular basis. And then there are days like today, when I've just got the urge to drive inland, buy some chips, read the newspaper, be out of cell range, dig deep into an activity and feel both part of a continuum and not. Knowing that life is about feeling, and feeling so much.
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Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Apple Music-First Impressions
This would be a rave, at least a qualified one, if it weren't for those pesky interface issues. And if I have them, what about the punter Apple and the industry hope to get on board and pay?
The service is much more comprehensible in iTunes.
At nearly 4 PM, Apple pushed iTunes 12.2 to my Mac. The install was easy. Working the program...nearly impossible. What if they built a maze with goodies at every turn but you couldn't figure out how to get out, never mind retrace your steps? That's Apple Music. Although, it's more comprehensible on the phone, once you get over the hurdle. Why are there so many hurdles?
You load iTunes and you've got no idea where to go, how the program works. You expect to see a button that says "Apple Music," but you don't. Rather you see the usual suspects plus "For You," "New" and "Connect." Also you have "Radio"... Was that there before? I can't remember, I never listened to iTunes Radio, as a matter of fact, the only thing I used iTunes for was to synch my devices, my iPhone and iPad, when it came to music...I used Spotify and Deezer.
So where do I click? How do I get started?
Turns out "Radio" is just that. It's easy to listen to Beats 1, it's at the top of the page. I did some listening, not much, it's gonna take some time to find out if Beats 1 changes the industry. What we want most is for Beats 1 to break acts/records. But with so many deejays and only one channel in an on demand universe where I never want to hear a tune-out... Beats 1 is passive. Even more passive than Pandora. Yet, people love Pandora. But Pandora, theoretically, plays music you want to hear, most people don't want to hear what's playing on Beats 1, that's the nature of a singular radio station.
You click on "New" and...
You see a ton of albums. But is this the iTunes Store or can you play these for free? You gingerly click around and find you can listen. That's cool.
Then you go to "For You." And here you get recommendations based on what bubbles you picked and pricked. An inane idea that yields no fruit. I could explain further, but just try it, it's nearly worthless.
But the playlists... They're near genius.
But to get to the playlists... You've got to click on "New" and scroll down. I stumbled on them by accident and then I couldn't get back. Frustrated me so much. Like I said, shouldn't playlists be under "For You"?
And there are two types of playlists, "Apple Music Editors" and "Curators." What's the difference? Didn't anybody at Apple ask this? Click around and you can see that "Curators" is outsiders, like "Rolling Stone" and "Pitchfork." And there you've got the essence of Apple Music, once you know how to use it, it's pretty good, but it's less than intuitive and the learning curve is, if not steep, definitely uphill. (There's one other playlist type, "Activities," that's too generic for me, my music means too much to me, I don't do random.)
Clicking on "Apple Music Editors" you get to the heart of the matter, the genre playlists. (You cannot open multiple pages! Getting back to where you once belonged can be challenging!) You pick one and...
Let me mention right here, Apple Music looks much better than Spotify. Spotify sucks when it comes to advertising and distributing its message, and design too. This is the legacy of Steve Jobs, look counts. And Apple Music looks good. Not quite good enough to lick, but close.
So, once you're in the genre area, picking, let's say, "Singer/Songwriter," you're confronted with five rows. The first is the most important. It's the playlists, the general ones, the hits and... You click on a playlist and...you discover new music. Really. Well done Apple. I already heard something I liked that I never heard before, "Forget You In LA," by Poema, who I'd never heard of before, never mind played. And there was a track cherry-picked from Arlo Guthrie's old "Washington County" album on another Singer/Songwriter playlist, so...it's kinda thrilling. Assuming you have confidence in the curators.
Below the first row, of playlists, there's a line "Albums You Need To Hear." Of which there are five in every genre. This is great, it separates the wheat from the chaff, you can sample what you should.
And then there's a line "In Rotation - Singer/Songwriter Radio." I thought clicking on these albums would get you customized radio stations, but instead you get full albums you can stream on demand. So, why is it "Radio"? I'm not sure...maybe they play these songs on Beats 1, this is just evidence of the many frustrations on Apple Music, loose ends, that any editor could point out and could be fixed, but it appears no liberal arts major oversaw the overall program, to make it coherent.
And on the last line you've got "Intro To." Where you've got playlists of significant acts. This is much more coherent and understandable than Spotify, and intriguing.
But if you quit iTunes and try to get back to the playlists... Good luck! Just remember, click on "New" and SCROLL DOWN!
And that's the essence of the service, the playlists.
They do not coincide with radio. I checked out the "Electronic" area and...the tracks in the "A-List" (there's an A-List for every genre) did not coincide with the chart, Diplo, the king of the summer, was nowhere to be found, never mind DJ Snake and...
So, what's more important? Radio or Apple Music? Who's got the chart that counts?
This is the essence of the issue. The iTunes sales chart drove sales, people would check out what was on top. Will Apple Music playlists drive consumption? Maybe. If enough people subscribe and use, what's on the A-List will drive the culture. That's a pretty big if, but not an insurmountable one.
All of this is much easier to use on the phone. But, just like in iTunes, you've got to get over the hurdle, you've got to figure out you've got to click on "New" at the bottom of the app to see the playlists, which, once again, you have to scroll down to encounter. Normally you'd click on "New" last, after "My Music" and "For You," but that's not how it works in Apple Musicland.
So, what we've got is a program with a steep learning curve that makes music consumption fun and rewarding, yet is harder to navigate and understand than Spotify. Once again, once you figure the program out, it's best to use it on the desktop, that's where you can SEE the playlists and understand everything.
And Apple Music looks better than Spotify.
And it's got the Apple brand.
But do people want to pay?
Some will.
Most won't.
P.S. There's a setting in the app to make sure your subscription is canceled on 9/30 and you don't get billed, it's all over the web, here's an example: "How to turn off Apple Music's auto-renewal before your free trial ends, Do it now so you don't forget later": http://bit.ly/1T3I0PO And this is why Apple Music will not reach its goal of 100 million subscribers in 12 months. If people can figure out this trick in a matter of hours, they can figure out how to listen to music for free, especially when it's there for the taking on YouTube, where the search works, as opposed to on Apple Music. That's right, start searching, you'll get into backwaters you cannot get out of, assuming you end up where you want to be to begin with.
P.P.S. Connect is a disaster, dead on arrival. There's almost no content. It's Ping without the hope. Yes, Ping was early enough in the social media arc that we were interested, now the acts don't even seem interested. Connect should have been fully populated upon release, it's not.
P.P.P.S. Every genre page has buttons on the top, "Featured," "Playlists" and "Connect." What's the difference between "Featured" and "Playlists"? One of the many questions Apple didn't ask itself before it foisted this design upon us.
P.P.P.P.S. We won't know if Apple Music is a success for a very long time. Even if you're interested, and I am, it's going to take weeks to get into the nooks and crannies and find out if it's a superior experience to what has come before, never mind worth paying for.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Functionality is hobbled. You're gonna get the spinning gear. I'd say it's release day blues, but isn't the goal to have MORE people use the service?
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. There are heart and plus sign icons that don't reveal their meaning when you hover over them and don't seem to be reversible once you've clicked. Apple built its reputation on the seamless experience. Steve Jobs wanted as few buttons on the remote as possible, he was all about leaving stuff out, to avoid confusion. That ethos has left Cupertino.
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. On the homepage, when you log in, there should be the five tracks you MUST hear. This is what the music business is looking for, a way to draw the confused in, expose them to music that titillates them and makes them fans. Instead, you've got to get into the weeds, and that's too much for most people.
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The service is much more comprehensible in iTunes.
At nearly 4 PM, Apple pushed iTunes 12.2 to my Mac. The install was easy. Working the program...nearly impossible. What if they built a maze with goodies at every turn but you couldn't figure out how to get out, never mind retrace your steps? That's Apple Music. Although, it's more comprehensible on the phone, once you get over the hurdle. Why are there so many hurdles?
You load iTunes and you've got no idea where to go, how the program works. You expect to see a button that says "Apple Music," but you don't. Rather you see the usual suspects plus "For You," "New" and "Connect." Also you have "Radio"... Was that there before? I can't remember, I never listened to iTunes Radio, as a matter of fact, the only thing I used iTunes for was to synch my devices, my iPhone and iPad, when it came to music...I used Spotify and Deezer.
So where do I click? How do I get started?
Turns out "Radio" is just that. It's easy to listen to Beats 1, it's at the top of the page. I did some listening, not much, it's gonna take some time to find out if Beats 1 changes the industry. What we want most is for Beats 1 to break acts/records. But with so many deejays and only one channel in an on demand universe where I never want to hear a tune-out... Beats 1 is passive. Even more passive than Pandora. Yet, people love Pandora. But Pandora, theoretically, plays music you want to hear, most people don't want to hear what's playing on Beats 1, that's the nature of a singular radio station.
You click on "New" and...
You see a ton of albums. But is this the iTunes Store or can you play these for free? You gingerly click around and find you can listen. That's cool.
Then you go to "For You." And here you get recommendations based on what bubbles you picked and pricked. An inane idea that yields no fruit. I could explain further, but just try it, it's nearly worthless.
But the playlists... They're near genius.
But to get to the playlists... You've got to click on "New" and scroll down. I stumbled on them by accident and then I couldn't get back. Frustrated me so much. Like I said, shouldn't playlists be under "For You"?
And there are two types of playlists, "Apple Music Editors" and "Curators." What's the difference? Didn't anybody at Apple ask this? Click around and you can see that "Curators" is outsiders, like "Rolling Stone" and "Pitchfork." And there you've got the essence of Apple Music, once you know how to use it, it's pretty good, but it's less than intuitive and the learning curve is, if not steep, definitely uphill. (There's one other playlist type, "Activities," that's too generic for me, my music means too much to me, I don't do random.)
Clicking on "Apple Music Editors" you get to the heart of the matter, the genre playlists. (You cannot open multiple pages! Getting back to where you once belonged can be challenging!) You pick one and...
Let me mention right here, Apple Music looks much better than Spotify. Spotify sucks when it comes to advertising and distributing its message, and design too. This is the legacy of Steve Jobs, look counts. And Apple Music looks good. Not quite good enough to lick, but close.
So, once you're in the genre area, picking, let's say, "Singer/Songwriter," you're confronted with five rows. The first is the most important. It's the playlists, the general ones, the hits and... You click on a playlist and...you discover new music. Really. Well done Apple. I already heard something I liked that I never heard before, "Forget You In LA," by Poema, who I'd never heard of before, never mind played. And there was a track cherry-picked from Arlo Guthrie's old "Washington County" album on another Singer/Songwriter playlist, so...it's kinda thrilling. Assuming you have confidence in the curators.
Below the first row, of playlists, there's a line "Albums You Need To Hear." Of which there are five in every genre. This is great, it separates the wheat from the chaff, you can sample what you should.
And then there's a line "In Rotation - Singer/Songwriter Radio." I thought clicking on these albums would get you customized radio stations, but instead you get full albums you can stream on demand. So, why is it "Radio"? I'm not sure...maybe they play these songs on Beats 1, this is just evidence of the many frustrations on Apple Music, loose ends, that any editor could point out and could be fixed, but it appears no liberal arts major oversaw the overall program, to make it coherent.
And on the last line you've got "Intro To." Where you've got playlists of significant acts. This is much more coherent and understandable than Spotify, and intriguing.
But if you quit iTunes and try to get back to the playlists... Good luck! Just remember, click on "New" and SCROLL DOWN!
And that's the essence of the service, the playlists.
They do not coincide with radio. I checked out the "Electronic" area and...the tracks in the "A-List" (there's an A-List for every genre) did not coincide with the chart, Diplo, the king of the summer, was nowhere to be found, never mind DJ Snake and...
So, what's more important? Radio or Apple Music? Who's got the chart that counts?
This is the essence of the issue. The iTunes sales chart drove sales, people would check out what was on top. Will Apple Music playlists drive consumption? Maybe. If enough people subscribe and use, what's on the A-List will drive the culture. That's a pretty big if, but not an insurmountable one.
All of this is much easier to use on the phone. But, just like in iTunes, you've got to get over the hurdle, you've got to figure out you've got to click on "New" at the bottom of the app to see the playlists, which, once again, you have to scroll down to encounter. Normally you'd click on "New" last, after "My Music" and "For You," but that's not how it works in Apple Musicland.
So, what we've got is a program with a steep learning curve that makes music consumption fun and rewarding, yet is harder to navigate and understand than Spotify. Once again, once you figure the program out, it's best to use it on the desktop, that's where you can SEE the playlists and understand everything.
And Apple Music looks better than Spotify.
And it's got the Apple brand.
But do people want to pay?
Some will.
Most won't.
P.S. There's a setting in the app to make sure your subscription is canceled on 9/30 and you don't get billed, it's all over the web, here's an example: "How to turn off Apple Music's auto-renewal before your free trial ends, Do it now so you don't forget later": http://bit.ly/1T3I0PO And this is why Apple Music will not reach its goal of 100 million subscribers in 12 months. If people can figure out this trick in a matter of hours, they can figure out how to listen to music for free, especially when it's there for the taking on YouTube, where the search works, as opposed to on Apple Music. That's right, start searching, you'll get into backwaters you cannot get out of, assuming you end up where you want to be to begin with.
P.P.S. Connect is a disaster, dead on arrival. There's almost no content. It's Ping without the hope. Yes, Ping was early enough in the social media arc that we were interested, now the acts don't even seem interested. Connect should have been fully populated upon release, it's not.
P.P.P.S. Every genre page has buttons on the top, "Featured," "Playlists" and "Connect." What's the difference between "Featured" and "Playlists"? One of the many questions Apple didn't ask itself before it foisted this design upon us.
P.P.P.P.S. We won't know if Apple Music is a success for a very long time. Even if you're interested, and I am, it's going to take weeks to get into the nooks and crannies and find out if it's a superior experience to what has come before, never mind worth paying for.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Functionality is hobbled. You're gonna get the spinning gear. I'd say it's release day blues, but isn't the goal to have MORE people use the service?
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. There are heart and plus sign icons that don't reveal their meaning when you hover over them and don't seem to be reversible once you've clicked. Apple built its reputation on the seamless experience. Steve Jobs wanted as few buttons on the remote as possible, he was all about leaving stuff out, to avoid confusion. That ethos has left Cupertino.
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. On the homepage, when you log in, there should be the five tracks you MUST hear. This is what the music business is looking for, a way to draw the confused in, expose them to music that titillates them and makes them fans. Instead, you've got to get into the weeds, and that's too much for most people.
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Apple Music
Botched launch. Terminal? Probably not, but we expect so much of Apple.
We had to listen to Jimmy and Drake testify, but no one focused on usability, no one told us how it actually worked, that would have been a better use of WWDC time, instead we got smoke and mirrors about a "revolutionary" product, how classic entertainment business.
Do I need new software?
I don't think the average person would be aware of this, however, I am, I know you need a new iTunes and a new iOS. I decided to download both simultaneously, a big mistake.
There were no notices on my computer, nothing telling me about this great new product. So I went to Software Update, where I found 10.10.4 waiting for me, I figured Apple Music was baked in.
Now I've got a maxed-out iMac 5k and 200 down, and it took me the better part of fifteen minutes to install the update. And then it didn't work.
I went to iTunes. Kept clicking, saw nothing.
Went to Safari, followed the prompts. Got back to iTunes, was told to upgrade but then the program said it was up to date. Downloaded the latest iteration and it still didn't work.
Then I went to research... Google told me APPLE HADN'T PUSHED 12.2 TO CUSTOMERS YET! That's right, on launch day, you can't use it, at least not on your Mac or PC, until Apple deigns to send the software, all that hype for...nothing.
My iPhone gave me no notice of an update, I had to go to the Settings, to General and then search to see if they pushed new software.
But eventually my iPhone rebooted. Which took forever, and I'm running a 6. And I found Apple Music. It immediately wanted to charge me.
Hmm... I don't like coughing up my credit card and neither does anyone else. And since Apple already has my credit card...I'm more fearful of cancelability, or forgetfulness. That's right, you can't cancel subscriptions in America, just call your cable company and try. Furthermore, gotchas abound. If I try to cancel a subscription one minute into the next month, they charge me for that, so I abhor making the commitment to subscribe whenever it requires financial information.
Now we know why Jimmy said he was gonna kill free. Through time-treasured American bait and switch techniques. The barrier to entry is supposed to be low, you're supposed to charge AFTER! How many kids are gonna ask their parents to pay and get no in response? How many parents are gonna be PISSED when they find out they've been charged for something they thought was free, which will happen in October.
So I decide to log in with my Beats account, all the news says it's gonna prompt me to convert to Apple Music. That didn't happen.
But I hit the button on the mobile app and registered anyway... And what did I find... NONE OF THE INTUITIVE GRACE APPLE IS FAMOUS FOR! Kinda looked like the old iTunes Store, all I could see was what I paid for...
On the bottom I found radio, I clicked and heard what I did not want to. Looked for the OFF button. Hard to find. Eventually found a triangle near the bottom of the screen.
So there are five buttons at the bottom of the screen, and the first is "For You." I click and I get the damn bubbles for Beats's curation algorithm. Didn't this fail once already? Apple does not do cutesy, but it does here.
So I'm waiting for the new iTunes, so I can listen more to Beats 1. I don't want to use my iPhone while I'm working at my desk.
As for the vaunted playlists... Where are they, how do I find them? Do I have to click on the damn bubbles?
Now I'm not saying Apple Music is a failed product that will get no traction. But I am saying people have an unrealistic expectation of its functionality and ultimate impact.
First and foremost, you've got to let people know about it. I'll argue Apple has not done the greatest job here, it's equivalent to a soft launch, but with more than a modicum of publicity.
Second, USABILITY! What Apple built its rep on. How do I download, install and use the damn product? I've never been flummoxed to this extent before with an Apple offering. Even the Watch was easier. And they said they were gonna beat Spotify on interface...make me laugh.
Third, USABILITY! Once I'm in, how do I use it? All I keep hearing is about playlists, but where are they? How about one page with easy instructions, how about instructions in the app? I didn't see them.
Apple Music will have an impact, it will gain customers. The brand will get people started, but only word of mouth will make it primary. The truth is many people don't have subscription streaming services and a great proportion of them may not even be aware of them, or how they work. So, despite Spotify's penetration, we're not that far from the starting line.
But when you make it hard to install and want me to give my credit card up front...
You look like a sleazy American company, like a hated cable operation, and you make people reluctant.
This is no way to launch a revolution.
P.S. Yes, the first three months are free. But, right up front you commit to paying when that runs out, you link to your iTunes account, which has a credit card attached.
P.P.S. We do live in a mobile world, so desktop functionality is secondary. But those most prone to subscribing are the Luddites, and they start on the desktop machine.
P.P.P.S. Apple bought SoundJam to build iTunes and cleaned it up to be easier to use, as well as adding functionality. If you don't think Apple Music looks just like Beats Music, you never used Beats Music. Except there's more clutter and it's less intuitive. Makes me think you should keep techies and music business people separate. As in Jimmy Iovine can hype, but he can't code.
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We had to listen to Jimmy and Drake testify, but no one focused on usability, no one told us how it actually worked, that would have been a better use of WWDC time, instead we got smoke and mirrors about a "revolutionary" product, how classic entertainment business.
Do I need new software?
I don't think the average person would be aware of this, however, I am, I know you need a new iTunes and a new iOS. I decided to download both simultaneously, a big mistake.
There were no notices on my computer, nothing telling me about this great new product. So I went to Software Update, where I found 10.10.4 waiting for me, I figured Apple Music was baked in.
Now I've got a maxed-out iMac 5k and 200 down, and it took me the better part of fifteen minutes to install the update. And then it didn't work.
I went to iTunes. Kept clicking, saw nothing.
Went to Safari, followed the prompts. Got back to iTunes, was told to upgrade but then the program said it was up to date. Downloaded the latest iteration and it still didn't work.
Then I went to research... Google told me APPLE HADN'T PUSHED 12.2 TO CUSTOMERS YET! That's right, on launch day, you can't use it, at least not on your Mac or PC, until Apple deigns to send the software, all that hype for...nothing.
My iPhone gave me no notice of an update, I had to go to the Settings, to General and then search to see if they pushed new software.
But eventually my iPhone rebooted. Which took forever, and I'm running a 6. And I found Apple Music. It immediately wanted to charge me.
Hmm... I don't like coughing up my credit card and neither does anyone else. And since Apple already has my credit card...I'm more fearful of cancelability, or forgetfulness. That's right, you can't cancel subscriptions in America, just call your cable company and try. Furthermore, gotchas abound. If I try to cancel a subscription one minute into the next month, they charge me for that, so I abhor making the commitment to subscribe whenever it requires financial information.
Now we know why Jimmy said he was gonna kill free. Through time-treasured American bait and switch techniques. The barrier to entry is supposed to be low, you're supposed to charge AFTER! How many kids are gonna ask their parents to pay and get no in response? How many parents are gonna be PISSED when they find out they've been charged for something they thought was free, which will happen in October.
So I decide to log in with my Beats account, all the news says it's gonna prompt me to convert to Apple Music. That didn't happen.
But I hit the button on the mobile app and registered anyway... And what did I find... NONE OF THE INTUITIVE GRACE APPLE IS FAMOUS FOR! Kinda looked like the old iTunes Store, all I could see was what I paid for...
On the bottom I found radio, I clicked and heard what I did not want to. Looked for the OFF button. Hard to find. Eventually found a triangle near the bottom of the screen.
So there are five buttons at the bottom of the screen, and the first is "For You." I click and I get the damn bubbles for Beats's curation algorithm. Didn't this fail once already? Apple does not do cutesy, but it does here.
So I'm waiting for the new iTunes, so I can listen more to Beats 1. I don't want to use my iPhone while I'm working at my desk.
As for the vaunted playlists... Where are they, how do I find them? Do I have to click on the damn bubbles?
Now I'm not saying Apple Music is a failed product that will get no traction. But I am saying people have an unrealistic expectation of its functionality and ultimate impact.
First and foremost, you've got to let people know about it. I'll argue Apple has not done the greatest job here, it's equivalent to a soft launch, but with more than a modicum of publicity.
Second, USABILITY! What Apple built its rep on. How do I download, install and use the damn product? I've never been flummoxed to this extent before with an Apple offering. Even the Watch was easier. And they said they were gonna beat Spotify on interface...make me laugh.
Third, USABILITY! Once I'm in, how do I use it? All I keep hearing is about playlists, but where are they? How about one page with easy instructions, how about instructions in the app? I didn't see them.
Apple Music will have an impact, it will gain customers. The brand will get people started, but only word of mouth will make it primary. The truth is many people don't have subscription streaming services and a great proportion of them may not even be aware of them, or how they work. So, despite Spotify's penetration, we're not that far from the starting line.
But when you make it hard to install and want me to give my credit card up front...
You look like a sleazy American company, like a hated cable operation, and you make people reluctant.
This is no way to launch a revolution.
P.S. Yes, the first three months are free. But, right up front you commit to paying when that runs out, you link to your iTunes account, which has a credit card attached.
P.P.S. We do live in a mobile world, so desktop functionality is secondary. But those most prone to subscribing are the Luddites, and they start on the desktop machine.
P.P.P.S. Apple bought SoundJam to build iTunes and cleaned it up to be easier to use, as well as adding functionality. If you don't think Apple Music looks just like Beats Music, you never used Beats Music. Except there's more clutter and it's less intuitive. Makes me think you should keep techies and music business people separate. As in Jimmy Iovine can hype, but he can't code.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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