# Apple Music 131 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Music and 270 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1 years (14 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended for strong recommendations and discovery playlists, and for handling local and uploaded music libraries; the most common complaint is a clunky app that launches unprompted. ## Why people recommend it - Good recommendations and curated playlists (4 comments): "It's way better now, and the recommendations are pretty good. The app is still crap though" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49522404)) "The new music playlist it gives me each week has introduced me to hundreds of new artists" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940277)) "I find the curation and the recommendations to be significantly better than Spotify." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296849)) - Still plays local files offline (4 comments): "including the Music.app (iTunes), which doesn't need any Internet connection to play your MP3s." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265468)) "I can treat the catalog like an online store and my library like my personal CD collection." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48601185)) "You can turn off the cloud service in Apple Music and still use it with your local tracks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48449739)) - Upload your own music, stream anywhere (2 comments): "Apple Music and YouTube Music also let you upload your own files to a cloud locker and stream them from any device" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46518669)) "they let you upload music and have it exist natively in the interface and streamable anywhere you're logged in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46058654)) ## What people warn about - Poor, inconsistent app interface (8 comments): "It's way better now, and the recommendations are pretty good. The app is still crap though" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49522404)) "The only downside is I have to use their app, which they have zero incentive to improve." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45934482)) "It will skip some songs sometimes and the ui is not very consistent for the player bar." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46924488)) - Launches itself unexpectedly (5 comments): "having to turn off System Integrity Protection as a prerequisite to uninstalling a music player is crazy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48450122)) "it auto-redirects to the Apple Music app for that link, with no way to prevent it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50214137)) "whenever I accidentally touched or removed my (Sony / non-Apple) bluetooth headphones, iTunes/Music would pop up without fail" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48448789)) - Playback stops or skips songs (3 comments): "It will skip some songs sometimes and the ui is not very consistent for the player bar." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46924488)) "Other times it fails to play my main playlist that I've played 1000 times before." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46115010)) "Since Tahoe, it will play a couple (plus or minus a handful of songs) and then just stop rather than transitioning to the next song." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47212083)) - Pushes streaming catalog over library (3 comments): "On the phone it always defaults to searching the online store/music, instead of the local songs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48460078)) "What about turning off the Apple Music service so that the only thing visible is your local content? That's what pisses me off the most." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48450593)) "It did all kinds of things like hiding your music library, merging your music with apple's music, all kinds of nonsense." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49438501)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Spotify](https://hackerapproved.com/p/spotify.md): 299 recommend - [Tidal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tidal.md): 48 recommend - [Qobuz](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qobuz.md): 31 recommend - [Pandora](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pandora.md): 29 recommend - [Deezer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/deezer.md): 22 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.apple.com/apple-music/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Music", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-music/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).