Why Apple Music Is So Bad When the iPhone Is So Good

On April 28, 2003, Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, saving the music industry from the scourge of piracy while creating a large and steady source of revenue for Apple. Thirteen years later, however, what started as a simple and intuitive way to find music has become a cluttered festoonery of features. As Apple begins competing with focussed streaming services like Spotify, the company’s strategy of tacking new services, like Apple Music, which became available last year, onto already bloated software has made the experience of using the application more and more unpleasant. “It’s yet another major feature added to iTunes on Mac and Windows—an app that everyone seems to agree already has too many features and responsibilities,” John Gruber, a prominent Apple observer, wrote. Just last week, Apple acknowledged users’ complaints about a bug that was deleting music files on personal computers, and promised a quick software update. Many Apple Music customers took to the Internet to warn their fellow-users to back their stuff up. So when Apple said that it would release a new streamlined version of Apple Music at its developers’ conference next month, it seemed as though the company was finally reckoning with the confusion in its music services.