Last week, I wrote about wanting to see a ‘Kids’ Mode‘ in Apple Music in 2020. Since I’ve been a subscriber to Apple Music since day one, I started thinking about ways I’d want to change the service going forward. Apple Music is a fantastic service, and it provides the best bang for the buck of any of the subscriptions I have personally used. These are just some minor tweaks I’d want to see. Here’s my Apple Music wishlist for 2020.
Yearly billing for families
I prefer to pay yearly for subscriptions vs. monthly as the lump sum payment makes me consider its value more. Apple Music offers a discounted $99 annual plan for folks on a single subscription. This price is discounted compared to paying $9.99 per month. Right now, the family plan is $14.99 per month which works out to $179.88 per year (plus tax). I’d love to see an annual plan for families at $149.99 per year.
Folders for subscribed playlists
I love the prebuilt playlists on Apple Music, and Apple has gotten a lot better about keeping them updated with fresh content. As my library has grown, it’s become difficult to keep them organized, though. On Spotify, you can create folders and store all of your playlists inside of them. Apple Music offers this feature, but only for playlists that you manually created. Apple needs to extend this to subscribed playlists as well.
One tap access to love or dislike songs
In the Now Playing screen on iOS, you have to tap on the More icon to access the screen to love or dislike a song. I’d want an option to replace one of the other icons on the Now Playing screen with a heart icon or a thumbs down icon. I would be encouraged to interact with these features more and that in turn would help fine-tune my recommendations more.
An easier way to download your entire library offline
Downloading your entire library on Apple Music is a tedious process. You have to build a smart playlist and then download the playlist. Why isn’t there a single button to download your entire library? Especially when traveling, I find it handy to know I have access to my library regardless of my cellular connection.
New content alerts
Apple Music has always struggled with informing users when artists they follow have released new content. For any artists in my library, I want the option to have a push alert and an email when they release new albums, songs, remixes, appear on Beats 1, etc. Apple has a lot of opportunities with email on Apple Music. They should have a Friday email with what you might like that week, recently updated playlists in your library, etc. Of all the things on my Apple Music wishlist, this idea is the one I’d love to see the most. Right now, I’m using MusicButler to get alerts.
Integrated ticket purchase system
Apple could partner with Ticketmaster and other ticketing apps to inform you of upcoming concerts in your area with the option to purchase a ticket right inside of Apple Music and pay with Apple Pay. Apple could work out a commission for each sale and it would help drive Apple Music revenue that isn’t reliant on subscriptions.
Add songs to iCloud Music Library from iOS
iCloud Music Library is a key part of what sets Apple Music apart from Spotify. Being able to add my own music to my Apple Music library has been great. I have a lot of custom live rips I’ve purchased directly from artists, and it now lives in my library. One way Apple needs to extend iCloud Music Library is the ability to add content from iOS and iPadOS. As Apple builds out what mobile devices can do feature-wise, treating the Apple Music apps the same on all platforms is essential.
Wrap-up on Apple Music wishlist
What’s on your Apple Music wishlist? These are some of the ideas I had for ways to improve the service, but I am always interested in hearing the opinions of others. Let me know in the comments.
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