Music app for ios5 is unusable (it's so bad)

alfonslc wrote:

They will never change the app. <snip>

Well...except when they do, just this week. iOS 5.1 addressed a number of issues that lots of us were having with the Music App. Granted, it's still not great and I still don't like it nearly as much as the original iPod App, but it is better in a lot of respects. So I would fully expect that Apple continue to modify and improve it, just as they have with many other iOS and OS X apps over the years. In the meantime there are alternatives. I hate saying that because Apple's apps are generally superior to third-party offerings, but they certainly missed the mark with the Music App this time.

Ranting here probably won't change much, but you might want to consider giving them some feedback...

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Allready gave feedback. Twice with each iOS update. I like ranting here. I can blow off steam. This is the most disappointing thing about apple I've had. I love their software normally. Don't want to switch. But this app is so lousy I may have to. But I have allot of drm music. Tv shows and such. I guess this is why people jailbreak their devices. To get around apples one size fits millions. One look fits millions approach. Either way. My iPad is now the worst device for listening to music I have ever owned.

Today I updated to iOS 5.1 on my 4S and my iPad 1.

The music app on the iPad 1 is still somehow ugly in comparison to apps like calendar or mail, but it got really, really faster and snappier. I even think of moving the app back to the "tray", where now "Groove" found its home.

There are still a lot of annoying features... black/white shuffle+repeat don't reveal their state... artists "list" still in a grid of covers... but at least the app is useable somehow. I don't know why Apple released such a slow, annoying and unuseable crap with iOS 5 and now out of the box everything seems to be snappy and fast again. How can this happen in such a huge software company?

By the way ... the whole iOS 5.1 somehow seems to be faster now. Switching apps, going back to the home screen, browsing pictures... the "iPad feeling" is back again. Didn't really expect that... ;-)

Understood, it is frustrating sometimes.

With respect to DRM protected tracks...if you're signed up for iTunes Match and you bought them from the iTunes Store you can re-download them and they will be "upgraded" from 128kbps to 256kbps DRM-free tracks. Just a thought. Here's how...

http://www.cultofmac.com/131965/can-itunes-match-replace-my-drm-protected-audio- files-with-unprotected-versions-ask-macrx/

I just read about a change in iTunes 10.6 which will allow you to select the "save as" bit-rate for the Music App on your iDevice. It used to be you left them "as-is" (the same as they are stored in your iTunes library) or 128kbps. Now you can select from 128kbps, 196kbps or 256kbps.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/03/09/convert-bit-rate-of-songs-with-itunes/

Guess I should have noticed that, but i didn't. 😊 I've got enough space on my iPad and iPhone so I'm going to try switching from 128kbps to 196kbps and see if I can hear a difference.

I have also upgraded to 5.1 and have not noticed any improvement. In playlist mode the app is totally unusable. I can tap on a playlist ten times without any response. I can swipe for half a minute without any reaction. If I then quit the app and start it again it crashes immediately. It has had this behavior in version 5.0 and 5.01, and nothing has changed in 5.1.

I suppose this is an issue with one of my playlists. I have one with with 6000 songs. A few months ago I managed to delete it on my iPad (it took about five minutes before I could even click the "cross" icon), and discovered that it had disappeared on iTunes as well. After that responsiveness was a bit better, but still a disgrace. But I want that playlist on my Mac, and so I put it back.

I don't want to have to think about this. My entire music library fits on my iPad, that's why I bought a 64Gb model. And so I want to sync the entire music library. I also don't want to check if some of my artwork is to large. If the app cannot handle large playlists or artwork, it should deal with it itself (omit that playlist, or reduce the artwork). The previous app could handle all of this perfectly, so how can the new one be such a total disaster.

It is totally unbelievable that this has not been fixed. I have no app on my iPad that is as bad as this one.

Of course I am going to send feedback to Apple once again. But if 5.1 (after waiting half a year) did not fix it, I am not optimistic. And I have not even mentioned the unattractive look and the absence of lyrics.

I feel Steve Jobs, God rest his soul, would not have allowed Apple's software engineers to tinker so badly with the iPad version of music.ipa. It works as it should on the iPhone and iPod Touch but not the iPad. And just in case anyone misinterprets me, this is a swipe at the Cook-Ive nexus; do they even read/care what customers say? It weren't broke, why was it "fixed"? All we want is the columnar list option to view playlists and contents thereof. Other iPad apps have this feature but most of us need Home Sharing connectivity, which works seamlessly with iTunes and Music.ipa. Other streaming combos attempt it but fall way short of the target. So we're not asking for a wholesale rewrite of music.ipa, just give us back a feature we really want, not what Apple wants us to want.

Agree totally. My faith that apple would stay good when jobs resigned was very low. These changes prove it completly. If they can put out something this bad. I'm thinking of how much worse it will get. This is just the start of the horrible ideas that jobs was once around the reject. Did you also notice the strange change in the app store layout. Even browsing the top apps is now totally changed. Whenever I start to browse. I just get sick of all the swiping I have to do to navigate back and forth. Only let's you see 6 apps at a time in the veiw. The old app store was also 10 times better. I've been an apple customer for years. Ive never jailbroken. I've always been happy. Until now. They are taking away too much. Making things harder to use to give the look they want. Mac has always been about ease of use. Now. That has changed. It's only going to get worse.

Keep sending feedback. There were a few fixes in 5.1, hopefully if the complaints keep coming they'll get around to fixing the rest.

And give the SJ comparisons a rest. Apple released a LOT of problematic software and hardware under his watch, many of the dumb decisions were probably his call. Even the iOS 5 update was in months before he passed away, it's entirely possible that he supervised the redesign and even requested the changes that people have been hating so much.

Mike Connelly wrote:

Keep sending feedback. There were a few fixes in 5.1, hopefully if the complaints keep coming they'll get around to fixing the rest.

And give the SJ comparisons a rest. Apple released a LOT of problematic software and hardware under his watch, many of the dumb decisions were probably his call. Even the iOS 5 update was in months before he passed away, it's entirely possible that he supervised the redesign and even requested the changes that people have been hating so much.

This...exactly.

Dear Apple,

I am no longer able to access two important and essential features on the Music app.

I teach an English and Chinese Language class for a college where we require all of our 100+ students to utilize iPads for classroom learning of languages.

The ability to change playback speed, like what is available on the iPod, iPhone, and former music player on the iPad, is essential in order for us to continue using the iPad as our teaching tool. 0.5x speed for beginners. 2.0x and 3.0x for our advanced students. And 30sec rewind because our students constantly miss the phrases taught.

Please reintroduce this feature in an update to the iPads or our institution will be forced to change our Required Student Tools and Materials list to a tablet which enables such functions.

Sincerely,

Howie D.

Hi howdoogie,

If you have not done so already, you should post your comments also on the iPad feedback (http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html). I did post feedback and received communications from Apple. I'm not sure if you get your requests, but it is worth trying.

Good luck.

Hi Howie, that does sound frustrating. As JGhalam suggests, using Apple's iPad Feedback form is your best bet to get Apple's attention as this is basically a user-to-user forum.

That being said, the playback speed control is still available in the new Music App, but only when playing audiobook files. Tap "More" > Audiobooks and you'll see it there.

You didn't indicate what kind of files you're using for your class, but there's an easy way to convert MP3, AAC or other files to the M4B audiobook format using iTunes. Here's how:

Add your audio file to iTunes by following these instructions. Open iTunes and find the audio file you need to use (under Music or Podcast, etc.). Control-click/right-click the audio file and select Get Info. Go to the Options tab, select Audiobook from the Media Kind drop-down menu. The file will be moved into your Audiobook library (you can delete the original file). To mark multiple files at once, select them all and go through the same process. The only remaining step is to check the Remember Position checkbox if you haven’t already, and your tracks should be in your Audiobooks section and they should work like an audiobook. Transfer the new "audiobooks" to your student's iPads by syncing them under "Books" in iTunes and that should do it.

Hope that helps!

Music App for iPad with 5.1 is like something like a bad microsoft UI design.

At the end of a Podcast it will no longer skip to the next podcast.

The podcast listed will no longer show which podcast that have been played.

Descriptions of Podcast are now shorter and therefore harder to choose.

Choosing podcast, genres, composers and audiobooks is always hidden.

Reading of names is truncated in playlist, artist, albums, composers, Genres & audiobooks.

Although apple music app should work it does!!!!! and until they fix it, there is a very good app from iTunes that will take all music and play it thorough their app the right way. it show a visual bookmark spot when use audio books and has all the extras like shuffel, replay ect.

know the bad news it is a free app but it only last 10min per day unless you pay £5.95 but it is worth it. The app is called MyTunesProHD

hope this help alot of people