Apple Music now has 38M paid members

Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by ejstronge on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @04:09PM (#16579313)

I suspect it's less Spotify's unwillingness but instead structural difficulties on the Apple Watch platform. Maybe Apple isn't interested in allowing a competitor...

As a point of evidence, Marco Arment's podcast app had to remove Apple Watch support after the approach he had used was eliminated[1-2].

1. https://marco.org/2017/09/24/what-watch-podcast-apps-need

2. https://marco.org/2017/08/10/removed-send-to-watch

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by 121789 on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @04:13PM (#16579356)

That makes complete sense based on my personal use. I have a Music subscription purely because I can use it with my series 2 watch offline. I use Spotify the rest of the day. If Spotify had a watch app where I could download songs offline, I'd drop my Music subscription immediately.

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by rodrigodiez on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @04:42PM (#16579595)

I am curious... what would be the benefit of offline music in a watch? AFAIK you can play downloaded songs in the smartphone with Spotify while offline

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by fetus8 on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @04:47PM (#16579642)

You could go for a run with just your watch and a pair of bluetooth headphones...

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by lev99 on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @06:03PM (#16580284)

The Series 3 with LTE is even better for runners than the Series 2 offers.

Many stores and vending machines accept Apple Pay if emergency food/water/medicine is required on the run. You can also make phone calls or hail an uber/lyft in case you twist your ankle or another a different minor injury while running.

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by nsxwolf on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @05:52PM (#16580211)

The combination of offline music on the Apple Watch plus AirPods is the first thing that's improved on the experience of the clip-on iPod Shuffle and headphones. Despite some UI lag issues it's basically running nirvana.

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by steve_musk on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @04:45PM (#16579634)

You can listen to music while you exercise without having to take your phone.

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by 121789 on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @06:26PM (#16580432)

As all of the other posters mentioned - it's exercising without carrying around a phone.

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by govred on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @04:28PM (#16579495)

>Maybe Apple isn't interested in allowing a competitor...

Wouldn't be the first time Apple has done this

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by spiderfarmer on Wednesday March 14, 2018 @05:33AM (#16583428)

iOS, Apple Watch, HomePod, Apple TV all have limitations that prevent competitors to imitate or improve on the Apple Music experience. The lack of Spotify support is the reason I didn't buy an Homepod when I was in the market for a speaker system for my office though, so I'm not sure if it's working for them.

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Re:Apple Music now has 38M paid members by m1sta_ on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @04:17PM (#16579394)

I wonder whether they could chunk up an audio file and play the chunks sequentially to get more control of the playback.

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