You may remember I had a pre-launch wish list blog post that I released back in May. Well, now that I am past the initial thrill of finally having music streaming with Siri integration and having my iTunes Match library merged into a streaming service, I am now ready for an updated wish list. These are the top twenty things I would like to see addressed in the near future by Apple:
1. Remote control features - The ability to control a computer app with the iOS app was the main reason I stayed with Rdio when Tidal came out with lossless streaming. Apple had this built into their Remote app, but you can’t control Apple Music with it. They need to add the ability ASAP.
2. Airplay multi-room streaming from iOS. It can’t be a post-PC world if I have to go to a computer to have access to features that should and can work with iOS.
3. Continue play - when an album ends, it should start playing music that it has curated around my tastes or similar music rather than just stopping. Rdio can do this and Apple needs to do this.
4. Playlists - you should be able to create a new playlist right from the song/album. Right now it feels clunky because you have to navigate away from the page, add a new playlist, and make your way back to the song/album (it is easier to do if you started playing the album before navigating away, though).
5. Better Siri interaction - When I say “Play Classic Jazz from 1955", the service should know what I want to hear. Don’t get me wrong, the way Siri works now is amazing, they just need a few tweaks.
6. Similar Artists - On iOS, sometimes I pull up an artist and look for similar artists. They have each artist present in a round icon with their photo. Half the time, I click on it and it does nothing. Probably a bug, but there is missing links that should be there.
7. Bugs… Too many of them. People should not have to worry about messing up their entire library when installing the new version of iTunes. When I open the app, I should not get a screen telling me to sign up for Apple Music after I have already signed up. The iCloud music merging was buggy, as well. I had to toggle the “switch” back and forth before my library showed up.
8. Better instructions - An explanation of how DRM works with your files that are uploaded, what it means to have the iCloud music library box checked in iTunes preferences, etc. I think a lot of the stuff you can figure out if you have ever used an app, but these basic features need to be spelled out.
9. Videos - I should be able to Airplay video to my AppleTV. Instead, I hit the Airplay button and only get music.
10. Video should have a full screen option on the iPad. Instead, it is in a small box that does’t utilize the entire screen in landscape mode.
11. Speaking of landscape mode, I got a 6 plus to be able to turn the phone on the side and use it in landscape mode. In this case, it works for video, but the rest of the app is inexplicably only in portrait.
12. AppleTV app - If I can’t Airplay videos, I should be able to play them natively on my AppleTV, but there isn’t an Apple Music app. The entire point of having an AppleTV instead of a Roku/Fire is that it interacts with Apple stuff. Not having this capability at launch is a disappointment.
13. An option for lossless or hi-rez versions of the music for an additional fee. Right now, Tidal has lossless audio that sounds fantastic. I realize that Apple has “mastered for iTunes” songs that sound great, however, I don’t see a way to know when or if you are getting “mastered for iTunes” quality. Also, no matter what they do with their lossy compression, lossless has the potential to sound better.
14. Speaking of compression, I want the ability to dial down the bitrate from 256k. AT&T is nice enough to send me a text when I am nearing my monthly data cap. I would love to be able to tell the app to steam at a lower resolution on cellular only.
15. Album/Artist Reviews - Rdio uses AllMusic/Rovi reviews to populate their reviews. Apple apparently has their own method and it is awful. I thought I would just go to AllMusic’s website to get reviews, but it has pop up ads that steal the audio steam, so your music cuts off. Apple has spent a lot of time on the “For You” recommendations, but when a new album turns up, you usually have no way to read about it in the app.
16. Pick up where you left off - When I close the app, I want the music I was listening to when I closed it to show up in the que when I restart the app.
17. Sorting albums by release date, alphabetical, or its popularity.
18. Search/Listen to music by music label. ECM, a Blue Note, etc.
19. Bring back Homesharing - I don’t want to waste my data cap streaming from the web when my music is sitting on iTunes in the office. Also, my music is in lossless formats. I don’t want to stream in 256k when the lossless file is available.
20. Instead of putting Beats1 at the top of the page (on iOS) with a huge icon, they need to put “recently played” at the top. If people are listening to Beats1, it will be in the recently played. If they aren’t, it should show up below their recently played music.