Apple Music skips about 2 seconds into track on macOS and tvOS

This. I can absolutely confirm this has been a problem for YEARS and was the reason I went to Spotify long ago. Within the 3-Month free testing period of Apple Music I had this exact problem all the time. And this was before lossless was even available! I am only back with Apple again due to their Apple-ONE pricing model. It’s the better offer for me and my family compared to Spotify. However, this skipping within the first 2-5 seconds of almost every song on every platform is VERY annoying to say the least. Apple has to fix this and it is unacceptable. It happens less when lossless is disabled but I can confirm it sometimes happens even with normal quality settings. On cellular, on wifi, on any network even with very fast bandwidth. This problem is 100% on Apple’s end and it needs to be fixed. It’s a complete joke having to deal with this kind of issue in 2022 while every other streaming provider runs smoothly without any problems at all. Why this issue has jot been addressed yet is beyond me.

This is happening on M1 MBA, MacOS 13.2.1 and on lossless, but with dolby unchecked. After download, it is not happening. fast.com tells me my fiber is 1gbps so guessing it is something to do with software.

I think if streaming, can't use lossless.

Thank you for this - it's something I've been itching to do but haven't had time and it's been something I find myself noticing more and more lately.

I'd like to add it's very likely an Apple Music issue itself as it occurs when using CarPlay, on iPad OS, iOS, etc.,

I do not notice it on WatchOS or Alexa, neither of which support lossless so the assertion around it being codec changes or some other stream shift is very likely. I doubt it's a bitrate change though as many platforms have supported dynamic bitrates without these issues.

Tried reporting this to apple support.

First, as a note to all here, I am told support won't ever look at discussions.apple.com and would not be interested in reports and MeeToo's here. So it's completely useless to use this forum as not just they don't look at it, they won't look at it even if you try to point them to a documented issue.

So, I am told that apparently, the only way to get this fixed is that enough people report this to Apple Support.

And there lies the problem. It seems virtually impossible to break through and get this issue reported. They wanted me to uninstall all VPNs and device management and create a screen recording. I explained it's audio issue and won't be visible in the screen recording. I was told they can't create an issue without screen recording, that's the only way they can create a case. For a second I thought I was speaking to a poorly trained AI.

And this was third line support - not the first line you get on chat, nor the second line also on chat - this is the one that calls you. Unfortunately I had somebody who clearly has no clue what they are talking about and feel very threatened by the "dev team" and their requirements for bug reports. Yet at the same time, this person was managing to be incredibly condescending.

Now, being a pro developer since 1995 (**** I am old!), I tried patiently guiding this person but after going in circles I gave up in the end.

So yeah - if we want this fixed, we need to keep contacting support and reporting this issue. I for one will continue trying until I encounter somebody with a bit of intelligence to get the report submitted.

I just submitted a feedback to Apple, if you’re suffering from this issue please do so as well.

This has been an issue on music on all platforms for years and so disappointing that there is still no fix.

Not a solution but seems to change where the skipping occurs when you repeat the same song multiple times. And if it is the song you recently listened, after a couple of repeats, the issue disappears temporarily. I'm convinced that it is related to how the song is processed/cached.

Another workaround is cancel Apple Music, subscribe to Spotify (or whichever you like). I cancelled my Spotify and signed up for Apple Music because Spotify doesn't offer lossless, and I spent a bunch on my audio equipment, so it's extra frustrating that Apple Music skips like this. I went to them for their alleged high quality audio.

Oh, I'm on the latest iOS 15.6 iPhone 13 mini.

Happening to me also. I was trying classical music app on iPad and it’s jumping a few seconds in as it did with the music app. Dreadful experience. I play through iPad, iPad to HomePods and Apple TV to HomePods, all are affected. It’s not only annoying it’s frankly embarrassing. It doesn’t happen all the time, just then a lossless track played fine but it could happen three or four times in a row some investigation needed from apple on this pronto, perhaps increase the cache or delay playing by a couple of seconds to allow a cache to build up. I’m using a very fast fibre connection btw.

And there again on another track.

Same. Only when streaming lossless as others stated. Usually when I jump to a song that wasn’t in the queue. iPhone 11, iPad Mini 6th, 2021 MacBook Pro. All updated to latest OS. Happens over WiFi or Ethernet (950mbps with 1ms latency to my ISP). Apple just says to update your OS or it’s your internet connection…do they even use their own products?!?

It happens for me on my laptop (M2 MBP), it does not matter if Lossless or Atmos is on or off. It does not happen on my iPhone however.

I have had this problem since 2022 and now my patience has run out, I'm going back to Spotify.

Fortunately it is resolved for me on iOS 18 on iPad.

As a reference I'm using the track "Broke my heart" by Caribou. It used to skip a beat every time on a lossless playback at around 0:03.

Now it doesn't skip anymore on iOS 18. It still skips on my iPhone (iOS 17) as well as on the Mac (Sonoma).

I absolutely agree with that diagnosis. It looks like Apple Music is changing bit rates or codec and as it does so, a buffer is lost. This needs fixing please Apple

Same issue, on iphone 13 pro max Apple music on iOS 16.5.

No issue on AAC and Atmos.

Only with lossless.

A true issue for music lovers ...