Apple is now singing a different tune when it comes to many things about its music streaming service. It appears that the company feels it's time for its one-year-old Apple Music to get a facelift, and when better to showcase its new look than at the upcoming developers conference?
News has surfaced that Apple Music is reportedly being revamped and will debut at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
According to Bloomberg, Apple's main goal is to have its streaming service feel more native and easy for users to master, as well as become a better-looking and better-functioning service that can compete against the other big platforms.
Apple's streaming service was expected to be this grand platform that would live up to the company's standards, but for many, it fell flat. That might be because many were confused about the difference between iTunes and Apple Music, especially since both allow users to store their music and create playlists.
Others just might not have been too impressed with the platform in general, or found it difficult to figure out or navigate. The worse outcome for this would be people canceling their free month trial.
Bloomberg reports that Apple wants integrate the service better with iTunes as it continues to adjust to its Beats Music acquisition in 2014. It was during this time that there was a clash of culture between the Apple and Beats employees, which resulted in the final product we have now.
Of course, hauling out a redesign with new features won't hurt as Apple Music continues to compete against other platforms, like Spotify, Tidal and Google Play Music. Apple recently reported that its streaming service has 13 million users, up from 11 million in February. This still doesn't come close to 30 million people subscribed to Spotify. Then again, we might just need to give Apple Music some time to grow.
Part of its growing process means it's time for Apple Music to get a new look and a few new features.
According to 9 to 5 Mac, Apple Music's interface is getting a major design overhaul, and will soon get rid of its colorful appearance for a simpler black and white look. Less is more, Apple, this is true.
This means that the service will no longer change its color scheme to match the album's art color when users are looking at an album. However, the album art is rumored to get super-sized.
The text is said to be getting bigger and bolder, and Apple will take advantage of its 3D Touch functionality to allow shortcuts to preview and share songs.
There will be changes to the "For You" feature. While the algorithms that recommend music will remain the same, the tab will get a simpler look and will be more pronounced on the platform as a feature to check out. The "New" tab will also be renamed "Browse" to better serve its function.
As far as new features go, the service is reportedly adding support for lyrics, because nothing is better than reading along to the words in Drake's new album while listening. Users will no longer have to exit the app to do a quick Google search. However, this feature is said to roll out small and slowly.
Apple is also expected to expand its Beats 1 radio service.
It is expected that the new and improved version of Apple Music will be announced at WWDC in mid-June as part of iOS 10.
Apple Music is available for $9.99 per month.
Source: Bloomberg
