• Apple Music's iOS 27 upgrades include new artist pages and performance upgrades
• The platform has yet to roll out highly-requested functions such as continuity tools and social features
• The longer Apple Music goes without them, the better chance Spotify has at snatching its users

Tim Cook took what may be his final bow as Apple CEO at the company’s WWDC 2026 event, and there’s lots for iPhone users to look forward to with iOS 27, including upgrades to Apple Music.

In addition to the announcement of Apple’s next-gen Siri upgrade, Siri AI, the company is rolling out a handful of upgrades to its music streaming platform. It hasn’t been long since Apple last updated the Apple Music UI, but its Liquid Glass look divided subscribers.

One of the most notable new changes to the UI is a new look for artist pages, which now places the ‘Play’ and information buttons in the center of the page under new name displays. The ‘Essentials’ carousel, which spotlights an artist’s popular albums, has also been changed and is now in a list form that doesn’t look as punchy, which is a bit of a design downgrade if you ask me.

Apple Music redesigned artist pages from r/AppleMusic

It’s not just Apple Music’s UI that’s had a bit of a nip and tuck; the platform is also getting some performance enhancements in iOS 27, starting with the Automix tool, which uses AI to beat-match songs and create seamless DJ-like transitions.

According to Apple, the company has improved its algorithms to make room for better transitions. That's quite a vague way to put it, but I assume this means it will perform more efficiently when creating transitions between songs of different genres — a pain point I experienced during my time testing it out. Additionally, Apple says it has upgraded start times for quicker playback, and the 'Now Playing' page will now load much faster.

Apple Music is allergic to continuity tools and social features

I’ll always welcome new design approaches and performance upgrades — I’ve been running into delayed playback times far too often recently. But once again, Apple has chosen to overlook the meaningful features users actually want.

Many Apple Music subscribers like to criticize rival platforms such as Spotify, but if they can agree on one thing, it’s that Spotify Connect destroys Apple Music on the continuity front. To this day, Apple Music users are still waiting for a similar feature, and it’s one of the tools, if not the tool, that will really bring Apple Music into line with its competitors. The fact that Apple has never even discussed such a feature only adds to the frustration.

The platform also faces scrutiny for the inconsistency of its features across devices, creating a far-from-seamless user experience. For example, Apple Music’s new live concert information and playlists and albums tabs are still missing from the Mac version.

Something I was patiently waiting for during WWDC was Apple’s official announcement of Playlist Playground, an AI-integrated playlist-making tool similar to Spotify’s Prompted Playlists. To my dismay, though, nothing was mentioned, even though we were expecting a wider roll out to be confirmed after Playlist Playground came arrived in beta in February.

Just like continuity tools, this feature would give Apple the perfect opportunity to not only match a popular Spotify feature, but give its users another reason to stick around. Apple Music has already won on the audio streaming quality and editorial fronts, but Apple now it needs to start paying close attention to how it can build social features that complement its ecosystem.

It’s been four months since Playlist Playground first appeared, but there’s still been no word from Apple on when it will finally open its doors to the public. We might see a reveal at Apple's iPhone launch event, which will likely be in September, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

• There's evidence for a new free tier for Apple Music
• It will no doubt come with certain limitations
• Users are worried that there will be adverts involved

The streaming, unlimited listening component of Apple Music differs from Spotify in that you can't use it for free — you have to pay a monthly subscription. According to code spotted in the latest Apple Music app for Android, that might be about to change.

Discovered by tipster Aaron Perris (via 9to5Mac), the code snippets mention limits on track skipping, and a "Premium access required" message, which are both consistent with some kind of subscription-free tier for the Apple Music streaming catalog.

However, Perris himself admits the code strings could be related to something else, like radio stations. These might soon work differently depending on whether or not you're currently paying for an Apple Music plan.

Spotify's free tier comes with adverts, and limits on audio quality, playlist creation, track order, and track skipping. Premium subscribers also get to save playlists of offline use, and usually get access to new features first too.

Does this mean ads?

Based on the Reddit reaction, this might not be such a popular move. "Oh no not the ads," is one typical comment, and there seems to be quite a swell of resistance against Apple Music offering a free tier if it comes with adverts attached.

Having traditionally kept advertising in its products down to a minimum, Apple has recently started heading towards a more Google-like approach: ads have started appearing in Apple Maps with iOS 26.5 for example.

In fact, as we've already noted, this is a trend that many apps and services are joining in with, in an effort to squeeze more money from consumers — whether it's advertising on streaming services or new subscription models for social media sites.

We'll have to wait and see if a free tier for Apple Music makes an appearance soon — perhaps at WWDC 2026 on June 8. You can already use Apple Music the app for free, of course, if you bring your own digital music with you.

• Apple Music users are asking for better playback continuity tools like Spotify Connect
• At the moment, Apple Music doesn't let you pick up where you left off when you switch between devices
• Subscribers are hoping for some improvements to be announced at WWDC 2026, but chances are slim

For hardcore Apple Music subscribers, the platform has everything they could possibly need from a music streaming service, but there’s one feature missing that is integral to pretty much all of its rivals — and its cross-device continuity.

While Apple Music has it all, from Dolby Atmos-supported albums, a clean-cut interface, and lossless audio at no extra cost, users have been asking for the company to upgrade its device-switching feature that allows you to hand off music to other devices and pick up where you left off in your listening sessions.

This has been a common annoyance for users for years, and a recent Reddit post (see below) reveals that this frustration is only growing. Though AirPlay allows you to cast videos, music, and other media from your iPhone to supported devices such as Apple TV 4K, if you want to switch from your iPhone to a smart speaker to play Apple Music, for example, it doesn’t resume your listening session in the way that Spotify Connect does.

The one Continuity feature Apple still refuses to add to Music in 2026 from r/AppleMusic

The author of the Reddit post expressed their disappointment with this, using the iPhone-to-Mac switching as an example. Basically, if you're streaming Apple Music from your iPhone and want to hand it over to your Mac to continue listening, you'll have to start from scratch and even rebuild your music queue, as this won't transfer over either. I’ve also tried controlling Apple Music on my Echo smart speaker from my iPhone, and it’s the same case.

It’s pretty common for major streaming platforms to offer their own versions of this tool. Spotify Connect is arguably the leading playback continuity feature, which seamlessly resumes your listening session and music queues across smart speakers, Bluetooth speakers, and its desktop and car apps. Even services such as Tidal and Qobuz (which aren’t as popular as Apple Music) have their own continuity tools.

But why hasn’t Apple Music jumped on this bandwagon when users are actively begging for the upgrade? The short answer is, we don’t know, and it’s a lot more frustrating being left in the dark than it is knowing the truth — and it turns out that it’s irritating more subscribers than you think.

Users are longing for the 'one killer feature'

There’s no doubt that those who love Apple Music love Apple Music — Spotify is nowhere near an option for them. That said, the Reddit thread has garnered something I never thought I’d see — Apple Music subscribers across the board are praising Spotify.

Despite Spotify’s poorer audio quality and clunky interface, both of which Apple Music subscribers still criticize, Spotify Connect “is the one killer feature that’s missing from Apple,” as one user puts it.

Another Apple Music user notes that although they quit Spotify for Apple Music, it’s the one tool they miss the most; “This is the single worst thing about Apple Music. On the green disco all app, I can pick up from any player and or control any player”.

In between the glowing Spotify comments, a handful of users have questioned whether it’s a matter of a patent getting in the way. Though one user mentioned that Spotify apparently has a patent on its Connect tool, others were quick to point out that this doesn't mean companies won’t be able to develop similar features of their own. It’s a matter of simply building around it, as we’ve seen with Tidal, so it could be a case that Apple is satisfied enough with the current version of AirPlay — even if it gets a bad rep.

Aside from playback continuity, users in the same Reddit thread have taken the opportunity to shed light on other functions Apple needs to improve, like the search bar.

For many, and I include myself in this, Apple Music's search feature doesn't perform as smoothly as the likes of Spotify. One user says what we're all thinking; with Spotify, you can type in less than half a word, and it gives you exactly what you're after. With Apple Music however, search results aren't as quick or thorough, so it requires a bit more elbow grease.

However, there’s only a few weeks until Apple’s WWDC 2026 event kicks off on June 8 where we’re expecting to see a handful of iOS 27 upgrades, so that leaves a perfect gap for the company to solve a handful of issues — but users still think it’s a long shot.

There are many reasons why music fans flock to Apple Music over the slew of other best music streaming services to pick from. For one, it offers lossless, hi-res, and Dolby Atmos-supported audio at no extra cost, and its interface isn't clunky.

I’m currently using Apple Music and Spotify interchangeably, and I’m enjoying both of their offerings, but if there’s one thing rival platforms could take a note from Apple Music's books, it’s the Discovery Station — my new favorite way to find new music and artists outside of my radar.

Although Spotify is still my main music platform of choice — I’ve been a subscriber for the best part of 10 years — Discovery Station has become integral to how I spend my time listening on Apple Music, and I’ve even made a playlist to bank all of the new songs and artists I come across.

For those who aren’t on Apple Music, your Discovery Station is a personal radio station that’s powered by your listening habits and the titles in your library, helping you find new music and artists. The best part is that it’s continuous and never-ending, so it doesn’t cap songs after a certain number like New Music Mix — meaning it never runs out of music suggestions.

Do you find yourself frustrated with the shuffle function repeating the same songs? You don’t get any of that with Discovery Station. Instead, it’s designed to spotlight artists and tracks that aren’t in your playlists or saved to your library, so it’s rare to get the same song suggested twice.

But when I compare it to other music discovery tools, it works in a way that’s reminiscent of Spotify’s Daylist.

I’ve pretty much trial-and-errored my way through finding what music discovery tools work best for me in Spotify, and Daylist is by far one of my favorites, which is why I think I’ve taken to Discovery Station so quickly.

What ties the two features together is that both rely on the algorithm’s ability to dive into your daily music-listening behavior, giving you a list of artists adjacent to your taste that it thinks you will enjoy. Both are rooted in personalization and encourage active discovery.

That said, Daylist doesn’t offer a continuous run of new music. Instead, it updates every few hours to reflect your listening habits at different times of the day, and the playlist only consists of around 50 songs. That's in contrast to Discovery Station, which you can refresh by simply tapping on it to generate a new slew of songs. With Discovery Station, it doesn't show you the full queue of songs, maintaining an element of surprise each time.

Although Discovery Station works pretty much instantly for new Apple Music subscribers, I still recommend dedicating some time to exploring and listening to music to develop your taste profile before giving it a shot. But be wary, it can be quite sensitive.

For example, if you devote a listening session to streaming electronic pop and then switch over to your Discover Station, it will focus on that genre. I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing, but there are workarounds you can try, such as favoriting artists, frequently adding music to your library, and using the ‘Suggest less’ button to filter out artists and genres.

One of the most handy features to come from the best music streaming services are lyrics, and although I’m a Spotify user, even I know that its lyrics interface needs some overdue TLC. But I’ve just learned about a hack I never knew existed.

I scour the r/truespotify forum on Reddit a fair bit, mainly to get a kick out of any new rumors on upcoming features I may find. But my latest deep dive took me by surprise, and apparently, you can zoom in and out on lyrics in Spotify. Has this just been launched? Or am I just extremely late to the party?

A post shared by u/mascarariri (see below) includes a side-by-side video comparison of Spotify lyrics on iOS and Android, in which the user shows themselves zooming in and out on Spotify lyrics on Android, using Billie Eilish’s song ‘Wildflower’ as an example. Unfortunately for iOS users like myself, this isn’t available.

Side-by-Side: Spotify Lyrics UI on Android vs. iOS. from r/truespotify

According to the user who published the video, all it takes to zoom is a simple pinch motion on your phone’s screen, just as you would to navigate Google Maps, for example. Additionally, the user demonstrated by zooming out to 75% — though it likely goes further — and zooming in quite far to 150%, so the range appears extensive.

Being an iOS user, I’m not surprised that I didn’t know about this trick sooner, but it turns out that not even Spotify users on Android knew about this. “I'm surprised to see something on Android before iOS. It's usually the other way around, and it takes ages to port those features; even Google apps are better on iOS”, one user said.

But the reason why this is the case for Android and not iOS is still very much a mystery — users are still debating whether it's system or developer-related. But while it's a handy tool for enhancing the lyric-viewing experience for those who are visually impaired, or those who prefer reading larger text in general, it still doesn't fix the main issues with Spotify lyrics.

Apple Music knows how to do it

Yes, Spotify has been my streaming platform since my teens, but my trial runs with Apple Music have magnified the things that Spotify falls short on — and lyrics is one of them.

When I first signed up to Apple Music last year, one of my favorite parts of the experience was the lyrics interface (I believe I said it 'puts Spotify's to shame'). I'm currently on my second round of playing around with Apple Music after being persuaded by a recent offer, and my opinion still stands.

The main difference between the two is synchronization. Not only are all songs on Apple Music synced in time with the flow of the lyrics, but each sentence is highlighted so you can see exactly which part of a line you're supposed to be — and it works wonders for when you're using karaoke mode (another fun feature).

This isn't the case with all songs on Spotify. Not only are lyrics quite static in their fluidity, but not every song is synchronized, meaning you have to scroll manually. You also have to wait at least a few days for lyrics to appear for new music, while Apple Music's catalog of new releases already comes equipped with them.

Choosing the right music streaming service for your needs can be tricky, as there are plenty of options to choose from. In my opinion, that decision has just been made easier than ever thanks to a tantalising offer from Apple Music, which gives you three whole months of access for just AU$1.99. That’s not AU$1.99 per month, but for all three — which is insane value if you ask me.

I’ve been using Apple Music for the last 10 years, ever since it launched in 2015, and I’ve never seen a reason to switch. It has a huge library of songs — over 100 million, in fact — and offers easy access to Lossless audio and Dolby Atmos spatial audio at no extra cost. Throw in a number of other enticing features, including music videos, exclusive album drops and DJ mixes, a raft of global radio stations (including some not available anywhere else), and a simply gorgeous, intuitive UX, and you have what can only be described as a near-perfect service.

And all of this can be yours for a full three months for less than AU$2 if you subscribe before May 29, 2026. And it even plays well with Android.

A worthy investment

What makes Apple Music even more appealing, in my opinion, is the low ongoing cost of AU$12.99 p/m for an Individual plan. The comparable option from Spotify costs more at AU$15.99 p/m, and while this does include access to a range of audiobooks, I don’t personally feel it offers enough to justify the higher price.

The one area where I do have to give Spotify credit, however, is its ‘Connect’ feature. This lets you cast audio to a range of speakers and AV components, which then stream music directly over the internet. Your phone, tablet or computer acts purely as a controller for selecting songs.

Apple Music doesn’t have a similar Connect feature, relying instead on the widely supported AirPlay. While this works seamlessly, I don’t believe the quality of the transmission is quite as good. For everyday listening it’s perfectly usable — it’s just that Spotify Connect is technically superior.

If you’re interested in learning more about the quality of music playback via wireless transmission, you can check out an in-depth case study from my colleagues at What Hi-Fi?

Spatial sounds

Another big drawcard for Apple Music is its extensive support for Dolby Atmos music. The easiest way to listen in the spatial audio format is with a pair of AirPods, or via an Apple TV 4K connected to an Atmos-supporting sound system — including the best soundbars.

To be honest, I’m not totally sold on Atmos music. I’ve realised I prefer a more direct approach to playback, especially when listening through my AirPods Pro 3. I do occasionally enjoy it through a Sonos home theatre system, but it’s not something I use often.

If you’re keen to subscribe to Apple Music for its Atmos playback however, then my colleague Rowan Davies has recently penned an article detailing his top 5 Dolby Atmos albums for newcomers.

Considering Apple Music is just AU$1.99 for three months right now, it presents the perfect opportunity to take Dolby Atmos music for a spin.

As mentioned, this offer — available to new subscribers only — is live until May 29.

Although Spotify is my music platform of choice, I do enjoy what Apple Music has to offer. Last summer I signed up to Apple’s music service for the first time, and I’m testing the waters once again — mainly to make the most of Dolby Atmos-supported listening.

I’ve been using Apple Music on and off for the past couple of weeks after signing up for one of its latest deals, and as soon as I logged back in, I immediately started making a playlist centered around essential Dolby Atmos listening. The best part about my brief return to Apple Music is that I’ve had enough time away to really notice and appreciate the way my favorite records sound in Dolby Atmos compared to Spotify Lossless.

Then it got me thinking, which Dolby Atmos albums would I recommend to new Apple Music members? There are five supported records I’ve had on constant repeat lately because, when I compare listening to them on Spotify Lossless, Apple Music is the clear winner.

Don’t know where to start? Here are my top Dolby Atmos album picks.

Homogenic, Björk

I knew that Björk would make the list, but selecting just one album was almost an impossible job. I was torn between the earthiness of Debut and the urban Post, but as far as electronic albums go, Homogenic is the one that truly shines in Dolby Atmos.

I first got into Björk around 10 years ago and have been listening to Homogenic ever since, but it’s only now that I’ve started picking up on elements I never knew lurked between the layers of each song. Not only that, the album’s orchestral components don’t get lost in the thick cyber forest. Instead, they come front and center just where they belong — balancing perfectly with the album’s electronic core.

3D Country, Geese

Although Getting Killed would’ve been a solid choice, Geese’s album 3D Country is incredibly dynamic, and one that I’ve been listening to non-stop. It’s a fun album to listen to if the blend of indie alternative, rock 'n roll, country, and blues intrigues you.

It sounds like an overstuffed concoction on paper, but listening in Dolby Atmos really allows you to pick out the influences one by one, and then throw them all back together. One of the best parts about the listening experience is getting to hear Cameron Winter’s vocals in all their robustness, which does wonders for showing off his vocal control.

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Chappell Roan

Of course, I had to throw in a pop album, and Chappell Roan’s 2023 album is the record I’ve noticed the biggest differences with when listening to it in Dolby Atmos form — the main ones being its punchier bass and synth clarity.

However, like 3D Country, this is another album where the vocals are one of the stars of the show. Chappell has a voice that really works for a pop vocal album like this, but you don’t notice how polished her sound is and how much vocal layering she does until you stream it on Apple Music. As far as pop albums go, this one sits at the top when it comes to essential Dolby Atmos listening.

Grace, Jeff Buckley

Every time I listen to Grace by Jeff Buckley, it sends shivers down my spine and fills my eyes with tears, so naturally it had to be included. If you thought that his raw voice and acoustic instrumentals were hard-hitting, just wait until you press play on the title track in Dolby Atmos.

Buckley’s musicianship is spotlighted in every isolated guitar pluck, which will make you realize just how many different types of guitars he uses in a single song, let alone the whole album.

Orquídeas, Kali Uchis

If you’re looking for an album with rich production to kick-start your Apple Music/ Dolby Atmos experience, allow me to point you to Kali Uchis’ Orquídeas, a Spanish-language record that explores reggaeton, R&B, and funk in all its glory.

This is another album that’s packed with influences, but again, it doesn’t feel stuffy in Dolby Atmos. If anything, its groovy rhythms, underwater-sounding acoustics, and seductive trap beats are balanced perfectly. One doesn’t overpower the other, and the echo of her angelic vocals is the cherry on top.

• Taylor Swift has filed three trademark applications to protect her sound and image from AI deepfakes
• It follows Matthew McConaughey's filings from January
• Her trademarks reflect the industry's increasing concerns, but smaller artists are still feeling the burn

AI interpretations are on the rise, and Taylor Swift is the latest artist to take a legal stance against the increasing threats.

Acting on behalf of the singer, Swift’s company TAS Management filed three trademark applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office on April 24, two of which relate to sound trademarks protecting Swift’s voice represented by the phrases ‘Hey, it's Taylor Swift’ and ‘Hey, it’s Taylor’ — which she’s known for saying several times during her live performances.

The third trademark relates to visual protections, where a photo of her ‘holding a pink guitar, with a black strap and wearing a multi-colored iridescent bodysuit with silver boots’ (as described in the application) has been used to represent her image. The filings were first spotted by intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben, but Swift’s team has yet to provide a comment on the status of the applications.

At the moment, it’s quite an uncertain time to be a musician, or any public figure in entertainment for that matter, and Swift’s latest legal action shows how increasingly concerned artists are becoming for the safeguarding of their identities against AI. But Swift isn’t the first one to take action in this way.

Just like musicians, actors have also expressed concerns about losing control over their identities — the most recent example being Matthew McConaughey. Earlier this year, McConaughey trademarked himself saying ‘alright, alright, alright’ (his famous catchphrase from the 1993 movie Dazed and Confused) to implement tighter legal safeguards to make it easier to challenge potential AI misinterpretations.

If they were to be approved, Swift’s trademarks will provide similar protections according to Gerben’s blog post. “Theoretically, if a lawsuit were to be filed over an AI using Swift’s voice, she could claim that any use of her voice that sounds like the registered trademark violates her trademark rights,” he details.

Given her international status, there's no doubt that Swift’s trademark requests will be granted to warrant her safety, but not all artists have this privilege, and it’s the lesser-known musicians that are falling victim to fraudulent AI impersonations.

Back in January, folk singer Murphy Campbell faced every artist’s worst nightmare when she found a number of songs listed on her Spotify page that she had recorded, but never released, The Verge reported. She recalled noticing something ‘off’ about the vocals, and after running songs through multiple AI detectors, she concluded that they were AI-generated using live performance videos of the unreleased songs she uploaded to YouTube.

Although the fraudulent songs no longer appear to be available on platforms such as Apple Music, Campbell’s concerns are far from relaxed as there’s still a number of impersonation profiles with the same name — highlighting the responsibility that the best music streaming services have to protect their artists. As a result, Spotify has since rolled out a new approval system for artists that gives them control over what music appears on their profile. This will allow artists to approve and decline music when it’s submitted to Spotify in their name, helping to filter out any AI impersonations and deepfakes.

Despite the rise of these kinds of safety measures, the uncertainty of AI misuse will remain a worry for those in entertainment until firmer regulations are clamped down. Now that the biggest pop star in the world has kick-started her stance against AI imitation, it could serve as a catalyst for an influx of similar filings from other big artists with big reputations to protect.

• Oliver Schusser from Apple Music says a third of uploads are AI-generated
• Despite this, only 0.5% of all users are engaging with this content
• Apple Music has plans to combat the AI epidemic even further

Apple Music has become the latest music streaming service to be hit with the influx of AI-generated content, says its VP Oliver Schusser — but it’s reaching only a very small percentage of all users.

Speaking with Billboard ($/£), Schusser shed light on the state of AI music in Apple Music’s library, sharing that “more than a third of what (Apple Music) get(s) today is actually what we would say is 100% AI”.

It goes to show that it’s becoming easier for labels and distributors to submit music that’s completely made using AI, and Apple Music isn’t the only service that’s facing this epidemic. Just last week, Deezer declared that nearly half of the new music submitted to the platform is AI-generated, resulting in the company’s decision to stop offering hi-res versions of these songs.

So, how is Apple planning to put out the AI fire? Well, Schusser went into further detail in his interview. “We’ve never talked about this — but we’ve developed technology in-house that would allow us to exactly see what music people are delivering us, what AI (model) it is and all that,” he reveals, likely referring to Transparency Tags.

Back in March, Apple sent out a letter to industry partners revealing its plans to roll out ‘Transparency Tags’, a new metadata system to help flag AI-generated and AI-assisted music. This means labels and distributors can disclose whether AI has been used in a song’s production when submitting to Apple Music. Though it’s optional, Schusser made it clear that he “really need(s) the content providers and the labels to take responsibility”.

There’s no denying that fully AI-generated music is cropping up in the best music streaming services, but Schusser unveiled an interesting statistic that may come as a surprise: despite the rise, it’s not having a huge impact on users’ listening and engagement habits. “The reality is, the usage of the AI music on Apple Music is really tiny. I’m rounding, but it’s below 0.5% of usage. We’re just at the beginning here,” he told Billboard — but fraud is still rife.

This is another issue on which Apple Music is clamping down, but it’s been doing this since the good old iTunes days: “This has been a 20-year journey because there was fraud, obviously, in iTunes already,” Schusser said, which led to the introduction of Apple’s fraud penalty. The company also doubled this penalty as of this year.

But the battle isn’t over, as Schusser puts it, “We invest way more than anyone else in reducing and eliminating fraud. We implemented a fraud penalty four years ago, where if we catch someone, then we actually take the money and put it back in the pool. We need to monitor AI music because there’s a correlation between AI and fraud”. He also shared that Apple has seen a “60% reduction” in fraudulent uploads after implementing the penalty.

As it stands, I’ve been one of the lucky ones not to have run into AI-generated music flooding my recommendations in Apple Music as well as Spotify, though the latter has come under significant scrutiny for housing AI slop. Like other platforms, Spotify is also working toward safeguarding users by removing 25 million AI tracks in the last 12 months, and devising a solid AI combat strategy for the future.

Of all the paywalled services out there, YouTube Premium is the one that I’ve never thought twice about signing up to. After all, I’ve been pretty fine just using its free version — but that changed a few weeks back.

After toying around with the idea and pushing it back on countless occasions, I gave into my temptations and signed up to YouTube Premium’s 1-month free trial. I’ve never quite understood why anyone would sign up to it, for me the price hikes and restrictions on extremely basic features haven’t sold me. Oh how I’ve totally changed my tune.

Over the course of my free trial, I used YouTube Premium more than Netflix, Disney+, and the slew of our best streaming services combined. If anything, it’s as if none of them existed in the first place — here’s what I thought.

Welcome back, MTV

There’s nothing quite like opening YouTube, tapping on a video, and not having to sit through a jarring ad. Until you sign up for YouTube Premium, you’ll never fully understand how many ads are forced upon you per video, and going back to YouTube’s free version only proves that the number is growing. In retrospect, it’s one of the best parts of the experience, and it makes the music video viewing experience even better.

Though I’ve been a Spotify subscriber for over 10 years, I’ve been vocal on how its music video interface is simply no match to how smooth YouTube’s is. Take away the ads, and it’s like MTV has been resurrected. Besides, it’s a nice change to throw on a personalized Mix of fun music videos instead of a Spotify playlist, especially when you have friends over. Then an idea sprung to mind; what if I created my own playlists to mimic the nostalgia of music channels?

Until I signed up to Premium, I’ve never felt encouraged to make my own playlists in YouTube’s free version. Even though playlist-making isn’t a paywalled feature, you still have to sit through ads when watching the videos. So with that in mind, I used my free trial wisely to experiment with playlist making, and naturally, I created one that screamed ‘00s music channel'.

This took some time to get used to I won’t lie — only because I’ve been accustomed to Spotify and Apple Music’s way of things — but once I got the ball rolling, I was unstoppable. What was very helpful was YouTube’s playlist recommendation tools which, similar to the best music streaming services, sits at the bottom of each playlist giving you a quick and stress-free way of building your playlist with related videos.

It’s safe to say that streaming music videos ad-free and building playlists was one of my favorite parts of the experience, and even my pre-generated Mixes of familiar and suggested videos gave me just as much of a buzz. However, while returning to YouTube Premium isn’t totally off the table for me, I can’t ignore its awkward queuing system.

YouTube, fix your queuing system

I admit, this is a very small setback, but if you’re a chronic video queuer like me you’ll notice the finer details. But the wildest part is that queuing is a paywalled tool, and I don’t believe I’m getting my money’s worth.

There are two options for queuing videos, ‘Play next in queue’ and ‘Play last in queue’. But what I had the biggest issue with is that YouTube doesn’t separate your queued content from ‘Continue Playing’ content like music streaming does (see Apple Music as an example).

Instead of grouping your queued videos in a separate list at the top like Apple Music, it integrates them in the list of ‘Continue Playing’ videos. It’s a bit of a headache because you can only choose to play a video immediately, or plonk it on the very end of a lengthy list of recommendations, sandwiching your queued videos on either side.

This means you have to manually reorder the queue so that the videos you want to play next come first. Though the ‘Play next in queue’ button effectively does this, every time you select this option for a new video it overrides the previous video you chose to ‘Play next’, pushing it further down the line. It’s not ideal when you’ve got YouTube playing at a social gathering and all your friends get vexed when the video you queued for them an hour ago has yet to be played.

I could be reading far too deep into this, but it’s one of the downsides to my YouTube Premium experience that I can’t shake off. However YouTube is always making changes to the Premium experience, and I hope it hasn’t forgotten about its queuing system’s much-needed TLC.

In 2001, Apple completely changed music with three products: Macs with built-in SuperDrive CD burners; the iTunes music app; and the iPod. We didn't know it at the time, but those three products lit a fuse that would burn down the record business.

That used to be a very big business. In 2001 US consumers bought 762.8 million albums on vinyl, CD and tape. In 2025 that was just 82.2 million, a drop of almost 90%.

Apple didn't invent the CD drive for computers; that was Philips. It didn't invent iTunes; it bought the SoundJam MP app, simplified it and rebranded it. And it didn't invent the digital music player; that was Kane Kramer's IXI two decades previously.

But what Apple did was what Apple does so well. It learned from other people's mistakes and then marketed its own products perfectly.

1,000 songs in your pocket.

It's your music: burn it on a Mac.

Rip. Mix. Burn.

Her name is Rio and she transfers music slow

Before Apple launched its 2001 trio, you could rip CDs to digital, you could burn digital files onto CD-Rs and you could copy digital files onto MP3 players. But as someone who was doing all of those things at the time on PCs, I promise you: it was an enormous pain. CD burning was flaky, the apps were horrible and MP3 players' interfaces were generally horrendous.

Apple solved all of those things, making it easy to rip your CDs, burn new compilations and transfer songs to your iPod. And they timed it just right.

The music business isn't a big fan of machines that can make perfect copies of music without payment or permission, which is why very few of us in the 1980s bought a DAT (Digital Audio Tape) recorder. The Recording Industry Association of America tried to get consumer DAT machines banned, and while that failed it did succeed in getting mandatory copy protection and a tax on digital recorders that made DATs too limited and pricey for most of us.

But there were no such restrictions or taxes on CD drives, and when the RIAA tried to get the popular Diamond Rio range of MP3 players banned in 1999 a US district court said no. Sales of the Rio skyrocketed, and Steve Jobs saw an Apple-shaped opportunity to enter and take over what was clearly going to be a huge market.

How Apple called the tune

The Rio was the first commercially successful MP3 player, but like other players of the era it was very limited.

The first model, the PMP300, was shoddily built and could only store about half an hour of low-quality 128kbps MP3 music transferred over a glacially slow USB 1.0 connection. Rival devices from the likes of Creative and Archos were better, but I reviewed quite a few players at the time and none of them were jaw-droppingly impressive and easy to use like the first-gen iPod was. Even the usually reliable Sony missed the mark, pushing for its own proprietary ATRAC format instead of the much more popular MP3.

One of the things that set the iPod apart was that "1,000 songs in your pocket" at a time where getting a dozen decent-sounding tracks onto a device was considered a win. That was made possible by Toshiba, who had just invented a tiny 5GB hard disk that made the solid-state and memory card-based MP3 players' capacities look pathetic. Apple being Apple, it signed an exclusive deal for the drives that meant nobody else could buy them.

There was another key player in Apple's success, albeit unofficially: Napster. Launched in 1999 the file-sharing network made global music piracy laughably easy and incredibly popular, and it peaked in 2001 with 26.4 million users. Many of those users were downloading music others had ripped in order to mix and burn them on Macs or listen to them on iPods.

Setting up shop

The record business initially saw Apple as a threat, and it was not amused at all by "Rip. Mix. Burn." But while Apple no doubt benefited from people doing dodgy music downloading, it soon decided to offer an alternative. That would make it an industry ally and would also make it a big pile of money.

2003's iTunes Store brought iTunes convenience to music purchasing, and while there was some industry pushback against Apple's $0.99 per song pricing (and significant cut of each sale) pragmatism soon prevailed as execs realized that it was better to get anything from Apple than nothing from Napster.

The music business had tried its own digital music services, but because the labels wouldn't work with each other to create a one-stop shop, it ended up creating a half-arsed offer of competing, incomplete catalogs. Universal and Sony joined forces to create one service, Pressplay, and Warners, BMG and EMI created another, Musicnet. Pressplay went for Microsoft tech and Musicnet went for Real Networks and we all went to iTunes. Or Napster and its many imitators.

What kept law-abiding people going back to Apple wasn't style or simplicity. It was that the big record labels wanted to rent you music – including music you might already own on CD – rather than sell it, and they wanted to do so in an overly complex and miserly way.

As Billboard magazine noted Musicnet charged $9.95 per month for 100 temporary downloads and 100 on-demand streams. Downloads needed to check in with Musicnet every month to keep working, tracks couldn't be moved to other devices and content was limited to the catalogs of WMG, BMG, EMI and Zomba. Meanwhile, over at Pressplay, you'd also pay $9.95 but this time you'd get a third of the downloads and three times the on-demand streams with CD burning as a pricey additional extra.

It's hardly "Rip. Mix. Burn." And in 2003 the iTunes Store made them both redundant.

Hey! Ho! Let's go (back)!

Apple dominated digital music throughout the 2000s in part because it made so many beautiful players.

Between me and my kids I've owned pretty much every one of them including the iPod 3G, iPod 4G, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iPod mini, Video iPod, 80GB iPod, iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod Product (RED)... all the way to the very final iPod touch, which was an excellent way to keep the kids happy on long trips while my iPod Classic supplied the in-car soundtrack via an FM adapter.

From 2007 onwards it became obvious that the iPod was on its way out, soon to be swallowed up by the Very Hungry iPhone that also consumed my compact cameras, my PDAs, my Blackberry and my Walkman phone. And purchased digital downloads started declining too, with Spotify (founded in 2006) and other streaming doing to iTunes sales what the iPod did to the Diamond Rio and Creative Nomad.

I miss Apple's magical music machines. Partly because they were brilliant and fun and life-enhancing and just beautifully designed little treasures (with the exception of third-gen shuffle, which I like to pretend never happened) and partly because what's replaced them doesn't always feel like an upgrade. Nobody cooked their brains on an iPod Classic or became a Nazi on an iPod nano like so many people seem to be doing on smartphones.

And it turns out there were some unexpected consequences of the end of mass-market physical media, such as our ability to afford vinyl record reissues and the terrifying cost of today's concert tickets.

The switch from selling CDs to streaming effectively killed off a huge chunk of many artists' income and they've changed tactics to compensate, which is partly why vinyl now costs $60, a tour hoodie is $95, it's $25 to park outside the concert and your ticket cost the same as sending two kids to college.

That's the thing about lighting fuses. Sometimes fires spread.

• Apple Music just added a Concerts page
• It shows upcoming live gigs in your local area
• You'll find links to a ticket page, and can listen to a station of the artist's music

With its latest app update, Apple Music just added Concerts — a place to find, well, concerts happening in your local area. It isn’t a perfect addition, but I instantly love it.

This feature appears in two locations. The first is via a new dedicated Concerts page in the Search tab of the Apple Music app, and the second is on an artist’s page if they have live gigs coming up soon.

When you go to the Concerts page, you’ll be asked to share your location with Apple Music so it can recommend nearby live performances, and the range seems far but reasonable. For example, I live near Brighton on England’s south coast, but the page will also show me concerts happening in London, which is an easy train ride away.

On an artist’s page, like RAYE, who I’ve used as my example, you’ll see a subtle ‘Concerts Nearby’ tag on their image, which, if you tap, will scroll down to their upcoming gigs — with Nearby Concerts and All Upcoming Concerts listed.

However you find a concert, the page shows you all of the key info. There’s a quick link for where to buy tickets — with options to select your preferred seller if artists are using a few services — as well as a button to hear a station of their music if you’re not super familiar with their work (which will be perfect for finding new acts who happen to be performing near you).

There are also options to add a concert directly to your Calendar and see it on your Maps app — and as an Android user, I can confirm this works seamlessly with Google Calendar and Google Maps on my phone.

Plus, there are options to see other gigs if you discover this one is sold out. However, this nicely leads into my biggest gripe with the new service.

A few frustrations

Concerts is an excellent Apple Music addition, but it is also flawed in a few ways I hope are fixed soon.

Firstly, the popular tab at the top of the general Concerts Page seems close to useless. Tickets to see popular artists sell out lightning fast, and flicking through some of the recommended concerts, I couldn’t find a pair of seats at any of them.

I’d remove this entire bar, but if it is going to stay, some notice saying 'SOLD OUT' in the Apple Music app is essential — with options to join a waitlist or receive resale notifications, rather than a link to buy non-existent tickets.

Though I’d rather see it become a link to tours for artists in your playlists. Grouping concert dates I could check out our options for performances both near and far — as while I’d prefer to see a show in Brighton or London (which are cities near me), I don’t mind travelling (I’ve previously gone all the way to Liverpool for a gig) — and especially for less mega-popular acts there’s a better chance that upcoming concerts will have a few tickets left.

On this note, I’m surprised there isn’t a way to filter acts by whether they’re in your playlist — currently filtering is only by date and genre. I also wish the general feed could offer some advice about what an act might be like before I click through to its station, especially how it compares to music I like — with all of its listening data, Apple Music must surely be able to provide insight like ‘People who like this band also listen to Florence + The Machine’ or along those lines.

Criticism aside, it does seem like a great feature for planning a date night on short notice. Live music is always a blast, and scrolling through the general feed’s selection, I found plenty of dates with tickets left — which I could easily vet using the station button on the screen.

And the thing is, Concerts in Apple Music have only just launched. Over time, this tool should only get better, and with a few tweaks, it will go from great to perfect for live music fans.

Of all the best music streaming services, Spotify is the only one that offers insight into its payouts through its annual Loud and Clear report, and in 2025 it paid out a record $11 billion back to the industry.

That’s around 70% of Spotify’s annual revenue, leaving the rest to go back towards improving the Spotify experience. There’s no denying that Spotify is always looking for ways to improve music discovery and welcome new personalization tools, but for me there are other areas that need prioritizing.

At the end of the day, Spotify is generating more annual revenue than it has in previous years, leaving the company with more leftover funds to invest – not only in the business itself – but also in external areas, where it has an obligation to offer support. After all, it’s the leading music streaming platform out there, so it should be setting an example.

Declutter its interface

This is one of my biggest dislikes with the platform, and it’s a shared feeling among a lot of other subscribers too. Unlike services such as Apple Music, which focuses on simplicity, Spotify’s interface is all over the place. This is especially true of its Library tab, which seems to get messier each time I make a new playlist, save a new album, or follow an artist.

Though you can filter your Library by playlist, album, and artist, it’s quite fiddly and not the prettiest to look at, whereas Apple Music’s Library feels a lot cleaner. And although Spotify is the winner when it comes to features – for instance, there are six different ways to make a playlist – many of these will go unused by the average user. Moving forward, Spotify should think twice about investing in a new product feature if it doesn’t add value to the overall user experience – keeping things simple goes a long way.

Roll out labels for music that's completely AI-generated

The criticisms towards Spotify’s tolerance for fully AI-generated music will never die – that is unless it starts being more transparent with users. AI tags are the next step.

Its rivals are already starting to tackle this, for instance, Deezer has developed its own AI-detection tool and Apple is testing ‘Transparency Tags’. The debate around ‘what constitutes AI-generated music’ is still a hot topic with Spotify. It seems that the platform is unsure whether to flag songs where only a tiny component is AI-generated. But while many users can appreciate that, it's the slew of songs that are completely made using AI that gets under their skin, more than anything.

Invest directly into grassroots venues

In Spotify’s Loud and Clear report, the platform shared that it drove $1.5 billion in concert ticket revenue, thanks to its integration of live event listings that take you straight to the ticket sales sites. For one, it’s a helpful way to spread the word about artists touring your area and get more music fans to attend gigs in grassroots venues. But Spotify has more than enough profits to invest directly in these spaces.

That’s not to say Spotify hasn’t contributed. Back in 2024, Spotify partnered with a UK-based organization Youth Music to set up a fund to support 15 grassroots venues facing closure. The partnership was an extension of Spotify’s Creator Equity Fund Program, and has extended its dedication to helping grassroots into 2026.

Though Spotify has these initiatives in place, the platform has faced criticisms from organizations such as Music Venue Trust (MVT) for not directly investing in these venues. In 2022 Spotify came under fire for its staggering $235 million deal with FC Barcelona, with MVT arguing that such funds could've been used to prevent the closure of hundreds of music venues. Spotify’s intentions with Youth Music are seemingly in the right place, but it definitely needs to rethink its investment approaches.

I spoke to Sonos CEO Tom Conrad recently, to discuss the launch of the company's new Sonos Play and Sonos Era 100 SL speakers, and how the company's big changes under his leadership influenced their development.

Naturally, we also discussed what really went wrong with the Sonos app disaster and how he's directing the team the fix it, and I also asked Conrad whether the launch of Dolby Atmos FlexConnect is a danger or an opportunity for Sonos.

But given the fact that Conrad's history includes 10 years at Pandora in the early days of music streaming — he was Chief Technology Officer when he left in 2024 — and that Sonos is so deeply connected to the music-streaming services, I wanted to ask what he thought about these services today, both in terms of working with them now on the Sonos app, and personally as a streaming pioneer.

"One of the things I'm really excited about in terms of our software roadmap is working more closely with our music service partners," he begins. "All I really care about with with respect to listening to music on Sonos is getting the customer as quickly and seamlessly as possible to their outcome.

"If that means AirPlay or Bluetooth or Spotify Connect or experiences inside of Spotify versus experiences inside of our app… I don't care. I just want it to work every time, and have it be completely seamless. I feel like we have a better relationship with Apple, Amazon, Spotify than we have in years, and I'm really excited about the work we're driving together."

I expect those who use the Sonos app instead of AirPlay or other direct streaming tech will be pleased with the idea of being able to get into music quicker and more easily, but it's the more personal insights I'm more interesting in, and Conrad shared some of those too.

"You know, the iPod invented the core conventions of modern digital music, and then in 2004, Pandora and Last FM, I suppose, kind of invented the modern conventions around personalized streaming audio," he told me. "And it's been 20 years, and it's surprising to me how little has changed in that experience.

"We've gone from a world where you had access to just the CDs you bought to a world where you have access to hundreds of millions of songs in your pocket, and yet the user interface of it all is kind of just some hierarchical browsing, and then a fullscreen audio player with skip buttons and things.

"I guess quietly, at night, I sort of imagine a future where there's more innovation and [questioning] what does it mean to navigate the whole entire world of music with something that wasn't designed for 1,000 songs in your pocket."

Motivational speaker

I asked if Conrad thinks the physically small size of phone screens is a restrictive element that holds us back from developing new ways of interacting with music.

"You know what I think is mostly holding us back in that regard? Apple is motivated by selling hardware, and Spotify is motivated by reducing licensing costs, and no one is motivated by: let's make a great and innovative music discovery experience for the consumer."

I point out that Qobuz and Tidal are more focused on music discovery, but don't have the bottomless resources that Spotify and Apple do, which Conrad agrees with — but overall, I agree with him.

I always say that the vinyl revival and the popularity of the best turntables here in the 2020s is in no small part because people want music to feel special, with the thrill of discovery. Physical media gives people the excitement of successfully finding something they didn't have before when they're looking through a record store's boxes — the power of a surprise.

Obviously, it would be foolish to replicate the scarcity element of physical media in a streaming app, but Conrad's suggestion of new ways to navigate and discover music seems like a way to scratch that same itch of making music apps exciting by providing more ways for you to find something you've never heard before, and to then explore that artist or genre.

The discovery features of music streaming services feel so narrow — they either replace radio or throw a pipeline of music at you without context, and with only the foggiest sense of why you'd be interested in it.

I'd like it to feel interactive, like by opening the correct door, searching in the correct box, or asking the correct source, I can find something new to experience. I hope we'll see more innovative interfaces to create the experience of being a smart record hunter in the future.

• Spotify's SongDNA tool is cropping up for more beta users
• At the moment it seems that it's only available in Spotify for Artists, but some listeners have reported having early access
• Spotify hasn't said when it's being rolled out, but it's already a hit

Spotify has put its upcoming SongDNA feature on the backbench for a few months, but now that more users are finding it in beta, it's never felt closer — and it’s shaping up to be a serious rival to Tidal’s similar tool.

References to SongDNA, a mind-mapping feature that shows you what other songs your favorite artists have contributed to, were first spotted back in October, but at the time they were simply rumors with no hard evidence. We can now put all the speculation aside, because Spotify has officially confirmed that SongDNA is on the way, and a handful of beta users are already offering their verdicts — and they're all positive.

A post in the r/truespotify community on Reddit (see below) shows that SongDNA is available through Spotify for Artists Preview, an app that gives artists and their teams early access to upcoming features before they’re rolled out to listeners. If you’re an admin or editor in Spotify for Artists, have at least 10 monthly active listeners, and are using version 9.1.28 (or higher) of the Spotify mobile app, you qualify for early access.

SongDNA is a cool feature from r/truespotify

It seems that SongDNA isn’t widely available in AB testing for standard listeners yet, though some have reported seeing it in their Spotify accounts. We’ve reached out to Spotify for more information, and will update this story when we know more — but what we do know is those with access are pleased with what they're seeing.

Beyond its immersive visual elements and insights into song production, users are finding this feature one of the best ways to learn about the connections between their favorite songs, as well as discovering new artists. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg; SongDNA goes the extra mile to show tracks that have been sampled for a song, and cover versions — and I think it could be the most valuable tool Spotify launches this year.

If you love Wikipedia black holes, you’ll long SongDNA

Between October and now, Spotify has expanded its Song Credits tab, which now reveals the complete list of contributors to a song, as well as its handy About the Song tool. But the platform hasn't offered anything quite like SongDNA before — and based on early reactions, it'll introduce a new and interactive way of discovering new music.

Comment from r/truespotify

For me, music discovery is one of the essential parts of the best music streaming services, but I often hit a wall with Spotify because my usual discovery tricks work brilliantly on some days, and then they stop working for a certain period of time. SongDNA provides a constant flow of information, and I can definitely see rival platforms adopting similar features.

Tidal has spotlighted contributors and producers for a while, and Apple Music has also been experimenting with a tool of its own. Last year it rolled out Listening Guides for Apple Music Classical, a feature that gives you the insights to a piece of music, highlighting key details and explaining the story behind the work.

Have you got access to Spotify’s SongDNA? If so, let us know what you think of it in the comments.

OpenAI has invited Apple Music to join its library of third-party apps for ChatGPT, with a feature that could shape how you find and organize music, even if you can't stream full songs through the AI chatbot.

Apple’s Shazam app has spent more than two decades identifying songs playing around you. Now that familiar trick has become a third-party app inside ChatGPT, allowing the AI chatbot to tell you the name of any track that's playing without needing to open a separate app.

Shazam joins the existing Apple Music and Spotify ChatGPT apps, linking the AI to your listening choices. The combination means Shazam can recognize the song you’re hearing and immediately turn it into a conversation about music..

You’ll need to connect Shazam before you can use it in ChatGPT. To do this, open Apps in the left-hand menu, search for Shazam, and click Connect to give it permission to link to the chatbot.

Once connected, you can either type the plus (+) icon in the ChatGPT prompt bar and select Shazam, or start a prompt with @Shazam and ask what song is playing.

Shazam ChatGPT

The most obvious test for Shazam is the situation that made the app famous. A song is playing somewhere nearby, and you want to know what it is. So I clicked on the app in ChatGPT and asked, "What song is this?" Then I hit shuffle on my phone. A few seconds later, the result appeared.

It's similar to what you’d see in the standalone Shazam app: album artwork, the track title, the artist name, and a preview button that plays a short clip of the song. All Star by Smash Mouth was correct — a song that, at this point, the internet could probably identify in its sleep.

In terms of accuracy and speed, the experience felt identical to traditional Shazam. I could even save the song to my Shazam library if I wished.

Instead of closing the app after learning the song’s name, I stayed inside the conversation and asked ChatGPT to recommend similar music. The chatbot quickly produced a handful of tracks with a similar sound and mood. Identifying the song becomes the beginning of a conversation rather than the end of the interaction.

Shazam inside ChatGPT does not reinvent music recognition. The core technology remains exactly the same, and longtime Shazam users will find the experience instantly familiar. What it changes is the context.

Identifying a song is no longer an isolated action that ends once you know the title. Inside ChatGPT, that moment becomes part of a broader conversation about music. The identified track can immediately lead to recommendations, playlists, or additions to a streaming library.

Combined with the existing Apple Music and Spotify integrations, the Shazam app turns ChatGPT into a kind of conversational control center for music discovery.

It's notable that while Spotify's ChatGPT app offers to build playlists and help explore genres, Shazam operates at the opposite end of the discovery process. It begins with a real-world moment of music and a concrete discovery. In that sense, Shazam is reactive, while Spotify and Apple Music are exploratory. ChatGPT is the conversational musical bridge linking them.

• Apple Music is rolling out its own system for flagging AI-generated music
• 'Transparency Tags' will focus on visual elements as well as music composition
• The catch is that the responsibility lies with record labels and distributors

The war between AI and the best music streaming services continues, and Apple Music could be next to storm the battlefield with its own AI music tagging system.

Dubbed ‘Transparency Tags’, Apple’s flagship music platform is tipped to roll out a new metadata system to help identify AI-generated and AI-assisted music. This was revealed in a newsletter sent out to industry partners on March 4, but there’s one big caveat that seems quite contradictory — the tagging responsibility lies with record labels and distributors.

Before content is submitted to Apple Music, record labels and distributors will have the option to disclose whether AI has been used during the production process, a method that Apple is implementing to increase transparency on how companies use AI in music production. The system will focus on four creative aspects.

The first is the music itself, or the ‘Track’ tag, which will be used to show if AI has contributed to a material portion of the audio recording. This tag is at the track-level only. On a similar note, the ‘Composition’ tag will be used to highlight that AI was used in a material portion of the music composition, and also flags AI-generated lyrics.

But Apple Music is taking it a step further with Transparency Tags that have a visual focus. As well as audio tags, Apple Music is rolling out an ‘Artwork’ tag that, as its name implies, flags AI-generated static and motion imagery used on the cover of an album or single. The ‘Music Video’ tag is similar, applying to visual components to albums and standalone videos.

Though the newsletter has been limited to the eyes of industry partners, Music Business World shared an excerpt from the announcement; “Proper tagging of content is the first step in giving the music industry the data and tools needed to develop thoughtful policies around AI”, the outlet starts. “We believe labels and distributors must take an active role in reporting when the content they deliver is created using AI.”

Despite the information we have so far, Apple hasn’t disclosed when Transparency Tags will roll out, however we’ve reached out for further comment and will update this story if we find out more. It’s not surprising to see that Apple Music is taking initiative before Spotify has even started, but its frustrating loophole is all a bit ‘one step forward, two steps back’.

It's optional, for now…

Putting a responsibility like this on record labels and music distributors welcomes a slew of issues. For one, since it’s essentially an opt-in program, it doesn’t guarantee 100% transparency as labels can easily choose not to disclose such information, but who can blame them?

You could deliver the best song in the world, but having an obtrusive ‘AI’ tag slapped onto your song isn’t the most attractive — as a passionate music fan, I’d immediately skip a song if it had this. It’s also a hindrance to streaming numbers, which labels aren’t willing to risk. Even if a song only has a tiny portion of AI-generated audio for creative purposes, most listeners would assume the whole song is AI-generated and skip accordingly.

That said, the opt-in system could simply be a temporary placeholder for now, as Music Business World reports that Transparency Tags may become a required practice for labels and distributors when delivering content to Apple Music. It’s a very different approach to the ones its rivals have taken. Deezer, for example, has developed its own AI detection tool which it recently made available to competitors while Bandcamp has banned AI-generated music altogether.

That just leaves Spotify to join the growing army of music streamers against AI, but although it tightened new impersonation rules for music uploads, it has yet to follow suit with a legitimate system that clearly labels AI slop.

• Apple Music is rolling out five new features in iOS 26.4, including the new Playlist Playground and Concerts Near You functions
• It's also getting a new UI design for albums and playlists
• Despite its new look, it's divided users who have called out Apple for its lack of accessibility features

Apple will unveil its next slew of new products in a couple of weeks at its March 4 event, but it’s already teasing some of the new upgrades coming to Apple Music in iOS 26.4 — and there’s no doubt they’ll breathe new life into one of the best music streaming services.

If you’re enrolled in the iOS 26.4 beta, there’s a chance you’ve already caught a glimpse of the new Apple Music features that are expected to roll out widely in the coming weeks. Unlike Spotify, it’s not in Apple Music’s character to churn out one new feature after the next, so the fact that it’s bringing five new upgrades at once is big news.

As we’ve recently covered, Playlist Playground is one of the stand-out new features coming to Apple Music — if you’re familiar with Spotify’s AI playlist tool, Playlist Playground isn’t all that different.

It works very similarly, in that you enter a text prompt or select an idea preset, and it will then generate a playlist of songs based on your request. It's Apple Music’s second AI music-streaming tool, following the launch of its clever AutoMix beat-matching feature.

It’s clear that Apple Music has had its eyes on what’s working over at Spotify, and similar to Spotify’s Live Events hub, Apple Music is introducing a ‘Concerts Near You’ feature. While we don’t know how this looks in the app yet, we know that it’s on the way, and it’ll be refreshing to see Apple Music connect its subscribers with live concerts — I’m surprised it didn’t do this sooner.

Additionally, Apple Music is finally lifting a tedious playlist restriction, by letting you add a song to multiple playlists at once — a freedom that subscribers of other platforms have always had. And, building on last year’s Ambient Music feature, Apple is making this available as a new Home Screen widget in different sizes, giving those who frequent the app a new shortcut.

So this Apple Music upgrade is quite significant, but it doesn’t stop there. Its album and playlist interfaces are getting a facelift —and while it puts Spotify’s cluttered app to shame, not everyone is pleased with the result.

Apple Music’s UI upgrades are polished and striking, but it’s abandoned accessibility

Although Spotify has all the fun features, its messy interface bears attracts constant user backlash, and now that Apple Music has given its albums and playlists a facelift, many Spotify users are calling for the same.

Previously, Apple Music’s playlist and album pages featured a large, and sometimes immersive, graphic with the tracklist against a plain white background underneath. In iOS 26.4, the album/ playlist artwork is now used for the entire page, so now the tracklist will be placed against the artwork’s most prominent color. One user shared a comparison image on Reddit (see below).

Apple has MURDERED Spotify with UI from r/truespotify

During my time trialing Apple Music while taking a break from Spotify, its clean layout was one of my favorite parts of the UX, and it highlighted everything I disliked about Spotify’s design. There’s no doubt that Apple Music is leaps and bounds ahead here; however, users have been quick to point out Apple’s disregard for accessibility and I can see why.

The Liquid Glass redesign is still dividing iPhone users as it is, and while I enjoy some aspects of its glow-up, Apple Music’s new UI is quite difficult to read in places, and I much prefer the clear separation between the colorful artwork and tracklist. And yes, the option to disable Liquid Glass is there along with other accessibility features, but the default could be more accommodating for those with reading issues.

Comment from r/truespotify

Does this change how I feel about Spotify’s cluttered UI? Not at all — I still think it could take some notes from Apple Music. That said, I have a feeling Apple isn’t quite finished with expanding its new aesthetic throughout every area of its music streaming app — it’s an overkill waiting to happen.

• Apple Music lists various updates in iOS 24.6, but the stand-out is a new AI playlist-making tool, Playlist Playground
• It's currently in beta testing, and is expected to arrive some time in spring
• Unlike other perks, Playlist Playground will be available on non-Apple Intelligence supported devices

Apple has rolled out the first beta for iOS 26.4, and with that comes an exciting slew of new upgrades for Apple Music — but it’s this new Spotify-like AI playlist tool that’s caught everyone’s attention.

The new ‘Playlist Playground’ tool, which borrows its name from Apple’s photo-creation function ‘Image Playground’, allows you to create playlists by entering text prompts, or by using Apple’s pre-set ideas. Using AI (likely Apple Intelligence) it will generate a fresh playlist of 25 songs with a custom title.

Similarly to Spotify’s flagship AI playlist tool, and also its Prompted Playlist feature, Playlist Playground survives on descriptive text prompts which you can enter to create specific-sounding playlists. You can ask it to create genre-specific playlists, ones based on a particular vibe (for example ‘morning coffee music’), or ask it to gather songs from a certain time period.

MacRumors has provided an image of the new tool (see above), and according to MacWorld, Playlist Playground can also generate playlists based on a selection of ‘at least 10 different songs’. It also gives you the freedom to chop and change your prompt, edit the title, and manually add or remove songs before finalizing it — but that’s not the only feature that Apple Music is borrowing from Spotify.

One of the most valuable Spotify features is the Live Events hub, a one-stop overview of all the upcoming gigs in your area, and it seems that Apple Music is developing its own version.

In MacWorld’s report, the outlet highlights that when you open Apple Music after installing the iOS 24.6 update, you’ll be met with a pop-up stating that you’ll be able to view upcoming live events from the app. We don’t know how this will work or look in Apple Music yet, but MacWorld predicts it will be similar to Shazam’s own tool (which is owned by Apple).

If you have access to the iOS 24.6 beta, you can test out Playlist Playground by going to the Apple Music app and tapping the new ‘+’ button in your Library, but a full rollout isn’t expected to land until spring, which isn’t a long wait at all. But I know what you’re thinking, ‘what if I don't have an Apple Intelligence phone?’. It turns out you don’t have to miss out on Playlist Playground after all.

'I’m on iPhone 13 Pro and it works for me'

Apple’s flagship AI service is a tricky thing to dissect. It’s still missing the long-awaited AI-powered Siri voice and, despite its availability across macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18-supported devices, it doesn’t mean that all products have Apple Intelligence features (the iPhone 16 is the first model designed for it).

But not in the case of Playlist Playground. It turns out that even if you’re not on a non-Apple Intelligence mobile device, you’ll still be able to create AI playlists in Apple Music once Playlist Playground has rolled out — at least, that's what beta testers have confirmed online (see below).

General Note: AI Generated Playlists DO Work on Non Apple Intelligence iPhones from r/AppleMusic

This lifts a huge restriction, as well as the heavy weight of concern, off a handful of Apple Music listeners without an Apple Intelligence-compatible device. That in mind, it must function similarly to the AutoMix function from last year, which can be used on any Apple device so long as it supports iOS 18 and above.

It doesn’t just welcome a new way to create personal playlists, it also invites a fresh way for music fans to discover new albums, songs, and artists to add to their Library, and tailor their in-app experiences to suit evolving music tastes. It’s a win-win situation, if you ask me.

• Spotify is launching three new upgrades for its Lyrics tool
• After experimenting with Lyric Translations late last year, Spotify is rolling it out globally
• Additionally, Lyrics will now have a new home in the Spotify app, and Premium users will also have offline access to Lyrics

Although it’s been five years since Spotify launched Lyrics, there’s still a lot of work to be done – even if it is one of the best music streaming services. Earlier this year, I shared my list of improvements I wanted Spotify to make in 2026, and one of them has already been solved.

As of today, the platform is rolling out not one, but three upgrades to its Lyrics tool, and it’s been a long time coming, even though Apple Music has had one of them for a few months now.

The three new upgrades not only give Spotify's Lyrics a new look, but give them an entirely new purpose – starting with Lyric Translations.

Lyric translations are finally going global

Following a successful trial in over 25 markets, Lyric Translations is going global, so now you’ll be able to understand what your favorite artists are singing about, no matter what your first language is.

This will come in handy for English speakers like me who love music from artists like Rosalia and Bad Bunny but still rely on third-party apps for translations.

Following the launch of Apple Music’s own lyric translation tool in September 2025, Spotify started experimenting with a similar feature of its own shortly after the platform rolled out Lyric Translations upon the release of Rosalia’s album Lux. At the time, it was only available for select markets, but that’s no longer the case.

Premium users can access offline Lyrics

Wish you could still view Lyrics while listening to music offline? Well, now you can.

Along with lyric translations, Spotify is allowing Premium subscribers to access song Lyrics even when they’re listening without WiFi or service. Now, you’ll never miss a line, “whether you’re underground on your commute or flying at 30,000 feet”, as Spotify puts it.

Lyrics find a new home in the playback page

Not only are Lyrics getting those two new upgrades, but Spotify is also making them easier to find in the app. Since Spotify launched Lyrics, they’ve stayed in the same place in a tab beneath the playback bar, but now they’re being moved front and center.

When you open the playback page in the Spotify app, the new Lyrics tab will be displayed directly in the Now Playing View, where, just like before, you’ll see them scroll as you listen to music.

Though Spotify should've made these updates years ago, it's better late than never right? The previous Lyrics experience wasn't the best, so hopefully this next update will give it the oomph it's always needed. Now Spotify just needs to fix its synchronization issues.

• YouTube Music now syncs your playback progress across devices you're signed into, similar to Spotify Connect
• Users could continue music playback after switching between mobile and web versions, but this new upgrade expands on that
• Now that YouTube Music has rolled this tool out it leaves Apple Music as the only service that doesn't offer playback syncing, and users have been airing their thoughts

Google is finally fixing an annoying YouTube Music issue that users have been begging for, and now the music streaming platform syncs your playback queue across other Android and iOS devices – a tool that Apple Music has yet to roll out.

What does this mean for YouTube Music subscribers? Well, similar to tools such as Spotify Connect, your YouTube Music playback queue will now be synced with other devices that you’re signed into, so that you can pick up where you left off hassle-free and continue enjoying your favorite tunes. It’s a godsend if you switch between devices for music streaming.

Previously, the Now Playing queue on Android and iOS was independent, meaning that if you wanted to continue your listening session from a new device, then you’d have to manually build your queue again from scratch – a huge inconvenience if you ask me. With that said, YouTube Music started improving its queue syncing features back in 2024, allowing the web version to load your playback queue from your mobile.

When you switch devices to resume playback, you’ll find the last song you streamed in the miniplayer – so if you were listening to YouTube Music on a Google Pixel Phone and you swap over to an iPad for example, it will resume your queue there. Once you make the switch, you’ll find temporary “From your iPhone” and “From your browser” placeholders for artist names which will disappear when you press play.

It marks a huge quality of life upgrade for YouTube Music users, and it’s about time too, as its music streaming competitors have already jumped on similar bandwagons – with the exception of Apple Music that is.

‘I'm thinking of seriously switching back to Spotify’

Apple Music has many benefits over the likes of Spotify and YouTube Music. It’s one of the best music streaming services for audio quality, supporting Dolby Atmos on a range of albums, and its collection of radio stations and editorial playlists are built with music fans in mind.

It wins in so many areas, however it still hasn’t quite hit the nail on the head when it comes to queue syncing across devices, and since YouTube Music’s latest upgrade it’s ruffled a few feathers with Apple Music subscribers.

Apple Music seriously needs this. from r/AppleMusic

As it stands, there’s no means of syncing your playback queue or song progress across devices where you’re logged into Apple Music, requiring you to search for the song you streamed last and rebuild the queue entirely.

While there are many reasons music fans are sticking with Apple Music, recent comments reveal that if there’s one setback that’s enough to tempt users to switch back to Spotify, it’s this one, especially now that there are so many ways to stream music.

Comment from r/AppleMusic

It's not new that music streaming dominates the way a large number of us consume music today and the tech we stream it though – I frequently switch between my phone, smart speaker, and smart TV to enjoy listening to music, and I don’t know where I’d be without Spotify Connect.

Since covering all things music streaming, this is the first time I’m seeing users actively considering switching from Apple Music to other platforms, when it’s usually the other way around. But whether or not they go through with it is another matter.

• Qobuz's mobile app audience reportedly grew by 202% (US) or 105% (UK), from 2024 to 2025
• The music platform ranked #3 in the UK and #2 in the US for Media & Entertainment
• It's been recognized as a Digital 100 winner by data firm Similarweb as a result

As music lovers look to embrace more analog in 2026 (and competitor Spotify continues to receive 'Slopify' criticism for AI music infestation on its site) Qobuz is seemingly thriving – to the point that it has been recognized an annual Digital 100 winner by web analytics expert Similarweb for its huge growth. These awards give flowers to the companies that showed the most significant digital growth in the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, India, and Brazil.

The original hi-res music streaming service and independently-owned music download platform ranked #3 among the fastest growing companies in Media & Entertainment for the UK, and #2 for Media & Entertainment in the US.

Similarweb’s Sixth Annual Digital 100 Report also states that Qobuz grew the audience for its mobile app by 105% in the UK and 202% in the US from 2024 to 2025, based on the company's independent estimates.

And while ChatGPT took the top spot in many countries (again), it's a major win for the unique French music site that prefers to do things its own way – and strongly emphasizes human curation and passion, featuring expert-curated playlists and 'Editor's Picks' for its recommended audio content.

Dan Mackta, a Managing Director at Qobuz, said "We’re delighted to be recognised as one of the fastest‑growing digital companies in both the UK and US in this year’s Similarweb Digital 100. Last year was a pivotal one for Qobuz, highlighted by the launch and strong adoption of Qobuz Connect, which has broadened how our listeners enjoy high‑resolution music across hi‑fi devices."

Qobuz: time to make the switch?

Qobuz further solidified itself as the audiophiles' service of choice by adding hi-res DSD and DXD downloads to its offering in October 2024. More recently, it announced a six-month, artists-first podcast collab with indie music mag, Drowned in Sound and added sensitive, helpful initiatives such as organizing its music catalog by record label (rather than via a 'sounds similar' algorithm) to help me find new bands I love and help Qobuz earn its place in my music-loving heart.

Does Qobuz care for accolades? Well, winners do not apply for or lobby for these awards. Similarweb's ranking is powered by its own "rigorous analysis of billions of digital signals across more than 100 million companies". The Digital 100 ranks web domains and mobile apps based on their performance over 12 months, versus the previous 12 months.

I'm glad that Qobuz is gaining traction as a viable music app alternative to Spotify, because for me, there's also a much more human win to celebrate here.

Spotify isn't alone in receiving accusations of pushing AI slop on its listeners – YouTube Music users feel it's also happening to them. And while Spotify seems to be hoping loyal fans to look the other way on ethical music issues – see its recent bid to win over Audible fans with a big audiobook upgrade – Qobuz doubled down on its support for artists last year by publishing how much it actually pays per stream.

At just over 1.8¢, this rate has not only been verified as the highest pay-per-stream fee in the industry, Qobuz also claims it's "four times the industry average."

And that's before we even touch on how former Spotify CEO Daniel Ek's reported investments in AI military company Helsing caused acts such as Massive Attack to remove their entire catalog from the platform.

Since the publication of this piece, a Spotify spokesperson has reached out to TechRadar to comment on its own payment models and approach to AI music, telling us: "Spotify actively removes deceptive or spammy AI tracks to protect artists and listeners, including more than 75 million in the past year. Regarding 'per stream rates', no streaming service pays per stream. A high per stream means fewer people are using a service. Per stream rate = total payouts divided by total streams. What would make a higher per stream rate? Fewer streams, meaning lower overall payouts."

Given the recent surge in Qobuz's popularity since it published its rates, it's perhaps even more interesting to consider this.

Think it's time to make the switch? The figures suggest it's already happening. Smartphone owners are letting their devices do the talking.

I'm not sure exactly when I signed up for Spotify, but according to my email archive, it's been at least 10 years – and quite possibly much longer than that (the music streaming service launched in the UK in 2009). Honestly, I've loved it, and having access to a catalog of tens of millions of songs has transformed how I listen to music, along with many others.

However, with a new year audit of my many, many digital subscriptions imminent, I'm ready to return to my first digital music love: Apple Music (or iTunes, as it used to be). There's one main reason and several secondary reasons why I'm making the switch as I'll get into here.

If you're weighing up your own relationship to the best music streaming services then you might find this perspective helpful – especially if you've been thinking of switching away from Spotify or wondering what Apple Music has to offer. Don't stick with your current music streaming service just out of habit.

The digital listening revolution

Some context is probably going to be helpful to understand why I'm switching to Apple Music. I bought into the digital music revolution very early, being a teenager during the time when MP3s finally got digital audio tracks down to a reasonable size and internet speeds improved enough to share them online.

While I was still buying music on CD, I was patiently ripping everything and feeding it into Winamp and Windows Media Player – and then later iTunes not long after it first appeared on Windows in 2003. Being able to store hundreds of albums on a single device seemed like magic at the time.

iTunes eventually morphed into Apple Music of course, but my history with the software goes way, way back – and as I'll get into, that past history helps to explain why I'm returning to Apple Music again. I've always liked having my own copies of my music, rather than renting everything for a monthly fee, though I can see the advantages of both.

Apple Music's history, iTunes and all, means it works slightly differently to Spotify, YouTube Music, Deezer, Amazon Prime Music, Tidal, and any others I might have forgotten. It was originally designed to be a desktop application, playing tunes from a local music library, and for me that still counts in its favor in 2025.

Why I'm heading back to Apple Music

There's one main reason why I'm heading back to Apple Music: I miss the smart playlists that you can customize yourself. No other music app or streaming service really comes close to letting you queue up specific songs that match specific criteria, and it gives me much more control over my music catalog and what I listen to.

If you're completely bemused by what smart playlists are, they let you build playlists that include (for example) 'five-star songs by my favorite artists that I haven't heard in a month', or 'electronic lo-fi music released in the last five years', or 'the 100 songs I've listened to least from all those added to my library in the last six months'.

You can go into incredible detail with this. Before I got lazy and started just clicking on whatever popped up in my Spotify recommendations, I had put together an intricate, multi-layered, nested master playlist that carefully balanced new music with old music, prioritizing my favorite artists and recent tunes but also leaving room for more obscure cuts from the back catalog.

Importantly, once a track is played in this playlist, the playlist criteria means it won't appear again for at least three months. I can just stick it on and it auto-refreshes through the day, making sure that I'm not neglecting the far reaches of my music library, while not letting my listening be dominated by old tracks I've heard a thousand times, or by artists I like but don't love.

There's currently no way you can do that with Spotify, even if Prompted Playlists are coming to offer something similar – I feel like by accepting whatever Spotify throws my way I'm forgetting a lot of the bands I've enjoyed in years gone by, or maybe heard once or twice and never properly stuck with. With Apple Music I get to choose my own algorithm to surface tracks from all the music I've ever liked.

Other Apple Music features

There are other reasons I'm hankering to go back to Apple Music. While other streaming services (including Spotify) let you add local audio files you've ripped from CDs in years gone by (see above), Apple Music does this the best: you can seamlessly blend together local tracks with songs from the cloud.

And if I ever do decide to quit streaming music altogether, I can use Apple Music for free with all of the audio files I've ripped and purchased. I won't suddenly lose access to my playlists, or have to listen to adverts – I can still buy the music that I really like digitally, without paying a monthly fee to rent all the music ever made.

What's more, some of the historical drawbacks of Apple Music have been dealt with in recent times. For example, whereas it was once exclusive to Apple devices with the exception of the (somewhat inferior) Windows app, now the Windows program is much improved, and you can get at Apple Music on the web and on Android as well.

Apple has tidied up its software too, moving TV shows, movies, and podcasts away into separate apps so that Apple Music is now all about Apple Music (in the old iTunes days, everything was squished together).

I'm looking forward to a new future with Apple Music – but I'll hang on to my free Spotify account too, just in case.

As one of TechRadar’s resident electronic music nerds and a producer and DJ in my spare time, I’ve always loved showing people the ropes of DJing. The fundamentals of track selection and mixing are really quite simple, which ostensibly makes it one of the more accessible ways to enhance your music experience in a way even the best speakers and best headphones can't offer on their own.

The problem is that DJ equipment – especially the pro-grade stuff we see in nightclub booths and on festival stages – costs a lot of money. We’re talking about five figure sums in either dollars or pounds for a set of industry-standard players and an accompanying DJ mixer, which is a touch beyond the scope of our audio buying guides.

Take a look at any DJ booth and you’re more than likely to spot the logo of Pioneer DJ, now known as AlphaTheta. But while AlphaTheta is best known for its professional kit, it also makes one of the best cheap DJ devices I’ve ever used, which has now earned a place on my list of Christmas gift recommendations.

Enter the DDJ-FLX2, the cheapest, smallest, and simplest DJ controller from AlphaTheta. Inspired by the layout of the company’s CDJ media players and DJM DJ mixers, the DDJ-FLX2 takes a handful of essential dials and faders, as well as some neat assistive features for newcomers and wild effects controls, and puts it all on a faceplate not much bigger than a sheet of paper.

To get specific, the DDJ-FLX2 is composed of two identical player sections, each with a jogwheel, tempo fader, cue and play buttons, and a performance pad array for loops and effects. The central mixer section has two channel faders, a three-band equalizer with filter, and headphone cue controls. A far cry from AlphaTheta’s pro kit, the DDJ-FLX2 comes in cheap at just $189 / £159 / AU$279.

In my four years DJing I’ve mixed on a variety of systems made by Pioneer DJ and other top brands, and my current home setup relies on Pioneer DJ digital media players. Within the DDJ lineup of controllers, I previously owned the DDJ-FLX4 and DDJ-FLX6, and used each for hundreds of hours with AlphaTheta’s own Rekordbox software.

This is all to say that I know Pioneer DJ / AlphaTheta kit very well, and have built up certain expectations for build quality, functionality, and features – it’s a brand known for high prices, but also for unshakeable reliability. Before using the DDJ-FLX2, I wasn’t sure that such a cheap and simple controller would be able to live up to these past experiences.

However, I’m happy to report that all of that melted away when I loaded up Rekordbox, plugged in the DDJ-FLX2, and was hit with a similar feeling of flow and rhythm to the one I get with my pro setup – the faders are smooth, the jogwheels responsive, and effects as fun as ever. I was also really impressed with the sound quality coming from both the headphone jack and main output – it’s a clean and transparent signal that made the three-band EQ sound great on my 3.5-inch speakers.

Speaking of the EQ, I think there are just enough features here to make the DDJ-FLX2 welcoming to new DJs while making mastery of the unit a satisfying challenge. The jogwheels, while small, track motion well – for club-style mixing they’re solid, and they even hold up to a bit of vinyl-style scratching. I’m also glad to see that Smart Color FX have made it over from the DDJ-FLX4: these are great-sounding and inventive effects that are just a blast to use, from robotic pitch shifters to cavernous reverbs.

An easy setup process makes the DDJ-FLX2 even better for beginners. The unit connects to your phone, tablet, or laptop via an included USB-C cable. The unit also supports Bluetooth, which worked great on my iPhone 15 but wouldn’t connect to my Oppo Find X9 Pro Android phone. It’s bus-powered with a built-in audio interface, which alongside its compact design makes it a great choice for DJing on the go.

As for sourcing your tunes, Rekordbox supports Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and Soundcloud integration on both desktop and mobile, so you can stream from your library as well as playing back files from your hard drive.

And there’s more joy for newcomers thanks to the Beat Sync and Smart Fader buttons – the former locks each player in time with the other, while the latter adds a tempo-shifting ability to the crossfader, making it possible to blend two totally different tracks by simply shifting the fader from side to side.

That’s not to say there aren’t some caveats. The big one that could annoy even total newbies the lack of dedicated controls for selecting and loading in tracks. That means you need to use your device’s touchscreen or mouse to load up the next song, which can slow you down and take some momentum out of the mix. This isn’t a huge problem for new DJs learning the ropes, but in faster genres like DnB or techno I can see it becoming an annoyance pretty quickly.

Also, the build quality is a mixed bag. I appreciate that all of the faders are metal with plastic caps and all have a smooth action, but the plastic faceplate looks pretty cheap and the tiny volume dials for the two jacks are placed annoyingly on the left side, right next to where the cables stick out (also, the left channel fader on my unit arrived a bit askew and remains so after trying to realign it – I’ve reached out to AlphaTheta for comment on that).

The DDJ-FLX2 is, otherwise, a fantastic Christmas gift for music lovers, especially those that are on the fence about getting on the decks for the first time – the bevy of beginner-friendly tools, mobile support, and simplified layout make it really easy to get going. If you can live with its limitations, the DDJ-FLX2 is a welcoming and affordable option for new DJs.

I’d still recommend the DDJ-FLX4 ($329 / £279 / AU$499) to DJs with even a little experience or a slightly bigger budget because of its spacious interface, dedicated track selection and gain controls, and more advanced effects section. But at the end of the day, DJing is about loving music, and when it comes to getting the dance started with two tracks playing the DDJ-FLX2 does an impressively good job at an impressively low price.

ChatGPT has invited Apple Music to join its library of third-party apps, one that could shape how you find and organize music, even if you can't stream full songs through the AI chatbot.

Anyone can ask Apple Music through ChatGPT to make a playlist or find an album or song, then play a short clip of the music the AI finds. If you're an Apple Music subscriber, you can link your account and save playlists directly to your Apple Music library.

You can directly request songs, or turn to the AI to curate your listening with prompts ranging from “Make a 45-minute playlist for a fall dinner party in upstate New York” to “Show me music to make my kid laugh.” The app translates your requests into links and playlists you can instantly open in Apple Music.

You can set it up by going to the Apps section of ChatGPT, searching for Apple Music, and connecting to your account or using it without an account. You can either pull up Apple Music by clicking on the plus sign in the text bar and choosing it, or start a prompt with "@Apple Music.” ChatGPT may use it independently if your prompt indicates it would be appropriate.

Apple Music ChatGPT

Apple Music's leveraging of ChatGPT certainly makes it easier to find songs when all you have are vague descriptions or to make an afternoon playlist based on how you're feeling in the moment.

The Apple Music integration also benefits from ChatGPT’s broader context awareness. In testing, I found that I could bring up music requests midway through a larger conversation, and ChatGPT would quietly open the Apple Music app to suggest relevant tracks or build a playlist based on the discussion.

At its best, Apple Music’s ChatGPT app acts like the kind of friend who knows music better than you do and doesn’t judge your vague descriptions. Just some emotional language, movie references, or even lyrics can all get you somewhere. Of course, you still need an Apple Music account to send the playlist and open Apple Music to hear the full songs.

The obvious comparison is Spotify’s ChatGPT app, which launched earlier this year. Spotify’s ChatGPT app is similar in many ways, using prompts to create playlists and so on. That said, Spotify lets both free users and subscribers connect their accounts and send playlists to the streaming platform.

Spotify’s integration is also more personalized, using your listening history and interests to guide recommendations. Apple’s version currently builds playlists based on your actual prompts.

For example, when I asked each app to make me “a playlist for reading by the fire on a snowy evening,” Spotify leaned into my love of acoustic folk and moody lo-fi. At the same time, Apple Music offered a more general set of piano jazz and mellow singer-songwriter tracks. Spotify clearly used some of the songs I've listened to before to make its list.

The Apple Music app in ChatGPT will be a boon for those who prefer the platform to Spotify and have an account. Apple may not have reinvented music playback with the app, but it does act as a signpost for not only what Apple might pursue in AI partnerships, but also how ChatGPT and other AI chatbots might incorporate bigger apps and products without replicating their work.

• 34% of new music on Deezer is AI-generated
• 97% of listeners can't tell the difference between AI music and human-made tracks
• Where does it end and what needs to be implemented to stop the slop?

If you’ve listened to new music recently and thought it sounds a bit soulless, there’s a decent chance you weren’t imagining it.

According to new data from streaming service Deezer, 34% of all new music uploaded to the platform is now fully AI-generated. That’s over 50,000 AI-made tracks being uploaded every single day.

If you thought that was bad, what’s more unsettling is that almost nobody can spot it - Deezer also commissioned a study that shows 97% of people "can't tell the difference" between AI and human-made music.

A flood of AI music

Deezer's research was conducted by blind tests across eight countries, where people overwhelmingly failed to identify which tracks were AI-generated, even when actively trying to do so.

That flood of synthetic songs is being driven by how easy AI music tools have become to use. You no longer need a band, a studio, or even much musical knowledge. With an AI app like Suno, a prompt, and a few clicks, you can now produce tracks that are good enough to pass as human work, at least to most ears.

While AI music is everywhere in terms of uploads, it still barely registers when it comes to actual listening. Deezer says fully AI-generated tracks account for around 0.5% of total streams, suggesting listeners still gravitate towards music made by real artists, even if they can’t always tell why.

Where does this stop?

That gap between volume and popularity hasn’t stopped concern from spreading across the industry. In the same study, around 80% of people said AI-generated music should be clearly labelled on streaming platforms. Many also worried about the impact on artists’ livelihoods, particularly when it comes to AI models being trained on copyrighted music without consent.

The Verge spoke with multiple musicians, who all highlighted their fear of AI slop taking over the industry, with some calling the situation "Completely unacceptable."

There’s also a growing feeling that AI tracks shouldn’t be treated the same as human ones financially, with respondents saying payouts should be lower for fully-synthetic music.

Deezer, for its part, says it’s already rolling out tools to detect and tag AI-generated tracks, while filtering out fraudulent streaming activity linked to mass-produced songs. It’s an early attempt to prevent platforms from being overwhelmed by content that’s cheap to produce but difficult to police.

Still, the bigger question remains unresolved. If most people can’t hear the difference, does it even matter who or what made the music?

For now, the industry is hurtling toward a future where AI music is no longer a novelty or a gimmick. It’s just part of the background noise. And chances are, you’ve already been listening to it without realizing.

• Apple Music Replay 2025 has landed before Spotify Wrapped
• Any subscriber can access it in the Music app or on the web
• It'll highlight top tracks, top artists, and genres as a start

Rather than following in the footsteps of Spotify Wrapped, Apple Music is getting ahead with its annual Replay. It is, of course, the Cupertino-based tech giant’s take on the classic sharing of stats for all the tunes you’ve listened to this year, your top artists, and some stats that will likely surprise you and maybe catch some eyes.

While Spotify Wrapped is generally seen as the gold standard, albeit with some missteps, Apple Music Replay 2025 really hits the basics, with some extra stats thrown in. You can also easily access the Replay experience via the Music app on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, or even on the web.

One note: if you try to access it on macOS, it will jump you to the web experience, though the year recap playlist is available natively.

I was greeted to it, front and center, in the top row of the Music app on my iPhone, and I especially love the moving gradient of colors that “Replay: Your music story is here.” is set against.

From there, you’re transported to a simple Replay interface that invites you to start with a highlight reel and then scroll down for your top artists, tracks, albums, playlists, and genres of 2025. You can also dive further back into previous years or see 2025 month by month.

Apple Music’s approach with the highlight reel doesn’t assign you a music genre or personality type; rather, it sticks to the numbers. The first slide runs through the main stats with album covers flying through, and total listening time before taking you into the artist you’ve been most loyal to – shocker, that’s Bruce Springsteen for me. It’ll then run through top tracks, top albums, and even genres month by month before inviting you to share it to Instagram for Stories or Reels, as well as TikTok.

The biggest change from previous years, though, is that you can now get more actionable, insightful trends from the month. Of course, you can also dive right into your Replay playlist for your top songs. It also fits into Apple Music’s monthly recaps, which it has offered for a bit – something I’d like to see Spotify copy at some point, but Last.fm will make do for that.

Of course, if you have a setup like mine, where you’re spread across different music streaming services – Apple Music, Spotify, and Nugs are mine – one service doesn’t necessarily paint the entire picture. And Apple Music doesn’t do the best job of integrating iTunes Match picks either, but while it’s not a massive redesign, there’s no doubting that Apple Music Replay 2025 hits the classic notes with some updated theming.

Even with the polish around Apple Music’s year-end recap, it’s safe to say we’re curious how Spotify might raise the bar with Wrapped 2025. Yes, we can all assume we’ll get traits based on the music we listen to, a personality genre delivered as a character, and maybe even a short video recording from our top artist or artists. Spotify even offered an AI-generated podcast last year that unpacked each user’s Wrapped; we’ll see if that sticks around for 2025.

I think it’s safe to say it will certainly be a bit more flashy, ready with memes, and all over social platforms soon enough.

• Spotify could be preparing to launch its own lyric translation tool, as spotted by a user on Reddit
• The company has been testing the feature for years, and will follow Apple Music if it goes ahead with the rollout
• Subscribers have been asking for it for years, but some are concerned about the accuracy of the translations

Update: we reached out to Spotify for a quote on the arrival of lyric translations. We received the following statement from a Spotify spokesperson: 'Rosalía’s album is among the first to feature lyrics translations in 13 different languages through Spotify’s expanded MusixMatch partnership. With the integration now live in key markets like the US and Spain (as of November 7), listeners worldwide can instantly understand her lyrics, bridging the gap between her sound and global audience'.

Original story follows:

Spotify and Apple Music are in continuous competition with one another as two of the best music streaming services. After Apple launched its AutoMix function Spotify came out with its own audio-mixing tool, and now the latter could be gearing up to emulate another handy Apple Music feature – lyric translations.

According to a user on Reddit (see below), Spotify could soon be rolling out its own lyric translation feature, following Apple Music’s free update that introduced translations back in September.

Lyric Translations are rolling out in the US from r/truespotify

If Spotify does roll out the feature it's likely that users in the US will be the first to get access (the Reddit user above is US-based). Spotify tends to release new features to limited markets initially, even if it’s at the expense of subscribers' patience.

This isn’t the first time that a lyric translation tool has cropped up on Spotify. It’s known that the company has been working on its own version of the feature for a while, going back as far as four years, when a Reddit user noticed a lyric translation button similar to the one above.

Spotify added a "Translate to English" button for non-English lyrics in some songs from r/languagelearning

Spotify later addressed the status of lyric translations on its Community forum, sharing the following back in 2023: "Lyrics translation is a feature that's still being tested in selected countries. At Spotify, we're always testing new improvements and features to give our users a better experience. That's why you may have something in the app that other users don't or vice versa, or have a feature to try temporarily."

Spotify hasn’t provided any further insight to the status of its lyric translation feature since then. However, if I were to venture a guess, it would make sense for Spotify to wait until 2026, and roll it out once all the Spotify Wrapped craziness is behind us – although as mentioned, it's likely that only select users will see it initially.

• Apple Music could soon offer lyric sharing direct to your WhatsApp status
• This would match a Spotify feature launched earlier this year
• The new feature could launch with iOS 26.2

Apple is reportedly working on a new feature for Apple Music which would allow users to share songs and lyrics to their WhatsApp status, matching a Spotify feature released earlier this year.

This new integration would allow users to directly share songs or a few lines of lyrics from Apple Music to WhatsApp directly, using custom cards and links back to Apple Music.

Currently, users can share Apple Music links to their WhatsApp status, but there’s no option to share lyrics and customization options are scarce. This update aims to remedy this while providing parity with Spotify.

For reference, WhatsApp Status is a social media-style content carousel a la Instagram Stories, which sits alongside the text string long-time users may be familiar with.

The new feature is currently available through Apple’s developer beta, and depending on the company’s update schedule could feasibly launch with iOS 26.2. After all, Apple Music was a target for new features in the recent iOS 26.1 update.

And as 9to5Mac reports, there’s still at least one issue to iron out. The share icon can simply refuse to show up when trying to share a song, rather than its lyrics, but this is likely to be fixed by release.

All said, this is another step in WhatsApp’s journey from messenger app to social platform – but more importantly, it’s a sign that Apple is still keenly chasing Spotify’s example as we approach the all-important Spotify Wrapped season.

Spotify is well ahead Apple Music when it comes to the size of its userbase, with 713 million users compared to Apple’s 95 million.

Apple Music has made several solid plays to get ahead of its Swedish rival, such as offering lossless and spatial audio all the way back in 2021 (Spotify got lossless fidelity this year, and still lacks spatial audio), but has struggled to match Spotify’s cultural cache, especially when it comes to that key 'OK, now share it!' social aspect of music.

Indeed, despite Apple Music's Replay walking all over Spotify Wrapped last year, music fans and online commentators alike still look forward to Spotify’s data-driven listening recap as the year draws to a close. Incidentally, Spotify has just launched daily recaps and a weekly Wrapped offering, so it'll be interesting to see who wins that battle this year.

While adding direct sharing to WhatsApp statuses might seem like a small upgrade to some, feature parity puts Apple Music in a better position as the spotlight shifts towards Spotify’s end-of-year antics.

Will you be sharing songs and lyrical snippets to your WhatsApp Status? Let us know in the comments.

It's finally here – hours after Netflix accidentally leaked it ahead of schedule, the final trailer for Stranger Things season 5 has landed online.

If you're anything like us, you've probably watched it multiple times to pore over the footage within. We also imagine you've been trying to work out which song it's set to and which band is responsible for said track's creation.

Well, fear not, dear reader, for we come bearing gifts about the musical number used in the latest teaser for Stranger Things season 5. So, read on to find out who it is, the title of the track, and where you can listen to it over and over again.

What song is playing in Stranger Things 5's latest trailer? And who sings it?

That'll be 'Who Wants to Live Forever', which was written and played by legendary British rock group Queen.

The sixth track from Queen's 1986 number one album 'It's a Kind of Magic', the power ballad was also released that year – September 15, 1986, to be exact – and peaked at No. 24 on the official UK music charts following the single's release.

In the years since, 'Who Wants to Live Forever' has featured in numerous 'best of' Queen song lists, with Rolling Stone readers ranking it the fifth best Queen track of all-time in 2014, and Smooth Radio listeners voting it as the 15th best Queen ditty in 2018.

Where can I listen to 'Who Wants to Live Forever' by Queen?

On all of the best music streaming services, of course. That includes Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube.

It's unclear if the song's use in Stranger Things 5's newest trailer will boost its popularity among fans of the immensely popular Netflix TV Original. Even if music services see a spike in the amount of people listening to 'Who Wants to Live Forever', though, I imagine it won't be as successful as the song used in its forebear's various teasers.

Indeed, when the trailers for one of the best Netflix shows' fourth season were released in 2022, they were set to Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)'. In the lead up to Stranger Things 4's launch, that track slowly gained momentum on various music platforms as fans of the supernatural sci-fi horror show streamed it time and again. Once last season made its bow in mid-2022, its popularity exploded and led 'Running Up That Hill' to become one of the most listened-to songs of the year.

If it wants to eclipse that musical number's success, 'Who Wants to Live Forever' will have to streamed over one billion times – a figure 'Running Up That Hill' hit just weeks after Stranger Things season 4 premiered – between now and December 31, 2025. A tall order indeed but, if anyone can do it, Queen, aka one of the most beloved UK acts of all-time, can.

Before Stranger Things' final season premieres on November 26/27, get the full lowdown on its release schedule, trailers, cast, and plot by reading my dedicated guide to Stranger Things season 5.

It’s no secret that nowadays, subscribing to more than a couple of the best streaming services will rack up a bill that can stretch into hundreds of dollars each month. The situation certainly hasn't improved with the fact that virtually all of the major streamers apply regular price increases – Netflix, for example, increased its plan prices for the sixth time in August, the sixth time in 10 years – and a top-end Premium subscription will now set you back a staggering AU$28.99 a month.

To its credit, Apple held off increasing the cost of Apple TV Plus (soon to be known as just ‘Apple TV’) for longer than most other providers. And while it has since increased prices a couple of times, it’s still remained comparatively affordable. That value has arguably tipped over into ‘average’ with its latest hike, however, which landed in August – bumping the cost from AU$12.99 to AU$15.99 a month.

It could still be reasonably argued that this is actually quite the bargain considering the quality of content on Apple’s streaming service. Still, a price hike is a price hike, and ‘over AU$15 a month’ feels like a tipping point that could justifiably deter a lot of customers.

While it’s not possible to avoid paying the increased fee for an Apple TV subscription, there is one easy way to get better value for your money – particularly if you’re an Apple device owner. An Apple One subscription.

What is Apple One?

Apple One is basically the Mac- and iPhone-maker’s answer to Amazon Prime and Google One, bundling several Apple services into one unified plan that’s paid for monthly. And, in my opinion, it’s easily the best-value product Apple sells.

It’s available in three tiers, with each one bundling more services than the previous, along with an increased amount of total iCloud storage.

No matter which tier you sign up for, you’ll save money compared to subscribing to the included services separately. And, with up to AU$551 in yearly savings possible on the top-tier Premier plan, here’s why Apple One is my favourite and most-used Apple product, and why I think it’s worth considering for anyone who uses the brand’s devices.

What is Apple One and how much does it cost?

Apple One is an all-in-one subscription that bundles several Apple software services into one monthly plan. These services include Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade and (at the higher tiers) Apple Fitness Plus and Apple News Plus. Each tier also includes a set amount of iCloud storage, although you’re able to increase this even further via a separate iCloud+ plan if you wish.

There are three tiers of Apple One: Individual, Family and Premier.

The Individual tier is the cheapest at AU$24.95 per month. Family is a little more expensive at AU$31.95 per month, while Premier, which includes basically every service Apple has to offer along with 2TB of iCloud storage, tops out at AU$49.95 per month.

How much can you save with Apple One?

To break it down further, let me explain what each tier includes.

Individual

The Individual tier is the most affordable at AU$24.95p/m and for that, you get a subscription to Apple TV Plus (AU$15.99), Apple Music (AU$12.99), Apple Arcade (AU$9.99) and 50GB of iCloud+ storage (AU$1.49). Separately, these services would cost you AU$40.46 a month, so you’re saving AU$15.51 per month, or just over AU$186 each year.

Sure, you might not use Arcade much, if at all, but taking Apple Music, TV Plus and the iCloud+ storage into account, you’re still saving AU$5.52 each month by subscribing to Apple One. It’s a small saving, but it adds up to almost AU$70 a year.

Family

The Apple One Family plan includes the same services as the Individual plan, but increases the iCloud+ storage to 200GB. It costs AU$31.95p/m, as opposed to AU$50.46 when purchased individually, adding up to a total yearly saving of AU$222.12.

The Family plan (like the Premier plan below) allows you to share your included benefits with up to five people. If you can convince anyone you share your plan with to contribute towards the monthly fee, you could save even more.

Premier

The Premier plan includes all of Apple’s subscription services: Music, TV Plus, Arcade, Fitness Plus and News Plus, and it bundles in 2TB of iCloud+ storage.

Separately, these services would cost AU$95.94p/m, yet Apple charges just AU$49.95p/m. That’s a total saving of AU$45.99 each month or AU$551 a year.

As with the Family plan above, you can share these benefits, including the iCloud+ storage, with up to five people. Note however that each person doesn’t get 2TB of storage, and it’s instead a shared pool that everyone can use via their own personal, private profile.

Why I subscribe to Apple One

I’ve been an Apple One Premier subscriber for as long as I can remember. Admittedly, I only really use Apple Music and Apple TV Plus, but I have been known to try a workout via Apple Fitness Plus, and I do occasionally use News Plus to read up on world events, access some magazines or just indulge in some trashy entertainment content.

The biggest drawcard for me, however, is the 2TB of included iCloud storage. Having such a large amount means I never have to worry about running out of onboard storage on my iPhone. I send all my photos to the cloud and I can make constant back ups of my device.

Now, the Apple Music subscription included with this tier (and the Family tier) is a family plan, meaning I can share it with up to five people.

Admittedly, while this benefit is a little lost on me (I only have my partner that I share my Premier plan with), if you live in a large household then you and four family members effectively have their own personal Apple Music and Apple TV subscriptions.

If you can make use of all five seats, the value of an Apple One plan seriously intensifies. Why have three people in your household each subscribing to their own Apple Music plan at AU$12.99 a month – a total of AU$38.97 – when you can share a AU$31.95 Apple One Family plan and get the added bonus of Apple TV Plus, Arcade mobile games and 200GB of shared iCloud storage?

In my situation subscribing to the Premier plan, if I were to combine an individual Apple Music plan (AU$12.99), Apple TV Plus (AU$15.99) and 2TB of iCloud storage (AU$14.99), I’d be paying just under AU$44 a month. For an extra five bucks I get access to three more Apple services. I don’t mind if I only use them a few times a year – it’s still economically savvy if you ask me.

Try before you buy

If you’re unsure if you’d actually benefit from an Apple One plan, you can sign up for a free trial. This will give you access to the services included with the specific One plan you’re eyeing up. Do note though, that if you already subscribe to any of the included services, Apple Music for example, then you won’t get free access to that. You only get free access to any additional services you don’t already pay for.

If you choose to sign up for an Apple One plan, then any individual subscriptions you may already have will automatically transition over to the One plan, and you’ll then just be billed monthly.

To sign up for a free trial, head to the Apple One website. You'll be transferred to your device's App Store, and you can sign up by following the prompts.

Algoriddim’s audio-mixing software djay has become one of the most popular digital music mixing tools, but until now it’s lacked one thing that users have been craving: Spotify integration. That’s about to change, however, with the company announcing that it’s rolling out support for Spotify Premium users in the djay app on Mac and Windows.

For the first time, music fans and budding DJs alike will be able to access their own Spotify library, as well as playlists made by Spotify, to create their own mixed sets. Though Spotify integration is not yet available on Android and iOS devices, djay’s mobile app does support Apple Music and Tidal.

In its announcement, Algoriddim shares that “with just a login, Spotify Premium subscribers can instantly browse and mix millions of songs through djay”. From there, users can express their creativity as freely as they wish.

“From curating the perfect home party set to exploring new music, users can effortlessly drag and drop tracks into djay’s decks, create seamless transitions across genres with intelligent beat-matching, play using built-in DJ tools, or connect their favorite DJ hardware for tactile control,” the company adds.

Once you’ve logged in, djay has several music-mixing features for you to experiment with, from its catalog of effects and loops, to its beat-matching abilities – all which you can access via its user-friendly interface, so it’s easy to get mixing if you’re a DJ newbie.

The new integration with Spotify is a big step for djay, offering a wider and far more accessible music source to its users, rather than them having to go through the hassle of downloading songs from elsewhere. With that said, Spotify hasn’t long launched its own in-app mixing tool either.

A threat to Spotify Mix?

Apple Music was the first music streaming service to introduce audio-mixing with its AutoMix tool, which fans are still raving about. Hot on its heels, Spotify introduced Mix, a similar music-mixing feature, although Spotify’s version gives you a lot more control allowing you to mix your own playlists. For me, the latter is the better DJ feature – but I can see how djay’s suite of tools could surpass Spotify’s own.

Though Spotify Mix wins on the creative control front compared to Apple Music, it lacks advanced features such as track looping and effects, which you can use in djay. Add that to djay’s new support for Spotify, and users get the best of both worlds; neat DJ features and a music library that’s more accessible than before. However, I don’t think Spotify Mix is going to get pushed out of the limelight so quickly after its launch, and that’s thanks to its everyday user appeal.

When it comes to djay, its Spotify integration is only available for Mac and Windows – for now. And if and when it does come to djay’s Android and iOS versions, I imagine that Spotify users would still go for its in-app Mix feature, not just because it’s there at the tap of a button in an app they use daily, but because the playlist mixing novelty is there – which djay doesn’t have.

I know that I wouldn't want to flick between two different apps when I have the basic features that I want right there in my Spotify account, but I do respect the fact that djay is the more advanced software. Adding integration with the world’s most popular music streaming platform is undeniably a smart move on djay’s part, and one that could see an influx of new users.

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• Apple Music's translation and pronunciation of lyrics now available for Android
• Also available in iOS 26
• Machine translation at the tap of a screen

This summer, Apple added translation and karaoke features to the Apple Music iOS/iPadOS app that are particularly great for songs in non-Latin alphabet languages, such as J-Pop and K-Pop. And now the features have made their way to the Android version of the app.

The features are called Lyric Translation and Lyric Pronunciation respectively, and you'll find them when you tap on the Lyrics icon for the song you're listening to. That gives you three choices:

• Show Translation, which as you'd expect shows the translated lyrics;
• Show Pronuniciation, which shows the phonetic pronunciation of the lyrics;
• and Hide Original, which hides the original-language version of the lyrics so you can focus on the translation or pronunciation.

Why Apple Music's new Android features are exciting

I've been fascinated by the shifting tastes in global music listening since the early 2000s, with Japanese and Korean pop in particular becoming hugely popular globally. For those of us who don't speak the original languages, being able to see the lyrics translated into our language is a really fun feature – and likely to be funny, because pop lyrics are often terrible no matter which country they originate from.

More practically, these features are great for people learning languages: I know more French from Vanessa Paradis' pop hit Joe Le Taxi and Plastic Bertrand's Ca Plane Pour Moi than I ever learnt in a classroom, because learning through pop is fun, and songs stick in your brain in the same way lessons don't.

It also gives Apple an advantage over rivals such as Spotify, much of whose J-Pop content is region locked. Apple's pretty good for global pop, with decent discovery through its pop playlists – one member of the TechRadar team has declared Apple Music to be the "goated" platform for J-Pop now (he's young), between its far superior library and this new-found guidance for singing along with confidence.

Apple Music's translation and pronunciation features are available in Apple Music on iOS/iPadOS 26 and version 5 of Apple Music for Android, which is rolling out now.

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• Apple has released the iOS 26.1 beta update
• This comes with a host of small but significant changes
• That includes a clever new gesture for the Apple Music app

Apple might have just launched iOS 26 and all its new features, but there’s more on the table in the form of iOS 26.1, which Apple has just sent out to beta testers. And this beta update comes with a bunch of little tweaks and features that could make a positive difference to your iPhone, particularly if you regretted upgrading.

One of the neatest iOS 26.1 beta additions has come to the Apple Music app. When you’re playing something, you can now change tracks by swiping along the MiniPlayer. This is the small bar at the bottom of the Apple Music app that shows your currently playing music. Run a finger left or right along it and you can skip your audio back or forward a track.

Apple Music isn’t the only app to benefit from the changes in the iOS 26.1 beta. Apple’s Calendar app has been updated to change the way events from your calendars are displayed.

In some views, events will have a colored background whose tone depends on the calendar it originates in – blue for your family calendar and red for your social one, for example – instead of just a tiny colored icon. That makes it far easier to differentiate between your separate calendar events at a glance.

What else is new?

There’s also an adjustment to Apple’s Liquid Glass design in the Photos app. There, the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen has a more frosted appearance, which makes it easier to see against a light background. It’s not the first time Apple has tweaked Liquid Glass to make it more legible, and it likely won’t be the last time either.

The iOS 26.1 beta update comes with a host of other, smaller changes. That includes a redesigned slider for scrubbing through your videos in the Photos app, new languages for Apple Intelligence and AirPods Live Translation, a wider Tab Bar in Safari, and more.

Overall, though, the most significant changes – those to the Music, Calendar and Photos apps – are all quality-of-life improvements that should make using Apple’s apps easier and more satisfying than before.

While you can download and install the iOS 26.1 beta, you shouldn’t do it on your main device. Things can go wrong with developer betas, and you wouldn’t want to end up losing your important files because the beta caused an issue with your phone. Ensure you back up your iPhone before installing, too, just to be safe.

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Out of all the new iOS 26 functions that were unveiled at WWDC 2025, Apple Music’s AutoMix was the stand-out – a new tool that uses AI to blend songs together in the style of a DJ.

It took the internet by storm and received an overwhelmingly positive response, but now that iOS 26 has fully rolled out, users have picked up on some setbacks that could tarnish AutoMix’s reputation – and it’s all to do with its limited compatibility.

As it stands, AutoMix can only be used on iPhone, iPad, and Mac models that are Apple silicon-supported. Outside of this, AutoMix isn’t compatible, which has rubbed subscribers the wrong way.

The main issue that disappointed users have raised is AutoMix’s incompatibility with AirPlay, which allows you to stream music from your Apple Music account to a compatible device such as a speaker or a smart TV. It’s essentially Apple Music’s equivalent to Spotify Connect, but why is it such a big issue for users?

It’s official | AutoMix is only available on iPhone, iPad, and a Mac with Apple silicon from r/AppleMusic

“That 100% feels like an artificial limitation”

What got people so excited about AutoMix was its effortless and smart audio-mixing capability, taking the classic crossfade feature to a new level. Users saw this as a perfect addition to bring life to social gatherings – until they noticed that AirPlay doesn’t support it.

Although you can still use AutoMix when connected to a Bluetooth device, AirPlay is an integral part of Apple’s audio ecosystem, so the lack of support here is quite odd. One user on Reddit (see below) explained that their main use case was to stream AutoMix via AirPlay on a Sonos speaker, which several others appeared to agree with.

Comment from r/AppleMusic

With that said, a handful of users pointed out that when AutoMix first rolled out in iOS 26 beta, AirPlay was in fact working, but was so buggy to the point where users disabled it. Some are optimistic that Apple is currently fixing this bug and will roll out AirPlay compatibility in a next software update, but others beg to differ.

Comment from r/AppleMusic

Are there other limitations?

It turns out that in addition to AirPlay compatibility, there are other limitations that users are frustrated with. Apple TV and HomePod are the next biggest issues, but some believe AutoMix could come to the HomePod 2 if it’s ever released.

Comment from r/AppleMusic

Apple Watch and Android users are also missing out on the AutoMix hype, as are those who are currently using Intel-Based Macs and the Apple Music app for Windows.

While there’s a community of Apple Music fans who are still very much enjoying what AutoMix is bringing to the table, others aren't so pleased with its limitations given that the feature has been so highly praised. The only thing that we can do now is hope that these setbacks are only temporary, and that improvements to AutoMix’s compatibility will be made in near-future software updates. Perhaps iOS 26.1 will be the one.

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Spotify Lossless is all that everyone can talk about at the moment – who can blame them, we’ve waited long enough – but although Lossless is the new queen bee of the app’s ecosystem, I still can’t get the Spotify Mix playlist tool out of my head.

Spotify Mix is now rolling out to Premium subscribers, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on it a few weeks back – I was given early access to the feature after joining a livestream launch event for invited media. Since then, I've been experimenting with it as much as I can across my playlists, and I have to say, Spotify has ticked a lot of boxes with the feature.

Mix is essentially Spotify’s answer to Apple Music’s AutoMix, which uses artificial intelligence to blend the end of one song into the beginning of another like a DJ would during a set. With Spotify Mix, it requires a bit more work than Apple’s mixing tool, but the results are a lot more rewarding.

Aside from a few minor setbacks, which I’ll get into below, Spotify Mix has been well received by users who are starting to get access to it. Some are already saying it’s one of the best features the music streaming service has launched – and I can totally see why.

I love the new mix feature sm from r/truespotify

More creativity, more control

Compared to my experience with Apple Music’s AutoMix, Spotify’s Mix tool puts you directly in the DJ booth. You can find the Mix button in any of your personal Spotify playlists, and when Mix is enabled, transition buttons appear in between each song, along with details including song duration, beats per minute, and key to allow for smoother transitions.

As for the transitions themselves, this is where the real fun starts.

Tapping on a transition tab opens a page that looks a lot like audio mixing software, and it’s fairly simple to use. You can decide where you want the transition to occur in a song, with the option to adjust volume, EQ, and effects.

In most cases you can customize how long your tracks transition for, with a choice of three options; 2 bars, 4 bars, or 8 bars – I find that longer transitions sound better. Or if you don’t have a lot of time, you can easily select one of the transition presets (Auto, Fade, Rise, Blend, Wave, Melt, or Slam), and you can also fine-tune any of these.

If beat-matching between two songs isn’t possible you’ll get an alert to that effect, and you can resolve this by editing the order of a playlist to pair tracks with similar keys and BPM.

Some minor faults, but not awful overall

Not every new feature Spotify is 100% perfect, and the same applies to Mix. I’ve previously addressed some of the biggest unanswered questions about the feature, and highlighted some of its limitations.

As well as its incompatibility with Spotify Connect, one of the main setbacks that I’ve picked up on is that you can’t view or save playlists mixed by others – which would be a fun way for users who are also budding DJs to share their curated playlists – hopefully Spotify can add this functionality in a future update.

Another minor issue is that Spotify Mix isn’t necessarily designed to suit all types of playlists, so I’d take note of that before you start to mix one of your more mellow playlists for example. However, it’s a great way to enhance your more upbeat playlists, especially if you have a running playlist or one filled with pop bangers, both of which I’ve a blast curating.

Prior to getting Mix I relied on the classic crossfade function to have a continuous flow of music to keep me motivated while running. It did the trick to an extent, but adding custom transitions with Mix has given my running soundtrack an entirely new energy. The same goes for my pop-infused playlist, which is perfect for getting the party started.

I can’t speak for all users, but for me, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives – and I’m definitely not done with exploring mixed playlists. As far as Spotify’s newest features go, Mix is up there with Upcoming Releases as one of my favorite additions to the interface. I just hope that Spotify will listen to user feedback, and make Mix even better in the future.

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“Dad, you’ve got to try this, it’s amazing!”

You know Apple is onto something when your teenage son excitedly tells you about a new feature on his iPhone that’s arrived thanks to a simple upgrade to iOS 26.

I’m talking about a small feature that you might easily skip over when you upgrade, but it might just be my favorite thing about the new iOS 26 iPhone update. It's called AutoMix.

When turned on, AutoMix blends the end of one song into the start of the next one, but it does so intelligently, in a way that sounds pleasing to the ear and gives each song the respect it deserves.

Sometimes AutoMix will leave a gap between songs, and other times it will overlap them or use beatmatching to change a song’s time signature to match what’s coming up next. Usually it does a good job, although tracks with false endings can definitely catch it out.

If I just take the playlist that Apple Music has created for me based on Bon Iver’s Hey Ma as an example, Bon Iver’s 29 #Strafford APTS fades out just as the four-count intro to Mumford & Sons The Wolf starts off, and they overlap as if they were meant to work together like that.

Some users have complained that using AutoMix results in track shortening, and while that is sometimes true, I haven’t really found this to be a distraction when I’ve used it. I’m more interested in waiting for one song to end and another to start so that I can hear exactly how AutoMix has mixed them together.

How to use AutoMix

AutoMix works across Apple Music on all your Apple devices, so it’s not limited to iPhone, but that seems to be where I use it most.

It can be turned on and off at any time by using a new toggle button that appears on the far right next to the usual player controls for looping tracks, playing continuously on an auto-generating playlist and shuffling the current playlist.

AutoMix doesn’t work on albums; it works on playlists that you or other users have created, or Apple Music stations.

It’s not clear entirely how AutoMix works its magic. Apple says it “uses intelligence”, but does that mean it's using artificial intelligence? I think it must be. Either way, it works on iPhones that can’t run regular Apple Intelligence features, so it doesn’t require the full power of Apple Intelligence. Perhaps some AI is being done on a server somewhere in Apple land, rather than on the device?

While the exact details of how it works remain a mystery, it’s a feature that you’ll also find in Spotify, which cheekily added the feature to playlists just before the iOS 26 release so that Apple wouldn’t be the only one shouting about it amongst the best streaming music services.

Sleep detection

What I particularly like about AutoMix is that it doesn’t do anything crazy; quite often, it just leaves a beat pause between the two tracks in a way that sounds right.

In fact, it can easily lull you into a dreamlike state as your playlist start to blend together.

It’s a good job that another of Apple’s new iOS 26 features is that AirPods can now detect when you’ve fallen asleep and pause playback – I’ve got a feeling I’m going to find that feature useful in the months ahead.

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The days where iTunes was at its peak were some of the best times as a music buff, and I still remember the thrill of receiving gift vouchers and carefully planning which latest music release to add to my basket. But then Apple Music entered the room, and iTunes was shoved into the shadows of the best music streaming services, resulting in its phase-out in 2019.

Though the iTunes store remains native to the iPhone ecosystem, the days of scouring through its library and deciding how to strategically spend that £15 voucher are long behind us. But the OG digital music purchasing service has made a sudden comeback, and it’s all because of Taylor Swift.

A few weeks back, Taylor Swift announced that she would be dropping her new album The Life of a Showgirl on October 3 and naturally, the world went into a frenzy. Out of all the reactions it received, iTunes’ recent X post (see below) stood out the most, with the platform breaking its dramatic six-year social media silence and overhauling its home page with a Swift-themed design.

The last time iTunes shared anything online was back in 2019 when Apple announced it would be dissolving its digital music store, and if anyone was going to resurrect iTunes, of course it would be Taylor Swift – even if it’s via a promotional deal offering an Apple-exclusive album variant.

The old iTunes can’t come to the phone right now

Swift’s unorthodox – yet quintessentially capitalist – partnership with iTunes unlocks a core memory from my very early teenage years that’s been long buried.

While it couldn’t compete with the rise of music streaming services, Apple’s flagship music app certainly paved the way and birthed some iconic moments in music history that streaming services can only dream of recreating – one of them being the stamp of approval it received from The Beatles, who granted iTunes access to their entire catalog in 2011.

However, it was Beyoncé who changed the game in 2013 after surprise-dropping her self-titled album at midnight. From then onwards, Friday became the new release day for artists to drop fresh music instead of Tuesday, and it’s been that way ever since.

I doubt that Swift’s impact will see a full iTunes Renaissance, as Apple Music and Spotify are the go-to for digital music consumption – but it’s indeed brought back a lot of nostalgia.

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If you’re a Spotify user like me, or you’re just a nerd when it comes to music streaming services, then you’re already aware that Spotify is in the middle of one its biggest upgrades yet.

A few weeks ago, the company surprised us with the announcement of its new Mix tool for playlists – an obvious rival to Apple Music’s AutoMix. A couple of days later, Spotify followed with another huge announcement, unveiling a new Messages feature that allows subscribers to share music, podcasts and audiobooks with friends.

You don’t need to be a huge music streaming fan to understand that these new features are Spotify’s biggest upgrades so far (they’ll be surpassed if Spotify HiFi rolls out). But a few weeks have passed, and these unique tools are still not widely available.

A lot of subscribers are confused, as some have access to the Mix function but not Messages, and vice versa. But users are more frustrated than confused with what’s one of Spotify’s strangest rollouts.

Comment from r/truespotify

Why the exclusivity?

As it stands, I have full access to Spotify’s new Mix tool for playlists and after having some time to experiment with it, I see a lot of potential – but this isn’t the case for all Spotify subscribers.

According to Spotify’s official announcement the Mix function is "now in beta", and will be "rolling out to eligible Premium users". No official date has been unveiled, which is quite coy for Spotify. But even then, those who have been enrolled in beta testing for a while still don’t have access. See one user’s response to a Reddit discussion below:

Comment from r/truespotify

But it’s not just beta testers who are still waiting patiently for access, and the other burning question among users is what makes them ‘eligible’ Premium subscribers when they’re already giving Spotify their hard-earned money for a complete music streaming experience.

Comment from r/truespotify

When it comes to the Messages feature, it’s very much the same case where it’s been rolled out to a limited number of users. Spotify’s post states the following, but it doesn’t provide any answers: "Messages will start rolling out to Free and Premium users aged 16 years and older in select markets on mobile devices."

Time is ticking, and impatience is growing

So why is it taking Spotify this long? Well, one response in the thread highlighted that this isn’t totally out of Spotify’s usual habits, suggesting that it works like a lottery and is all depending on which region you’re based in – which is what happened with AI DJ.

Although if I had to venture a guess, it seems as though the new additions to Spotify’s mobile app interface are still in early stages, and will need a little more testing time before they’re rolled out globally, despite the current user demand.

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In a first for Apple Music, the music streaming service is offering free access to its six live streamed radio stations in a new partnership with TuneIn – a free online audio streaming platform that gives listeners access to radio, podcasts, sports, and more.

Apple Music has partnered with TuneIn to extend the reach of its live radio shows to the free audio streamer’s 75 million monthly listeners, The Wall Street Journal ($/£) reports, and you can access six Apple Music Radio stations outside of the Apple Music app for free right now. They are:

• Apple Music 1
• Apple Music Hits
• Apple Music Country
• Apple Música Uno
• Apple Music Club
• Apple Music Chill

Apple seems to be conducting another strategic move to entice new subscribers, or regain ones who may have made the switch to competing music streaming services – most notably Spotify. Just last week Spotify unveiled its rival to Apple Music’s AutoMix, and it announced its new Messages feature just a few days ago.

While Spotify offers an ad-supported tier, Apple Music doesn’t, and therefore lacks other means of attracting new subscribers beyond free trials. The decision to expand its radio station access enables it to reach millions of potential new listeners, and if you’re tempted to make the switch, these are the Apple Music Radio stations I’d try out first.

1. Apple Music 1

This is arguably Apple Music’s main radio station, which airs daily music shows from hosts such as Rebecca Judd, Matt Wilkinson, and of course, Zane Lowe. It’s a hot spot for both the latest music releases and for pop culture conversation, and often features guest hosting sessions from some of the biggest artists in the world.

2. Apple Music Hits

Similar to Apple Music 1, Apple Music Hits also has dedicated slots hosted by both broadcasters and artists, but its main aim is to bring you the best hits from the last 20 years through radio segments highlighting specific genres and music of the ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s. It also has curated shows featuring today’s hits, but not to the extent of Apple Music 1.

3. Apple Music Chill

Apple Music Chill is exactly what the name suggests, serving up low-tempo, relaxing tracks which Apple describes as “an escape, a refuge, a sanctuary in sound”. It features laid-back artists and producers, and a variety of instrumental music including dinner party and coffee shop mixes, piano chill outs and spa music.

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Spotify has unveiled a unique new feature that allows you to customize your own transitions between songs in playlists you make – a new rival to Apple Music's AutoMix.

In Spotify's official announcement, the music streaming service said that the new Mix tool is rolling out in beta to "eligible Premium users", but in spite of its new venture into music-mixing the company hasn't shared many details about the feature, and there are quite a few unanswered questions, and over the past few days Spotify users have taken to platforms such as Reddit hoping that their questions will be answered.

I've had plenty of hands-on experience with mixing playlists of my own, and I've provided the answers to some of the most-asked queries below.

1. Is the feature region-specific?

The short answer is, no, Spotify’s audio-mixing feature is not limited to select regions. I’m UK-based and have access to the feature, and a user on Reddit based in Canada has shared that it’s working for them too (see below). As far as operating systems go, it’s working for me in iOS, but I can’t speak for Android users.

Comment from r/truespotify

Though Spotify’s official blog post doesn’t list the specific markets its Mix feature is available in, the post does state that the feature is available in beta, so we’re assuming that it won’t appear for you unless you’re enrolled in the Spotify beta program.

2. Does it work when a playlist is on Shuffle?

Yes – you can shuffle songs when you apply the Mix tool to your playlists and include transitions, but only the ‘Auto’ preset. If you want to hear your custom transitions you’ll have to listen to the playlist in order, which isn’t ideal as many Spotify users like myself rely on the Shuffle button.

With that said, this feature isn’t designed for all types of playlists, but it’s definitely a handy feature for enhancing party and social gathering playlists – especially ones with pop, dance, and electronic music.

3. Is it compatible with Spotify Connect?

At the moment, playlists with the Mix feature enabled are not compatible with Spotify Connect, which is the case for other features in Spotify’s ecosystem like AI DJ. I tested this out by connecting my Spotify playback to my Echo Pop speaker, and it played each song as normal.

Therefore, if you want to listen to your custom transitions or ones set to Auto, you’ll have to listen via a mobile device – as it's also not yet available on desktop – which you can connect to headphones or a Bluetooth speaker.

4. Can you do more than mix transitions?

While Spotify’s audio mixing tool allows you to customize transitions between songs in a playlist you’ve made – or use the Auto preset to let Spotify do the work for you – that’s the extent of its capabilities. You can’t blend more than one together, nor change the tempo or key.

This doesn’t come as a surprise, as the feature would be a bit overkill, but in most instances, you can choose how many bars a transition runs for in addition to adjusting volume and EQ settings which pack multiple transition options. If you disable the feature after customizing transitions and decide you want to enable it again, the playlist will restore your saved mixes – so you won’t need to start from scratch.

5. Can others view and save your mixed playlists?

It’s too early to tell since the feature isn’t available widely just yet, but it’s definitely something that Spotify fans have expressed interest in. It would also be a great opportunity for Premium users who are more musically inclined to show off their skills and share their work.

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Spotify has released lots of features to help you get more creative with your playlists, but its new audio mixing feature takes this to a different level – and it could knock Apple Music’s AutoMix out of the spotlight.

Now in beta for Premium subscribers, the new audio mixing function lets you transition seamlessly between songs in new and existing playlists by tapping the ‘Mix’ button in the filter toolbar.

From there, tabs will appear between each track in your playlist marking each transition, and you can go the extra mile and customize them yourself.

When enabled, the ‘Auto’ preset will be applied to your transitions, which means that Spotify will automatically transition the songs for you.

You can also tap the tab and select transition presets such as ‘Melt’ and ‘Wave’, or create your own transitions by playing around with its volume, EQ, and effect curves functions to craft a perfectly-blended playlist from start to finish.

While Apple Music’s AutoMix function does the DJing for you, Spotify’s audio mixing tool puts you directly in the maestro’s shoes. I’ve experimented with both, and though I was pleased with how AutoMix performed, Spotify’s version is quite the standout. Here’s how it went down.

Hands-on with Spotify Mix: the good and bad

Spotify’s Mix function is an adequate music transition feature that, despite needing a little more attention in some areas, can definitely grow. It’s not totally different to Apple Music’s AutoMix – both are essentially glorified crossfade features – but Spotify’s works every time, while AutoMix performs best when mixing singular genres.

Appearance-wise, Spotify's tool looks like professional music mixing software, which can be daunting at first for newbie audio-mixers (like myself). But once you find your footing, you can create a seamlessly blended playlist.

Customizing your transitions is fairly straightforward, but I found the easiest method to be selecting one of the presets first, and then fine-tuning it. That way, it does some of the dirty work for you, but like all of the best music streaming services, this feature does have some minor limitations.

The main setback I found is that, despite working in most cases, the Auto preset can sometimes misjudge timing, introducing the next song at a random part of the current one.

Additionally, the transitions sometimes occur quite abruptly, which can sound harsh to your ear when listened to on headphones. But if you shuffle a playlist of songs with a similar BPM, or queue songs with a similar BPM, that's when the Auto preset really performs.

One of the other things to consider is that you have to customize each transition individually, so it can be fiddly and time consuming, especially if you like to make playlists that go on for hours and hours. However, it’s not necessarily designed for longer playlists, so I’m not ruling it out just yet.

Party playlists just got better

Spotify's Mix tool is particularly suited to playlists that you've made for parties and social gatherings, especially when all the songs in a playlist have similar BPM. In those cases, it’s a lot easier to hit the nail on the head when it comes to customizing a transition, and it means the Auto preset will work a lot better when you listen to a playlist on shuffle.

But it’s not just a great way to enhance your more up-beat playlists – it can also work with mellow playlists that you’ve created to help you be more productive, or simply sit back and unwind. It's quite versatile, which is ideal if you have multiple genre or vibe-specific playlists.

Overall, I think that Spotify’s audio mixing tool is a huge step for the streaming platform, giving users greater creative freedom with their playlist curation and soundtracking. While it’s not designed to suit every type of playlist out there, it has potential to evolve and become one of Spotify’s best features.

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I've spent the last 10 years building a solid taste profile with my Spotify Premium account, and it's been a big part of the reason why I've stuck around for so long. Why would I suddenly switch music streaming services and destroy what I've built?

There are a lot of Spotify features I think are useful for a good listening session, but since signing up to a free Apple Music trial, I've noticed some big faults on Spotify's side. While I'm not completely set on making the switch (I've gotten too comfortable with Spotify), I'm not entirely put off by the idea.

I'll need some time to miss Apple Music first before I consider returning and potentially say goodbye to Spotify. With that said, these are five vital changes Spotify needs to make if it still wants my money.

1. Lift cover art restrictions

Recently I’ve been really getting into experimenting with Spotify’s custom playlist art feature, and it’s been pleasant to say the least. It’s a fun way to spruce up your playlists and give them personality, but there are some setbacks.

When you create a custom cover for your playlist you can use everything from text, images, stickers, and even use different editing techniques, but there’s a limit. At the moment, you can only add a maximum of five images from your phone’s photo gallery and 10 stickers from Spotify’s collection – which doesn’t offer much variety anyway.

But above all, the main issue with custom playlist art in Spotify comes down to the fact that once you make a playlist cover, you’ll have to start from scratch if you want to update it or make changes.

2. Improve lyrics feature

I use the lyrics feature quite often, and I think it’s a quick and easy way to learn the words to songs for an upcoming live gig. However Musixmatch, the company that provides lyrics to songs in Spotify, is holding the service back big time.

In addition to synchronization issues, my biggest dislike with Spotify’s lyrics is that you have to wait a few days after a new song is released to be able to view them, whereas with Apple Music they appear almost immediately. Compared to Apple Music, Spotify’s lyrics are simply no match.

3. Declutter its messy interface

There’s no ignoring the fact that Spotify’s interface across different sections of the app is quite cluttered. The Home and Library pages are my biggest peeves, but it all comes down to filtering options.

Instead of having designated sections in your Library for your saved albums, artists, and playlists like Apple Music, Spotify loves to throw everything into one big disorganized list, leaving you to navigate its confusing filters to find what you’re looking for.

4. Convince me that it actually knows music

Spotify has some solid editorial playlists – ‘Alt Now’ and ‘Lorem’ are some of my favorites – but I wish it would show me more of these in my Home page instead of trying to shove its ‘Made for you’ playlists down my throat.

One thing that’s stood out to me since dabbling in Apple Music is its strong editorial team, who are responsible for features such as Set List playlists and album descriptions. These simple additions show that Apple Music has its ear to the ground when it comes to touring artists and the current climate of music. Spotify has yet to convince me otherwise.

5. Go easy on the stats

Despite the importance of recording the popularity of songs and artists over a period of time for things like Spotify Wrapped, having stats plastered everywhere in the Spotify app has changed the way we choose to listen to music. Taking away stats removes any sort of pre-determined judgement of a song or artist’s credibility, therefore creating a listening experience that’s more open-minded.

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There’s no denying that Apple Music and Spotify are the leading music streaming services and despite having subscribed to the latter for 10 years, I was swayed by a free trial for Apple Music. I’ve been testing it out for the first time for the last three months, and I must say, I’m having a great time with it.

While Spotify is my go-to, and I’ve praised features such as its Daylist, Apple Music has provided a similarly immersive listening experience, but has a few distinct features that have stood out to me in particular. Its lossless audio quality is the most obvious one (and I’m still waiting to see what Spotify HiFi will deliver), so I’ve listed seven Apple Music features that have left the biggest impression.

For now, I’m sticking with Spotify as I’m very comfortable with the taste profile I’ve been building for the last 10 years – but I’ll never say never to making the switch in the future. These are the best things I think Apple Music does to turn a good music streaming experience into a great one.

1. Apple Music ditches the stats

When you’re scrolling through Spotify, stats are impossible to avoid. There are numbers everywhere telling you how many monthly listeners an artist has, or how many global streams a particular song has.

Though streaming stats can be an interesting reflection of an artist’s popularity, it has affected the way I listen to music and can plant a pre-conceived notion as to whether a song is good or not before I’ve even listened to it. In Apple Music, there’s not a single stat in sight, which removes any sort of judgement before listening to new music.

2. Apple Music nails the song stations

Compared to Spotify’s ‘Go to radio’ feature, which generates a playlist based on a particular artist, song, or album, Apple Music’s song stations trounce.

When you tap the three dots next to a song in Apple Music and select the ‘Create Radio’ option, it will generate a station packed with similar songs and artists, but it’s not as repetitive as Spotify. It also doesn’t show you the full queue of songs, instead allowing the station to flow randomly – which I think is a small but effective touch.

3. Slick and clean interface

Spotify has all the social features, but its cluttered interface lets it down. I’m mainly referring to your Library tab, which throws all your saved playlists, albums, and artists into one giant list, meaning you have to use the annoying filtering tabs to section them.

In the case of Apple Music, your library is grouped into distinct playlist, album, and artist sections, making it easier to find content. Apple Music’s ‘New’ tab is also one of my favorite aspects of its interface, which pushes new music releases, playlist updates, and new radio segments to the front. It’s designed with music nerds in mind.

4. Apple Music’s lyrics put Spotify’s to shame

Apple Music’s lyrics feature is significantly more synchronized and reliable than Spotify’s, especially if you want to read lyrics to the most recently released songs.

When a new song drops on Spotify, the lyrics unfortunately don’t, and I’m always waiting at least a few days for the lyrics to be added. However, Apple Music is on it when it comes to lyrics, and you can almost guarantee that they’ll appear on a song’s release day. The karaoke mode button in Apple Music is also a fun way to let loose during a music-listening session.

5. A neat music video ecosystem

Apple Music has had music videos since 2018, with Spotify following in 2024. Though Spotify had ample time to overtake Apple Music on the music video front, it failed to do so.

For starters, Apple Music’s grid system makes scrolling through an artist’s collection of music videos a lot smoother, which I personally don’t find with Spotify – which throws them into one unattractive-looking list.

The ‘Switch to video’ button is also very obtrusive in Spotify, and I don’t like that it’s a ‘one or the other’ situation. In Apple Music, music videos function on an entirely separate playback, and there’s also more variety.

6. Album descriptions highlight musical craft

It’s a small feature, but one of the first ones that stood out to me when I first started using Apple Music. And as someone who loves to listen to a full body of work, having album descriptions not only provides background and context, but it highlights an artist’s craft and point-of-view.

7. Apple Music’s editorial team know what they’re doing

All the features mentioned above are important for a good music streaming experience, but I’ve learned that a strong editorial team is crucial and Apple Music’s is clearly stacked with music experts.

First of all, Apple Music’s editorial playlists are filled with music that I actually want to listen to, and they don’t push songs based on chart/ viral success. As for Spotify, I constantly run into playlists that are generated for me, which are often repetitive and no different from my automated genre mixes. Apple Music also offers more than just playlists, and its selection of radio stations is just as fun, which Spotify lacks.

But those aside, there’s a clear difference between Apple Music and Spotify’s editorial teams when it comes to how involved artists choose to be. This is evident with Zane Lowe’s interviews, which I’ve been a fan of since before subscribing to Apple Music.

For me, seeing artists lend their time to doing interviews, guest hosting radio shows, or curating playlists strengthens Apple Music’s legitimacy and trustworthiness as a music organization. While artists have some involvement with the editorial side of Spotify, it’s nothing to the extent of Apple Music – which could be enough for me to make the switch.

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Apple is gearing up for the launch of its huge iOS redesign, and now that iOS 26 public beta is live, we’re one step closer to its full rollout, which is expected to arrive in September. One of the star features of iOS 26 is AutoMix in Apple Music, which has garnered a lot of attention.

Apple Music’s AutoMix function (which uses AI to mix between songs on the spot) was announced at WWDC and immediately went viral. It was a hit in developer beta, resulting in a wave of viral videos showcasing its clever beat-matching abilities, and is now even more accessible since rolling out to public beta.

During its early roll-out stages, users have praised AutoMix for enhancing the Apple Music experience, adding that it could spark an even more competitive relationship between other music streaming platforms, most notably Spotify. But despite the positive reception, there’s one common limitation that test users have picked up on.

Apple Music’s flagship DJ sacrifices song runtime

There’s no denying that AutoMix can do almost everything a DJ can during a live set, and it’s a huge step up from the standard crossfade setting. However, its uniqueness has been shadowed by its song-shortening habits, which haven’t gone unnoticed by Apple Music fans on Reddit and TikTok.

Many users have spotted that when a song comes to an end and AutoMix starts doing its thing, it has the habit of starting the mixing process far too early, chopping the last 30 seconds off a song. In some cases, AutoMix will even sacrifice the beginning of the next song in the queue, starting playback 30 seconds into a track.

One user shared a video on TikTok mixing two Taylor Swift songs, showing the first song ending with 25 seconds remaining and the second song starting 49 seconds in – completely skipping over the first verse.

While this isn’t the case for all AutoMix examples, it’s been a common occurrence for a number of users, leading them to question whether AutoMix needs a few more touches here and there before its wider rollout. But as with any AI feature, it’s not guaranteed to get it right every single time, but when it does, it sounds pretty good – just take a look at the video below, which shows AutoMix at its best without cutting the songs short.

There is still some time left before iOS 26 is set to roll out to everyone, meaning that there’s time for Apple to crack down on the minor issues that have surfaced with AutoMix. It has a lot of potential to outshine other streaming platforms, and though I’m mainly a Spotify user, I might stick with Apple Music beyond my free trial when AutoMix drops.

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• It's a nice throwback treat, and there's a way for Spotify users to get a taste

Time flies when you’re listening to some good music, right? Well, Apple Music has officially turned ten today, and since Apple got into the streaming music game, a lot has changed. We’ve seen design changes and new features – remember its annual replay functionality arrived in 2019 – but marking ten years of streaming is a new playlist that lets you look back.

Rolling out for Apple Music subscribers now is a ‘Replay All Time’ playlist, which gives you your top 100 most played tracks since you joined the service. That could be a very long way back if you’ve been streaming since 2015, or a more recent look, but either route, it’ll likely be a journey through taste.

I found the ‘Replay All Time’ playlist right on my home tab in the Music app on my iPhone and my Mac. The description for the playlists reads, “In honor of Apple Music’s first decade, take a look back. Relive your all-time favorite tracks, all in one playlist.” And as with any playlist on Apple Music, you can play it in sequence or shuffle it, as well as save it to your library and download for offline listening.

My All Time playlist did have a few surprises, and I expected that as I joined the service back on day one, June 30, 2015. There were plenty of previous songs of the summer – anyone remember Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stop This Feeling’ or ‘I Lived’ by OneRepublic? – but also many of my favorite tracks that I opt for quite a bit.

So, yes, for me, that means a lot of Bruce Springsteen, and I noticed some appearances that were used as a wake-up alarm on my HomePod and HomePod mini. It’s a neat walk down memory lane, though, and at an unexpected time of the year. Usually, Apple Music rolls out Replay towards the end of the year, offering a look back at your year in music.

Spotify also rolls out Wrapped yearly and adds in a lot more social elements, as well as categorization based on your music taste. And if you’re a Spotify user who wants a similar look back at the decade or since Spotify launched in your region – it was July of 2011 for the United States – you’ll need to look to a third-party to get the experience … though the service might end up copying a bit of Apple’s celebration here.

Stats.fm is always a good choice for learning a bit more about your listening habits and what you’re streaming the most on various cadences, and this would be an excellent route. If you sign in with your Spotify account and grant permissions, you can select for a “lifetime” look at your top genres, tracks, and artists – all of this without needing to subscribe to the “Plus” tier.

It will provide your top 50 tracks, and you can easily select one of those to play. You can opt to subscribe to Stats.fm to unlock more statistics and more than just your 50 top tracks from Spotify.

It’ll be interesting to see if Spotify rolls this out in a formal way, but it’s great that you can use a third-party to accomplish this. Still, Apple Music’s rollout of an All Time playlist is a nice touch, and it comes ahead of the music service debuting the top 500 most-streamed songs. That process will begin on July 1, 2025, and will announce a set of 100 tracks daily, days before dropping a full playlist for listeners to enjoy.

Apple’s also rolling out other playlists to celebrate the anniversary and some new Apple Music Radio specials. And there’s a new, over 15,000-square-foot Apple Music studio location opening in Los Angeles, California, which includes listening rooms kitted for immersive Spatial Audio playback. It’ll have larger stages and studios for artists to record and perform on.

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The Spotify and Apple Music battle continues, and while both sides have gathered loyal supporters, I’ve always swayed in Spotify’s direction simply because of its array of fun features and new music discovery.

However, when it comes to audio streaming quality, Apple Music is leaps and bounds ahead, and since we’re still waiting for Spotify HiFi there’s no surprise that audiophiles gravitate towards Apple Music. But Spotify is getting it right with all its unique social features, which Apple Music should take note of – and I wanted to see what else it had to offer.

I’ve been using Apple Music alongside Spotify for about a month, and despite the noticeable difference in audio quality, there are other Apple Music features that have stood out, for better or worse. Bear in mind, my journey with Apple Music is still underway, and I’m still experimenting to this day, but so far, these are the features that have grabbed my attention.

1. Presentation of albums

Apple Music and Spotify present albums in similar ways: an enlarged album cover with the title and artist name underneath, but Apple Music’s album art is much more striking than Spotify’s. While its animations add character to each album, my favorite feature is the album descriptions under the Play and Shuffle buttons.

As a dedicated album listener, understanding the context behind a body of music is one of the most important assets of a listening experience. So, when it comes to Spotify, I find myself doing a lot of the research myself. With Apple Music’s album descriptions, I get just the right amount of information I need before I press the Play button.

2. Discovery Station

Spotify has your dedicated Release Radar and Discover Weekly playlists, but Apple Music’s Discovery Station takes it to another level.

Unlike Spotify’s playlists that are generated every so often, Discovery Station is an endless stream of new songs, which you can refresh to hear new suggestions. There’s also no way for you to view all tracks in the station, as a random song is played as soon as one finishes. You also can’t view the whole queue, which I think boosts the feature’s surprise element.

It also packs a very broad range of artists and genres – mine played me new songs from Blood Orange and TV Girl, as well as tracks from artists I already enjoy, including Doechii, Radiohead, and Pinkpantheress.

3. Synchronized lyrics

Every now and then, I like to use the lyrics feature while I stream my favorite songs and albums, and it’s a big help, especially when I’m doing some studying for an upcoming live gig. Apple Music’s lyrics are a great feature, and they’re much better than Spotify’s for two main reasons.

The first being that its synchronization to songs is perfectly matched, and even packs a karaoke-style highlight feature that guides you across each line. I can also rely on Apple Music more when it comes to providing lyrics to new music on the day of release, an area where Spotify lags.

4. Not all music is Dolby Atmos supported

This is where we get into the ‘dislike’ portion of my first impressions.

When I first signed up for my Apple Music trial, I was looking forward to seeing how the audio quality differs from Spotify’s, and though there’s a significant difference, I just assumed that all music would be Dolby Atmos-supported. But this isn’t a major setback for me, as Apple Music’s Hi-Res Lossless and standard Lossless audio qualities still pack a punch.

5. The amount of Apple Music-curated playlists

One of my favorite things about services like Spotify is its focus on social features, allowing you to view playlists created by other users and music fans just by using the search hub. I’m not a huge fan of playlists curated by streaming services themselves, and Apple Music is inundated with them.

I personally prefer listening to playlists made by users and music fans, and this is simply because they have their ears to the ground more than streaming services. You can find any random user’s playlists in Spotify just by searching for it, but with Apple Music, you have to follow other accounts to view them.

6. Not a lot of interactive features

Aside from Discovery Station, New Music Mix, and your own personal Station, I’ve found that there aren’t a lot of innovative and engaging features in Apple Music that make my streaming experience as personal as Spotify does.

With Spotify, I can always rely on features like Daylist and Blends for a fun and engaging listening experience, and the fact that they regenerate as often as they do keeps me on my toes.

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When Apple hosted its recent WWDC 2025 event, we had our ears to the ground when it came to all things iOS 26, and as a music-streaming obsessive there’s one new feature that immediately caught my attention – Apple Music’s AutoMix.

While Apple announced a total of three new upgrades for one of the best music streaming services, including a handy lyrics-pronunciation feature, it’s the highly anticipated AutoMix function that has won over music fans. As someone who stands by their Spotify account I have to say that I like what Apple is doing, and though we'll have to wait until September for a full rollout, the feature has already gone viral.

If you’re not up to date on all things WWDC, AutoMix is essentially an AI tool in Apple Music that creates unique, on-the-spot mixes between songs – similarly to how a DJ would transition between songs in a live set. It works very differently to your standard crossfade feature found in both Apple Music and Spotify, which simply crosses from one song to another to avoid gaps of silence.

It’ll be a while yet before all Apple Music users have access to AutoMix – it’s currently in developer beta testing, and will enter public beta in July. But thanks to those with early access, my TikTok feed is packed with sneak peaks and first impressions of AutoMix – and right now it’s all I’m thinking about.

Is AutoMix the first viral Apple Music trend?

From the videos I’m seeing at the moment, AutoMix creates a seamless playback experience using beat matching and time stretching to connect each song in a queue. And apart from the downside of having to sacrifice the first or last 15-20 seconds of a song for smooth mixing, AutoMix is already looking to be a exciting addition to Apple Music's ecosystem.

I’m beginning to warm to certain AI features on music streaming platforms – most recently Spotify’s AI DJ – after being put off for years, and so far AutoMix doesn’t come across as overly intrusive, a trap that some AI music tools can fall into. Not only is it eliminating those awkward silences between songs like the crossfade function, but it’s injecting a lot of fun and hype into listening sessions.

Take a look at this TikTok video of Lady Gaga’s Scheiße mixing with her recent hit Abracadabra, which has garnered over a million views.

Users have been experimenting with lots of different tunes, and even blending different genres. This video of Pink Floyd’s Time segueing into Michael Jackson’s Thriller shows that AutoMix can work with very different sounds, and beat-match songs with varying BPM.

This is also the first time I’m seeing an Apple Music feature make the rounds on the internet in the same way Spotify’s Daylist, and even AI DJ, went viral when they were first released. AutoMix has already amped Apple Music’s social aspect, providing users with a space where they can engage with other Apple Music users online, and share their reactions and experiences.

I think this is a big step in elevating Apple Music’s sense of community, even if it’s still a way behind Spotify when it comes to social elements. That aside, AutoMix is just a very fun and uplifting new feature that I can’t wait to see arrive with the full iOS 26 rollout – I hope Spotify is watching, and taking notes.

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I feel strangely numb. For years now – and I mean years – I have been advocating for Apple Music to have some kind of auto DJ feature that can beat-match your songs in a playlist. This was my most recent excuse to harp on about it.

I first heard of this kind of feature in DJ apps a long, long time ago (I think Algoriddim's Djay was the first one I was aware of, but things go foggy back then), and I heard about the potential for machine-learning algorithms (you know, the things we now universally call 'AI' for marketing reasons) to make them work super-seamlessly.

At this time, Apple was getting heavily into machine learning, promising to use it to suggest things on your Lock screen and manage your battery usage. So I made the case that this would be a really cool feature to have in Apple Music – much better than a boring old crossfade between tracks on your playlist.

Now, at the time, Apple didn't even offer a crossfade… it only added that in iOS 17 two years ago, and last year we got a 'smart crossfade' in iOS 18. But in iOS 26 (Apple has switched to naming by year, rather than the version), I finally have my breakthrough.

As one of several new features of Apple Music in iOS 26, Apple has announced 'AutoMix', which is exactly what I always wanted. Apple says, "AutoMix uses intelligence to transition from one song to the next like a DJ, using time stretching and beat matching to seamlessly move from one song to the next."

I've always curated my playlists to flow reasonably nicely from one song to the next, trying to keep both variety and cohesion. What I've always wanted is the phone to take that to the next level (because I am no DJ), and now it's like a long-stuck splinter has been removed. I'm finally getting what I want; I don't know how to feel.

Oh, wait, yes, I do: frustrated that AirPods still somehow don't have a higher-quality Bluetooth connection.

Feeling Bluetooth

The only scab I have picked at as consistently as the AI DJ – excuse me, AutoMix – is the fact that AirPods only support AAC-quality Bluetooth audio, even though it is the year of our Hi-Res Audio Lord 2025. Here I am complaining about it back in 2022, and that's only when I first started talking about it on TechRadar.

Apple Music supports beautiful lossless audio, but AirPods still don't support anything beyond essentially the minimum of sound quality (okay, SBC is literally the minimum, but this is truly one step up).

Actually, that's not quite true – the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C are capable of higher-res audio when used with the Apple Vision Pro, so that's nice for those few thousand people. The new AirPods Max with USB-C also support wired Hi-Res Audio, but so does anything with a 3.5mm jack, so I'm talking wireless here.

Fun fact: I bought my first Apple product in 2006, and it was a MacBook Pro that supported aptX! I don't expect Apple to support aptX, of course – that system is owned by Qualcomm, and I'm not a maniac – but the world has moved on in terms of what wireless audio codecs are available to us.

Take, for example, Bluetooth LE Audio and the LC3 codec that powers it. This is a new wireless music encoder that's adaptive, so when you have a strong connection to your phone, it can offer really high-resolution music streaming – but if you're far away or there's a lot of interference, it can lower the quality and still maintain consistent audio. And it can do this potentially using lower energy than older codecs, so it could extend battery life.

It's available as part of the spec for Bluetooth 5.2, which is supported by many models of the best AirPods, as well as the best iPhones, for years.

Apple has chosen not to support it, and it's driving me to distraction at this point. It seems like there must be a good reason, though Apple hasn't revealed it. It appears that the company experimented with using it on the AirPods Max all the way back in 2022, but it hasn't gone anywhere since then.

Given how talented the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Max are at music reproduction anyway, maybe Apple just feels that it's unnecessary, but given that there's an open standard Apple can use, and the tech to run it is built into Apple's products already, maybe we could be the judges of that with an option to turn higher-res Bluetooth on or off?

Either way, with another WWDC event gone without mention of it, I expect that means at least another year without it – unless Apple surprises us at the expected launch of AirPods Pro 3 later this year.

I'll live – I'm currently using a Fiio BTR17 and Sennheiser HD600 for my hi-res thrills, and having a lovely time, thank you very much. It's just not a very pocketable solution.

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Liquid Glass, aka Apple's new glass-like redesign for its software platforms, is a clear headline grabber at WWDC. But what is iOS 26 bringing to Apple Music?

A few things, actually: Apple Music is getting Lyrics Translation, Lyrics Pronunciation, AutoMix for creating beat-perfect playlists and sets, plus Music Pins to put your favorite artists and albums right to the top of your home screen.

Meanwhile, Apple's Liquid Glass will level up what you see while a song is playing, because it'll provide more glass-like depth – and elements within a track's artwork will move with a more three-dimensional quality; in and out of focus, as it were.

AutoMix is here – finally!

What exactly is AutoMix? Think seamless mixing of your songs into one continuous playlist, for a stream of music without any annoying gaps between tracks. It'll be similar to what a DJ does, but carried out automatically by Apple Music via Apple Intelligence's AI brain. Outstanding!

One of the other biggest perks of today's Apple WWDC 2025 event in the audio sphere? The knowledge that buying either a shiny new set of AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with Noise Cancelling or AirPods Pro 2 is a smart and future-proof thing to do: Apple has announced studio-quality audio recording and camera remote is coming to these models – and as luck would have it, both are also currently on sale too.

Of course, AirPods, Apple Music and iPhones all play especially nice together (it's the way Apple wants you to listen): think personalized spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, plus dynamic head-tracking that uses your iPhone or iPad as a source device to ping the soundscape all around your head as you turn it.

And then there's Live Translation. I've just finished working on a French opera, namely Gounod's Faust, and I think it might be a huge plus for me in Apple Music.

Your iPhone can now become a mic in Apple Music Sing, with tvOS

And we're not done! With tvOS 26, karaoke sessions can reach new levels of fun. How? Users will be able to transform their iPhone into a handheld mic for Apple TV and have their voice amplified as they belt out their very best go at TayTay's Eyes Open.

Everyone in your sing-along session will be able to jump in using their own iPhone to cue up tracks, too, or even react with an onscreen emoji.

Along with the aforementioned Lyrics Translation and Pronunciation updates, plus visual effects to light up the main screen, Sing in Apple Music will be more advanced and engaging than ever, allowing you to sing along even if you don't speak the language fluently (which is music to my ears).

I cannot wait to try it out. For now though, I'm gonna keep on dancin' at the Pink Pony Club… with all my iPhone-toting, Apple Music-streaming friends.

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