{"slug": "apple-music", "name": "Apple Music", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Apple's music streaming service and media player app for Apple devices, Windows, Android and web.", "recommenders": 9, "commenters": 25, "warners": 8, "score": 3.424, "rising": 5.02, "first": "2025-11-03", "latest": "2026-10-20", "why": "HN commenters like it as a Spotify replacement, citing better shuffling, audio quality and album curation, and as a decent media player on macOS.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 9, "neutral": 8, "compare": 0, "warn": 8}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3], "listed": true, "loved": ["Beats Spotify", "Discovery and curation"], "caveat": "Unwanted auto-launch", "short_quote": "I absolutely love Apple Music. The new music playlist it gives me each week has introduced me to hundreds of new artists", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.apple.com/apple-music/", "pricing": "paid", "aliases": ["Apple Music"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like it as a Spotify replacement, citing better shuffling, audio quality and album curation,", "cites": [{"id": 794334897, "item_id": 49645931, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49645931", "by": "jeffrallen", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Switched to Apple music and won't go back.", "excerpt": "Too late. My kids called the app Stop-ify because it was so unreliable. Switched to Apple music and won't go back. On Android!", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin"}, {"id": 792338624, "item_id": 49521164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49521164", "by": "toofy", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use apple music. love it way more than spotify.", "excerpt": "> Is there any music streaming service with fast native cross-platform (Linux, Mac, Windows, Android) clients? Because I'd switch. i use apple music. love it way more than spotify. i originally got it because their descriptions of albums and their playlists are done by actual music nerds. i use the website on linux since it\u2019s my daily/work driver and their app on my phone and macbook when i use it. the apple music ap", "context": "Linux daily driver, family plan", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Fastpotify"}, {"id": 786751808, "item_id": 49171988, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171988", "by": "avdwrks", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back.", "excerpt": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back. The UX isn't great, but the audio quality alone was worth the switch for me. It also actually shuffles your music instead of cycling through the same small subset of songs.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers"}, {"id": 800126160, "item_id": 50007885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50007885", "by": "slowin", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Apple Music now for Japanese bands. It's quite good for that.", "excerpt": "I use Apple Music now for Japanese bands. It's quite good for that. Much, much better than Spotify last I checked, which admittedly was years ago.", "context": "", "use_case": "discovering Japanese bands", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "15-year search for a band that charted once and vanished"}]}, {"text": " and as a decent media player on macOS.", "cites": [{"id": 802605409, "item_id": 50162838, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50162838", "by": "rbanffy", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple Music is still a decent media player", "excerpt": "I have been using corporate issue Macs for more than a decade now and, while the software isn\u2019t perfect, it\u2019s a pretty good Unix that leaves nothing to be desired as a workstation OS. It\u2019s a bit rough around the edges, with some apps getting closer in feature set to their mobile counterparts (and thus less flexible), but they are still good compared to their Windows and Unix competitors. Apple Music is still a decent", "context": "uses corporate-issued Macs for over a decade", "use_case": "media player", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS 15.8.2 Breaks OpenGL"}, {"id": 801841104, "item_id": 50115069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115069", "by": "sgt", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I mostly use Music on macOS. I use Photos a lot on iOS. Both work very well for me", "excerpt": "You mean Music/Photos on iOS or macOS? I mostly use Music on macOS. I use Photos a lot on iOS. Both work very well for me, and I've been through the iterations all the way since the early 2000s iTunes. What I don't like about Photos is that it's confusing to use sometimes (scroll up/down to find the buttons, the albums etc).", "context": "long-time Apple user since iTunes", "use_case": "music playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is that macOS launches Music uninvited when headphone or play/pause buttons are pressed or other audio starts,", "cites": [{"id": 775819744, "item_id": 48488734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48488734", "by": "gcardone_", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I hate how MacOS would start Apple Music every time I accidentally tapped my earbuds.", "excerpt": "I hate how MacOS would start Apple Music every time I accidentally tapped my earbuds. To disable it I used an even lower tech solution, which works on corp laptops that don't allow installing arbitrary software: 1. Open System Settings 2. Navigate to Screen Time -> App Limits -> Add Limit... 3. Select \"Music\" and set an \"Every Day\" limit of 0 minutes.", "context": "uses a corporate laptop", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775199616, "item_id": 48449976, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449976", "by": "NobodyNada", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "causing Music to launch and begin playing audio out of my default output device", "excerpt": "I needed something like this a few months ago. I use my MacBook to run my (musical) keyboard rig for live performances, and use low-latency wireless headphones for monitoring. The headphones have a transmitter dongle that plugs into my laptop, and the dongle sends a \"play/pause\" command if I press a button on my headphones...causing Music to launch and begin playing audio out of my default output device. It doesn't e", "context": "live keyboard performer using MacBook", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775188465, "item_id": 48449279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449279", "by": "linsomniac", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "every time I'd start a google meet call (IIRC) or otherwise interact with audio on my MacBook it would bring up Apple Music", "excerpt": "Wow, thank you! I use and \"like\" youtube music, but it seems like every time I'd start a google meet call (IIRC) or otherwise interact with audio on my MacBook it would bring up Apple Music. If I quit it, it would pop back up the next time I had audio playing, but if I just left it running it would be fine. So I'd always have this Apple Music in my list of running apps. Kind of annoying. I ran the above and then quit", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775186594, "item_id": 48449162, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449162", "by": "dwedge", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music decides that what I actually want is for it to steal focus for 5 seconds while it loads", "excerpt": "I use play/pause to start/stop the music on whatever I was listening to music on (Spotify usually, sometimes brain.fm). It's a background action, play music or stop music, no change to flow. If Spotify isn't running for whatever reason, or sometimes even if it is, Apple Music decides that what I actually want is for it to steal focus for 5 seconds while it loads, switch to a full screen window and pester me to subscr", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}]}, {"text": " along with assorted bugs like memory leaks and lossless tracks stopping after 15 seconds.", "cites": [{"id": 801802193, "item_id": 50112637, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50112637", "by": "vsgherzi", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music not leaking memory.", "excerpt": "I don\u2019t really think it\u2019s something to agree or not agree on. This is the experience I\u2019ve had as an Apple user. I use their products extensively and like them quite a bit. The issues I\u2019ve seen I deem unacceptable for a company of this caliber. I\u2019m not talking about .6 seconds of load time or absolute customization. I\u2019m talking about FaceTime actually switching when I click the button. Apple Music not leaking memory. ", "context": "extensive Apple user", "use_case": "music playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}, {"id": 747843936, "item_id": 46740246, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740246", "by": "alexrsagen", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music stops playing (lossless) tracks after 15 seconds.", "excerpt": "Here's a fun one. Apple Music stops playing (lossless) tracks after 15 seconds. You'll know it's going to happen before it happens as well, if the lossless icon doesn't appear within 1-2 seconds after playing a track. I promise I'm not crazy, it's not just me. Just search for \"15 seconds\" in Apple Community: https://discussions.apple.com/search?q=15+seconds I'm sure this is likely already fixed in the latest version ", "context": "Apple One Family subscriber on Windows", "use_case": "lossless music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Bugs Apple Loves"}, {"id": 786763568, "item_id": 49172723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49172723", "by": "steve_adams_86", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Apple Music generally does the trick but stuff like this kind of kills me.", "excerpt": "I use Apple Music too. I recently noticed it randomly playing videos, though. I can't hide the overlay despite the checkbox being unchecked for \"keep video playback on top of all other windows\". Apparently the only way to disable it is via Screen Time, by which you disable video as a content entirely. So weird. I was talking to some coworkers in another room, came back to my desk and a song by Lotta and Doja Cat was ", "context": "pays for Apple One", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Beats Spotify", "summary": "Several commenters switched from Spotify and say they prefer it and won't go back.", "quotes": [{"id": 794334897, "item_id": 49645931, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49645931", "by": "jeffrallen", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Switched to Apple music and won't go back.", "excerpt": "Too late. My kids called the app Stop-ify because it was so unreliable. Switched to Apple music and won't go back. On Android!", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin"}, {"id": 792338624, "item_id": 49521164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49521164", "by": "toofy", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use apple music. love it way more than spotify.", "excerpt": "> Is there any music streaming service with fast native cross-platform (Linux, Mac, Windows, Android) clients? Because I'd switch. i use apple music. love it way more than spotify. i originally got it because their descriptions of albums and their playlists are done by actual music nerds. i use the website on linux since it\u2019s my daily/work driver and their app on my phone and macbook when i use it. the apple music ap", "context": "Linux daily driver, family plan", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Fastpotify"}, {"id": 786751808, "item_id": 49171988, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171988", "by": "avdwrks", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back.", "excerpt": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back. The UX isn't great, but the audio quality alone was worth the switch for me. It also actually shuffles your music instead of cycling through the same small subset of songs.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers"}]}, {"label": "Discovery and curation", "summary": "Some credit its weekly new-music playlist and its album descriptions and playlists written by music nerds.", "quotes": [{"id": 783044432, "item_id": 48940277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940277", "by": "thom", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I absolutely love Apple Music. The new music playlist it gives me each week has introduced me to hundreds of new artists", "excerpt": "Perhaps I am the only person well served by the modern music industry, but I absolutely love Apple Music. The new music playlist it gives me each week has introduced me to hundreds of new artists and dozens of songs that rank up there with my teenage heart songs. I think I mostly skipped the golden age of piracy as my formative music experiences were the Evening Session and John Peel on the BBC, coupled with lax pare", "context": "paying customer", "use_case": "music streaming and discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}, {"id": 792338624, "item_id": 49521164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49521164", "by": "toofy", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use apple music. love it way more than spotify.", "excerpt": "> Is there any music streaming service with fast native cross-platform (Linux, Mac, Windows, Android) clients? Because I'd switch. i use apple music. love it way more than spotify. i originally got it because their descriptions of albums and their playlists are done by actual music nerds. i use the website on linux since it\u2019s my daily/work driver and their app on my phone and macbook when i use it. the apple music ap", "context": "Linux daily driver, family plan", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Fastpotify"}, {"id": 800126160, "item_id": 50007885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50007885", "by": "slowin", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Apple Music now for Japanese bands. It's quite good for that.", "excerpt": "I use Apple Music now for Japanese bands. It's quite good for that. Much, much better than Spotify last I checked, which admittedly was years ago.", "context": "", "use_case": "discovering Japanese bands", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "15-year search for a band that charted once and vanished"}]}, {"label": "Mac media player", "summary": "Long-time Mac users call it a decent media player that works well for them.", "quotes": [{"id": 802605409, "item_id": 50162838, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50162838", "by": "rbanffy", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple Music is still a decent media player", "excerpt": "I have been using corporate issue Macs for more than a decade now and, while the software isn\u2019t perfect, it\u2019s a pretty good Unix that leaves nothing to be desired as a workstation OS. It\u2019s a bit rough around the edges, with some apps getting closer in feature set to their mobile counterparts (and thus less flexible), but they are still good compared to their Windows and Unix competitors. Apple Music is still a decent", "context": "uses corporate-issued Macs for over a decade", "use_case": "media player", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS 15.8.2 Breaks OpenGL"}, {"id": 801841104, "item_id": 50115069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115069", "by": "sgt", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I mostly use Music on macOS. I use Photos a lot on iOS. Both work very well for me", "excerpt": "You mean Music/Photos on iOS or macOS? I mostly use Music on macOS. I use Photos a lot on iOS. Both work very well for me, and I've been through the iterations all the way since the early 2000s iTunes. What I don't like about Photos is that it's confusing to use sometimes (scroll up/down to find the buttons, the albums etc).", "context": "long-time Apple user since iTunes", "use_case": "music playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}, {"id": 766594929, "item_id": 47912183, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47912183", "by": "jtotheh", "date": "2026-04-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The power management and convenient things like Apple Music, too.", "excerpt": "I got into Linux because it gave me things I couldn't get with Windows/Mac (in 1994). There are less things that is true for now, by far. I am drawn to the ideals of Free Software (maybe BSD style, maybe GNU style) like a moth to the flame. Nonetheless, I have a smartphone, which since 2016 has been an iPhone. Now there are things I can't get with Linux that I value with macOS. The integration with the phone is just ", "context": "", "use_case": "music", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0"}]}, {"label": "Audio quality", "summary": "Audio quality and lossless audio were reasons people switched to it.", "quotes": [{"id": 786751808, "item_id": 49171988, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171988", "by": "avdwrks", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back.", "excerpt": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back. The UX isn't great, but the audio quality alone was worth the switch for me. It also actually shuffles your music instead of cycling through the same small subset of songs.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers"}, {"id": 747843936, "item_id": 46740246, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740246", "by": "alexrsagen", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music stops playing (lossless) tracks after 15 seconds.", "excerpt": "Here's a fun one. Apple Music stops playing (lossless) tracks after 15 seconds. You'll know it's going to happen before it happens as well, if the lossless icon doesn't appear within 1-2 seconds after playing a track. I promise I'm not crazy, it's not just me. Just search for \"15 seconds\" in Apple Community: https://discussions.apple.com/search?q=15+seconds I'm sure this is likely already fixed in the latest version ", "context": "Apple One Family subscriber on Windows", "use_case": "lossless music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Bugs Apple Loves"}]}, {"label": "Cross-platform access", "summary": "Users run it on Android, through the website on Linux, and in the Windows app.", "quotes": [{"id": 794334897, "item_id": 49645931, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49645931", "by": "jeffrallen", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Switched to Apple music and won't go back.", "excerpt": "Too late. My kids called the app Stop-ify because it was so unreliable. Switched to Apple music and won't go back. On Android!", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin"}, {"id": 792338624, "item_id": 49521164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49521164", "by": "toofy", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use apple music. love it way more than spotify.", "excerpt": "> Is there any music streaming service with fast native cross-platform (Linux, Mac, Windows, Android) clients? Because I'd switch. i use apple music. love it way more than spotify. i originally got it because their descriptions of albums and their playlists are done by actual music nerds. i use the website on linux since it\u2019s my daily/work driver and their app on my phone and macbook when i use it. the apple music ap", "context": "Linux daily driver, family plan", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Fastpotify"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Unwanted auto-launch", "summary": "Play/pause presses, earbud taps and calls make macOS launch Music, sometimes stealing focus or playing audio.", "quotes": [{"id": 775199616, "item_id": 48449976, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449976", "by": "NobodyNada", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "causing Music to launch and begin playing audio out of my default output device", "excerpt": "I needed something like this a few months ago. I use my MacBook to run my (musical) keyboard rig for live performances, and use low-latency wireless headphones for monitoring. The headphones have a transmitter dongle that plugs into my laptop, and the dongle sends a \"play/pause\" command if I press a button on my headphones...causing Music to launch and begin playing audio out of my default output device. It doesn't e", "context": "live keyboard performer using MacBook", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775186594, "item_id": 48449162, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449162", "by": "dwedge", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music decides that what I actually want is for it to steal focus for 5 seconds while it loads", "excerpt": "I use play/pause to start/stop the music on whatever I was listening to music on (Spotify usually, sometimes brain.fm). It's a background action, play music or stop music, no change to flow. If Spotify isn't running for whatever reason, or sometimes even if it is, Apple Music decides that what I actually want is for it to steal focus for 5 seconds while it loads, switch to a full screen window and pester me to subscr", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775188465, "item_id": 48449279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449279", "by": "linsomniac", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "every time I'd start a google meet call (IIRC) or otherwise interact with audio on my MacBook it would bring up Apple Music", "excerpt": "Wow, thank you! I use and \"like\" youtube music, but it seems like every time I'd start a google meet call (IIRC) or otherwise interact with audio on my MacBook it would bring up Apple Music. If I quit it, it would pop back up the next time I had audio playing, but if I just left it running it would be fine. So I'd always have this Apple Music in my list of running apps. Kind of annoying. I ran the above and then quit", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}]}, {"label": "Bugs", "summary": "Users report memory leaks, lossless tracks stopping after 15 seconds on Windows, videos playing on their own and a broken Siri favourites command.", "quotes": [{"id": 801802193, "item_id": 50112637, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50112637", "by": "vsgherzi", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music not leaking memory.", "excerpt": "I don\u2019t really think it\u2019s something to agree or not agree on. This is the experience I\u2019ve had as an Apple user. I use their products extensively and like them quite a bit. The issues I\u2019ve seen I deem unacceptable for a company of this caliber. I\u2019m not talking about .6 seconds of load time or absolute customization. I\u2019m talking about FaceTime actually switching when I click the button. Apple Music not leaking memory. ", "context": "extensive Apple user", "use_case": "music playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}, {"id": 747843936, "item_id": 46740246, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740246", "by": "alexrsagen", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music stops playing (lossless) tracks after 15 seconds.", "excerpt": "Here's a fun one. Apple Music stops playing (lossless) tracks after 15 seconds. You'll know it's going to happen before it happens as well, if the lossless icon doesn't appear within 1-2 seconds after playing a track. I promise I'm not crazy, it's not just me. Just search for \"15 seconds\" in Apple Community: https://discussions.apple.com/search?q=15+seconds I'm sure this is likely already fixed in the latest version ", "context": "Apple One Family subscriber on Windows", "use_case": "lossless music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Bugs Apple Loves"}, {"id": 786763568, "item_id": 49172723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49172723", "by": "steve_adams_86", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Apple Music generally does the trick but stuff like this kind of kills me.", "excerpt": "I use Apple Music too. I recently noticed it randomly playing videos, though. I can't hide the overlay despite the checkbox being unchecked for \"keep video playback on top of all other windows\". Apparently the only way to disable it is via Screen Time, by which you disable video as a content entirely. So weird. I was talking to some coworkers in another room, came back to my desk and a song by Lotta and Doja Cat was ", "context": "pays for Apple One", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers"}]}, {"label": "Recommendations", "summary": "One Spotify switcher finds its recommendations lousy for discovering new artists.", "quotes": [{"id": 758196336, "item_id": 47387271, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47387271", "by": "Esophagus4", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Since I\u2019ve switched from Spotify to Apple Music, Apple\u2019s recommendations are lousy", "excerpt": "Does anyone have suggestions for good recommendation engines for new music discovery? Since I\u2019ve switched from Spotify to Apple Music, Apple\u2019s recommendations are lousy and I miss discovering new artists and songs. Several of my cult favorites were Spotify suggestions I never would have found otherwise. Are there any good recommendation engines, or people mostly just use Spotify for that? I\u2019d be sad if I had to switc", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming and discovery", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "The Appalling Stupidity of Spotify's AI DJ"}]}, {"label": "UX", "summary": "Even a happy switcher says the UX isn't great, and one user says it pesters them to subscribe.", "quotes": [{"id": 786751808, "item_id": 49171988, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171988", "by": "avdwrks", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back.", "excerpt": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back. The UX isn't great, but the audio quality alone was worth the switch for me. It also actually shuffles your music instead of cycling through the same small subset of songs.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers"}, {"id": 775186594, "item_id": 48449162, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449162", "by": "dwedge", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music decides that what I actually want is for it to steal focus for 5 seconds while it loads", "excerpt": "I use play/pause to start/stop the music on whatever I was listening to music on (Spotify usually, sometimes brain.fm). It's a background action, play music or stop music, no change to flow. If Spotify isn't running for whatever reason, or sometimes even if it is, Apple Music decides that what I actually want is for it to steal focus for 5 seconds while it loads, switch to a full screen window and pester me to subscr", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}]}, {"label": "iTunes replacement", "summary": "One commenter lost trust in Apple when Apple Music replaced iTunes for their local library.", "quotes": [{"id": 775194001, "item_id": 48449625, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449625", "by": "titzer", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "in favor of...whatever Apple Music is, I knew I'd never trust them again", "excerpt": "I still can't believe they killed iTunes. I used to have my entire digital music library in iTunes. Most of that was music I had ripped myself from CD, but I had a handful of albums I bought of iTunes and even some TV shows. When they wholesale abandoned iTunes and deleted from Mac OS in favor of...whatever Apple Music is, I knew I'd never trust them again. I searched for some decent mp3 players for a while, and even", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}]}, {"label": "Scrobbling", "summary": "One user finds last.fm scrobbling harder to set up after switching from Spotify.", "quotes": [{"id": 772764241, "item_id": 48297765, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297765", "by": "jamesbvaughan", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music", "excerpt": "I hope this is a good change for last.fm! I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music. Does anyone have a setup they're happy with for scrobbling from Apple Music across different types of devices?", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}], "who": [{"by": "rbanffy", "context": "uses corporate-issued Macs for over a decade", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50162838", "date": "2026-10-20"}, {"by": "sgt", "context": "long-time Apple user since iTunes", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115069", "date": "2026-10-16"}, {"by": "toofy", "context": "Linux daily driver, family plan", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49521164", "date": "2026-09-01"}, {"by": "steve_adams_86", "context": "pays for Apple One", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49172723", "date": "2026-08-04"}, {"by": "thom", "context": "paying customer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940277", "date": "2026-07-16"}, {"by": "porcoda", "context": "music nerd who maintains own library", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45806058", "date": "2025-11-03"}], "tags": ["for Spotify switchers", "for Apple ecosystem users", "for local music libraries", "for families"], "use_cases": ["music streaming", "music playback", "music streaming and discovery", "music playback in car", "media player", "discovering japanese bands"], "compared": [{"slug": "spotify", "name": "Spotify", "co": 12, "switched_from": 7, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "itunes", "name": "iTunes", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "youtube-music", "name": "YouTube Music", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48447935", "title": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching", "mentions": 7}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50068203", "title": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49170101", "title": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50165208", "title": "Apple broke an essential presentation feature of iPads", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50141909", "title": "macOS 15.8.2 Breaks OpenGL", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959280", "title": "15-year search for a band that charted once and vanished", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"warn": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"warn": 5, "neutral": 2}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 3, "warn": 1, "neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 802724592, "item_id": 50170287, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50170287", "by": "prymitive", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Apple Music has a dedicated button to add a song to favourites, which I use.", "excerpt": "Apple Music has a dedicated button to add a song to favourites, which I use. When I plug my phone in my car I can then say \u201cplay my favourites\u201d and it plays it. Until I\u2019ve upgraded to iOS 27 and after saying \u201cplay my favourites\u201d the phone responds now with \u201cplaying FAMILY favourites\u201d (no idea what that means) and plays some random songs. Incredibly annoying, great example of trying to be too clever for its own good.", "context": "", "use_case": "music playback in car", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple broke an essential presentation feature of iPads"}, {"id": 802605409, "item_id": 50162838, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50162838", "by": "rbanffy", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple Music is still a decent media player", "excerpt": "I have been using corporate issue Macs for more than a decade now and, while the software isn\u2019t perfect, it\u2019s a pretty good Unix that leaves nothing to be desired as a workstation OS. It\u2019s a bit rough around the edges, with some apps getting closer in feature set to their mobile counterparts (and thus less flexible), but they are still good compared to their Windows and Unix competitors. Apple Music is still a decent", "context": "uses corporate-issued Macs for over a decade", "use_case": "media player", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS 15.8.2 Breaks OpenGL"}, {"id": 801841104, "item_id": 50115069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115069", "by": "sgt", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I mostly use Music on macOS. I use Photos a lot on iOS. Both work very well for me", "excerpt": "You mean Music/Photos on iOS or macOS? I mostly use Music on macOS. I use Photos a lot on iOS. Both work very well for me, and I've been through the iterations all the way since the early 2000s iTunes. What I don't like about Photos is that it's confusing to use sometimes (scroll up/down to find the buttons, the albums etc).", "context": "long-time Apple user since iTunes", "use_case": "music playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}, {"id": 801802193, "item_id": 50112637, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50112637", "by": "vsgherzi", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music not leaking memory.", "excerpt": "I don\u2019t really think it\u2019s something to agree or not agree on. This is the experience I\u2019ve had as an Apple user. I use their products extensively and like them quite a bit. The issues I\u2019ve seen I deem unacceptable for a company of this caliber. I\u2019m not talking about .6 seconds of load time or absolute customization. I\u2019m talking about FaceTime actually switching when I click the button. Apple Music not leaking memory. ", "context": "extensive Apple user", "use_case": "music playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}, {"id": 800126160, "item_id": 50007885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50007885", "by": "slowin", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Apple Music now for Japanese bands. It's quite good for that.", "excerpt": "I use Apple Music now for Japanese bands. It's quite good for that. Much, much better than Spotify last I checked, which admittedly was years ago.", "context": "", "use_case": "discovering Japanese bands", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "15-year search for a band that charted once and vanished"}, {"id": 794334897, "item_id": 49645931, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49645931", "by": "jeffrallen", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Switched to Apple music and won't go back.", "excerpt": "Too late. My kids called the app Stop-ify because it was so unreliable. Switched to Apple music and won't go back. On Android!", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin"}, {"id": 792338624, "item_id": 49521164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49521164", "by": "toofy", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use apple music. love it way more than spotify.", "excerpt": "> Is there any music streaming service with fast native cross-platform (Linux, Mac, Windows, Android) clients? Because I'd switch. i use apple music. love it way more than spotify. i originally got it because their descriptions of albums and their playlists are done by actual music nerds. i use the website on linux since it\u2019s my daily/work driver and their app on my phone and macbook when i use it. the apple music ap", "context": "Linux daily driver, family plan", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Fastpotify"}, {"id": 786763568, "item_id": 49172723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49172723", "by": "steve_adams_86", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Apple Music generally does the trick but stuff like this kind of kills me.", "excerpt": "I use Apple Music too. I recently noticed it randomly playing videos, though. I can't hide the overlay despite the checkbox being unchecked for \"keep video playback on top of all other windows\". Apparently the only way to disable it is via Screen Time, by which you disable video as a content entirely. So weird. I was talking to some coworkers in another room, came back to my desk and a song by Lotta and Doja Cat was ", "context": "pays for Apple One", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers"}, {"id": 786751808, "item_id": 49171988, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171988", "by": "avdwrks", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back.", "excerpt": "I switched to Apple Music and haven't looked back. The UX isn't great, but the audio quality alone was worth the switch for me. It also actually shuffles your music instead of cycling through the same small subset of songs.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Spotify just hit 300M Premium subscribers"}, {"id": 783044432, "item_id": 48940277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940277", "by": "thom", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I absolutely love Apple Music. The new music playlist it gives me each week has introduced me to hundreds of new artists", "excerpt": "Perhaps I am the only person well served by the modern music industry, but I absolutely love Apple Music. The new music playlist it gives me each week has introduced me to hundreds of new artists and dozens of songs that rank up there with my teenage heart songs. I think I mostly skipped the golden age of piracy as my formative music experiences were the Evening Session and John Peel on the BBC, coupled with lax pare", "context": "paying customer", "use_case": "music streaming and discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}, {"id": 775819744, "item_id": 48488734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48488734", "by": "gcardone_", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I hate how MacOS would start Apple Music every time I accidentally tapped my earbuds.", "excerpt": "I hate how MacOS would start Apple Music every time I accidentally tapped my earbuds. To disable it I used an even lower tech solution, which works on corp laptops that don't allow installing arbitrary software: 1. Open System Settings 2. Navigate to Screen Time -> App Limits -> Add Limit... 3. Select \"Music\" and set an \"Every Day\" limit of 0 minutes.", "context": "uses a corporate laptop", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775215776, "item_id": 48450986, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48450986", "by": "thesuitonym", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've only ever used Apple Music with local content.", "excerpt": "I've only ever used Apple Music with local content. On iOS the only indication to me that non-local content is even possible is the radio tab at the bottom of the screen. On MacOS I think it opens to the online home page, but I use it so infrequently I'm not sure. I pretty much only use it to buy music from iTunes.", "context": "", "use_case": "playing local music", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775199616, "item_id": 48449976, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449976", "by": "NobodyNada", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "causing Music to launch and begin playing audio out of my default output device", "excerpt": "I needed something like this a few months ago. I use my MacBook to run my (musical) keyboard rig for live performances, and use low-latency wireless headphones for monitoring. The headphones have a transmitter dongle that plugs into my laptop, and the dongle sends a \"play/pause\" command if I press a button on my headphones...causing Music to launch and begin playing audio out of my default output device. It doesn't e", "context": "live keyboard performer using MacBook", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775194001, "item_id": 48449625, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449625", "by": "titzer", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "in favor of...whatever Apple Music is, I knew I'd never trust them again", "excerpt": "I still can't believe they killed iTunes. I used to have my entire digital music library in iTunes. Most of that was music I had ripped myself from CD, but I had a handful of albums I bought of iTunes and even some TV shows. When they wholesale abandoned iTunes and deleted from Mac OS in favor of...whatever Apple Music is, I knew I'd never trust them again. I searched for some decent mp3 players for a while, and even", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775189216, "item_id": 48449326, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449326", "by": "CamperBob2", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "normally use the former in the car because it resumes its state from the last shutdown", "excerpt": "I use both Apple Music and Spotify, and normally use the former in the car because it resumes its state from the last shutdown while Spotify does not. But when I do use Spotify, Apple Music is the app that comes up the next time I start the car. Pretty annoying.", "context": "", "use_case": "music in the car", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775188465, "item_id": 48449279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449279", "by": "linsomniac", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "every time I'd start a google meet call (IIRC) or otherwise interact with audio on my MacBook it would bring up Apple Music", "excerpt": "Wow, thank you! I use and \"like\" youtube music, but it seems like every time I'd start a google meet call (IIRC) or otherwise interact with audio on my MacBook it would bring up Apple Music. If I quit it, it would pop back up the next time I had audio playing, but if I just left it running it would be fine. So I'd always have this Apple Music in my list of running apps. Kind of annoying. I ran the above and then quit", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 775186594, "item_id": 48449162, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449162", "by": "dwedge", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music decides that what I actually want is for it to steal focus for 5 seconds while it loads", "excerpt": "I use play/pause to start/stop the music on whatever I was listening to music on (Spotify usually, sometimes brain.fm). It's a background action, play music or stop music, no change to flow. If Spotify isn't running for whatever reason, or sometimes even if it is, Apple Music decides that what I actually want is for it to steal focus for 5 seconds while it loads, switch to a full screen window and pester me to subscr", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop the Apple Music app from launching"}, {"id": 772764241, "item_id": 48297765, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297765", "by": "jamesbvaughan", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music", "excerpt": "I hope this is a good change for last.fm! I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music. Does anyone have a setup they're happy with for scrobbling from Apple Music across different types of devices?", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 766594929, "item_id": 47912183, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47912183", "by": "jtotheh", "date": "2026-04-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The power management and convenient things like Apple Music, too.", "excerpt": "I got into Linux because it gave me things I couldn't get with Windows/Mac (in 1994). There are less things that is true for now, by far. I am drawn to the ideals of Free Software (maybe BSD style, maybe GNU style) like a moth to the flame. Nonetheless, I have a smartphone, which since 2016 has been an iPhone. Now there are things I can't get with Linux that I value with macOS. The integration with the phone is just ", "context": "", "use_case": "music", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0"}, {"id": 763395632, "item_id": 47712227, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47712227", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I pay for Apple Music and hate YouTube Music a lot.", "excerpt": "It looks like the yearly plan went up $20 as well. Of course, the yearly plan doesn\u2019t auto-renew for whatever reason, so at least people can\u2019t forget and unknowingly get a higher charge. I\u2019ll have to debate between now and October when my Premium service runs out if I want to renew. I tried to go without it last time and made it all of 18 hours before giving in and signing back up. I\u2019m still rather frustrated that Yo", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "YouTube Premium just went up to $15.99 / mo (US)"}, {"id": 758196336, "item_id": 47387271, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47387271", "by": "Esophagus4", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Since I\u2019ve switched from Spotify to Apple Music, Apple\u2019s recommendations are lousy", "excerpt": "Does anyone have suggestions for good recommendation engines for new music discovery? Since I\u2019ve switched from Spotify to Apple Music, Apple\u2019s recommendations are lousy and I miss discovering new artists and songs. Several of my cult favorites were Spotify suggestions I never would have found otherwise. Are there any good recommendation engines, or people mostly just use Spotify for that? I\u2019d be sad if I had to switc", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming and discovery", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "The Appalling Stupidity of Spotify's AI DJ"}, {"id": 747843936, "item_id": 46740246, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740246", "by": "alexrsagen", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Music stops playing (lossless) tracks after 15 seconds.", "excerpt": "Here's a fun one. Apple Music stops playing (lossless) tracks after 15 seconds. You'll know it's going to happen before it happens as well, if the lossless icon doesn't appear within 1-2 seconds after playing a track. I promise I'm not crazy, it's not just me. Just search for \"15 seconds\" in Apple Community: https://discussions.apple.com/search?q=15+seconds I'm sure this is likely already fixed in the latest version ", "context": "Apple One Family subscriber on Windows", "use_case": "lossless music streaming", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Bugs Apple Loves"}, {"id": 746411856, "item_id": 46650741, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46650741", "by": "fred_is_fred", "date": "2026-01-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I don't think it's nearly as good but I use Apple Music streaming since it's bundled", "excerpt": "I don't think it's nearly as good but I use Apple Music streaming since it's bundled and doesn't actively fund Joe Rogan's insanity.", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Spotify increases its US subscription prices for the third time in 3 years"}, {"id": 738569649, "item_id": 46160603, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46160603", "by": "rumpelstiel", "date": "2025-12-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "i use apple music the way you suggest for long time", "excerpt": "I have my own navidrome server with my music on it, and i use apple music the way you suggest for long time (adding my beloved artists, putting together my.own collections in there), and choosing when and what i want to hear.", "context": "", "use_case": "music collections", "switched_from": "", "story": "Listen to music like it's 2005"}, {"id": 732896929, "item_id": 45806058, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45806058", "by": "porcoda", "date": "2025-11-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Apple Music streaming for stuff I don\u2019t care about potentially vanishing", "excerpt": "I maintain my own library too where I spent a while ripping my CD collection back in the early 2000s (and then again maybe 6 years ago when storage was cheaper to a lossless format). The CDs are all boxed up safely for archival storage, and most of my recent music has been purchased from wherever I can get DRM-free stuff. I fiddled with various self hosted servers but I\u2019ve mostly stuck with iTunes Match since it lets", "context": "music nerd who maintains own library", "use_case": "streaming casual music", "switched_from": "", "story": "Maintaining a Music Library, Ten Years On"}]}