Franken’s outcry came in the form of a letter drafted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice, Wednesday. However, when Apple tried to push their Maps service, which was as flawed as Apple Music, the company was forced to retreat and suggest users to go with an app they like the most. Apple Music is on Mac and Windows computers through the iTunes app. An Android version and integration with Sonos wireless speakers are coming this year.
Skip tracks? Yes, but only six an hour when using free services. Hosted by Zane Lowe in Los Angeles, Julie Adenuga in London and Ebro Darden in New York, Apple is presenting three tastemakers whom I’m just getting to know. Somehow I’ve missed the glaring simplicity of it, of Apple’s trademark intuitive user efficiency. If you want Rdio, you’re hit with a similar discrepancy.
“I started to notice that whenever I added an album to my library, not all of the songs would get added”. These have included missing downloads, incomplete albums, and more.
“Over the weekend, I turned off Apple Music and it took large chunks of my purchased music with it”, he fumed. Apple Music isn’t turning out to be the revolution Apple made it out to be. Schneiderman’s office is now in talks with Apple’s rivals in the music streaming industry, citing,
“It’s important to ensure that the market continues to develop free from collusion and other anticompetitive practices.”
Franken’s letter and the FTC’s possible investigation arrives a few months after Attorneys General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York and George Jepsen of Connecticut looked into possible collusion between Apple and the major record labels around streaming competition.
Here’s the thing: Apple needs to separate its apps – or at least some of them – from requiring entire iOS updates as soon as it can. Apple bans apps which link to “external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions”, which prevents Spotify from promoting the cheaper subscription price.
If the app stood on its own the company could issue fixes and iterate on Music as patches become available, without disrupting users.9 to 5 Mac recently proposed an interesting way that Apple could improve the situation by utilizing the App Store. Al Franken and for the group Consumer Watchdog.
Franken says those restrictions “seem to offer no competitive benefit” and could undermine the competitive process, with consumers paying above what the current market is dictating.
