It's WWDC keynote day. Christmas in June! (If you are a nerd like me) Tune in here at 10 am PDT.
Travel Workflows
I recently took a trip to Rochester, NY to present at the New York State School Music Association conference. You can read more about that here.
This was a small trip, taking up only two school days in the middle of my week. My wife usually plans our family trips together and is quite good at navitating plane ticket deals, coordinating places to stay, and more. Though I have traveled solo before, this recent trip is the first time I felt like I really nailed it. This is mostly due to the organization I have been able to do through the use of software on my iPhone. This software has reduced so much time and stress that I thought it would be worth doing a post to share what I am using. Here are some of my workflows for traveling stress free...
Kayak for deals
My first step (and an important one if you want to book your flight tickets last minute like I did) is to shop for deals. For this trip I used Kayak to track down the cheapest flights but then I went to the website of the actual airline and searched for that flight number to see if I could find the tickets even cheaper. I will explain what I did with the boarding pass in a moment.
Travel apps
I keep a carefully curated homescreen of apps on my iPhone. I am always changing my layout which balances the apps I tap on to launch the most with which apps feel ergonomically correct to tap on in different places. For example, my productivity stuff is at the bottom, where I can reach it with my thumb more easily.
I keep two folders on my homescreen. One for health tracking apps and one for home automation apps since these folders have a lot of apps I am opening constantly. When I travel, I replace the home automation folder with a folder called travel. This folder contains all of the key apps I use on the go. Here are the apps that I am relying on the most.
My normal home screen.
Home screen with travel folder.
Contents of the travel folder.
Google Maps
I love Apple Maps for its deep integration with my Apple Watch and iOS. However, I do not always fully trust its data in new places. I keep Google Maps in this folder to get a second opinion when I am looking for a place I have never been before.
Find My Friends
This app is always in the travel folder, even when I am not out of town. It retains its placement of priority even when I am not at home.
Delta
Whatever airline I am flying on usually gets put here. Looking up information about my flight is much quicker this way.
Uber
I am in love with Uber. Rochester does not have Uber yet, but I usually use Uber to get around whatever city I am visiting. For this trip, I still used it to get rides to and from the airport. I never feel like I am breaking the bank to use it and the entire experience of getting a car only takes a few taps. Being able to choose my pick up location and destination, access drivers location and name, and pay all from within the same app is magical. You can even connect your Spotify account to Uber so that your own music is playing when you get picked up though I think talking to Uber drivers is way more interesting.
Wallet
Wallet is where I store all of my cards, passes, and tickets. Once I purchased my plane tickets from Delta, the iPhone app allowed me to clip my boarding passes into Wallet where I can see them alongside all of my other, previously paper, documents. When it is time for my flight (or when my phone detects I am at the airport) this pass stays permanently visible on my phone's lock screen. You can also double tap the home button from the lock screen to get to Wallet without even unlocking your iPhone. Now that I have an Apple Watch the boarding passes appear on my wrist where I can reference them at a glance (which I do repeatedly) and even scan to get on my plane without taking my phone out of my pocket.
The Wallet app.
A boarding pass in Wallet.
The images to the left show what it looks like to interact with a Delta boarding pass on the Apple Watch. Access to the pass stays permanently visible by swiping down from the top of the screen when you are in the airport.
An Airbnb card in Wallet.
Airbnb
Like Uber, Airbnb has awoken me to the new shared economy. Staying in other people's homes is way cheaper, more comfortable, and interesting. The Airbnb app makes everything simple. Browsing for a place, communicating with the host, and payment all happen in the same place. Airbnb can also put a card it the Wallet app that allows you to see details about your stay at a glance.
Guidebook
Presenting at conferences that use Guidebook is a treat. Guidebook is an app that allows events like the one I recently attended to manage everything about their conferences. Maps, sessions, times, details, and member feedback all happen in this useful app. Needless to say, when I am in the convention center, this app is getting launched all the time.
Swarm
Swarm is an app by Forsquare that allows you to "check in" to places you are going so that friends can see what you are up to. Forsquare, if you don't know, is a competitor to Yelp, so it is mostly focused on entertainment and food. In short, Swarm is a gameified way of socially sharing where you are. I realize this is kind of gimmicky, but it is also a fun way to see what is around town and capture a log of the places you check in during travel. I use a nifty IFTTT recipe to take the places I check in on Swarm and append them to a note in Evernote.
I can't say I have figured out my Instagram strategy yet, but I really enjoy using it and appreciate its professional potential. I try to post photos of what I am doing when I travel. It is a fun way to share what I am up to and promote myself publicly with engaging pictures.
Having these apps all close together in a travel folder takes so much stress out of traveling. It continues to amaze me that between Delta, Uber, and AirBnb, I can pretty much go anywhere and do anything with simplicity and peace of mind.
Using Apple Notes to plan every detail
Apple Notes has come a long way since the days where all it could accept was plain text. Apple Notes on iOS 9 is so powerful, and pretty, that I have been recently coming to choose it over Evernote more often.
Notes allows me to gather information relating to every facet of my trip and organize it contextually so that I can see it all at a glance but go deeper if I need to. Here are some of the travel related things I organized in Apple Notes for my recent trip to NYSSMA.
This trip was a speaking engagement, so the top of the note says the name of the event, the dates it lasts, what time I am speaking, and the number of the room I am speaking in.
Next you will find a rich preview of the location I am presenting at. This link was shared with this note from within Apple Maps. If I tap it, it will show me this location in Apple Maps where I can start getting walking or driving directions.
Next, I am using check lists to create todos for the paperwork I need to fill out at school, the things I need to pack, and other travel tasks. I usually organize these things in a task app like OmniFocus, but it is just so much easier to see them in the context of all my other information.
Documentation about the event, shared with me from NYSSMA, has been clipped into this note in the form of PDF. This means that I don't have to go hunting for the schedule in another app.
This next part is pretty cool. I usually create tags or folders in Gmail to store travel and presentation related email, but this time, I simply dragged the emails from the Mail app into the body of the Notes app while on a Mac. Clicking the links takes me straight into the messages no matter what device I am viewing them from.
Finally, I have clipped some more previews of locations I have searched for in Apple Maps. This way, I can remember all the places I thought about eating once I get into town.
Pro music Software compatibility with El Capitan
Click here to see a list of pro music software compatibility with Apple's new OS X update, El Capitan.
Generally, I update my MacBook Pro to new Apple software immediately given that it is mostly used for documents and email.
I usually wait 2-6 months to update my desktop Mac Pro that I use for music production just to be safe.
iOS 9
iOS 9 was released this past week. I have been running the beta on my iPhone and iPad since late July and it is just really a great update.
Here are a few unsorted thoughts on the update:
- Battery life. Battery management has improved tremendously. I can actually get through most days using my phone like a normal person without needing a recharge at 3pm. Low power mode is also a nice touch. At 20 percent, my phone offers to conserve battery life by doing things like turning down the backlight and restricting apps from running in the background.
- Power features on iPad. Now the iPad can view two apps on the screen at once. You can also close out of an app you are watching a video on and the video will stay visible in the corner of the screen even when you leave and enter into other apps. I also love the keyboard update. Dragging with two fingers on the iPad keyboard turns it into a curser. No more pressing and holding to use that flakey magnifying glass.
- Spotlight for all apps! Now any app can allow you to search its contents from the Spotlight search, making it really easy to search apps like Dropbox and Documents. Sadly, Evernote has not enabled this feature yet.
- Siri is quiet. Small thing. But I love that Siri does not make a "boop" sound when activated anymore.
- Proactivity. Now my phone tells me when I need to leave for my next appointment based on my calendar and traffic info. It also searches the signatures of emails sent to me to suggest the names of people who are calling me if their names are not in my contacts list. Some of these features are lackluster. For example, going to the Spotlight search is supposed to suggest to you the apps you use and the people it thinks you might want to interact with based on usage patterns. I have found it to more often just suggest recently opened apps. But I have been noticing all sorts of other features of this nature that Apple has quietly added. For example, today I got in my car and booted up Apple Maps. The first option for directions was to my friend's house. The address had a mail icon next to it. I can only assume that Maps looked in my mail and saw the email from that friend inviting me to a party, including both that days date and his address, so it connected the dots and suggested that I might be driving there at that time. Fantastic!
- Another great example of Proactivity. Every morning, I launch an app that my school system uses to take student attendance on. Now, around the start of my first period class every morning, my iPad has been showing me a tiny version of the icon for that app in the lower left corner of the screen. All I have to do is touch it and swipe up to instantly launch into that app.
- You can now search for different parts of the Settings app!
- The new system wide font looks great.
- Maps is smarter and more accurate than ever before.
- Reminders stay on the lock screen until they are checked off to be extra remind-y.
- The new Notes app is awesome. But it is just not going to replace Evernote for me.
If you have been scared to update an Apple device before due to them being buggy or taking up too much space, I would still encourage you to download iOS 9 immediately. Not only does it have all the features listed above and more, but it really does feel a hundred more times polished than the updates of the past few years.
Here are a few of my favorite reviews of the operating system so far:
iOS 9: The MacStories Review, Created on iPad | FEDERICO VITICCI
The killer Apple Watch apps for teachers might already exist
This post by Christopher Russel does a great job capturing my feelings about the importance of the Apple Watch in a busy classroom environment.
The surprise Apple Watch feature this week has been a combination of Siri and Alarms. Yes, alarms.
Our Middle School has no bells (other than start of the day and end of the day). We have different schedules all the time. So what I have done is this: at the end of one class, I raise my wrist, say, “Hey Siri, set an Alarm for 10:15” (or whatever the ending time of the next class is).
At 10:15, my watch dings, but more importantly, taps my wrist, and I know that I need to dismiss students.
I cannot overstate the importance of alarms. My school has bells this year and I STILL need alarms to remind me when to let kids pack up in time to be at their next classes. I am usually setting alarms throughout the entire day. In the frantic moments of teaching it absolutely does make a difference to save a few moments asking Siri on my wrist to do it rather than fiddling around with my phone.
The same goes for notifications. I am always on the move at school. And I am able to be attentive to so many things without ever stopping the task at hand. I get notifications from Slack (the messaging service our music department uses to collaborate), iMessage, and important staff emails. This might seem unnecessary, but I love being able to know if one of my colleagues is sending me a troublesome student or if there is going to be a fire drill at a particular time that afternoon without dropping what I am doing. I keep all of my Apple devices on silent or do not disturb mode so I only get notified by the gentle haptic feedback on my wrist. The only exception is when I am sitting in front of my Mac which I also leave in do not disturb mode at work but see the little red badge on various apps to know I need to attend to something. Watch notifications are non intrusive enough that I can easily ignore them. But they are still pretty non intrusive even if I choose to read them. I think the basic clock and notification features of the Apple Watch are so well implemented that they very well may be the "killer apps" everyone is always saying a new and innovative product needs to have. At least they are for me.
That being said, I am curious to see what other kinds of apps can be made when Apple releases watchOS 2 on September 16th. This update is shipping with a native SDK which will allow software developers to make their apps perform a lot faster (all third party apps are garbage slow right now) and take advantage of the hardware of the watch, particularly the digital crown, speakers, and haptic engine. I am desperately awaiting a metronome app for the watch that allows me to change the tempo with the crown and feel the tempo with haptic feedback rather than the speakers.
It just works
Good post by Daniel Andrews that sums up some of my relationship with Apple products lately.
The only Apple apps on my home screen are Mail, Messages, Camera, Photos and Passbook. Not a great ratio. I mention this because it makes it easier for myself and anyone else to decide to try another platform if they like if their vendor lock-in is so low. Further, if users get in the habit of looking at default Apple apps on iOS and thinking “oh, I don’t need this” it actually creates a negative perception in their mind. Apple isn’t in the “surprise and delight” business as much as they used to be – instead, they’re focused on locking their users into their ecosystem, and honestly the apps they’re using to do that are not very good.
For me, it's Messages, Photos, and Safari. Messages and Safari are solid apps. No complaints there. Photos is great too, a true example that Apple can do cloud services. However, I use Dropbox instead of iCloud Drive in most cases because it is more reliable and has better sharing features. Google Maps instead of Apple Maps for the same reason. Overcast over the Podcasts app, mostly because it is more reliable but also because it's design is top class (and because I truly miss it's smart speed feature when I am using another app). I use Evernote over Notes mostly because Evernote has features that allow me to get stuff into it more easily. I use Fantastical over Calendar for reasons that could fill another blog post. And I use Outlook over Mail beacuse it allows me to attach documents from cloud services, snooze mail, and more.
Apple does have a tendency for making apps that are “just good enough.” This has always been the case with Apple. It's not disappointing that there are often more powerful third party alternatives. This is the nature of software. That being said, the more Apple requires you to use their apps to get features deeply tied into the operating system (for example, saying “Siri, take me home” and getting instant directions through, and only through, Apple Maps), the more disappointed I become. These deep connections to the operating system are often massively time saving which is especially noticeable on mobile devices.
Additionally, I’ve begun to hedge my bets and avoid buying into Apple’s ecosystem too much when I can avoid it. This means that instead of buying lots of Airplay-compatible speakers, I’ll be buying a Sonos system instead. Rather than looking at something that is HomeKit based, I might invest in a Nest instead. And obviously, I trust Apple with their cloud services as little as possible – instead, I use Google’s cloud, Dropbox and others with my data these days. Instead of doubling down on Apple’s streaming solutions in the household, I’m buying a NAS that can work with any HTPC or video streaming solution. I’m not looking to get out of the Apple ecosystem per se, but I am making sure that if things continue to trend in a downward fashion I have a fairly easy exodus ahead of me.
Once you start getting used to bugs, it is really easy to stop trying the new features that make new technology so compelling.
Some of Apple's recent software issues that have plagued me are: AirDrop and AirPlay never working reliably (so frustrating for dining room music listening that I recently bought a Sonos and it works great!), frequent iOS animation lagging and crashes, searching in Apple Maps, everything about Apple Music, iCloud Drive syncing reliability, Mail app syncing, and more…
The bottom line is: Apple can't be criticized for making software that some people don't want to use. They are the least guilty of this. Samsung phones come with tons of useless software installed on them. Windows PCs come with countless apps that most users don't even know the meaning of. This has always been part of owning a computer. That being said, Apple is loosing my trust with unreliable software, particularly when it comes to maps and music. Truthfully, I don't think they need to make the best software in the world. I just wish I could set some defaults on my iOS devices. Simple things like web browsers, maps, and mail so that I could take advantage of the third party options like I can on a Mac. This kind of ecosystem lock-in appears to be the way of mobile operating systems, but if Apple is going to hold my feet the the fire with their default apps, they have a lot of work to do to keep me happy.
Apple Music First Thoughts
Apple Music was released a week ago today. I have spent the past week digging deep into it’s features. Below you will find my early impressions and links to all of the Apple Music research that I have found useful in understanding How Apple Music works, how it should best be understood, what it means for Apple’s future, and how to reconcile it’s use with other streaming solutions.
The Focus
A different take on social
One of the primary questions I asked before starting my Apple Music free trial was “Will this replace Spotify?” Despite my power user needs, the bar is actually low for me. All Apple Music really needs to do is allow me to stream a majority of their library, for a reasonable price, and allow me to integrate it into my existing iTunes Library. In other words: Give me a reason to stop using two different music apps where I want to just use one. Apple Music accomplishes this. Using it feels like augmenting my existing library with practically everything on the iTunes Store. Using Spotify felt more like using one app for my personal library (iTunes) and another separate but magical app (Spotify) to funnel me into a realm of endless music.
Although Apple Music satisfies this basic need for me, there are a few features that I have come to like in Spotify. I think they do the social stuff just right. Just right for me, anyway. I like following my Facebook friends to see what they are listening to. I love the ease of publishing public playlists I have created from Spotify, knowing that anyone, even with a free account, can listen to that playlist from a desktop computer.
Apple’s take on social is a little different. The focus is less about consumer to consumer and more about musician to consumer. In theory, this is great, because with their message that Apple Music Connect (this is what they are calling their social feature) will more easily allow artists to connect with fans, they also claim that the barrier to entry is easy enough for anyone with a drum machine and a microphone to pass. In practice, I am not sure this is true. As a musician, I imagine I will want to start an Apple Music Connect account for artists some time. I tried this the other day and the process is a little more cumbersome than expected.
None the less, I am not sure that connect will really take off unless artists are actually using it. Apple says the motivation to do so is that it will give them one place to connect with fans instead of many (Facebook, Instagram, Sound Cloud, etc…) but in reality, it seems to just be adding one more thing.
From a consumer perspective, I would much rather Apple focus on the user. As mentioned above, I love shared playlists in Spotify. Some like minded musicians and I have a playlist we use to share music we are listening to with each other from each of our respective computers all over the country. It’s great. Perhaps my interest in these features has to do with the fact that I know what music I like. I am an archivist when it comes to data and a curator when it comes to music, a position that Apple has taken into their own control with Apple Music. More on that next.
Apple wants to decide everything for me
One of the strongest messages of Apple Music is as follows. All other third party services give you algorithmically determined discovery features by interpreting what you like and playing you more of it. Apple Music, by contrast, features a LOT of playlists curated by real people. Go to Apple Music and search for the word “curators” to see a list of all of them. The idea behind this is that music requires a little bit of the human touch. And I agree. And I am really convinced by some of the playlists they have recommended to me so far. Playlists like “As a Sideman: John Coltrane,” “Baroque: The Golden Age of the Trio Sonata,” and hip-hop series “Hipster’s Paradise” certainly reflect the human touch. They are all well conceived by experts and geeks who love those styles of music. Not only that, but each playlist has a logical flow from start to finish, much like the perfect mixed-tape from a musically inclined friend.
In addition to these playlists (which by the way are recommended to the user underneath the “For You” and “New” tab from within the app), Apple has launched a new radio service called Beats1. You can still listen to the old radio stations that are algorithmically curated à la Pandora but Beats1 features real live human djays “always on and worldwide.” Pretty cool concept. And although it plays mostly only pop and hip-hop whenever I have tuned in, I like it a lot more than what I hear on standard radio. I don’t have much more to say about this in terms of Apple’s philosophy. It is all part of the same message that human curation is the key to music discovery.
This is the reason that Apple appears to have purchased Beats rather than another streaming service like Rdio or Spotify. As a stand-alone service, Beats has had these curated playlists for a while. If the acquisition didn’t make sense then, it definitely does now. This music service is designed around the idea that Apple knows what is best for me and makes the decision for me. This is the most Apple-y thing about it. This is the same company that decided not to give users access to the file system on iOS devices because it would complicate the perfect experience of using the product in the way they have designed it to be used.
Fortunately, Apple Music mostly pulls off this experience effectively and with style. That being said, I fail to see how it will continue to set them apart from the competition. Gathering around music geeks to curate great playlists seems like an easy initiative for Spotify and others to throw money at and get similar results.
At the end of the day, I miss being able to collaborate on playlists, but I can’t imagine Apple is not planning on a feature like this down the road.
The good and the bad
One of the things I am enjoying the most about Apple Music is it’s integration into the system. Being able to take advantage of features like Siri is a big win. Being able to raise my wrist and say to my Apple Watch “play me hits from 1985” or “play me the new Snarky Puppy album” and get results on my phone instantly is a fantastic use case.
I have heard a lot of people complain about how complicated and cluttered it has made the iTunes user interface. To this I ask: could it really get any worse at this point? It is clear (to me at least) that Apple must be working on a bigger iTunes update down the road that will separate it into it’s separate functions, much like on iOS: one app for music, one app for video, one app for podcasts, etc… Until then, I don’t really think the new streaming features make it that much more difficult to use. Especially on mobile, I find it much easier to use than Spotify, though I do really hate the static list of text that appears when you click the “more button” while looking at the contents of an album. Too much information!
One of the major technical considerations I made in the weeks approaching the launch of Apple Music was what it was going to do to my existing iTunes Match account. If you didn’t know, iTunes Match was released a few years back as a way to upload all of your iTunes Library to the cloud for listening on any device. I have mixed feelings about how well it works, but it works well enough for the 25 dollars or so I spend on it every year, so I was naturally curious to see how Apple Music would impact it. This turned out to be a much more complicated issue than I thought, and so instead of spelling it out in detail, I encourage you to scroll to the bottom of this post to see links to some web articles that explain it way better than I could.
Temporary conclusion
As I said, Apple Music is fulfilling my low expectations pretty well and also surprising me in some nice ways with curated playlists. Mixing songs from my personal iTunes Library with those from Apple Music in the same playlists is a dream. Although I still have a lot of questions, I will stop for now and leave you with these informative links.
Links
If you read anyone of these links, read this: Apple Music FAQ: Everything you need to know | iMore. It is the most comprehensive and simple overview of the features of Apple Music.
Reviews
Six Colors: Apple Music first looks trumpet curation over algorithms
Apple Music Is Strong on Design, Weak on Social Networking - NYTimes.com
Reconciling iTunes Match, Beats Music, and Apple Music
How to check if your Mac’s songs are uploaded, matched, purchased, or Apple Music DRM-laden | iMore
The Real Difference Between iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library: DRM | Kirkville
No, Apple is not adding DRM to songs on your Mac you already own | iMore
With Apple Music live, Beats is going away gracefully – AppAdvice– AppAdvice
Other resources
How to properly use “Likes” in Apple Music
What Apple Music means for Apple as a company and their future
Apple Music and Apple’s Focus - Stratechery by Ben Thompson
Taylor Swift Scuffle Aside, Apple’s New Music Service Is Expected to Thrive - The New York Times
Apple Music Wish List for an iTunes Edge Case
Apple Music is coming out. Apple’s purchase of Beats last year, in addition to a ton of recent rumors, makes it pretty clear that a new iTunes update is going to be announced at Apple’s software developer conference, WWDC, on Monday. It will likely integrate the Beats streaming music catalogue into iTunes on all Apple devices and introduce some new features.
I am currently a happy Spotify user. I am also a pretty efficient dude. I hate using two music apps and cannot wait to use just iTunes for all of my musical needs. I am also an extreme edge case when it comes to digital music libraries. I am not a casual listener. I am an archivist. iTunes is not just a way to casually listen to my favorite songs. It is a tool for managing educational resources, searching for recordings spanning a lot of genres and time periods, and general purpose audio file organization. My iTunes Library is about 600 GB and I have no wish to massively downsize it any time soon.
Below, I have detailed some wishes for Apple’s new streaming service. Some of these suggestions will likely be announced on Monday. Others are reasonable but not going to happen just yet. And a few are incredibly unlikely just on the premise that Apple is not going to pump major resources into features that are appealing only to me and not the mass market.
Unify local and streaming playlists, make them both feel native
I want to search for Snarky Puppy and see the albums of theirs that I own, and those on Apple’s streaming service. And I want them all to appear in a smartly organized list where all of them are ready for playback as if they were living on my computer’s hard drive.
When I find something in Apple’s streaming database, I want to add it to my music library and playlists and have those songs appear alongside the ones I own, listenable offline if I so choose.
Separate iTunes on the Mac
What is the worst part of Apple bundling a streaming music service into iTunes? iTunes is a terrible app. It is slow, bloated with features, and used for a ton of things beyond music listening.
I hope Apple takes a cue from the iPhone and separates iTunes on the Mac into five separate apps: Music, video, podcasts, iTunes University, and iTunes Store. Bonus points for separating any current iTunes features relating to the upkeep of an iOS device into a separate app.
iTunes Match upgrade
Paid storage
I currently subscribe to iTunes Match, a service that uploads your iTunes library to the cloud. Songs that are on the iTunes Store are matched, other audio files are uploaded. There is a 25,000 song limit for files that are not on the iTunes Store. Hopefully the pending update to Apple’s music services will allow users to upgrade their storage limit and use iCloud Drive storage that they have purchased towards more file uploads.
Support for all audio files
There are audio file types that iTunes supports on a Mac but will not sync over the cloud. Hopefully Apple fixes this in the coming update. I want to access my entire library on the go, not just those that Apple deems valid.
Better metadata and search
It would be fantastic if iTunes could use its new streaming catalogue to clean up my album art and other poorly organized information. In some cases, I have attempted to do this manually and iTunes Match has actually reverted back to old cloud backups, undoing tedious work.
In my perfect world, iTunes would also allow me to tag music and consistently add information to tracks and albums including but not limited to: personnel on jazz recordings, director/ensemble/composer on classical recordings, record labels, etc. It would be even better if iTunes could differentiate, say, a recording of works by Beethoven, properly tagging each work with the various conductors and ensembles that performed them. This metadata could be cloud based and crowd sourced. For example, I could elect to add it myself, and have it sync across devices[1] or choose to have my files augmented with popular user submitted data. If this were not already useful enough for better organizing and searching a personal library, imagine now how powerful this becomes if it is built into the global search of iTunes. For example, I could search for “recordings of Fritz Reiner and Chicago Symphony Orchestra between 1956–1960,” “albums that John Coltrane played on,” or “records released on Blue Note.”
It would also be really interesting if Apple would extend their system wide tagging feature to iTunes songs. I would love to tag audio files with keywords and have them appear with other files with the same tag in the Finder. I could, for example, tag a recording of my middle school band with “Lake Elkhorn Middle School.” When searching for this tag in the Finder, I would be greeted with all of the documents on my hard drive that I have tagged this, alongside related iTunes files.
Lyrics
Here is a feature for both power users and the masses. Allow for better support with lyrics. I should never have to leave my music app to see the lyrics of a song. Ideally, these could appear with the click of a button, with each word highlighted in real time,[2] and the possibility to easily copy and paste them.
Simple social
Keep this one simple, Apple. Here is all you need: add friends, share playlists, follow playlists, follow playback, one click sharing to social media.
Never happening
I have always wanted iTunes to allow for third party plugins. I find myself often slowing down and looping small sections of music for practice or educational purposes. It would be cool if these power features could be added to iTunes so that I did not need to start up a project in GarageBand or Pro Tools every time I want to do something as simple as slow down a track or splice out a short audio sample. Oh well…
We will see what happens on Monday. I am banking on the streaming and playlist features I mentioned above. There will probably be some attempt to make radio more engaging by perhaps the hiring of artists to DJ human curated stations. Expect some simple social features as well.
Apple Watch Reviews
Apple Watch reviews came out on Wednesday. I have only read a few so far.
Overall, the design and function of the watch is receiving huge praise. One of the most common complaints about it, or at least the one I care about the most, is that watch wearers will need to get used to the display not always being on. See below, written by Joshua Tapolsky at Bloomberg (click here to read his full review).
But what about the watch as a timepiece? I’ve found the experience somewhat inferior to that with a conventional wristwatch, due to one small issue. The Apple Watch activates its screen only when it thinks you’re looking at it. Sometimes a subtle twist of your wrist will do, but sometimes it takes … more. Many times while using the watch, I had to swing my wrist in an exaggerated upward motion to bring the display to life. Think about the way people normally look at their watches, then make it twice as aggressive. As a normal watch-wearer, the idea that I might look down at my wrist and not see the time was annoying.
Sometimes, even if you do the arm-swing motion, the screen doesn’t turn on. Sometimes it turns on, then off. Sometimes you tap it and nothing happens.
For all the noise Apple has made about what a remarkable time-telling device its watch is, I found it lacking for this reason alone. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t keep excellent time—it just doesn’t offer the consistency of a traditional timepiece.
I am most surprised, but also encouraged, by John Gruber’s remarks about feeling of the Digital Crown, Taptic Engine and force touch (click here to read his full review).
At Apple Watch’s introduction and several times since, Apple has emphasized that each breakthrough product in the company’s history, starting with the Macintosh, has required new input technology to support the interaction design. The mouse for the Mac. The click wheel for the iPod. Multitouch for the iPhone. (Unmentioned: the stylus for the Newton.) Apple invented none of these things (with the possible exception of the click wheel), but Apple was the first to bring each of them to the mass market.
For Apple Watch, Apple is billing the Digital Crown as the breakthrough input device. And, to be sure, there’s no other watch, smart or otherwise, with a crown like this. Eight years of daily iPhone use had me swiping the Apple Watch touchscreen to scroll at first, but I quickly learned to adopt the digital crown instead. It truly is a good and clever idea, and, presuming it is patent-protected strongly enough, the lack of a digital crown is going to put competitors at a disadvantage. You can scroll the screen by swiping it, but scrolling the crown is better.
But fundamentally, what’s novel about the digital crown is the context of the wrist. As a concept, it’s pretty much the same idea as a scroll wheel on a mouse — you rotate it up and down to scroll/zoom, and you press it to click.
To me, the breakthrough in Apple Watch is the Taptic Engine and force touch. Technically, they’re two separate things. The Taptic Engine allows Apple Watch to tap you; force touch allows Apple Watch to recognize a stronger press from your finger. But they seem to go hand-in-hand. The new MacBook trackpad has both haptic feedback and recognition of force touches, and Apple Watch has both, too. I don’t think Apple will ever release a device that has one but not the other.
This is the introduction of a new dimension in input and output, and for me, it’s central to the appeal of Apple Watch. By default, Apple Watch has sounds turned on for incoming notifications. I can see why this is the default, but in practice, I keep sounds turned off all the time,5 not just in contexts where I typically silence my phone. Taps are all I need for notifications. They’re strong enough that you notice them, but subtle enough that they don’t feel like an interruption. When my phone vibrates, it feels like it’s telling me, Hey, I need you now. When the Apple Watch taps me, it feels like it’s telling me, Hey, when you get the chance, I’ve got something for you.
Taps go hand in hand with force touch. When you initiate a force touch, the watch gives you haptic feedback — thus there’s no confusion whether you tapped hard enough to qualify as a force touch. (Force touches also carry visual feedback — on any force touch in any context, the display animates back in a “bounce”, even in contexts where force touch has no meaning. Also, I believe that on Apple Watch, force touch has no location — the only target for force touch is the entire display. There’s never any scenario where you force touch this button or that button. Makes sense on a display this small.) The taptic engine also ties in with the digital crown. Scroll to the end of a list and Apple Watch has a rubber band “bounce” animation, much like iOS. But on Apple Watch, the rubber band animation coincides with haptic feedback that somehow conveys the uncanny sensation that the digital crown suddenly has more tension. It feels like you’re stretching a rubber band. Now that I’m getting used to this on Apple Watch, it makes the haptic-less rubber band end-of-scrollview bounce on iPhone and iPad feel thin.
And without taps, Apple Watch is rather dull. The first unit I received from Apple seemingly had a hardware defect. Taps worked at first, but I found them surprisingly weak — so weak they were easy to miss, even with the watch strapped relatively snugly to my wrist. By the end of the first day, taps weren’t working at all. Apple sent me a replacement unit the next day, and it was like an altogether different experience. Without the Taptic Engine, Apple Watch is not a compelling device.
I have already stated that I am buying this device, but I will be sure to share any other information that I find compelling in future posts.
Why I Am Buying an Apple Watch
I have spoken about the Apple Watch at length with professionals in and outside of my field who I would consider power users. These are people who own a Mac, iPad, and iPhone, and use them to their fullest potential. I am a little surprised that most are not interested the device, viewing it as a gadget and fashion accessory more than a professional tool. Now I know that Apple Watch is intended to be just as much a fashion accessory as it is a piece of technology so I will not argue against that cause. But I see a utility in this device beyond its novelty and “hot” factor.
Most of what I think about the subject has already been said better here. Still, I will have a go at explaining my enthusiasm and why I, for the first time, will be early adopting an Apple Product.
the Apple Watch will save time
Most of my app purchases and tech ventures center around saving clicks, frustration, and most importantly, time. If there’s an app that will make me do even the tiniest little task faster, I buy it, and I adopt it fast. The Apple Watch will cut corners in so many tiny little ways by allowing me to interact with my data without taking a phone out of my pocket. Answering quick phone calls from my wrist. Dictating responses to text messages. Seeing what calendar appointments are up next at a glance. Seeing my OmniFocus tasks that are due today. Taking quick notes through voice. I don’t underestimate the time I spend fiddling around with devices throughout the day just to make simple interactions with common apps like email, calendar, and reminders.
the Apple Watch will make some apps BETTER
Ever realize that certain apps seem made for the iPhone, some for the iPad, and some for the Mac? Sure, I love all three, but reading scores on my iPad is a richer experience than it is on a iPhone. Checking my Twitter feed is a more focused and mobile experience on an iPhone than it is an iPad. Creating documents and recording music is still faster and more powerful on Mac than it is an iPad. What apps will be better on a watch?
I have owned a Pebble smart watch since their launch two years ago, and aside from the notifications I get on my wrist, one of my absolute favorite apps for it is a metronome. Metronomes do not need to be too complicated. Some simple tempo and playback controls are all you need. The nature of metronomes as often being a quick reference tool really lend themselves towards a small and convenient screen that is always on you. I sincerely hope that the folks over at Frozen Ape are on top of this. Their app, Tempo, has always been my go to metronome on iOS. The Apple Watch uses haptic feedback to send signals to your wrist. Imagine a metronome app that could discretely give you the tempo without vibrating or making a sound.
Other music apps that would be great on a watch come to mind. Tuners and remote controls for audio software to name a few. The sky is the limit.
not just for business
Of course, I am leaving out the fact that the Apple Watch also comes equipped with compelling hardware and software features outside of productivity. I am looking forward to tracking my bike rides with Strava, checking my bank balance with Mint, turning off and on the lights in my house with Philips Hue, and more, all from my wrist.
somehow I become an early adopter
I have always held out for second or third generation versions of Apple hardware. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have as much disposable income when the iPod, iPhone, and iPad launched. Maybe it’s because Apple really tends to knock their products out of the park the second or third time around. I admit, the Apple Watch would be a stronger sell if it were a little slimmer, had better battery life, and a better water proof rating. Still, I think the difference this time around is in the software. The iPhone was immediately compelling when it was announced, but it wasn’t the pocket computer we see it as today until after a few years, once it had 3G, the ability to take decent photographs, and an App Store. I feel like the Apple Watch is entering into a very different software ecosystem than the iPhone. The difference being that it is already highly developed, even before launch. Though the hardware is first gen, Apple already has tons of third party apps lined up to release with the watch on day one. The watch doesn’t seem to be missing features like the first iPhone. If anything, it could be criticized for doing too much and lacking focus. I am confident that it will not disappoint me as long as it works as advertised and lasts a day without requiring a charge.
which model?
I have not decided which model I will buy. I will need to walk into the store and check them out in person. Right now I am leaning towards the cheapest model, the Apple Watch Sport, with the intention of selling it down the road if it doesn’t work out. I would probably get the 42MM model in space grey with a black sport band, adding the purchase of the blue leather loop band for more formal situations. Though pricey, the steel Apple Watch is also tempting. You can see all of the models and configurations here.