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PFox78 Author

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

Top-ranking reply

pd18

Level 1

0 points

Posted on Sep 20, 2013 8:34 AM

I have scheduled a call with a technician for this afternoon, and will discuss my concerns as well. Let's hope that if enough people raise the issue, it will be addressed. I will post a follow up once I've spoken with Apple.

View in context

445 replies

Dec 26, 2013 4:52 PM in response to PFox78

FWIW, I've just sent off a missive to http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html - it took 4 separate messages, but hopefully it's constructive.

---------

[POLITE INTRODUCTION]

1. ALL ALBUMS WITHIN GENRE. I prefer to browse my collection by selecting a genre I may like to listen to. Then, instead of choosing an artist, in iOS 6 I would pull down the artist list and select "All Albums." This option is no longer available in iOS 7.
Ideally, I would love to see this functionality restored. When I select a genre, I would like the option to view a list of all the albums within that genre, organized alphabetically by album name.

2. ALBUM ART. Many people don't manage their album artwork. For those people, the solutions for providing artwork in the Music app are an excellent aesthetic improvement.

But I am diligent about album art. If I don't like an album's art, I'll make my own. I am disappointed by the seemingly unpredictable fashion in which the app assigns artwork.

Ideally, I would prefer to browse music without album artwork.
It is baffling to me why, when viewing the list of artists, some are given new artwork and some simply display album art contained within. The abstract replacements for the Genre list are particularly offensive.
If I must browse with artwork, please at least allow me to toggle iTunes'/Apple's artwork replacements off.

3. ALBUMS/SONGS. Please allow me to browse the titles of my albums before revealing the songs within. It is faster and easier (at least for me).

4. NOW PLAYING. Why not let me use a gesture on the album art to reveal the track list?

THANK YOU for the "Show All Music" toggle option.
THANK YOU for the performance quality of the app. I find it quick and responsive.
THANK YOU for retaining Hi-Speed/Half-Speed/Quarter-Speed scrubbing. I love this functionality.

And thank you for taking the time to read these criticisms and suggestions. I know you all work hard and have difficult design decisions to make, and I hope this is helpful.

All the best,
TC

---------

Fingers crossed! Some third-party apps fix a few problems, but I'd still much rather use the Music app. Maybe I'm old fashioned. Oh well.

Dec 26, 2013 5:53 PM in response to PFox78

Some more browsing found a way to delete the album artwork - details below. They do indeed remove the album artwork, but unfortunately not the wasted space on the iPhone screen where the artwork appears. I have space on my iPhone for some more music, but have not solved the basic problem. For that, we will have to wait for Apple to listen to their customers and provide a switch for "Artwork On/Off".

Thanks to Solomon Poretsky for this.

Step 1

Start iTunes on your desktop or notebook computer by double-clicking its icon.

Step 2

Click "Music" on the left side of the screen to highlight your music library. If you usually only sync a certain playlist to your iPhone, select that playlist instead.

Step 3

Click on any song in your library and highlight it.

Step 4

Click the "Edit" menu, then click the "Select All" option.

Step 5

Click the "File" menu, then click the "Get Info" option.

Step 6

Click "Yes" in the dialog box that says "Are you sure you want to edit information for multiple items?"

Step 7

Place a checkmark in the small box to the left of the large white area labeled "Artwork" then click "OK." It may take iTunes a while to delete all of the artwork from your library.

Step 8

Sync your iPhone with your computer. If you use a sync cable, connect it between the iPhone and a USB port on your computer. If you sync over Wi-Fi, plug your iPhone into a charger so that the Wi-Fi sync will activate.

Dec 27, 2013 1:21 PM in response to PFox78

Ыorry if that issue has already been discussed previously, but i still can't get over it: songtitle is totally broken for me. I already tried to delete the whole library and re-add it via itunes; restore form a backup; reset setting. None of that helped.

Dec 30, 2013 1:53 PM in response to Jimscriv

This is quite the worst bug I've seen in apple's offering. I can search for an album, but I click play on the tracks and it plays the tracks on the album in some random order,

You used to be able to select the order of the original cd. This is absolutely fundamental in music.

I can't believe that apple hasn't understood this. Really really really disappointing.

Dec 30, 2013 6:16 PM in response to Lewis Murray1

Lewis Murray1 wrote:

You used to be able to select the order of the original cd.

You still can, provided that your music is tagged correctly and you don't have some sort of corruption on the iPhone. As much as I despise the layout in the Music app under iOS 7, you can still play an album in track order just fine.

Have you tried resetting or restoring your iPhone? And you do have Shuffle turned OFF, right? 😉

holtsch

Level 1

7 points

Dec 31, 2013 7:00 AM in response to PFox78

I've already posted my feedback directly with Apple - and I hope everyone who gets to this thread does as well. Basically, the most awesome music app (it started with the iPad) got completely ruined. The thing that really stood out with how I could navigate my music library on the iPod back then, then the iPod touch, then the iPhone, was that I could navigate any way I wanted: I could pick a genre, then an artist, then a particular album. Or I could pick a genre, then directly an album, or I could pick an artist, then an album, or directly go into a list of all albums. Or I could go by playlists. Maybe not exactly all paths were possibly but at least all I've ever wanted.

Now, the music app is just broken. Honestly, I can't use it without being able to select an artist, then an album by that artist and then just play all songs of that album or a particular song. I have some artists that have plenty of albums and - what makes matters much worse with that ridiculous current design - lots of songs within those albums (20+).

The only thing I'm missing is "bookmarks" (because I'm also using the music app a lot to listen to very long tracks, like 1 or 2 hours, and for those, it would be really important to have the ability to "bookmark" where exactly I currently am inside such a song and go back later).

I really love the look of iOS 7. Finally, Skeumorphism is over. But honestly, the current music app is a joke. It's just useless. So I'm glad some alternatives are available and were mentioned earlier in this thread (I've just downloaded Lagu and hope this will do ;-) ).

mchall38

Level 1

0 points

Dec 31, 2013 7:49 AM in response to holtsch

Exactly!

seanct30

Level 1

0 points

Dec 31, 2013 12:40 PM in response to PFox78

Has Apple sorted this string issue yet?

seanct30

Level 1

0 points

Dec 31, 2013 12:40 PM in response to PFox78

Meant sorting issue

PCH54

Level 1

0 points

Dec 31, 2013 3:38 PM in response to seanct30

It's not clear if Apple Apple has even noticed the extensive complaints about the music function in IOS7, let alone addressed them.

Jan 2, 2014 12:06 PM in response to PFox78

Hi, 24 pages on one post. You'd think that someone in that faceless, nanny knows best, ivory tower would have taken some notice by now.

My problem is that I like listening to whole albums, in my car while I'm driving. I like to listen to albums in the order in which they were created. Yes Apple. In the past albums were created with a definite planned listening order, and they still are if you avoid listening to the factory boiled plastic pop a la Dustbin Beaver. When I'm driving I don't then want to have to stop to unlock my phone so that I can select the next album - it's not always convenient on the M3 and Mr. Plod takes a very dim view of it anyway.

Can anyone tell me whether such a desire is possible on an iPhone 5 using 'Music' or whether I should be better off using a different app for this - please suggest one.

Many thanks for reading.

Jan 2, 2014 12:19 PM in response to holtsch

Assuming it still works correctly in the new Music app, here's what I've done for long tracks.

If you select a track's properties (right-click, "Get Info") in iTunes (in OSX) and go over to the "Options" tab, you can select an option to "Remember Playback Position."

Save that option, copy that file onto your iPod/iPhone, and the Music app should pick up wherever you stopped listening to the track last.

Jan 2, 2014 1:24 PM in response to Tweazle_UK

Tweazle_UK wrote:

My problem is that I like listening to whole albums, in my car while I'm driving. I like to listen to albums in the order in which they were created.

You can still play complete albums in proper track order, that has not changed in iOS 7. As long as your music is tagged correctly, and there's nothing corrupted in your i-device, albums will play in track order if Shuffle is off. Albums will also play successively, in chronological order by year released (assuming you've tagged them correctly).

This thread seems to have morphed into several splinter issues that have nothing to do with the OP's issues related to the Sort Album option, and the general issue with accessing a specific album when you have several albums by an artist.

Jan 2, 2014 1:32 PM in response to rockmyplimsoul

My apologies. I have started a new thread. Now, if I can work out a way of deleting this from this thread I will happily do so.

Jan 2, 2014 1:56 PM in response to rockmyplimsoul

rockmyplimsoul wrote:

Albums will also play successively, in chronological order by year released (assuming you've tagged them correctly).

Not always true. Queen's debut album is listed as being released in 1992 on my iPhone, even though I've tagged it with the correct release date (1973) in iTunes. Apple decided I'd rather use a reissue date than the original.

iOS 7 Music App sorting issues