Okay, so maybe I was a little bit bored. I dug up the following information
from several articles on Life Hacker. This is of primary interest to those
of us trying out the free trial of Apple Music. In October it will go up to
$10 a month. The accessibility is much easier than Spodify, and one trick
they don’t mention is you can ask Siri to play the number 1 song from the
day or year you were born. Or any day or year. Or the top ten or top 50
songs. There is a lot of very powerful functionality here.
All The New Stuff You Can Ask Siri to Do with Apple Music
Thorin Klosowski
7/07/15 1:00pm
Love it or hate it, Apple Music’s
big draw is it’s deep integration with iOS. That means Siri can do all kinds
of things for you to get music playing. Let’s take a look at some of these
commands.
Siri’s integration with Apple Music includes all the old stuff. You can ask
to play any song, album, artist, or playlist and Siri will start playing it
right away either from your library or Apple Music. Beyond that, there are a
bunch of new commands.
Play different radio stations: You can ask Siri things like “Play beats 1,”
“Play indie rock station,” or even start artist stations like “Play Mastodon
station.” You can also customize what happens with those artist stations
with commands like, “I like this song,” “Don’t play this song again,” and
“Play
more songs like this.”
Play chart toppers: If you’re feeling a bit nostalgic, you can ask Siri to
play songs from any given year with commands like “Play the top songs from
1982,”
or even “Play the top song from January of 1982.” You can also do it by
artist with commands like, “Play the top album by The Beach Boys” or “Play
the
top songs by Neurosis.” Similarly, you can also ask Siri to play songs from
movie soundtracks that you might not know the name of with commands like,
“Play
the songs from Top Gun” or “Play the Song from True Detective.”
Playlist queueing: Apple Music has both standard playlists and the “Up Next”
queue from iTunes 12. You can control both with Siri. For your “Up Next”
queue,
you can say things like, “After this song, play ‘Stonefist’ by Health” or
“Instead of this play ‘Born in the USA’ by Bruce Springsteen.” You can also
play
Apple’s curated playlists with commands like “Play Pitchfork playlist” or
“Play playlist Getting Parents to Like Noise.”
Add Music to your Library: If you’re listening to something you like on
Apple Music, whether it’s an album or song, you can add it to your library
with
the command “Add this [song or album] to my library.”
Play Music by Chronology: If you’re not sure of the name of an album, you
can still get Siri to play it if you know when it came out. You can say
commands
like “Play the first album from LCD Soundsystem,” or “Play the newest song
by Taylor Swift.”
Siri makes Apple Music infinitely more useful in all sorts of surprising
ways. Here are a few of my favorite Siri capabilities when it comes to
managing
my tunes: When you're listening to a song, say, "Play more like this one,"
to create an immediately personalized playlist tailored right to your mood.
You don't even have to know the name of the song you want to listen to. Just
ask Siri to play hits from a certain year or that one song from that one TV
show, and she knows what to do. Siri can shuffle play any playlist or album
you want her to. Siri can add songs to your collection.
You don't even have to have the Music app open for Siri to work her magic,
which is my favorite part. She can be your personal DJ without any effort on
your part, which is a feature no other streaming service can beat.
What the "Likes" In Apple Music Actually Do
If you’ve used services like Pandora before, the “like” system (the hearts)
in Apple Music are pretty confusing because they don’t actually influence
playlists.
Over on The Loop, they take a look at exactly what they do.
Apple Music’s big sell is the curated radio stations run by people. So,
those likes don’t actually influence anything or tune the radio station to
your
preferences because it’s not just an algorithm. However, it does alter the
“For You” section. When you like an album or song, that will factor into
what
you’re shown under the For You tab and hopefully recommend some new stuff to
check out. Under that tab, you can actually remove stuff too. Just tap and
hold an album, then select “I Don’t Like This Suggestion.”
That said, if you start a station based on a band, it works a little
differently:
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Tapping the star gives you a “Play More Like This” or “Play Less Like This.”
These choices can be made on a per station basis without worrying that you
are affecting your overall enjoyment of a particular song or band
Apple Music’s systems are a bit confusing,
but hopefully this makes sense of the like system.
Constantly improve your recommendations
You already told Apple Music the genres and artists you love (and hate) when
you signed up, and the app has used that information to create some pretty
on-point playlist, artist, and album recommendations in the For You section.
But you can keep fine-tuning your preferences with every song you listen to,
so Apple Music will one day know exactly what you want to hear.
Use the heart button liberally on songs and playlists so Apple Music knows
what you like. Hate something recommended to you in For You? Give it an
extra
long press and more options will show up. At the bottom, tap on Recommend
Less Like This. Eventually, your recommendations will be perfectly on point.
apple music tips musixmatch
Bonus: Sing along
Big thanks to Federico Viticci of MacStories for noticing this one!
If you install an app called MusixMatch, its Notification Center widget will
show you live-updating lyrics of the song playing in the Music app—including
songs from Apple Music. You don’t even have to use the MusixMatch app once
you get it set up.
Just download the
free app,
open it, swipe through the greetings, close the app again, and pull down
from the top of your screen to get your Notification Center. Scroll to the
bottom
of the Today view, tap the Edit button, and find Musixmatch in your list of
available widgets. Once you tap the green plus sign to add it, you’re set.
Just open Notification Center while a song is playing in Apple Music and
watch the lyrics update live—perfect for belting out your favorite song. It
takes
a few seconds to show up, and not every song I played in Apple Music had
lyrics available. But it’s fun when it works.
Get the Old Apple Music Interface Back (Sort Of)
If you’re not a fan, you can sort of get back the old look with a Settings
toggle.
Head in Settings > Music and turn off “Show Apple Music.” This will get rid
of the For You and New tabs at the bottom of the app, and instead you’ll be
left with My Music, Playlists, Radio, and Connect.
You can also get rid of the Connect icon if you want, but it’s a bit hidden
away. Head into Settings > General > Restrictions, then turn off the Apple
Music Connect option. It’s not exactly like the old, customizable interface,
but it’s better than nothing if you don’t plan on using Apple’s streaming
music
service.
Use the "Late Night" EQ Setting in iOS for Better Sound in Loud Spaces
Unless you have a good set of headphones, listening to music in loud spaces
like airplanes is often pretty difficult. MacWorld points to an EQ setting
that makes it a little easier to hear your music.
If you hop into Settings > Music > Playback > EQ and tap the “Late Night”
option, you’ll get an EQ setting that compressing dynamic range. This tones
down
loud sounds, and turns up quiet parts, which makes it a little easier to
hear what’s happening.
_______________________________________________
ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.)
A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind
http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology
