Apple Music Sucks*

*sometimes. In some, but important aspects, it just does not work (as advertised, or expected from the Apple experience)

So, Apple Music. With its seamless* integration into my carefully curated library, a large catalogue available for streaming, quite useful suggestions for what to listen to, and family plan, I never bothered to cautiously disable the automatic renewal, and therefore am a paying customer now with the free trial ended.

I am not sure if I should regret that.

Imagine Spotify. With a few hundred billion less in the bank, they manage an equally large catalogue. When I make a playlist available offline - because I do not sit around WiFi all day, and am not one of the two people world-wide who enjoy an unlimited data plan - it is available offline. Stays available offline. Shows me a nice icon next to each song indicating that yes, indeed, it is downloaded to the device, and there will be no surprises with Deutsche Telekom at the end of the month.

Now, Apple Music. When I make a playlist available offline - because, you know - it may become available offline, and download the songs to device. Or maybe not. 
Maybe it is available offline for a short while, then spontaneously decides to revert that state, deleting all the downloaded song files from my iPhone. Probably to save space, because there are only about 80GB of it left.
There is also no indication that it did so until I actively check for it, so surprises with Deutsche Telekom are virtually guaranteed.

WTF is all this greyed out shit‽ 

Sometimes, while the “service” messes around with playlists, parts of them also get greyed out and unplayable (show “Only Offline Music” is not switched on, and therefore not the culprit, and internet connection is working perfectly via WiFi). Perhaps all these songs are just not on Apple Music anymore? Yes they are, because when searching for them individually, they can be found and streamed perfectly. 

It certainly is not easy to build a service like Apple Music, and it should be clear there will be growing pains associated with it. 

But we are now a full iOS update into it (and a few smaller ones). This is now iOS 9.0.2, on a new iPhone, set up as new (not from backup), and basic functionality is still not working. 
Which means I can either unwittingly blow through my data plan in half of a month, or just not listen to Apple Music while on the go. Which is not exactly what I am paying for here.

And we are not even talking about little issues like “sorry, can’t play this song past 34 seconds” or “lemme just skip this song entirely even on WiFi, because why not”.
Or “you want to add this playlist to your library? Well, no.”

Once again, Spotify (for the same price) manages all that basic functionality beautifully. 
The difficult part for Apple should be getting all those artists on board, and the curating and suggesting done. The difficult part for Apple should not be setting up the necessary servers, and getting its software bug-free.

Apple, get your shit together. If this is important to you. Which, if I got your WWDC Keynote correct, it is.

Manufacturing Excellence

In recent days, two articles were written about two companies I thought very different.
Turns out, they might actually share quite a few traits.

The first, by Greg Koenig, a product designer living in Portland, Oregon. He chose the topic du jour, the Watch, in this case how it is manufactured. Analyzing what little Apple shows in public together with his expertise on making things, he provides a deeper understanding of the craftsmanship behind this product.
In his words,

“This isn’t a supply chain, it is a ritual Apple is performing to bring themselves up to the standards necessary to compete against companies with centuries of experience.”

If you thought the Watch was just another mass market product from just another mass market company, think again. And enjoy reading that article, for while it is not short, it is absolutely worth your while.

How Apple Makes the Watch

---

Even longer, but just as worthwhile, is Benjamin Clymer's article about Rolex, and it's four manufacturing facilities. 
Known to watch aficionados worldwide, Benjamin is the founder of Hodinkee, one of the best places on the interweb for finding news and background information on watches of  yesterday, today and tomorrow.

In his masterpiece, he uses Rolex' (rare) invitation to take us on a tour through the history, and present manufacturing of the Swiss watch maker.
What the article clearly shows, is how Rolex became probably the most famous watch brand of the world. And how, through engineering all aspects of the watch, and its making, they

“have come terribly close to defining the epitome of what a perfectly conceived mechanical watch movement should be.”

— From a watchmaker

Many aspects of Rolex' manufacturing reminded me of the first article, especially how both companies build and invent whole machinery to build their products, and how they don't shy away from using scientific applications like metallurgy to improve them.

Inside The Manufacture - Going Where Few Have Gone Before

---

Of course, Rolex has been doing this for quite a while longer than Apple.
But indeed, it appears here we have two companies with very different histories, and in different areas of the market, doing everything they can to produce the most excellent products of their respective fields.

Switzerland Is F**ked

Because, Watch.

Or is it? We will know more later today. ;)