The hits keep coming for Apple Music, and they’re not the good kind: It went down for a couple of hours a couple of days ago — not exactly inspiring confidence in the recently launched offering. People are calling for an antitrust investigation into Apple’s dealings concerning the music-streaming service. And now a well-known Apple writer has trashed the service itself — and others are piling on.
First, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, has chimed in on the call for a federal antitrust investigation into Apple’s practices related to Apple Music. Others have alleged that Apple is pressuring record labels to drop support of free music-streaming tiers, and have complained about the 30 percent fee the company charges when people subscribe to other streaming services via the App Store. Franken echoed the latter concern in a Wednesday letter to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, saying he thinks a review is needed “to protect consumer choice and promote greater transparency of pricing.”
Meanwhile, a longtime Apple pundit has written a blog post calling Apple Music “a nightmare” after losing about 4,700 songs from his iTunes library. In addition, Jim Dalrymple writes that trying to add new songs to his streaming library was proving to be tough, and that his music libraries weren’t syncing among his Macs, iPhone and iPad. He goes on in great detail about the steps he tried to make the service work for him, and says he’s giving up.
“Nobody I’ve spoken at Apple or outside the company has any idea how to fix it, so the chances of a positive outcome seem slim to none,” Dalrymple writes. The bottom line: He’s quitting Apple Music and signing back up with Spotify — Apple’s leading rival in streaming music.
His post has sparked complaints from other frustrated Apple Music users who just happen to write about tech, Business Insider notes. Which adds to Apple’s no good, very bad week — during which the company failed to meet Wall Street’s earnings expectations and lost $50 billion in market value. (Its shares are rebounding a bit today.)
Photo from AFP/Getty Images
