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

I am having the same issue but on iOS. iPhone 13 on 16.4.1.

There is skipping at the beginning of songs when lossless is on. It doesn’t matter if I’m on Wi-Fi or 5G. Then when I turn lossless off the problem goes away.

I really hope this gets fixed because I notice a marked difference between the non lossless codec and CDs I play in my car. I had lossless turned on by default because of that, but now I’ve turned it off again.

OP’s post where they show the comparison of the waveforms is spot on. I originally thought it was an error when transcribing the track but the regularity of it near the beginning of the song made me think otherwise.

Interestingly enough - with the most recent updates to tvOS and PodOS we’re no longer experiencing skipping with Atmos and non-Atmos lossless content. Note this is playing to 2ndG HomePods through AppleTV.

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.

I'm using IOS 16.5.1 on my Iphone 14 Pro and the lossless glitch with the 2 seconds at the 15 second mark is still happening! I have had this issue since last summer (2022)! I got the iphone 14 pro in January of this year and it's been happening since then!

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?!?

Well the problem seemed to abate but after the 17 update it’s back. I even had 5 tracks in a row skipping. Now it’s down to once in a while again. I airplay from an iPad Air 4 to HomePods 2nd gen. I’m going to revert to aac and see if the situation improves. I also have an appletv, all have been updated. It’s really not good enough.

Seriously WTH, I'm trying to listen to Rumours as reference and two seconds into Dreams it keepings [bleeping] skipping.

It's bad enough that we have to try to guess the sample rate based on the codec and then restart the application when we want to play a song.

Not OK for an operating system or paid service AND you developed the lossless audio codec!

Im seeing this too, and its absolutely infuriating, and fundamentally breaks the sole purpose of the apple music app. The replies pointing to caching discrepancies are probably right on the money. Hundreds of millions of dollars of R&D each year, and they still havent rebuilt Apple music from the shell that was once iTunes. Its why it loads slower, has more bugs, etc, than other platforms. But hey, Lossless! even if you cant use it on any product other than a mac with an external interface. 2006 iTunes servers go brrrrrrrrr.....

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.

I too have this issue - I am switching to Apple Music to get the best quality plus Dolby Atmos with my new sound system.

I specifically bought an Apple TV to be able to make use of higher quality lossless sound (which is amazing) through my Atmos capable sound system and… get this great long pause with no sound every time I select a song! As another user said.. this is the opposite of lossless when you are losing part of the song!

Apple please fix in future updates - I’d rather a pause before playback rather than losing a vital part of the song.

It's also happening on my iPhone 14 Pro - it's annoying! £500 pair of Airpod Max and a >£1000 phone plus ongoing Apple music subscription all of which I specifically pay for or have brought because of the quality of Spatial audio, lossless and Dolby Atmos (on my Apple TV setup), and it has this bug which destroys the listening experience and grates everytime it happens.

I thought we left beat-skipping behind when humanity transitioned from CDs to MP3s!

Please fix this apple - it's not up to your usual standards.

I’ll confirm this works. Go to settings>Music and turn off dolby. Ridiculous that this is still an issue. Nearly made me turn back to Spotify. So cruddy. EDIT: Nevermind this doesnt work. You need to turn off lossless I guess. WHAT A JOKE. Dealbreaker.

Dear philfnyc1,

It sounds like there might be a buffering or streaming issue with Apple Music on your macOS and tvOS devices. Here are a few potential solutions you could try:

1. Check your network connection: Ensure that your internet connection is stable and has sufficient bandwidth to stream music without interruptions.

2. Reset Apple Music: Try signing out of your Apple Music account on both macOS and tvOS, then sign back in. This can sometimes resolve temporary glitches.

3. Restart your devices: Sometimes, a simple restart can fix various software issues. Try restarting both your Mac and Apple TV.

4. Update software: Make sure your macOS and tvOS are both updated to the latest versions. Sometimes, software updates include fixes for known issues.

5. Contact Apple Support: If the issue persists after trying the above steps, it might be worth reaching out to Apple Support for further assistance. They can provide personalized troubleshooting steps and may be aware of any known issues or fixes related to this specific problem.

Give these steps a try and see if they help resolve the issue. If not, contacting Apple Support would be your best next step.

Best Regards, anasamrgalal

Just wanted to let you guys know I just reported this via feedback to Apple.

as many of you have already done this I doubt it will help or cause them to seriously look into this.. but better than just talking about it in here. For the last couple of years..

Let’s hope they can figure it out. I’m positive it’s a caching issue that could be resolved by streaming lossless from the start, even if this would mean a slight delay before the song starts.

It's astonishing that this is still an issue. What's the point of offering Lossless audio playback with it simply doesn't work? I experience this skip @0:02 on both Streaming on an iPhone 15 and Mac Studio connected via ethernet.