Enjoying Music on iOS Devices

Music on iOS Personal Blog Post

Your iOS device is a wonderful and accessible way to explore and enjoy music. I've been adding to my collection ever since I got my iPHONE4.Apple has its own proprietary music file format andyou can't just fill your device with MP3 files unless you get an app which can handle them. Again, it's a case of convenience versus cost. If you buy into Apple's ecosystem, I think you'll find that music is an area where Apple treats its customers handsomely.

There are two ways to get music from Apple for your iOS devices. It is delivered in a format especially designed to sound good on iOS devices. You can either buy music on iTUNES which is yours to keep, or subscribe to the Apple Music service. This gives you access to over 30 million songs, curated playlists, and many other benefits provided that you pay a monthly subscription. If you don't pay, you lose access to any music collected which you haven't bought from iTUNES. These options are not mutually exclusive. You can own iTUNES music and still subscribe to Apple Music without forfeiting anything. We'll look at the merits of each option.

The iTUNES Marketplace:

The iTUNES Store app gives you the ability to purchase music as well as movies and TV shows. You can also rent movies. Many now have audio description. Look right after the title and rating for images which are announced by Voiceover to make certain a movie or show has closed captionning and/or audio description. Have plenty of storage space. Movies are quite large. Songs and albums comprise only sound and take far less space. Records are kept of all purchases made so you can remove content from your device and re-download it as needed. Everything is tied to your Apple ID. Remember it and your password always.

Use the "music and "search" tabs found across the bottom of the iTUNES Store app to find and purchase desired albums or songs. In the "iTUNES and App store" settings found in the Settings app, you can customise whether you want to use cellular data when downloading new purchases. Also, you can choose which kinds of purchases to download automatically when you make them. Also, you'll see whether you've set touch ID to be able to authorise purchases or whether you must simply use your password all the time. It's a good idea to look through those settings as well as the Touch ID and Password settings and be familiar with your options. If you have concerns about others accessing your device, you may prefer Touch ID so that your fingerprint can authorise purchases and people won't see you enterring your password.

When you open the iTUNES Store app, you default to the "Music" tab. It's at the far bottom left of the screen. At the top of the "music" tab is an options area with Genre, "Featured", "Charts" and "Item list" buttons. The "Item list" is a wish list you can add to using the "share" button in an item's entry. For instance, "share" an album and choose the "add to item list" button from the menu that appears. The iTUNES store works just like the app store. Double-click on an item title to go to that item's entry. Use the "back" button at the top left to back up one level. Use the button with "get" or the purchase price of an item of interest to obtain that item. You will be prompted to authorise the purchase by password or Touch ID.

You can also find spoken word material which is treated the same as music on iTUNES. The CBC or Canadian Broadcasting Corporation puts up many of their audio drama productions and popular radio series as albums for sale on iTUNES. It really pays to search and explore. I've found some very good audio drama made available through iTUNES. If you have a computer, you can get iTUNES software and authorise it to download and play content. This makes it possible to more physically back up what you have purchased if you wish.

The music app will be what you use to play music or other audio content purchase from iTUNES Store. Don't worry about there being any sort of capacity limits outside of the storage space on your device. Provided you have a WIFI connection or are willing to use cellular data, you can always download anything you've purchased but deleted from your device to save space. These things don't count against your iCloud data. It's a separate thing. I have far more content than would ever fit on my iPHONE or in my personal iCloud space at once. Every now and then, I delete and download albums as desired.

Call me a digital dinosaur but I like to actually own a collection of music I enjoy. I therefore make occasional use of the iTUNES store slowly expanding my permanent collection. As more features have been added to Apple Music and more people in my social circle opt for these music services, I have decided to give this new flexible model of music collection a long-term try. There's something really compelling about being able to have access to so much music without spending a fortune. Below, we'll take a closer look at the Apple Music service.

Apple Music:

This subscription service lets you access any music in Apple's vast collection of over 30 million songs. They offer many ways to do this including creating radio stations based on music you like on the fly, curated playlists and recommendations tailored to you specifically, and much more. You can store favourite albums and songs on your device so you're not streaming them using up ddata when you hear them. You can use an optimise music option to remove songs not played often from your device. It still remains a part of your library. As long as you pay the roughly ten dollar per month charge, you have access to the music you want.

Taking this approach, you need not use the iTUNEs app at all. Everything is integrated into the "Music" app found on your device. The "For You", "Browse", "Radio" and "search" tabs let you take advantage of the many aspects of the Apple Music service. This brings the number of tabs across the bottom of the Music app to 5 with "Library" at the far left and "search" at the far right. The "Connect" tab disappears and is incorporated into the contents of the "For You" tab. You are buying access and guidance. There are also other perks such as special early releases, videos and interviews by artists. One of the largest perks is the yearly Apple Music Festival. This is a series of concerts put on by popular musicians during September which any subscriber to Apple Music can listen to free of charge. Events are streamed live and videos are made available soon after. Other special events like album releases and special shows happen from time to time.

When unsubscribed, the "Radio" tab gives access to Beats1, an internet radio station broadcasting 24-7 with people like Elton John and other famous musicians providing programs. This is internet radio with serious money put behind it. Subscribing to Apple music gives access to many more expertly run stations in that tab. Also, it is possible to create radio stations on the fly based on the song you're currently hearing. One of the options revealed by double-tapping the "more" button in the music player is "create station". Using this will instantly create a playlist featuring the artist you're hearing plus similar artists and songs. If you hear something which catches your interest, you can easily check out the artist and add songs or albums to your library. 

New subscribers get a three-month trial before they must start paying.

The Music App:

This app is how you play music purchased from Apple or available through Apple Music subscription. If you subscribe to Apple Music, this app will be all you need to enjoy, obtain and manage music on your device. If you don't intend on using Apple Music, you'll still use the Music app for enjoying what you purchase from the iTUNES store. Either way, you should go to the "Music" settings in the "Settings" app. There, you'll find a setting to show or hide Apple Music. Switching this to "off" will remove many elements only of value to Apple Music subscribers so they don't clutter your experience. Also, you'll find some nice goodies like an EQ setting, volume limiter and more. I like the Late Night and Lounge EQ settings while using my AirPods. However, other settings may be preferable when using AirPlay to play music on various Bluetooth speakers.

Tabs across the bottom are:

Library:

This is where music you have purchased or added to your collection resides. You can sort and manage it. There are buttons across the top. Edit, Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, and "Downloaded Music". These let you focus on the part of the collection which interests you. Pressing "Downloaded Music" reduces what is shown to only that music you've chosen to store on your device. Use this button when you're offline or don't want to use cellular data streaming music. Otherwise, any music you want to hear is simply grabbed and streamed for you. Competing with other priorities, the music on my device is slowly whittled down to what I most treasure.

Connect:

This tab provides a way for artists and fans to connect. You can follow artists and receive their updates. Also, you can post your own comments on what artists post. You don't need to subscribe to Apple Music to take advantage of this. Note the "following button at the top left. The default behaviour is that any artist whose songs you add to your library are automatically followed. You can change this behaviour and/or search for specific artists to follow in the area opened up by the "following" button. This tab will not be present if you have the Apple Muic elements shown because its contents are placed in the "For You" tab.

Browse:

This tab appears to the right of the "For You" tab and left of "Radio". lets you explore the gigantic collection of videos, interviews, extras, albums and songs made available to Apple Music subscribers. It has all kinds of curated paths to help you get to the kind of music you want. Great for when you don't know specifically or can't remember artist or song names. This tab and the "For You" tab contain the expertise you invest in when subscribing to Apple Music. Knowing how to use the Voiceover rotor is useful since there are headings dividing what the "Browse" and "For You" tabs contain.

Radio:

This tab will always have BEats 1 radio station. This is Apple's flagship music station featuring famous personalities and DJs. It streams 24-7 and has a wide variety of shows. Subscribing to Apple Music will grant access to a great many more specialized stations whose music is curated by experts. Past shows are also made available here.

Search:

This tab gives you the ability to search for artists or songs both inside your library or in the larger Apple Music collection. Double-tap the edit field and type in what you want to look for. Note the buttons near the top which let you choose whether to look in your library or the entire Apple Music collection. Flick over the rsults and double-tap on any that interest you. If it's a song or album, you'll be focussed in on that content. Use the "back" button at the top left to get back to the broader search results.

The Now Playing Screen or Mini Player:

This element of the app is crutial to your full enjoyment. While albums or other contents are displayed, the mini player will be available right above the tabs at the bottom. It's easiest to touch the tabs and flick left essentially moving up onto it. There are pause and skip buttons plus the title of the track you're hearing. Flicking left gets you to a place where you double-tap to expand the player. This puts you in the "now playing" screen.

The "Now Playing" screen puts the focus on what you're listening to now. The tabs will be unavailable until you dismiss the "Now Playing" screen. The button to do this is always on the top left. Next, there are next, previous and pause buttons. You'll find a handy volume slider, shuffle and repeat buttons. "Playback destination" lets you switch to other connected speakers, headphones, etc. Great for quickly sharing music if you have a Bluetooth speaker paired and turned on. Any artwork associated with the album or song is displayed. The "More" button is important. It gives access to options to remove, download, or perform other actions like adding the song or album you're hearing directly to a playlist. I use the "more" button often when I want to remove tracks I don't currently want stored on my iPHONE when they come up. This way, they just disappear but are still in my library in the cloud should I ever want them again.

Final Thoughts:

For people on tight budgets wanting a fully accessible way to enjoy music, Apple now offers an extremely compelling option with the Apple Music service. This is even more the case if your iOS device doesn't have much storage space. To take full advantage, you need a good WIFI or cellular data plan. This is vital if you're going to stream your music or listen to the Internet radio stations. Provided you have that, you're good to go. Hard core fans will appreciate the many extras like connection with their favorite artists, curated playlists and collections, etc. You'll never run out of new things to listen to. New albums, playlists and more are added all the time. If you hear something cool while out and about, chances are you can add it to your personal library without paying anything beyond your subscription fee. Another nifty addition has to do with Siri. You can ask Siri to play the top songs of a time period, shuffle the album or playlist, add songs or albums to your library, skip songs, and much more. It's like having your own personal DJ. If you don't recognise a song, you can ask Siri what it is. You can tell Siri to rate songs from 1 to 5, and tell it what you do and don't like. This improves songs selected for you and influences the contents of the "For You" tab.

I've come somewhat late to this music party. There's a lot to explore. I've already grabbed a bunch of albums which have languished on my iTunes wish list awaiting funds. I need not wait anymore. I must confess to still beeling a bit uneasy about renting access to damned near everything rather than acquiring a smaller selection of what I like and outright owning it. Music on iOS Personal Blog Post

Your iOS device is a wonderful and accessible way to explore and enjoy music. I've been adding to my collection ever since I got my iPHONE4.Apple has its own proprietary music file format andyou can't just fill your device with MP3 files unless you get an app which can handle them. Again, it's a case of convenience versus cost. If you buy into Apple's ecosystem, I think you'll find that music is an area where Apple treats its customers handsomely.

There are two ways to get music from Apple for your iOS devices. It is delivered in a format especially designed to sound good on iOS devices. You can either buy music on iTUNES which is yours to keep, or subscribe to the Apple Music service. This gives you access to over 30 million songs, curated playlists, and many other benefits provided that you pay a monthly subscription. If you don't pay, you lose access to any music collected which you haven't bought from iTUNES. These options are not mutually exclusive. You can own iTUNES music and still subscribe to Apple Music without forfeiting anything. We'll look at the merits of each option.

The iTUNES Marketplace:

The iTUNES Store app gives you the ability to purchase music as well as movies and TV shows. You can also rent movies. Many now have audio description. Look right after the title and rating for images which are announced by Voiceover to make certain a movie or show has closed captionning and/or audio description. Have plenty of storage space. Movies are quite large. Songs and albums comprise only sound and take far less space. Records are kept of all purchases made so you can remove content from your device and re-download it as needed. Everything is tied to your Apple ID. Remember it and your password always.

Use the "music and "search" tabs found across the bottom of the iTUNES Store app to find and purchase desired albums or songs. In the "iTUNES and App store" settings found in the Settings app, you can customise whether you want to use cellular data when downloading new purchases. Also, you can choose which kinds of purchases to download automatically when you make them. Also, you'll see whether you've set touch ID to be able to authorise purchases or whether you must simply use your password all the time. It's a good idea to look through those settings as well as the Touch ID and Password settings and be familiar with your options. If you have concerns about others accessing your device, you may prefer Touch ID so that your fingerprint can authorise purchases and people won't see you enterring your password.

When you open the iTUNES Store app, you default to the "Music" tab. It's at the far bottom left of the screen. At the top of the "music" tab is an options area with Genre, "Featured", "Charts" and "Item list" buttons. The "Item list" is a wish list you can add to using the "share" button in an item's entry. For instance, "share" an album and choose the "add to item list" button from the menu that appears. The iTUNES store works just like the app store. Double-click on an item title to go to that item's entry. Use the "back" button at the top left to back up one level. Use the button with "get" or the purchase price of an item of interest to obtain that item. You will be prompted to authorise the purchase by password or Touch ID.

You can also find spoken word material which is treated the same as music on iTUNES. The CBC or Canadian Broadcasting Corporation puts up many of their audio drama productions and popular radio series as albums for sale on iTUNES. It really pays to search and explore. I've found some very good audio drama made available through iTUNES. If you have a computer, you can get iTUNES software and authorise it to download and play content. This makes it possible to more physically back up what you have purchased if you wish.

The music app will be what you use to play music or other audio content purchase from iTUNES Store. Don't worry about there being any sort of capacity limits outside of the storage space on your device. Provided you have a WIFI connection or are willing to use cellular data, you can always download anything you've purchased but deleted from your device to save space. These things don't count against your iCloud data. It's a separate thing. I have far more content than would ever fit on my iPHONE or in my personal iCloud space at once. Every now and then, I delete and download albums as desired.

Call me a digital dinosaur but I like to actually own a collection of music I enjoy. I therefore make occasional use of the iTUNES store slowly expanding my permanent collection. As more features have been added to Apple Music and more people in my social circle opt for these music services, I have decided to give this new flexible model of music collection a long-term try. There's something really compelling about being able to have access to so much music without spending a fortune. Below, we'll take a closer look at the Apple Music service.

Apple Music:

This subscription service lets you access any music in Apple's vast collection of over 30 million songs. They offer many ways to do this including creating radio stations based on music you like on the fly, curated playlists and recommendations tailored to you specifically, and much more. You can store favourite albums and songs on your device so you're not streaming them using up ddata when you hear them. You can use an optimise music option to remove songs not played often from your device. It still remains a part of your library. As long as you pay the roughly ten dollar per month charge, you have access to the music you want.

Taking this approach, you need not use the iTUNEs app at all. Everything is integrated into the "Music" app found on your device. The "For You", "Browse", "Radio" and "search" tabs let you take advantage of the many aspects of the Apple Music service. This brings the number of tabs across the bottom of the Music app to 5 with "Library" at the far left and "search" at the far right. The "Connect" tab disappears and is incorporated into the contents of the "For You" tab. You are buying access and guidance. There are also other perks such as special early releases, videos and interviews by artists. One of the largest perks is the yearly Apple Music Festival. This is a series of concerts put on by popular musicians during September which any subscriber to Apple Music can listen to free of charge. Events are streamed live and videos are made available soon after. Other special events like album releases and special shows happen from time to time.

When unsubscribed, the "Radio" tab gives access to Beats1, an internet radio station broadcasting 24-7 with people like Elton John and other famous musicians providing programs. This is internet radio with serious money put behind it. Subscribing to Apple music gives access to many more expertly run stations in that tab. Also, it is possible to create radio stations on the fly based on the song you're currently hearing. One of the options revealed by double-tapping the "more" button in the music player is "create station". Using this will instantly create a playlist featuring the artist you're hearing plus similar artists and songs. If you hear something which catches your interest, you can easily check out the artist and add songs or albums to your library. 

New subscribers get a three-month trial before they must start paying.

The Music App:

This app is how you play music purchased from Apple or available through Apple Music subscription. If you subscribe to Apple Music, this app will be all you need to enjoy, obtain and manage music on your device. If you don't intend on using Apple Music, you'll still use the Music app for enjoying what you purchase from the iTUNES store. Either way, you should go to the "Music" settings in the "Settings" app. There, you'll find a setting to show or hide Apple Music. Switching this to "off" will remove many elements only of value to Apple Music subscribers so they don't clutter your experience. Also, you'll find some nice goodies like an EQ setting, volume limiter and more. I like the Late Night and Lounge EQ settings while using my AirPods. However, other settings may be preferable when using AirPlay to play music on various Bluetooth speakers.

Tabs across the bottom are:

Library:

This is where music you have purchased or added to your collection resides. You can sort and manage it. There are buttons across the top. Edit, Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, and "Downloaded Music". These let you focus on the part of the collection which interests you. Pressing "Downloaded Music" reduces what is shown to only that music you've chosen to store on your device. Use this button when you're offline or don't want to use cellular data streaming music. Otherwise, any music you want to hear is simply grabbed and streamed for you. Competing with other priorities, the music on my device is slowly whittled down to what I most treasure.

Connect:

This tab provides a way for artists and fans to connect. You can follow artists and receive their updates. Also, you can post your own comments on what artists post. You don't need to subscribe to Apple Music to take advantage of this. Note the "following button at the top left. The default behaviour is that any artist whose songs you add to your library are automatically followed. You can change this behaviour and/or search for specific artists to follow in the area opened up by the "following" button. This tab will not be present if you have the Apple Muic elements shown because its contents are placed in the "For You" tab.

Browse:

This tab appears to the right of the "For You" tab and left of "Radio". lets you explore the gigantic collection of videos, interviews, extras, albums and songs made available to Apple Music subscribers. It has all kinds of curated paths to help you get to the kind of music you want. Great for when you don't know specifically or can't remember artist or song names. This tab and the "For You" tab contain the expertise you invest in when subscribing to Apple Music. Knowing how to use the Voiceover rotor is useful since there are headings dividing what the "Browse" and "For You" tabs contain.

Radio:

This tab will always have BEats 1 radio station. This is Apple's flagship music station featuring famous personalities and DJs. It streams 24-7 and has a wide variety of shows. Subscribing to Apple Music will grant access to a great many more specialized stations whose music is curated by experts. Past shows are also made available here.

Search:

This tab gives you the ability to search for artists or songs both inside your library or in the larger Apple Music collection. Double-tap the edit field and type in what you want to look for. Note the buttons near the top which let you choose whether to look in your library or the entire Apple Music collection. Flick over the rsults and double-tap on any that interest you. If it's a song or album, you'll be focussed in on that content. Use the "back" button at the top left to get back to the broader search results.

The Now Playing Screen or Mini Player:

This element of the app is crutial to your full enjoyment. While albums or other contents are displayed, the mini player will be available right above the tabs at the bottom. It's easiest to touch the tabs and flick left essentially moving up onto it. There are pause and skip buttons plus the title of the track you're hearing. Flicking left gets you to a place where you double-tap to expand the player. This puts you in the "now playing" screen.

The "Now Playing" screen puts the focus on what you're listening to now. The tabs will be unavailable until you dismiss the "Now Playing" screen. The button to do this is always on the top left. Next, there are next, previous and pause buttons. You'll find a handy volume slider, shuffle and repeat buttons. "Playback destination" lets you switch to other connected speakers, headphones, etc. Great for quickly sharing music if you have a Bluetooth speaker paired and turned on. Any artwork associated with the album or song is displayed. The "More" button is important. It gives access to options to remove, download, or perform other actions like adding the song or album you're hearing directly to a playlist. I use the "more" button often when I want to remove tracks I don't currently want stored on my iPHONE when they come up. This way, they just disappear but are still in my library in the cloud should I ever want them again.

Final Thoughts:

For people on tight budgets wanting a fully accessible way to enjoy music, Apple now offers an extremely compelling option with the Apple Music service. This is even more the case if your iOS device doesn't have much storage space. To take full advantage, you need a good WIFI or cellular data plan. This is vital if you're going to stream your music or listen to the Internet radio stations. Provided you have that, you're good to go. Hard core fans will appreciate the many extras like connection with their favorite artists, curated playlists and collections, etc. You'll never run out of new things to listen to. New albums, playlists and more are added all the time. If you hear something cool while out and about, chances are you can add it to your personal library without paying anything beyond your subscription fee. Another nifty addition has to do with Siri. You can ask Siri to play the top songs of a time period, shuffle the album or playlist, add songs or albums to your library, skip songs, and much more. It's like having your own personal DJ. If you don't recognise a song, you can ask Siri what it is. You can tell Siri to rate songs from 1 to 5, and tell it what you do and don't like. This improves songs selected for you and influences the contents of the "For You" tab.

I've come somewhat late to this music party. There's a lot to explore. I've already grabbed a bunch of albums which have languished on my iTunes wish list awaiting funds. I need not wait anymore. I must confess to still beeling a bit uneasy about renting access to damned near everything rather than acquiring a smaller selection of what I like and outright owning it. However, it's still very early days. Perhaps, in a year's time, that disquiet will go away as I get used to this new paradigm.

However, it's still very early days. Perhaps, in a year's time, that disquiet will go away as I get used to this new paradigm.