page 6 of 8
Fine Tune Recommendations
Apple Music learns what you like when you use the service. You can also get more control over recommendations by indicating your preferences. When you like a song or album, make sure to tap the heart icon.
You can even do this from the lock screen.
It is also possible to indicate what you don’t like on the For You screen. Simply hold your finger down on an album you don’t like. A menu will appear. Select “I Don’t Like This Suggestion”.
This only seems to work on albums presented on the For You screen, and not playlists.
Make Playlists Available Offline
Albums and songs aren’t the only downloadable music formats. Apple Music allows subscribers to download whole playlists. This works for playlists you create, as well as curated playlists. It’s a great way to download individual songs without having to initiate the download on each song. Simply tap on “…” at the top of the playlist and choose Make Available Offline.
All of the playlist’s songs will be downloaded and appear in both My Music and Playlists. Downloading playlists has a consequence. You will start to see partial albums in My Music, because most playlists only feature one song from an album.
You can download the full album or leave it alone if you just want the songs on the playlist.
Download Beats 1 Playlists
Fans of Beats 1 can rest assured that tuning in on time is not necessary. Every song played on Beats 1 can be enjoyed later. You can even download the songs and listen offline.
First, tap on the Radio button at the bottom of the screen. Tap on the Beats 1 icon, but not the Listen Now button.
A screen with Beats 1 programming information will appear, along with a grid of program icons.
Tap on one of the program icons to view past playlists.
You will see a collection of playlists.
These work just like any other Apple Music playlist. Tapping on a playlist will display all of the tracks. Tap on the top-level “…” button and choose Make Available Offline to download a playlist.
The playlist will appear under Playlists and the individual songs will be added to My Music.
Add Custom Image to Playlist
Customization is important for some users, and Apple has taken note, adding more flexibility to iOS 8. Apple Music has added some basic customization features, including the ability to add a photo to a playlist.
First, tap on the My Music button at the bottom of the screen and then select Playlists from the top. Select the playlist you wish to edit.
Tap the Edit button at the top of the playlist.
The graphic on the right will display a small camera icon. Tap on the camera icon and then select Choose Photo from the pop up menu. You can even take a photo using the camera.
Unfortunately, you can’t add alternate cover art to an Apple Music album. There is a workaround. Simply make a playlist for the album and add the alternate cover to it. It isn’t quite the same as replacing the album art. Albums and playlists are different. We can only hope that Apple adds this feature later. You can do this with albums in your iTunes library, on a Mac or Windows computer.
View Recently Played Music
Apple Music offers so many songs, it is almost hard to keep track. If you listen to new music while otherwise occupied, you might want to look at a history of what was played. Fortunately, this is an easy task. Simply tap on the list button in the Now Playing screen.
Scroll up on the list to view previously played tracks.
You can re-play any of these songs by tapping them. (continue…)