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UOFMTIGER'S DEN

Apple Music Beta on iPad Pro

7/17/2016

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Slightly different look

Since, I have had so few issues (just some minor bugs) running iOS 10 Beta on my iPhone, I decided to go ahead and download iOS 10.0 Beta on my iPad Pro 9.7.  The main reason is that I wanted to get a look at the new Apple Music app.

Unlike, the iPhone version of the app, you aren't greeted with a long list of choices.  Instead, you are treated with your most "Recently Added" music.  I still prefer having the "For You" page as the landing page, but this is better than opening up a list of choices.   The list is still there, but you access it from the a pull down menu in the top left corner of the screen.  The app still has the basic menu at the bottom of the page to get  to different areas of the app.

Below is a video showing how Apple Music works on the iPad.

Best iPad Apple Music Feature

By far, the best feature of Apple Music on the iPad is the ability to use the split screen.  I complained in my iPhone Apple Music video about how there is no artist information on the artist page of the app and the same holds true here.  However, with the split screen feature, you can pull  up info on All Music Guide or Wiki without every leaving the app.
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The cool thing is the app actually morphs into something similar to the iPhone app when you go to split screen.  Obviously, Apple thinks that the drop down menus aren't as useful without the full iPad screen size, so the Library page, for example, now shows the same list you get on the iPhone.
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Other Features

One of the best new features in the app is the ability to pull up a list of options (by pushing down on the screen) from pretty much anywhere inside the app.  In the picture below, I held down the button on the "Sinatra" Sunday Playlist and got a list of options.  Notice that there is now a  "Dislike" button. I would expect that this will help Apple with future recommendations.
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Bugs

This is a beta, so bugs are expected.  However, I was surprised that when I put a search term in the iOS "Spotlight" search and got a bunch of suggestions on the iPhone, but received zero suggestions on the iPad.  (In the pic below, I searched for "Sketches of Spain" on both systems).

Note: I have submitted this as a bug.
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Wrap Up

All in all, I really like the new version of the app on the iPad.  It seems a bit more "buggy" than Apple Music on the iPhone, but it has to do more with the split screen option.  I am looking forward to seeing the improvements they make over the next few months before the official release of iOS 10.
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Apple Music Preview - iOS 10.0

7/10/2016

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I must be a glutton for punishment because I decided to go ahead and download iOS 10.0 (Beta) on my only cellphone (iPhone 6s Plus).   So far, it has been a little glitchy, but not too bad.

The main reason I updated the phone was to be able to take a look at Apple Music.  I still have an iPad that is running the old version, so if the wheels came off, I could still listen to music.

Below is a quick video showing the new Apple Music app:

A New Look

The app looks a lot different now, but the core functionality is still there.  It now has descriptions in large fonts of different categories.  Before you just had to wing it.  

I never felt that it was much of a hardship to figure stuff out on my own, but if Apple wants to continue adding subscribers that have never used a music app in the past, they needed to dumb it down a bit and make things more simplistic.   They have done that with titles in your own Library section that tell you exactly what is behind each link.  You can even edit the page so that it contains even more or scale it down to just what you want to see (they require you to keep at least one item in the editable list).  

​Their "For You" section once had playlists and albums blended together into one mishmash (that I actually liked), but now the page has defined sections for suggested playlists, stuff you listened to recently, and much more.  
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Basic Layout

Even the basic layout has changed.  If the app is closed, you will land on the "Library" tab when you open the app.  The Library tab replaces "My Music" and "Playlists" with a much more organized layout.  

The "For You" page is still there, but it is no longer the landing page.  

The "New" page is replaced by "Browse" which is probably a better description since it contains more than just new music.  

​The Radio page is still around, but they no longer have a tab for Connect.  Instead, Connect can be found at the bottom of the "For You" page.  They also added a tab in the bottom row for Search rather than having it at the top right corner of the app.
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New Features

In addition to the new look, they added some cool new features.  One of them is the ability to dislike an artist, playlist, or song.  This should make it easier for them to suggest music without giving you suggestions you don't like.

They also added lyrics for some songs.  Right now, we are in beta, so there are still a lot of missing lyrics (it took me a while to find the example in the video), but I expect that will get better as time goes by.  

The also added an "up next" area below the album art for the music that is playing.  You can also move songs up and down the "up next" section.   I had a playlist with hundreds of songs and it loaded at least 150 (if not more) of them.

The "Search" section now keeps your last three searches.   This is very nice since I often want to revisit a search I did at home when I get to work.  They also have trending searches that give you some idea what others are listening to.

The Genre section on the "Browse" page now has "Genres You Follow" at the top.   
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Wrap Up

All in all, they simply gave the app more organization.  I expect that they will continue tweaking the design as we go forward.   However, this is a pretty decent start if they want to attract and hold onto new users.  
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Essential Soundtracks: Mastered for iTunes

5/27/2016

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This is the ninth entry of an ongoing series to list (via screenshots) the "Mastered for iTunes" albums that Apple Music has spotlighted.  

So far, we have the following links:
Essential Rock Albums: Mastered for iTunes
​Essential Jazz Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Metal Albums: Mastered for iTunes
​Essential Pop Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Country Albums:  Mastered for iTunes​
Essential R&B Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Alternative Albums - Mastered for iTunes
Essential Classical Albums: Mastered for iTunes
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Five Apple Music Suggested Changes

5/13/2016

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Bloomberg is reporting that several changes to Apple Music will be coming soon:

"Apple Inc. is planning sweeping changes to its year-old music streaming service after the first iteration of the product was met with tepid reviews and several executives brought in to revive the company's music strategy departed."

The first part of the statement really doesn’t make much sense for a service that has grown from zero to 13 million in less than a year.  The last couple of months they have reportedly added a million new users per month.  Personally, that doesn’t sound like much of a reason to make “sweeping” changes, unless they care more about “tepid reviews" than the number of people that are happily using the service.

That being said, Apple is known for constantly tweaking their hardware and software, so no one would be surprised by a change to the service now that they have data to see what people use, don’t use, like, and don’t like.  In other words, I have no doubt that we will see changes, I am just not sure that I believe that "tepid reviews" has anything to do with it.

Since they are changing the service, I decided to make a list of  five things I think they need to change and why they need to change them.

Matching

Matching is basically a process that scans your local music files and attempts to make versions of them available from Apple’s library in the cloud.  Personally, I was using iTunes Match before Apple Music was even a service.  The main difference between Apple Music Matching and iTunes Matching is that Apple Music Matching has DRM (digital rights management) and iTunes Match does not.  Apple has a very good article about the two services here and I would recommend anyone contemplating either service to read the article closely.  

(As a side note, anyone with or without Apple Music should have up to date backups of their files.  Human error and hard drive failures are all too common.)

The thing they need to change first is the iTunes check boxes that are for “iCloud library” and “Show Apple Music”.  They need to separate the options for Apple Music and iTunes Match and give you a much better idea of what happens when you check the boxes.  I realize that some people do not read and just click through processes.  However, at least careless people could not as easily blame confusion as their excuse for deleting their own files.  (Note:  I am not saying that we wouldn't still see click-bait articles by people that somehow lost their files, but maybe they would be met with more scrutiny than they are met with these days.)

The second issue is that Apple needs to do a better job of reading and matching metadata.  They often mismatch files and match the wrong version of an album in the cloud or match it with the wrong artwork.  While I have been forgiving of this problem because I have the actual original files available, it doesn’t fit the Steve Jobs idea that it should just work.

I have read suggestions that they should just upload all original files rather than trying to match them.  While I would love to have all of my Apple Lossless files in the cloud, I just can’t see them doing this.  Many people don’t have internet speeds that can handle this much data quickly moving to the cloud.  The second problem is the data cap limits on many of the most popular internet services.  Comcast caps at 300GB a month in this area, so people could end up going over their limits and have to pay more or have their internet shut off for the rest of the month.  You think they get “tepid reviews” now, what do you think the consequences will be with the services eating up all your bandwidth when you have work to do from home?

Clearly, matching is a difficult issue to solve.  Even if they can't find a perfect solution, they at least should move toward something that is more idiot-proof.  I actually think the best solution may be to remove the feature all together unless someone pays extra for iTunes Match.  That way they could get away from the DRM versions of your own matched music, which is where I think a lot of the confusion comes from.

Below is an example of the wrong artwork being applied to an album:
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Siri

I think Siri is the best, most distinguishable, feature of Apple Music.  To be honest, there isn’t much I would change with Siri in the actual Apple Music iOS app, other than giving it the ability to play music based on styles.  I should be able to say “play saxophone jazz” and it should know what I want to hear.  

That being said, I have bigger issues with how iOS handles audio, in general, and how it works with Siri.  It should know that I have Bluetooth headphones or speakers in range.  It should know that I have Airplay speakers in range.  As a result, it should allow me to say “Play Chris Stapleton on Kitchen Speaker” and it show direct the music to that speaker.  While Airplay is fairly easy to access from the Control Panel, Bluetooth requires a trip into settings to select the speaker.  It feels like they could do so much more in this area.

Also, their Apple Music advertising need to focus on Siri.  It is the one killer feature that makes it a "no-brainier" for iOS users.  The recent Taylor Swift commercial (below) would have been much more effective  if she had just used Siri to start music playing rather than needing so much interaction with the app.  

​Actually, it would have been so much better if they had showed the iPhone on a shelf across the room with the "For You" section up on the screen with Taylor getting on the treadmill while holding up her Apple Watch to say "Hey Siri, play treadmill playlist".  Next, the phone starts playing her playlist.  Just a lot more effective than needing to hit the screen 5 times to get to the music she wanted to hear.

Mastered For iTunes (MFiT)

First, let me say that I think Apple needs a lossless or high resolution solution for audiophiles.  Why lose clients that care about audiophile quality to Tidal or Deezer?  Assuming they don’t plan to do that, at the very minimum, they need to add a logo to let people know when an album is Mastered For iTunes.  The iTunes Store supplies that information, so there is no excuse for not providing the information to Apple Music users.
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More Descriptive Information

Apple could learn a lot from All Music in this area. All Music gives you a description of the artist, original release date information, genre (Rock), styles (Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, etc.).  critic review, star rating, user reviews, etc.   In comparison, for most albums in Apple Music you often get a very basic description of the album.  They need to give a lot more detail.  

If you want an idea of how this is done to perfection, get a trial run with RoonAudio (see picture below).  They provide all of the above, the genre and styles, and they give you a button so you can click to play music in that style.   Right now, I have to leave the Apple Music app and pull up All Music Guide or Wiki to learn more about an album or artist.  ​
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Full Featured Remote Capabilities

This is really a two part problem and I don’t care how it is solved, but it is a problem.  Right now, the only way to get multiple room Airplay capabilities is with a computer in the mix.  It is a bit ridiculous that multiple source Airplay isn’t available with the Apple Music iOS app, but if there is some sort of issue that makes Apple shy away from adding the feature to iOS (Note: the WHAALE app can handle multiple room AirPlay in iOS, so it is already possible with other apps), they have got to give us more functional control of Apple Music running on a computer within the iOS app.

Right now, Apple has an iOS app called Remote that will enable the user to control what is playing on a computer and where the music is playing.  It will allow you to send the audio signal to multiple Airplay speakers around the house, which can be very convenient.  However, right now the Remote app is limited to only playing music in your library.  This means you can’t just start listening to another album on Apple Music without adding it to your library first.

Ideally, it would work like Rdio’s feature (which was later added by Spotify) that allowed you to control the Rdio program running on a computer from the Rdio iOS app.  It had full control of what was playing and you simply used the Rdio iOS app as the remote.   Apple needs to do more in this area for people that want multiple room audio or for those that have a computer plugged into their main system and want to utilize Apple Music more fully in this environment.

When Apple introduced the iPad Pro, they acted like you could replace a five year old Windows computer with an iPad.  That is ridiculous when even basic AirPlay multiple room options aren't available on the iPad right now. ​

(Below is an example from the Remote app of how you have the ability to use Airplay with multiple Airplay devices when a computer is involved.)
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To Wrap Things Up

I have read that some of the Apple Music changes will be simply cosmetic, like larger artwork and a monochrome theme.  Personally, I wouldn’t call either of these changes “sweeping changes”.  In fact, I like the look of the iOS app now.  I do think we need some cosmetic updates to iTunes/Apple Music on the Mac, none as important as the addition of Siri, but I think  the major changes I mentioned above would be more useful to a lot of users. 
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Essential Rock Albums: Mastered for iTunes

3/5/2016

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Essential Mastered for iTunes Albums,  Part III

This is the third part of an ongoing series to list (via screenshots) the "Mastered for iTunes" albums that Apple Music has spotlighted.  This is my favorite list so far, but nearly each week there are some great "Mastered for iTunes" albums presented.  The last couple that I have posted can be found in the links below:

Essential Jazz Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Metal Albums: Mastered for iTunes
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Apple Music - Mastered for iTunes 

2/2/2016

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I have mentioned that Apple Music is my favorite app of 2015, but I wanted to talk about "Mastered for iTunes" and what it means for Apple Music.

The Mastered for iTunes program was implemented by Apple to give artists and sound engineers the best opportunity to provide iTunes with the highest quality masters available in Apple's 256k AAC format.  

Loudness Wars

The program has the ability to actually give you a better sounding file than the CD you have owned for years.  The reason is the "loudness wars".  This was a technique that was popularized (it was around before CDs) during the CD era that had engineers pushing up the levels to make the song/album sound louder on the radio.  This process can lead to dynamic range compression, clipping of the peaks in the audio wave, audio distortion, and lower sound quality.  

The upside was that when you were listening on the radio, your ears might perk up because the song was louder than the last song that was played.   I am not saying that this dynamic range compression was all bad because it did allow you to listen to albums in the car without making you turn up the radio to hear the lower volume parts of a song over road noise, while also making you turn down the louder parts because they were blowing out your speakers.  However, I will say that when this process is abused, which is a huge portion of CDs, especially in the 90s, it made it less tolerable to listen to the music on a decent system.   In other words, decent sound quality was surrendered to loudness.

Mastered for iTunes 

As a result, the "Mastered for iTunes" albums could actually sound better than that CD you bought back in 1991.  To quote Bob Ludwig (famous mastering engineer):

"Apple has begun a new initiative called "Mastered for iTunes" which greatly improves the sound of iTunes AAC encodes without changing a single piece of hardware on the 250,000,000 players in the field. It can be so dramatic you can easily hear the difference between the new and old technology on your little laptop speakers.

Instead of ingesting the music from a CD rip or 16-bit file, the new system uses 24-bit master files for the encode. The AAC encoder can make use of bits 17-24. An important addition is the realization that the act of AAC encoding can cause clipping where there was none on the original PCM .wav or .aiff file. In classical music this encoder induced clipping can occur at the occasional climaxes or in a typical over-compressed pop/rock recording, many times a second. Apple has created tools to log the number, severity and time of each clip so the mastering engineer can lower the level of the 24-bit master by fractions of a dB and the clips and resulting distortion from them is eliminated.

It is a complicated answer,but a 24-bit AAC encoded file can thus sound better and measure better in certain cases than a normal 16-bit Compact Disc, which unfortunately has been regarded as the gold standard for sound in these comparisons."

While I believe Apple still gives the artist/engineer enough rope to screw up an album, in the end, most of the albums I have heard in this format sound very good.  Steve Hoffman's forum has some of the most finicky sound quality fanatics on the planet, and overall,it seems that they are pretty happy with"Mastered for iTunes" releases.

So how does this fit into Apple Music? 

There is good and bad news in this respect.  Apple Music has a lot of "Mastered for iTunes" music.  The bad news is that there is no easy way to know which albums got the special mastering.  However, the good news is that "New" section has an area at the very bottom of the page that features "Mastered for iTunes" albums.  They have had everything from Classical, to Christmas, to Singer Songwriter, to Alternative Rock, to Pop and more already.  To be honest, I look forward to this section more than the new releases these days.  Here is an example from this month:
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As you can see, even this month's "oldies" have some fantastic, all time great albums.  There are some great soul and rock albums that make it worth trying out all of them. Today, I have listened to Otis Redding, Elvis, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones.  

I have read that most albums on Apple Music that have been remastered in the last few years are probably "Mastered for iTunes".  The album page typically has the date that the album was mastered.  However, I don't think that the mastering date absolutely guarantees that it was mastered for iTunes.
To Wrap Up:

Personally, I would love to see Apple provide lossless albums over Apple Music that take advantage of similar techniques.  However, the current process has the possibility of providing better sounding music despite the fact that the music is compressed.  For me, the fact that they aren't charging twice as much to hear better sound quality makes this music more obtainable that Tidal (which offers lossless audio for double the price).   I just wish they would make it easier to find these albums via the search option.  Also, I think the artist page would benefit from a special "Mastered for iTunes" section.  However, I don't want to complain too much because I am happy that Apple is providing them to us without raising the price for access. 
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Apple Music- App of the Year

12/29/2015

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Apple Music 

Apple Music is my choice for (most under appreciated) app of the year.  Thanks to one well known tech blogger not backing up his music files, Apple Music took a big hit right out of the gate.   Somehow, this person that writes about tech doesn't have a backup of his music and somehow lost his music.  I haven't seen anyone else with this issue, but he got picked up by so many tech blogs (it makes great click bait) that it soon seemed like it was a common issue.  Nope, just one person with an issue that also has a big megaphone.

 (As a side note: I was reading a year end article just today and his problem was brought up again.  If this issue is so widespread, why is everyone just quoting this one guy rather than talking about their own personal experience?  Yeah, it appears that the guy was one of the few people that had the issue and if some of the articles about his issue are true, he simply missed checking one of two boxes in the preferences on iTunes. )

Matching

While matching isn't perfect, it is better than not having any of your own music available. I have a 25,000 song library and I admit that I run into an issue with the wrong album artwork or wrong album showing up on occasion, but I don't think it is a federal crime. For one thing, I don't listen to my own music via the service that often (although it is a very nice perk that sets it apart from most of the competition).  Since they now have The Beatles, there is even less reason to listen to my own collection.

Secondly, the app has a home sharing button to get to my own untouched collection when I am home (it even supports 24/96 with the right DAC). Apple has millions of songs available and I have never been so desperate to listen to that one album that they may have matched incorrectly that I haven't been able to find something else to listen to.  It just hasn't happened. 

In short, I look at this as an extra, very nice, feature that has very little to do with the overall experience.  For one thing, my 25,000 song library is minuscule compared to their millions of songs. Of those 25,000 songs, a huge majority were matched properly.   

If I was so anal that missing one album in 1500 was a huge issue, I would probably just use Plex or DS Audio to access my music when on the road.  However, I like having my music combined with the streaming service so I can access nearly everything from one app.

Siri on the iPhone is Seriously Amazing

Siri on iOS has been the real game changer here.  It is what sets this service apart from all of the other services and has made Apple Music my favorite and most used app this year.

As I have mentioned in aprior review, the service is absolutely amazing on the iPhone.  I can be driving to work and simply say "Hey Siri, play songs from 1972" and music just starts playing.   I can also tell it to play songs, albums, artists and they just play.   

AppleTV 4 app

The new AppleTV was released with the Apple Music app.  I have used Spotify, Rdio, and SiriusXM on my Roku, but they are practically empty shells compared to their iOS counterparts.  On the other hand, the Apple Music app is simply amazing on the AppleTV.  For example, the videos look a lot better on the big screen when compared to the iPhone/iPad.

Siri has also been added.  While it isn't perfect, it is a lot better than other music services on other platforms.
Apple Watch 
It is easily one of the best apps on the Apple Watch.  It is simply an extension of the iPhone, but it is an ultra-convenient extension.  You can play music from your saved library, your saved playlists, etc..  However, the real magic is that it works with Siri for the entire Apple Music database and you can also control Airplay while your iPhone is docked in a separate room.

For You 

While other services think I want to hear what my friend is listening to, Apple Music is built around MY TASTE.  I prefer this approach.  I am old school and consider music to be a personal experience,  not a way to follow the crowd.

New

The "New" section is kind of a catch all for just about anything new.  I was mainly using it for new releases, but I noticed that Apple has added a new section at the bottom of the page for "Mastered for iTunes" albums.  

I think mastering is more important that bit rates once you get in the 224 kbps range and Apple has some of the best masters of many albums.  I look at this feature about once a week and it has varied from classical albums (some of the all time great albums at that), Christmas albums, and this week they have singer/songwriter albums (Dylan, Simon, Springsteen, etc.).  This section alone is almost worth the price of the service for me.

iTunes Integration 

Be aware that my thoughts on this issue go against the grain.  Many think that iTunes is getting to be a swollen dumpster where Apple throws everything.  I am not going to argue that they might want to think about breaking it up, but I like Apple Music mixed in with my music.  I simply leave on Apple Music and uncheck iCloud Music in the preference section after I match new music.  This leaves me with everything I want to hear, including my own Apple Lossless files and doesn't include the music that was matched to the cloud.  

On the Apple Music app on the AppleTV, you have to listen to the "Computer app" to get your own local library and "Apple Music" for the matched music and songs available for Apple Music.  I prefer the iTunes approach, so I don't have to jump from app to app to listen to music.

Connect

\I was a bit baffled by this section when the app first came out.  However, I have it setup for genres now and the suggestions are great when you want to hear a suggested album/artist/playlist from "Jazz", "Rock", etc.  It supplements the "For You" section, but is better for quickly getting to a genre.  As an example, "Americana" had a "A Very Folk Christmas" playlist available at Christmas.

You can also get to genres by going to the "New" section, but this is just a way to flip on the app, click one button, scroll down to the genre you want to hear, and play it.

App of the year

It really is mind blowing to hear all of the complaints about the service.  No, it isn't perfect, but I could nitpick just about any service or product out there.  I have tried pretty much all of them and none of them are perfect...for one thing, none of them, other than Apple Music, currently work with Siri.  If you are on Android, then you do get some similar features, but you have to buy into that ecosystem and I am not going that route (Note:  If I was on Android, I would have made YouTube Red my app of the year).

In this case, the features, the compatibility across hardware, and the exceptional Siri control made this an easy pick for my app of the year.  
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Apple TV 4th Generation - Initial Thoughts

10/31/2015

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Well, it has been a long time since Apple released its 3rd Gen Apple TV (announced back in March 2012), so there has been a lot of pent up demand from a lot of us Apple TV fans.  This box is better than the 3rd Gen in many ways, but there are still some issues that I hope Apple resolves in the coming months.

Features

​The new Apple TV is a bit thicker than the last two Apple TVs.  It also dropped the digital optical output that a lot of people still need.   Of course, that issue can be remedied with a device like this one, but that will add to the overall cost of using the device.  

List of the ports and interfaces:

HDMI 1.43
802.11ac Wi‑Fi with MIMO  
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
IR receiver
USB‑C for service and support
Built‑in power supply 

Below are a couple pics comparing the front and back to an Apple TV2 (the fat one is the Apple TV4)
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Apple Music

​If you have a subscription to Apple Music, it may be enough to get you to shell out the $150-199.  Its implementation is fantastic.  If you have used the app on another platform, you should be very comfortable with the way it is setup on the AppleTV.  It uses “For You”, “New”, Radio”, "My Music”, ”Playlists”, “Search” (Siri search in Apple Music is rumored to be coming in 2016) and “Now Playing” in a very similar way to the iOS app.  I do not see a “Connect” tab, but there are some “Connect” video and audio choices on the “New” page.  The “New” page also has a link to different genres, so I was happy to see that they were able to adopt that feature.  

It appears that Apple has decided to keep the resampling to 48khz feature from the older Apple TVs.  For audiophiles, this is a major problem since it won’t allow you to put out a standard 44.1kHz (Redbok CD) signal.  That being said, I have listen to it for a few hours and it sounds great in my setup.

I also want to mention that I felt the desire to use the music video features a lot more on this platform.  The iPad’s implementation of Apple Music videos is awful.  There is no full screen mode, instead, it is presented in a small box in the middle of the screen.   You can’t even Airplay it to a TV.   However, having the feature built into the Apple TV means you get full screen videos right on your TV with great sound quality.  In the past, the videos were a worthless feature, but now, I will be using them a whole lot more.  
(click on the pics below for larger images)
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Home Sharing

​While you can access your own cloud music library (in 256k AAC)  through Apple Music, if you have an account.  The new Apple TV has also included Home Sharing through its “Computers” icon.  I was very happy to see this because I have all of my music in Apple Lossless format and I would typically rather just stream from a Mac Mini to Apple TV rather than using my internet data when I want to listen to my own music.

Home Sharing has podcasts, home videos, and movies included, as well.

Search Functions

​There are two ways to interact with the AppleTV.  You can do that through Siri or through a remote.  For movies, Siri is pretty darn awesome.  You can say something like “Jason Statham on Netflix" and it will pull up his movies and you can click on any of them.  It will give you a quick description of the movie, who it stars, the director, a preview, and the ability to play or open it in Netflix.  It also includes a bunch of “related” movies below.  I also tested it by saying “Michael Keaton on HBO" and it works as well, using the HBO GO app.  Notice how quick the feature is in the short clip below: 
Siri can also launch apps, give you sports info, and tell you the weather.  See the short clip below for a couple of examples:
The downside to the AppleTV right now is that Siri doesn’t work with all apps.  Your own video collection, for example, isn’t included in the search.    This is where the real pain of using the remote comes into play.  Apple, for some reason has decided to make the onscreen keyboard one row of letters.  This is a real issue if you want to manually search in an app like HBO Go because the letters are so large that they trail completely off the screen.  While I could live with this if the AppleTV worked with the Remote app (which has a keyboard for typing on the older AppleTVs), but it doesn’t. 

This really becomes a headache when you have 16 character passwords that you have to type in when you install an app that requires a password…which is most of them.  The Apple TV has Bluetooth which comes in handy for the initial setup, however, from my understanding, you still can’t pair a keyboard with it.


NOTE:  I tried to pair a Targus Bluetooth Keyboard with it and it never showed up in the settings.
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Podcasts

​One of my favorite apps on my old Apple TV was the Podcast app.  It was unique because you could go through many different categories and save specific shows as your favorites and they would automatically update.   I have always preferred this approach over having tons of different apps that have one individual show you want to watch.  Not to mention that you could start a program and then exit it and resume it on any iOS device or AppleTV. 

On the other hand, the new Apple TV does not currently have the Apple Podcast app.  I was very surprised and disappointed by that fact, to be honest.  Instead of pulling up “MacBreak Weekly” in the Podcast app, the way to get it now would be to get the TWIT app.  There are three different TWIT apps on the AppleTV (one of them is currently free).  However, I don’t want to install another app on all my devices to get the resume play features.  

In short, the lack of the Apple Podcast app is the biggest shortfall of this new Apple TV, in my opinion.  I am going to try to get my iTunes library Podcasts up to date (I still have 2011 Hypercritical programs in it) and use Home Sharing for Podcasts instead.  

Note:  The TWIT app looks great, but I still prefer just having all apps I like show up in one place on all my devices.
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Apps

​The Apple TV 4th generation App store already has a lot of apps.  It will even find your “Purchased” iOS compatible apps and make them available for download to the Apple TV.   Many apps require a cable or satellite account to set them up, but I really like the ability to have NBC and ABC available on the Apple TV just for convenience.  However, cord cutters will have some of the standard stuff like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO GO.  

I also downloaded a couple games.  I tested out Asphalt 8:Airborne and it was a lot of fun using the remote as a controller (more on the remote later).  

I should mention that many “standard” apps are still not available.  There is still no Plex, Amazon, Pandora, or Vudu available.  
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Remote

I have mentioned some of the features of the remote above.  However, to be honest, I am not  huge fan of the remote.  While I really enjoyed playing Asphalt 8 with the Wii style functionality, the remote is so light and tiny that it makes it harder to control than a Wii remote because there is no heft to it.  

Also, I am not sure why, but it seems to feel better in the hand upside down.  There is a lot of empty space at the bottom and top, so it feels a bit confusing, when you pick it up, compared to every other controller I have used (I have caught myself aiming the bottom of the remote at the TV a few times).  Also, the buttons could use a little more space between them, so it would have, IN MY OPINION, been nice to use that bottom space to make the controller more ergonomic.  That being said, I think it was a design choice that makes it look more symetrical.  I have to admit that I think it looks great, but I am more concerned with using it than looking at it.
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Airplay

I tested Airplay and it still works great.  However, it worked pretty great on the old AppleTVs, too.  I was happy that Apple didn’t remove this feature, though.  

The Apple TV will still let you send the audio from the Apple TV to Airplay receivers, as well.  I was hoping that they would implement multi-zone Airplay from the Apple TV to more than one Airplay speaker, but right now, it is still one Airplay speaker at a time.
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In addition to Airplay, you can also pair bluetooth headphones with the new Apple TV.  I tested this feature with Parrot Zik 2.0 headphones and they paired up without a problem.  However, with Bluetooth you do have to worry about a lag between the video and when the audio hits your ears.  With these specific headphones, I did not notice any lag when watching Youtube.
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Interface

​I like the interface, but I think it could be better.  Right now it looks fantastic with its minimal design cues.  However, it only allows 5 apps on each line.  On my 65 inch TV, I can see 10 full icons and the top of 5 more icons (on a 32 inch display it shows only 5 full icons).   I personally bought the 64GB version of the Apple TV in anticipation of having tons of apps.  However, the Apple TV needs to be able to use folders.  I would  like to have 3 full lines of my 15 most used apps and then a line of folders for sports, games, videos, music, and others.  This has been the best way to organize numerous iPhone apps, so I would think it would work here, as well.  

I also want to mention the “Aerial Screensaver" features.  I yawned when they spent so much time discussing this feature during the Apple Keynote.  However, with Apple Music, I anticipate using the Apple TV quite a bit for music and that typically means that I want a screensaver to save my TV from burn in.  In the past, I have always just used Flickr as my screensaver (it is another “coming soon” missing feature), but these beautiful aerial views are a nice change of pace. 

​Final Thoughts

I have mixed feelings about this Apple TV.  It is priced higher than the Roku/FireTV and has less apps and doesn’t support 4k.  At this point, I would only recommend it for people already in the Apple ecosystem or for those that want to be on board as new apps and features are introduced over the next year and beyond.  In other words, I have no doubt that it will get a lot better in future months (Siri search in Apple Music alone will be a huge improvement).   Right now, for the price of the $199 version, you could get an Nvidia Shield (I will post a comparison soon) which would give you a lot of features that the Apple TV doesn't have.  

Note (12/15):  Apple made provided a major updated to the AppleTV, read about it here.

Below is a quick look at the positives and negatives with the current version of the AppleTV (I am sure updates will be coming soon):
​Upsides:
Apple Music (Siri integration would make it better)
Apple Music Videos
App store 
Interesting games
AirPlay
Home sharing
Siri - great for movies with certain apps
Arial Screensaver looks awesome
Apple Photos and the Apple ecosystem in general

Downsides:
Remote iOS app does not connect to the new Apple TV
Music - 48 kHz resampling (prefer on-the-fly bit rate switching for bit perfect audio)
Podcast app missing
Onscreen keyboard is strange (would prefer more rows)
​Lacks bluetooth keyboard pairing 
Lacks common inputs/outputs - no SD slot, no digital optical out, no way to connect external drive
Lacks 4k - probably not a big deal for most, but it is a feature that most competitors are adding
Pricey considering the lack of 4k
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Apple Music, I Want Lossless!

8/12/2015

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All things being equal, I will take lossless audio over lossy audio.

Note:  For the purpose of this article, when I refer to lossless, I am talking about Redbook CD 16/44.1 quality audio.

As I have mentioned in a prior post, I am switching to Apple Music because all things aren't equal.  

I have seen several articles about Apple's decision to use 256k AAC files.  Some are fine with compressed lossy files, some think they should have used lossless formats instead, and some think they should have a premium tier for those that want lossless.  I agree with those that would wish for at least a premium, lossless tier.

One of the most memorable and discussed parts of Walt Isaacson's Steve Jobs Biography was the part where Steve Jobs was talking about the lessons he learned from his father.  To quote the book:

"He loved doing things right. He even cared about the look of the parts you couldn’t see.”

To me, this represents Apple's brand and image more than anything else I have read or heard.  

With that note, I realize that Apple started with 128 Kbps files on iTunes and have since increased their bit rates to 256k AAC files.  In the past, I have always thought that these lossy bit rates were a necessary trade off to work with slow internet and cellular speeds and caps. 

With Tidal (and Deezer on Sonos) proving that a modern service can offer lossless format streaming and HD Tracks showing us that high resolution downloads are possible, it begs the question of why Apple doesn't have a premium tier for downloads or streaming?

One person offered the point that it would be more expensive for Apple to offer lossless because their potential user base is larger than Tidal's.  I don't believe it.  As more users pay a premium, theoretically, the fixed costs (the price to house the 30 million lossless files) should get cheaper on a per person basis.  The bandwidth required would go up, but I can't imagine a situation where Apple couldn't handle the bandwidth, not to mention that the extra users should easily cover the extra cost.  Apple is the same company telling us that 16 GB iPhones have enough memory because we can store all of our files in the cloud.  iTunes also streams 1080p movies with Dolby Digital soundtracks.  I don't believe bandwidth is the issue.

The other point is that "people can't appreciate or hear the difference".  First of all, I am waiting for any test that provides absolute proof of this assertion.  I have yet to read any test results that have conclusively shown that we can't hear a difference.  Most tests are set up based on statistical results of whether we can conclusively hear a difference. 

Just a quick analogy: I have two small chocolate milkshakes available and one has a giant cockroach mixed in and the other doesn't.  Next, I told you that we did a "blind test" and 8 out of 10 times our test subjects said they could taste the difference between the shake with the cockroach and the shake without the cockroach...inconclusive results under the typical audio ABX methodology.  

"Typically, a 95% confidence level is sufficient for psychoacoustic experiments. In other words, we want to be confident that less than 5% of completely random test results would indicate a perceptible difference.
http://lsbaudio.com/publications/AES127_ABX.pdf

Which milkshake would you drink if you had the option?  Most, I suspect, would choose the shake without the cockroach.  Why?  There is no conclusive test showing that a difference in taste exists.  It is because they know there is a difference between the two milkshakes.  If Baskin Robbins said that they had cockroaches in every milkshake, but it was inconclusive through ABX testing that you would actually taste the cockroach, how long would they be in business?  Do you think it would damage their brand?

In the Steve Jobs quote above, he doesn't seem to be professing that Apple doesn't care about the inside of a MacBook case because most people, under most circumstances, wouldn't notice a difference or care.  However, with audio they are taking the original file, removing bits, and hoping that under most scenarios, most people don't notice a difference or don't care.  Sorry, to these ears, it doesn't sound like the same degree of end-to-end quality is being applied...and I don't need an ABX test to figure that out.

The other issue that I mentioned is cellular caps.  That issue can be easily resolved by having the app default to a lower bit rate and making the user choose higher or lossless codecs.  Every other service, with the exception of Apple Music, that I have used, already gives you that option.

To wrap things up, I think lossless audio fits in with Apple's philosophy of end-to-end premium quality and providing a maximum of 256k lossy files doesn't.  That doesn't mean I will be switching to Tidal, it just means that in my mind, I know I have the equivalent of an unfinished, sloppy Mac enclosure that I have to live with in order to use OSX (Siri).  

If you know of some other reason that Tidal and Deezer can provide lossless streaming and Apple can't, please let me know.  My guess is that they have pushed the "Mastered for iTunes" at 256k for so long that they are ingrained in that bit rate, but I don't know for sure.





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Why I am switching to Apple Music

8/1/2015

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I have already written an article about the 20 things I would like to see Apple change with Apple Music, but I have decided to switch subscription streaming from Rdio despite the current issues.  

First off, I should mention that I mainly use iOS (iPhone 6 plus and iPad Air 2) for listening to music (Airplay or Dragonfly DAC at home, Bluetooth at work and in the car), so the switch from Rdio is mostly related to how the app works with iOS.   I do use iTunes on the Mac on occasion and don't have a major problem with it, although I feel the iOS makes better use of the service if only for Siri.  

Below are the main reasons for switching:

1.  Siri - When I was itemizing all of the things Apple Music was missing, I came to the realization that some features are just much more important than others.  There are many features on Rdio that I prefer to Apple Music (continue play, artist radio slider, and the ability to sort albums by different criteria, just to name a few).  However, Siri has made my life so much easier when I don’t want mess with the interface at all.  For example, I may be listening to sports radio in the car because the Griz just signed Marc Gasol.  However, three minutes in, they decided to discuss fishing…yes, fishing.  I decide to listen to music, but I don’t want to mess with the app.  I simply hit one button on the Nav control unit to change to bluetooth audio and one button on the iPhone. Siri then comes up on my car’s bluetooth, I tell "her" to shuffle all of my music and my music starts to play.  

When I am at home and just want to hear an album, I just pick up the iPhone and say "play the album Way out West by Sonny Rollins" or "play something by Sam and Dave" and music just starts playing.  It is great for home, the car, work, etc.

Having Siri integration is a major game changer!
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2.  iTunes Match integration - I have been using iTunes Match for years.  The problem is that I would be in the Rdio app, then want to hear The Beatles, and I would need to leave one app and start another.  It was a pain.  Apple Music mingles my music collection with Apple Music and gives me the ability to easily listen to The Beatles or Prince without leaving the app.

NOTE:  Please do not delete your local library after you put your music in the cloud.  That is not a smart thing to do.  

!!!ALWAYS!!! Keep more than one local copy of all  your files.  If Apple somehow messes up every file in the cloud or on iTunes, you can simply delete them and import the files from the backup again (after you create a new backup from the old backup assuming the worst case scenario and all of your old iTunes files are ruined).  I thought this was academic, but I see well respected tech bloggers that haven't figured it out.  Maybe I need a post on that subject ?  Actually, I have written about how I backup up files a couple of times.  Link 1, Link 2.
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3. For You - The recommendations are outstanding for when I don’t know what I want to hear or I just want to explore.  I prefer this particular page over any suggestion page available on any other service.  

The playlists introduce you to new artists and they also mingle artists' albums they know you like with albums that they think you will like.   The playlists they recommend are often fantastic with suggestions like  "ON SAX:BOBBY KEYS"....that includes The Stones, Clapton, BB King, Harry Nilsson, and John Lennon.  I would never have the ability to easily put this playlist together myself.  


In fact, I rarely ever use playlists.  I have mainly been more album oriented which is why I like artists like Radiohead, Sinatra, Pink Floyd, etc.   However, Apple has the ability to put together compelling playlists that not only include artists and songs that I would theoretically put in a playlist, but new artists and songs that I may not even know.  This leads to new discoveries, and in short, it is AWESOME!
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4.  Car integration - I mentioned Siri above, but there is more.  In fact, I may create a video on just how great this works in my car (2014 BMW).  With Rdio, I had the ability to use Bluetooth audio, album art, and the ability to skip songs (Spotify didn't work properly at all..which is one of the reasons I dumped them).  

With Apple Music, I get several new features like the ability to search for albums, artists, genres, right from the navigation screen.  It has all of my music and any album or song I have moved to my library from Apple Music. It also keeps the playlists that I save and radio stations I have saved.  When I play an album, I can see and select any song on the album from the nav screen or from the heads up display with just the steering wheel controls.  Keep in mind, this is the first version of the app and it is much more integrated than the services that have been around for years.  

5.  New - this fits my needs better than other services, as well.  The ability to see a page with new releases from all genres combined, but also with the ability to find new releases based on genre is perfect for my needs.  If I want to hear new blues albums, I know exactly where I need to go to find the newest releases.  

The "New" page for each genre also contains recommended Playlists like "Blues for the Modern World", "Best of Chicago Blues", etc. (to give you a couple examples from the Blues genre).  Song charts for the genre are also here along with video and album charts in the Top Charts section.

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6.  The other features like Radio and Connect aren't game changers for me, but I wouldn't remove them if I had the option.  Sometimes I want to hear ECM Selected Recordings, Mixtape, or other stations I created recently and the Radio section is the place to find them.  I use the Connect page to keep up with new entries from Apple Music genres like Apple Music Jazz, Apple Music Country, Apple Music Classic Rock, etc.  and Beats 1 creators ( even though I rarely ever listen to Beats1).

Final Thoughts 

While I am not saying that Apple Music is perfect, I do feel that even right out of the gate it is the best service for my needs.  Since I use iOS at home and away, the integration with Siri alone could have been enough to get me to switch.  Those that are complaining about the many features and confusion could just as easily hit one button and tell Siri to play something.  It is so easy a 5 year old could do it.  

The complexity comes from it having so many features and the way we interact with the app determines whether we think those features are worthwhile.  Personally, I would keep all of the features, including Beats1 that I could live without.  The reason is that I have always preferred having options available over not having them available.  Maybe I will hit that Beats1 button out of boredom one day and be introduced to an amazing artist.  I just don't want to throw away that option.  

In short, I spent months deciding on which service to switch to when MOG was first bought by Beats.  I compared Rdio to Tidal, Spotify, and Beats and it won in so many categories that I was very happy with the service.  However, Apple Music beats Rdio right out of the gate with convenience (Siri), recommendations (For You), music selection (I have easy access to The Beatles, Prince, and Neil Young albums I own), and it works better in my car (Bluetooth Audio integration with the navigation screen in my car).  Apple isn't perfect at this point, but we are essentially talking about a beta, even if they didn't call it that.  Of course, there are bugs, but I have been using the service for a month and the bugs just aren't enough to make me want to switch back to using Rdio, so I cancelled the Rdio subscription service.  

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    About me:

    Dog loving, Big Green Egg worshiping, Tech enthusiast, residing in Memphis, TN.  Home of the Tigers, Grizzlies, Elvis, Al Green, Stax, Hi Records, Ardent Studios, Beale Street, Peabody Ducks, etc..  I have also added the Jeep Wrangler to the list of things I am enthusiastic about.

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