Apple Music for Android Updated with User Profiles and Voice Support

Apple is now rolling out the carpets for Apple music, an app that not only can be used on apple devices such as iphones, ipads and the like but also for android users.

So now even an android user can have access to a 30-million song catalogs and radio on beats one.

Apple ID

Apple music requires an apple id to use it. This app also serves as a social media platform allowing you to connect with your friends and see what their listening to and downloading. This app is like Spotify in certain ways.

Design of the Apple music app

Apple has combined the IOS and android features in coming up with the design for the app. The app comes up with a “hamburger” menu on the left, the term so coined because of the three horizontal lines that resemble a hamburger. The different options available are For you, radio, new, connect, my music tabs and playlists.

The general app other than the menu, resembles the previous IOS apps. In that it is jam packed with albums, songs and other suggestions.

The playlists of Apple music

The playlists are just like the previous ones. They allow you to listen to your downloads, purchases and that from CDs. You can even access music that is purchased from itunes. You can also listen to music across different devices using your same id and given that you download the app across all your devices.

The connect tab allows you to follow various artists and their updates.

Beats 1 Radio

The beats one option is apple’s private radio station. This station is available night or day. The app asks you what genres and artists you like when you sign up. This allows the app to custom make their offering to you by giving you various suggestions. As of now the app does not allow for videos, but apple says they will be coming shortly.

Voice control option in Apple music

As with any IOS device, the user can always access siri. But with android devices that does not exist. Apple music makes up for that by allowing you to access any song, artist or the radio by adding support for “Ok Google” voice commands. A simple test of “Ok Google, play beats radio in apple music” will work.

Family plan pack 

As of now the app does not have a family plan pack that allows users to share a subscription. The apple music app comes with monthly subscription of $9.99 with a free three month trial period after which the amount will automatically be debited from your account.

Feed back Option in Apple music

The apple music app comes with a disclaimer that it is still in beta meaning that it is not quite done yet and may contain bugs and the occasional sluggishness. The app is only available for android devices running on 4.3 and up. The apple music app does not seem to be working on android tablets as of now.

Apple music app also gives a beta feedback option allowing the user to fill in a survey that pops open on a webpage. This allows you to let Apple know of any problems concerning the app.

The app does have its advantages though. It allows you to listen to music that can’t be found elsewhere such as Dr. Dre’s latest album and add to that the fact that now even an android user can also have access to itunes music on their phones which was otherwise not possible.

iTunes 12.2: New version a missed opportunity for Apple Music

Apple always seeks to outdo itself by advancing its feature rich products with more features and better user experience. This time this approach has backfired on larger scale with its latest update for iTunes app. The latest version of iTunes named 12.2 both for the OS X and Windows platform was released as a part of the launch of its exclusive Apple Music service. Initial response for this app was extremely positive but soon it took a dive nose with presence of multiple bugs and complete revamp of iTunes on a massive scale.

Latest iTunes App Termed As Disaster By Majority Of Users And Reviewers

Apple seldom has to bear the mark of being introducing bug filled disastrous updates. The latest iTunes app is in the centre of confusion, frustration and furors of even the most loyal Apple iTunes app supporters. A large number of users have complained about issues relating to mismatched song titles, album art and artists names, which are an inconvenience for avid music lovers.

Subscription Service Becomes A Pain For Users

With this new iteration of iTunes Apple had introduced its music subscription in the already complex app. This feature allows the users to access their own local music files along with viewing subscription catalog and personal recommendation bundled with existing iTune download store. Though all are placed in separate tabs but crucial links for their successful integration found missing. This is highly confusing for the users and it increases the learning curve for making full use of this new app.

More Glitches And Bugs Dampen The User Experience

The music section of the iTunes app is another tricky feature in itself wherein users get the radio tab showcasing Apple’s new Beats 1 online radio station along with others. Other internet radio section is carefully sidelined in a sub-menu, which helps in organizing the online streams, by music genres. Podcasts are also available in a separate section of this app which is published by the same radio stations. These setting are sidelined in a better way but usage happens to be quite confusing and frustrating for the users.

Home Movies Section In Music App? 

Many reviewers have found it quite absurd to bundle a home movie section for rental and purchases in a primary music app. This feature introduction allows users to make movie purchases, which are already available by iTunes store to great extent. Furthermore, this app also brings audios, books, iOS apps, ringtones and feature to manage iPad and iPhone storage.

Apple had overworked itself by bringing too many features in an exclusive music app with this new update. The presence of Movies and shows in the music app somewhat depreciates its authencity as a sole primer music app. Too much bundling of features had also increased the complexity of this app and even lowered its user experience and value as a whole. Apple should think towards breaking down the different parts of this app and launch it as a separate app for distinct services for both the Windows and OS X platform.

Apple Plans to Increase iTunes Match Limit to 100,000 Songs

These days thousands of Twitter users are bombarding with their tweets and questions on Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior VP of Internet Software and Services regarding the Apple Music, which is brand new service of Apple.

Price of Apple Music Service:

By the end of year, when Apple will increase its songs limit by 100,000 songs, so it will be added advantage of Apple over Google Play Music (Currently, Google Play Music is allowing its users to upload up to 50,000 songs). But there is price issue as Google Play Music users are able to upload their choice of music in free after selecting subscription option. On June 30, 2015 Apple Music was launched along with the launch of iOS 8.4. All the users who are wishing to opt out for Apple Music service have to pay $ 10 as individuals and $ 15 as families (up-to six members) every month. However; subscription price for iTunes Match is $ 24.99 per year for individuals.

About Apple Music Service:

Apple Music is the most awaited music streaming service of Apple, where users can select to stream their choice of music on demand. This unique service will include Internet radio station Beats 1 (available in more than 100 countries) as well as blog platform which will help the artists to share their music on media with fans. However; the music recommendations will be based on the choice and taste of users with the integration of with Siri voice commands. Whenever user will select any new song on device, first time device will use Internet streaming to play song and after that users will have an option to save same song on device for offline access.

Recently at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple launched Apple Music service and according to the official website of Apple, it will include iTunes Match support where users will be able to match and upload songs however; with the launch of brand new service the latest songs limit will be up-to 25,000 songs. According to tech experts Apple’s this service is close to economic equilibrium point in music industry as this service is using Open Music Model. While responding the series of questions Eddy Cue Tweeted, “We are working to increase the song limit by 100,000 songs later this year with the launch of iOS 9. But still there are group of users who are wondering that Why not Apple is offering unlimited amount of songs instead of 100,000, which is also big storage.

Official website of Apple explains, Apple Music is able to match and upload any song, which you own and after that you will be able access them from anywhere same as iTunes Match. It means if your choice of song is not available in Apple Music catalog, so you can buy or download it from any source and upload it Apple Music to listen it through same app, no matter which device you are suing.

Apple offer hi-res 24-bit tracks on iTunes

Apple’s Major Overhaul of iTunes

Following a report, Apple is considering a major overhaul of iTunes and the company is making plans to enter into the high definition music industry with 24-bit track. It was reported that Apple will be launching hi-res audio sales in two months to coincide with the release of the three Led Zeppelin remasters and would probably charge an additional dollar for high resolution tracks and the new features would be offered in line with the usual iTunes track with the option of album purchase.

Presently Apple needs publishers providing 24-bit ALAC tracks along with high sampling price to improve sound quality for transcoding to lossy AAC format which is currently available on iTunes. AAC cuts a good amount of data from the original mastered version like the MP3 codec, trading subtle nuances in dynamic range, detail, fidelity with other sound quality metrics for small sized files.

Supporting the rumor is Apple’s Mastered for iTunes initiative providing studios along with specialized software, especially AU Lab, helping in checking how AAC conversion could affect the uncompressed masters. The studios could then pass the original 24-bit masters to iTunes at a varying sampling rate, creating files without loss and encoding them into 16-bit AAC tracks. This would mean Apple would have a huge repository of lossless music.

Music in a 24-Bit Format

Apple had been working on providing music in a 24-bit format for some time and a report of 2011 stated that the company was in talks to increase the quality of iTunes Music. Presently Apple has been selling audio files on iTunes in a 16-bit lossy AAC format encoded at 256 kbs to a minimum file and high definition 24-bit downloads would offer better details with greater depth with deeper bass response when compared to traditional 16-bit music downloads and the file sizes would be much larger.

Apple has been offering16-bit audio files presently but the company is encouraging artist to submit music in a 24-bit 96 kHz resolution which can be used to create more accurate encodes. Since Apple has accepted 24-bit files for years, it has a large catalog of high quality audio files which could be offered for sales at a premium of $1 over the traditional iTunes tracks.

Better Digital Music

Moreover Hi-res audio has been getting popular with the present generation and music sites like HDtracks are gaining deals with multiple major record labels. Popular artist like Credence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young and many others are putting out high resolution audio with an audio platform called Orastream pointing that the artist are working with technologies making the digital music sound better.

If Apple choose to start selling 24-bit audio tracks it would dominate the competing sites based on its existing user base and boost its digital downloads by appealing to audiophiles presently unhappy with the quality of iTunes tracks. Apple is asking sound engineers for 96 kHz, 24-bit WAV files with the possibility to process its very own `mastered for iTunes’, versions and also to start selling music in `better than CD quality’ resolution and format. Do check out for more refreshing technology information at Macmyth. 

Paypal wants to help Apple's payment service

The eBay subsidiary PayPal wants to support Apple in the implementation of the proposed mobile payment service according to the reports. Paypal is also working on its own payment system for commercial establishments. In the forthcoming extension of Apple's mobile payment services Paypal wants to be one of the party.

This was reported by the managers from the industry. Paypal is allegedly approached the iPhone maker and has shown his willingness to offer his assistance in the implementation of the payment service - eBay's daughter was even willing to provide white label components for Apple's numbering system, write code - " of the fraud detection on the backend infrastructure, possibly even in paying entry". Apple is working on their own mobile payment service on non - digital goods.

However, it remains unclear on what techniques the company is doing and how he is interested in Paypal's offer. In Apple's retail stores it takes more time to pay for certain accessories in iTunes account, the customer scans the bar code for the product with the iPhone.

When shopping in the iTunes Store users of the iPhone 5s in turn can authorize the payment with their fingerprint instead of fumbling to type the password. PayPal offers "Paypal Beacon" which is already a payment solution for retailers to. This uses Bluetooth - the payment will be on location by Paypal App. Apple also uses Bluetooth and increased Smart transmitters.

Apple pushes out iTunes 11.1.3 with bug fix

iTunes is a particularly important tool for users of iDevices . Apple has now released version 11.1.3, which fixes a few small problems. With iTunes 11.1.3 Apple's multimedia management program moves on to the next round.

The update is available for Windows and Mac OS X. It solves a problem with the equalizer and improved according to Apple, the software performance when switching between representations in large iTunes libraries. The update also fixes a few other minor errors. Because of some new features and the release of iOS 7, you should quickly change.

Without iTunes 11.1 you could not manage iDevices with iOS 7 if you have brought latest version of iPhone or iPad, the update is imperative and with the old version you cannot access to the data. The update also has podcast station on board that allow you to create your own stations with preferred podcasts - and thus make them available with new episodes at a central location. Your transmitter, subscriptions, and the positions where you stop playback, the app synchronizes “podcasts “via iCloud.

Who wants to leave it to chance, which iTunes song plays next, uses the new Shuffle. Select “Random Genius Play “to have iTunes start playback of tracks that go great together. Click again to hear something else. For users in the United States is iTunes radio on board.

In order to get accesses to 250 stations, each playing a specific musical genre. Subscribed to iTunes Match, the new service is ad-free. An international launch date is still pending.

iTunes Radio ready for launch in September!

According to the AdAge site, Apple will launch its listening to music streaming services next month. It will consist of a free offer punctuated with advertisements and a paid service for audio and video via a iTunes Match. The countdown has started for the start of iTunes Radio, AdAge says as well as listening to streaming music service by Apple. iTunes Radio based on a free offer supported by advertising. According to AdAge, Apple has already signed agreements with McDonald's, Nissan, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble. The entry tickets would range from a few million to several tens of millions of dollars for current 12-month campaign. The first advertisers will have exclusivity in their respective sectors until 2013. In the free version, iTunes Radio impose audio every 15 minutes with commercials and a video ad for every hour. To be sure a video is viewed, it will be triggered only after the user has pressed the play button or next.

 Initially, the ads will appear on all compatible devices with iTunes, but from 2014, advertisers can target specific devices. The price of the advertisements will be proportional to the screen size. Customers will be able to opt for a version of iTunes Radio without advertising, but they will have to subscribe to iTunes Match services (24.99 Euros / year) for storing personal music in the cloud. Apple also plans to earn revenue from the sale of pieces and a "buy" button will appear next to each title. The exact launch date of the service is not specified, but it could perhaps intervene on September 10 on the occasion of the presentation of new or iPhone. Apple said iTunes Radio will initially be available in the United States before being extended to other countries.

iTunes 11.1 Beta

With the latest OS X Mavericks DP 4 arrived this week, iTunes 11.1 is now installed automatically with the new system. The music player is also in beta since July 29, and that 11.1 was previously distributed only to developers. The next iTunes is compatible with OS X Lion and his successors. iTunes 11.1 beta finally uses the Notification Center OS X. When the application is in the background or hidden, the new song being played is displayed in an alert. In the preferences panel notifications OS X, it has the usual settings. Including the option of Maverick to display notifications even if a screen saver is active or the user account is locked. Setting the number of items to display in the column of Notification Center here has another advantage that gives a history of the last songs heard. This history feature exists in iTunes 11, but here you can return to a previous song by simply opening the notifications panel OS X. Following iOS, iTunes Radio arrived in iTunes with this beta in late July.

The principle is broadly similar to iOS 7 that had been described in mid-June. Apple offers first a series of themed resorts. They can be complete with its own stations ("My Stations"), created either from suggestions already made by Apple or after research of artists based in iTunes. Note that among Apple stations, there is that of Twitter, created from the hashtag # music placed in tweets. Adding a personal station through the "+" button. Where other types are selected with their subcategories or it goes in search of the artist preferred. The search for an album is not taken into account. Playing songs of a station is governed by the same constraints as on iOS. You cannot go back on a title, the button that would be replaced by a star of appreciation.

 However, a history of the songs heard in this station is stored and used at any time. You can put a piece paused, but not advance a few seconds of listening. We can nevertheless go to the next title, except that the sixth time the jump button is grayed out. It will unlock after a few hours. In the drawer of a station, in addition to the historical, the user can manually designate content will not play. This list also serves as and when listening, when reports that you never want to hear a particular song Other details, each piece displayed in the interface has a button to buy it immediately. The pub is present, for example displaying a jacket and an audio message a few seconds. Subscribers to iTunes Match will be provided. Finally, a button allows the reading preferences of the pieces quite bodied texts and also proposes to limit the advertising tracking, without elaborating. But it should probably play the kind of artists or songs that are displayed during commercial breaks and will no longer be based on your listening habits and musical tastes.

The iTunes Store is celebrating its ten years of existence!

On yesterday, Sunday, April 28, the iTunes Store celebrated its ten years of existence. What began as a new way of consuming music has become such a phenomenon that many actors are aligned. Today, however, Apple has to contend with streaming platforms. In 2001, Apple launched the first version of its iTunes software. Two years later, the 4.0 version includes for the first time a music store: these are the beginnings of the iTunes Store. The latter was launched on 28 April 2003, but some had waited more than a year (15 June 2004) to qualify. It is a new way of consuming music: you can buy an album as a collection of files, and costs 9.99 Euros / Dollars, but titles can be purchased separately for 99 cents.


During the early years, the music sold in the store is decked out with digital locks (DRM). The titles are encoded in AAC 128 kb / s with a sampling rate to 44 100 kHz. It was not until 2007 that significant change is launched: the complete abolition of DRM and doubling the quality of securities (256 kb / s), without additional cost. The success of the platform has never denied and the iTunes Store is the premier source of buying music online. In March 2010, 10 000 million th downloading was performed by Louie Sulcer, won the contest organized by Apple and got $ 10 000 gift card. If today the store has about 15 million shares, it has not always been so. At launch, the store does indeed contain only 200,000 pieces. It will take several years and gradually agreements with the majors for the store actually completes and that the securities in the millions. Gradually, the store will also integrate independent labels.


The chronology of the iTunes Store is that of a "success story". However, the digital market is changing and many are now turning to streaming platforms such as Deezer, Spotify or Rdio. No more pay per unit: one subscription lets the user access to the entire catalog without limit, soon this may be a model that Apple probably also works.

iTunes Match Problems and solutions -3

Lost album covers:

Two large pockets of loss may arise. In the first, the covers of the songs in the cloud suddenly disappear: it is most often covers repatriated with the Get album artwork, while those added by hand are preserved. Sometimes it is a temporary problem that goes all alone in order, but if it will accept a less aesthetic presentation, since the Get Album Artwork does not work with songs in the cloud.

In the second case, it is the local covers of songs that are deleted. Another variant: you change the cover of a song by local, and the former comes when syncing with iTunes Match. Again, there is unfortunately not much to do, although some have managed to find their covers by disabling iTunes Match holding down the ⌥ then reactivating.

In general, it seems that the covers inserted as ID3 tag (by dragging an image file in the box Illustration of the Info tab of the info panel) are less sensitive to these problems that covers associated with the Get illustrations album. It is therefore not impossible that the problem comes from the timing of the iTunes Album Artwork folder - about whether Apple will decide to settle ...

My metadata is lost:

Variant of the problem of pockets, overwriting metadata iTunes Match. It may happen that some pieces are downright famous for iTunes Match, for no apparent reason, or that all their metadata are removed. It does not seem to be a file corruption problem.

In general, refill and metadata sync iTunes Match is enough to get things in order If the problem affects many pieces, do not hesitate to use an application like the excellent Music Brainz Picard to automatically fill metadata.

iTunes Match has duplicated my playlists:

Another classic, duplicate playlists - sometimes hundreds of times! In our experience, the problem seems to be related to the loss of which would cause a runaway network during synchronization. These playlists are empty extra: a simple script will remove quickly while keeping your playlists original (and full).

If none of the previous manipulations has worked and that your problems were not resolved in themselves (as is often the case with iTunes Match), there are only two solutions: resetting iTunes Match and updating your iTunes library.

Reset iTunes Match:

Simply put: there is no "reset" button on iTunes Match. To reset a library in the cloud, so you have to tweak: if you do not already have one, you will have to create a library that will contain only pieces in the cloud. To do this, quit iTunes, and then run it by pressing the ⌥. Then choose to create a new library.


Connect to iTunes Match (iTunes Store> iTunes Match) and wait until your entire library in the cloud appears. You might be tempted to select all and delete everything at once: it would be a mistake. Relations department to developers Apple has confirmed that to immediately delete songs from iTunes Match, it was not to remove more than 1000 pieces at a time. In short, delete 999 songs by 999 until you have deleted all your songs to iCloud.

Prior to removal, make sure you have kept a copy of all your songs in the cloud.  Update your iTunes library Match (Store> Update iTunes Match): it is now empty and de facto reset on Apple's servers. Quit iTunes and restart holding down ⌥ and select your usual library containing your songs locally. Connect to iTunes Match: since your library in the cloud is empty, the longest stage of synchronization will start from scratch.

iTunes Match Problems and solutions -2

Some times iTunes Match is stuck at step 2 associate with your songs in the iTunes Store catalog. iTunes Match can also lock in step 2, although this is rare. In the vast majority of cases, simply press the Stop button and restart to get out of sync.

iTunes Match is stuck at step 3 while downloading album covers and the remaining pieces. In this case is almost as common as the blocking step 1 and hence rule out the same way.

Beyond synchronization, several more or less serious problems may affect iTunes Match. Why some songs are not synchronized. Several reasons may explain the non-synchronization of certain pieces. The easiest way to check is the number of songs you have: iTunes Match cannot store that 25,000, not counting those that you purchased from the iTunes Store. The number of songs in your library appears in the status bar (View> Show Status Bar) for Songs or Artists.


Some songs are not eligible (they are followed by a cloud icon strikethrough): those who weigh more than 200 MB or are encoded with a rate of less than 96 kbps (see summary information panel). To our knowledge, no store has proposed lower quality music at 128 kbps: the latter must have been intended to limit money pirated music. We have managed to achieve against the first limit with long pieces of classical or jazz ALAC unless you want to convert a destructive codec, there is currently no solution.

An icon representing two clouds crossed on a song supposed to be replicated. iTunes Match sometimes confused in an album version and a version in a compilation or two interpretations of the same song in an album "deluxe" or an anthology. You can try to force the addition (Add to iCloud in the menu), but most of the time, iTunes Match will remain bounded. Remove the piece of iCloud and importing again is an effective solution, but difficult and which is also not always feasible.


A cloud containing an exclamation point indicates an error: Update iTunes Match (Store> iTunes Match) is generally effective. If you can, enable and disable iTunes Match (if necessary by holding down ⌥) or force the addition. If nothing works, it is possible that the piece is corrupt: there is not much to do other than delete and import a new copy.

Some times Playback does not start on right time. If a song is playing in the cloud does not start, check the service status page Apple: if you cannot access it, is that you are not connected, so you can access, check iTunes Match is not just down. If the reading is still churning in a vacuum, it is usually because your session has expired: reconnect to your account in the iTunes Store. Restart iTunes is also a good solution.


In case of getting trouble in Playback stops being music / playback skips: Reading generally stops during the song when iTunes Match or skips a flow problems. Of course you can download the songs you want to play and delete once heard, but we have seen more practical. Unfortunately these hiccups can last for days and involve only certain songs and not others.

iTunes Match Problems and solutions -1

Most of the times iTunes Match works fine, when it does not work then it is a head ache. There are numerous synchronization problems, each require a different solution. Here we are trying to give solutions to few of the problems.

Blocking iTunes Match in step 1 of the synchronization is a classic. Sometimes the blockage is only apparent; let your machine run all night, and you will notice that the progress bar has moved slowly. Better to let iTunes Match to take its own time rather than cutting and start syncing, so you should solve your troubles patiently.

ITunes tells you if an error 4010 and suggest you try later, follow its advice; things will be set right in the second or third try.  Blockage persists sometimes, but perhaps most of the time set by resetting the identifier your library on Apple's servers to force synchronization "clean." To do this, simply select the Store menu> Disable iTunes Match while maintaining ⌥ key, then select Store> Turn on iTunes Match.

If you're still stuck at step 1 after these manipulations, it becomes more difficult to find the exact cause. Cuts in the view, display layout options (View> View Options) and check the status iCloud. Sort the column that appears to reveal the errors and try to find common ground at there. On the Summary tab, check the origin of particular pieces: whether they were purchased with another account, it is possible that you are no longer allowed to read. If you can, allow your computer to read the contents of the account in question (Store> Authorize this computer after you are connected to the account).

It also appears that iTunes Match lost more easily when using the pedals several different file formats, even if it is supposed to manage, among other things, AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF and ALAC. If possible, do not hesitate to convert your files to get a more coherent library: according to our tests, iTunes Match is much more stable with two formats AAC and ALAC for example. You choose the format in the Import Settings panel in the General section of iTunes preferences and then converts with File> Conversion.

Create a list of similar reading (File> New> Smart Playlist) to list all the songs in a certain format and thus easily convert. You can then delete the duplicates and multiple entries.

FoneSync brings Mac OS X and Android together

The German publisher nova media offers new Mac OS software to synchronize a mobile device Android with his Mac. As doubleTwist before him FoneSync looks like the iTunes Android Smartphone and tablets, at least in terms of synchronization. His presentation is so very close to the Apple software and FoneSync can also sync media (music, videos and photos), but also its data as the address book or calendar.

Mimicry of iTunes goes a long way, there are exactly the same form used for space and can synchronize virtually the same elements, and play lists for music events in iPhoto.

Counterpart of this tight integration, FoneSync does not work with all Smartphone Android, far from it. Currently, the application is only compatible with two Nexus Google phones from Samsung, Sony and Motorola. HTC expected to follow those, but if you are not listed, you cannot use the software. The publisher does not specify whether the tablets Honeycomb are compatible with its software.

Each version costs € 9.99 and if FoneSync is a Mac application, it actually buys the corresponding Android application before installing the utility on Mac by connecting the USB terminal. The operation is complex and involves paying the software again if you change brand of phone. DoubleTwist in turn is free and works with many Android devices...