Apple Music, Now With Ads ⇥ macworld.com

Jim Dalrymple, retired but not disappeared, on Twitter:

Here is a screenshot of the @AppleMusic ad while playing Apple’s own classic rock station. Make a free tier or get the fucking ads off Apple Music. Apple will say it’s “discovery” or some bullshit. It’s an ad.

Apple:

Are there commercials?

Apple Music has zero ads.

Oh really?

Jason Snell, Macworld:

Now, couldn’t Jim solve this problem by keeping his finger close to the skip button (or the equivalent keyboard shortcut), so that when a promo appeared in his radio show, he could just skip over it? Sure, although I’ll point out that you’re not always in a context where you can immediately force a skip–if you’re nowhere near the remote, or your keyboard, or if you don’t want to be forced to shout at Siri to go to the next track.

But that misses the point entirely. Whether we listen to music to focus while writing, relax at the end of a long day, or anything in between, it’s disruptive to be taken out of the music and forced to listen to an ad. It doesn’t matter if the ad is for other Apple Music programs, or the Kars for Kids song, or even an offer to give away free gold bars – an ad is an interruption no matter its content.

If Apple wants more people to listen to its radio shows, it should start by making them easier to find and subscribe to, not by adding interruptions.