--- description: Apple Music, the company's new music streaming service, launches Tuesday. title: Apple Music: Here's What the Reviewers Say image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc65850460e622ce4/698859190b72e3333c6e4bd5/apple-wwdc-logo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Apple Music: Here's What the Reviewers Say by [Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2015 2:32 PM CUT  The Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco on June 8, 2015. The Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco on June 8, 2015.Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2015 2:32 PM CUT [Apple Music](http://time.com/3940211/apple-music-launches/ "undefined"), the company’s new music streaming service, launches Tuesday. Here are some of the reviews we’ve seen so far: **Walt Mossberg,** [**re/code**](http://recode.net/2015/06/30/apple-music-first-look-rich-fluid-but-somewhat-confusing/ "undefined")**: Rich, Robust — But Confusing.**“Would I pay $10 a month — $120 a year — to use it? My answer is a tentative yes, with some caveats. Apple has built a handsome, robust app and service that goes well beyond just offering a huge catalog of music by providing many ways to discover and group music for a very wide range of tastes and moods. But it’s also uncharacteristically complicated by Apple standards, with everything from a global terrestrial radio station to numerous suggested playlists for different purposes in different places. And the company offers very little guidance on how to navigate its many features. It will take time to learn it. And that’s not something you’re going to want to do if all you’re looking for is to lean back and listen.” **Harley Brown,** [**Spin**](http://www.spin.com/2015/06/apple-music-streaming-business-trent-reznor/ "undefined")**: What Works (and What Doesn’t)**. “The first thing that happens when Apple Music launches actually looks pretty familiar to anyone who used Beats Music: circles representing different genres (Indie, Electronic, Oldies, Alternative, etc.) float into view on the screen, and users tap or double-tap the ones they like and love, respectively. Once those categories have been nailed down, the artists in them — Tame Impala for Indie, Porter Robinson for Electronic, and B.B. King for Blues, to pick a smattering of options presented to me —and then, ideally, you’re done. For Apple Music’s intents and purposes, your musical identity has been established, at least until if/when you decide to change it later.” **Edward Baig,** [**USA Today**](http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2015/06/30/first-look-apple-music/29498011/ "undefined")**: Visually appealing with creative playlists.** “Apple has high hopes for the Connect feature that connects artists to fans. The artists you follow may post extra music and videos, photos, in-progress song lyrics, info on tour dates and more. Having indicated an interest in classical music, I found myself connected to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra where conductor Sir Simon Rattle in a video discussed streaming classical music. For all its promise, the Connect area seems pretty thin at the outset.” **Christina Warren,** [**Mashable**](http://mashable.com/2015/06/30/apple-music-hands-on/ "undefined")**: It’s all about curation, curation, curation.** “Much of the Apple Music experience really is Beats Music. And this is a good thing. I always thought Beats had the best discovery mechanism of the streaming services. With live radio, human curated playlists and access to your iTunes purchase history, I’m really liking Apple Music. Will it replace Spotify for diehard subscribers? That’s a more complicated question — and one I plan to address in _Mashable_‘s full review. For now, however, the For Me section alone has made me excited about music for the first time in a long time. And that’s a good thing.” More as they come in. _This_ [_article_](http://fortune.com/2015/06/30/apple-music-first-reviews/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_Fortune.com_](http://www.fortune.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3941371/apple-music-reviews/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3941371/apple-music-reviews/"},"headline":"Apple Music: Here's What the Reviewers Say","datePublished":"2015-06-30T14:32:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:05:52.947Z","description":"What works—and what doesn't","url":"https://time.com/3941371/apple-music-reviews/","keywords":["Tech","Apple","Music","Media","Technology & Media","music streaming","Apple music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc65850460e622ce4/698859190b72e3333c6e4bd5/apple-wwdc-logo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc65850460e622ce4/698859190b72e3333c6e4bd5/apple-wwdc-logo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco on June 8, 2015.","caption":"The Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco on June 8, 2015.","creditText":"Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3941371/apple-music-reviews/","name":"Apple Music: Here's What the Reviewers Say"}}]}] ```