Level 1

44 points

iOS 7 Music App sorting issues

Hello there,

I'm starting this discussion to express my displeasure with some changes in the Music app that have removed some key functionalities that I had come to rely upon.

First of all, there are some artists in my library with many albums. In iOS 6, accessing those artist's albums was easy. You would click on the artist tab, go to the artist and it would show a list of the albums. Then, you could choose an album and go right to those songs. In iOS 7, this has completely changed. Now, there's no longer an albums view under artists. You have to scroll song by song to get to the newer releases.

For instance, I'm a huge fan of Pearl Jam and have 60 albums of theirs (9 studio, the rest all live records). Now, to get to the latest, I have to spend 30 seconds scrolling all the way down the list. That's not efficient at all. The way it was before — you get a list of albums once you click on the artist, then click on an album to get the songs — should never have been changed.

Second, I consider myself a power user and sort all my albums using the "sort album" tag in iTunes. Previously, that carried over both over syncing and iTunes Match. Now, it ignores it completely. Even my old, trusty iPod Classic still pays attention to this!

I understand that most people don't set their sort order, but for those of us who do — and have spent tons of time doing it — why is this no longer the case?

I spoke with a senior technician yesterday and let him know of these issues. He documented them and is sending them directly to a programming engineer at Apple. I have his name, phone number and contact info and intend to follow up.

He agreed that iOS 7 should be adding functionality — not taking it away! The other thing the senior technician said to me is that the more people call and complain about something, the greater the chance that it will be rectified.

I did so in a very calm, respectful manner and he was very receptive to my concerns. SO, is anyone else frustrated about this? IF so, please post here!

Also, my suggestion to anyone else who feels disappointed in this removed functionality is to call in to Apple Care support and express your concerns in much the same way i did.

That way, if we make our collective voices heard, they'll reintroduce the functionalities we had in the first place.

Posted on Sep 20, 2013 8:22 AM

445 replies

Oct 19, 2013 3:19 PM in response to lessthanuthink

Hey folks, some of you may be interested to know that I'm just putting the finishing touches on another update to Picky, and one of the new features is the ability to filter your songs list by genre (or by multiple genres). I posted a quick video of it in action here. The update also includes the ability to browse and play playlists, among other improvements. =)

– Charles

Oct 19, 2013 5:46 PM in response to Got-Bob

"Siri not available. Connect to the internet."

A function that doesn't work all the time is not a function at all. Think trains, airplanes, country areas, people careful about how much data they use, sound guys an DJs at gigs and shows, people travelling in other countries, poor reception areas... The list is endless for possible time when Siri is unavailable and therefore that option will not work. Useless.

Oct 19, 2013 5:58 PM in response to DelboyWilson

I read an article recently talking about how Apple (and Google and Microsoft et al) techs all work and live in an almost perfect wifi/cell signal "bubble" and can easily fall into simple conclusions like "just use Siri". Out in the real world it's a very different story. Out in the real world out of the USA, it's an even more different story... Things like wifi are not free and ubiquitous. Cell signal coverage can be patchy and data may be 2G even in highly developed first world countries, not to mention how expensive data can be.

Oct 19, 2013 8:03 PM in response to PFox78

A thought: With all the snafus with the native apps, maps, music, podcasts, calendar, etc, and clever, elegant and inexpensive solutions by other frustrated users that actually listen to customers, is this a hint that Apple would eventually exit the app market?

halo9

Level 1

4 points

Oct 19, 2013 8:19 PM in response to lessthanuthink

Hi Charles, looks and sounds good. Can't wait to try it. Looks like the app has graduated to the main nav bar.

I can't use the update yet, but when you sort by genre under songs, can you still group by album or select an album?

Cheers

halo9

Level 1

4 points

Oct 19, 2013 9:30 PM in response to Got-Bob

In regards to using Siri.

Me: play always home by coheed and cambria.

Siri: I could not find the temperature in home.

Me: @!!?$¥%!!!

Siri is useless unless you have a internet connection and even then, it is useless, especially if there is a lot of background noise. No way I'm gonna be using it on a crowded train only to have it **** me off.

Oct 19, 2013 10:26 PM in response to halo9

halo9 wrote:

Hi Charles, looks and sounds good. Can't wait to try it. Looks like the app has graduated to the main nav bar.

I can't use the update yet, but when you sort by genre under songs, can you still group by album or select an album?

Hi halo9, thanks! Right now the genre filtering is just for individual songs, but I'm planning to add an albums list with the same filtering options in a later update. As for this one, I just have to wrap up testing before I submit it to the App Store, so it'll probably be available for download within the 10 days or so.

Got-Bob

Level 1

0 points

Oct 20, 2013 12:09 AM in response to DelboyWilson

Well if they downloaded the voice recognition data to the device like android does then you would get more out of the engine itself...

Oct 22, 2013 2:46 PM in response to PFox78

I definitely want to be able to select albums from within an artist. I hate that the only way to get a single album is to either create a playlist or to find the album by album name (by artist is waaaaay easier).

I understand you can do "workarounds" but why is something that worked really well and was simple changed to remove some of the functionality that made it effective?

Apple.....please fix this!

PCH54

Level 1

0 points

Oct 22, 2013 3:05 PM in response to SamuraIrish

You can select an album by an individual artist, but it's a bit awkward. You have to click back one screen, then hit the "artist" button. This will give you a list of artists in alphabetical order. Click on the artist, and you'll get all the albums by this person (or group). It's relatively easy, but simply turning the iPhone on its side, and scrolling through the albums was a lot easier. I hope Apple is paying attention. It would be nice if they gave some sign they are hearing what we are saying.

Oct 22, 2013 3:33 PM in response to PCH54

Right, I get that, but why would I want to have to search through hundreds of albums to find say Sgt. peppers rather than just searching the Beatles and picking an album out of a few selections.

My point is the functionality used to be there but has been removed for an unknown reason. you can't even select "repeat album" which would eliminate half of my issue with the change.

As a said in architecture, "form follows function" and I think that searching an artist and then an album is a good function, so why doesn't the updated music player do that.

I mean when I organize vinyl records or CD's I sort by Artist, then by Album within artist. I don't sort all my albums by name. And when I listen I either want to listen to a particular album or everything shuffled, so not being able to select ONLY ONE album from within an artist (or have a "repeat album") option) is a big drawback

It could be simply solved by having an album link from the album name within the artist to isolate just that album, and apple wouldn't even lose the "streamlined" look and feel...

Oct 22, 2013 4:24 PM in response to SamuraIrish

SamuraIrish wrote:

It could be simply solved by having an album link from the album name within the artist to isolate just that album, and apple wouldn't even lose the "streamlined" look and feel...

You mean, like how it used to be prior to iOS 7 ;-)

I always hated the UI of the Music app on my iPad under iOS 6, and now the same stupid Artist/Song layout has made its way into the iPhone in iOS 7 where the Artist menu makes you (a) scroll thru all songs to get to a particular album, and then (b) does not limit playback to that single album. Even Coverflow, which used to provide a simple shortcut to get to an adjacent album by the artist, is now sorted by album name with no regard to artist, ***?!

Someone at Apple seems to have a very different view of how to access and listen to music, which is too bad because the Music UI is where iOS used to really shine.

Oct 22, 2013 7:44 PM in response to PFox78

I agree. The new music app on iOS7 is just terrible.

The albums aren't sorted alphabetically and with my OCD, it bothers me to a point where i can't even look at it.

You can't select albums anymore, you have to scroll through the entire artist which is really annoying.

The album art on the songs tab on side of every song is rendered pretty much useless.

the only good thing about it is that it still plays music.

Eitr

Level 1

0 points

Oct 22, 2013 7:51 PM in response to PFox78

Good to know I'm not the only one who completly hates new Music app.

I have to agree with the majority about the artist view which is horrible and completely useless. I really enjoy iOS7 but I hate it when Apple decides to force us to be happy and changes what has been working for all the years of iPhone existence. At least they should include an option to revert it to "classic" view.

But what frustrates me the most is that it magically organizes purchased music without even asking me. I have spent years to organize my music the way I want it to be, so it included changing iTunes Store files tags artworks, as often they were wrong and poor.

In iTunes everything looks the way it's supposed to be - it's my way. But when I sync music to my iPhone not only changes it all the tags to the iTunes Store original tags but also ignores any changes made by me! Now my library is disorganized and i cannot find anything. Anyone has the same problem and (hopefully) know the solution?

PFox78 Author

Level 1

44 points

Oct 22, 2013 7:56 PM in response to poedaniel

To poedaniel et al, this is why I started this discussion. I'm appalled by the new music app. In fact, it has ruined the whole iOS 7 experience for me. I like many things about it, but if I could go back to the way it was, I would in a heartbeat. For me, Apple's iDevices have always been about music first and foremost. Now, with this music app, it's like a slap to the face.

All we can do is complain and offer our feedback to Apple directly. Please either call Apple Care and complain respectfully, or please fill out the form at http://www.apple.com/feedback/

I was hoping that with iOS 7.0.3 this would be rectified, but alas it was not. (I won't even begin to mention how much worse a paid service like iTunes Match is now vs iOS 6.1.) All we can do is keep complaining and hope Apple makes the app like it used to be for all these past years.

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iOS 7 Music App sorting issues