06 Oct 2024
Software should be deterministic. The consequences of any user action should be entirely predictable, consistent, and known to the user, before they commit to it.
There is a trend away from this. Instead of giving commands, the user gives "moods", or "nudges", or "reactions", and the software, not the user, chooses what actions to take. The software, not the user, knows best how to meet the user's desires. The user flails around and hopes that the result will be okay.
We see this in forms like:
"maybe later" (what does "maybe" mean? what does "later" mean? why isn't there a "permanently disable" option?)
"dislike" (what does "dislike" mean? what does it do? how is it different to "suggest less"? why isn't there "never play this again, ever"?)
"view in Apple Music" (aren't I already using "Apple Music"? Why would I want to view something there? How is this different to "iTunes"? Why do I have to care what it's called?)
Mandatory "bug fixes and performance improvements" that actually silently change what the software does, breaking the user's mental model.
The total absence of user manuals, which used to explain on a conceptual level what the software does, beginning with its data model.
This is terrible for a few reasons:
The software's goals and the user's are not aligned. We see this in pushy upsells, in "recommendations" that are actually payola or engagement bait, and as a simple consequence of the fact that the user is the product, not the customer - even if the software is paid-for.
Software is - and I say this with love, and as a lifelong developer - a pile of shit. Smart humans are, still, smarter than software.
It's intensely patronising.
There isn't one. This is apparently what the market has chosen.
But, as a workaround, I write my own manuals. By experimentation - because there's no other way - I figure out what applications actually do, and how they fit into my workflow.
The "manual" includes a list of "things you can't do" - information that is normally hidden behind corporatespeak in current "help" systems - so that I can stop, fruitlessly, trying to.
I feel like writing a manual for your app or site helps to reveal all the inconsistencies, sharp UX edges, and poorly-thought out abstractions that it contains. It's probably a good way to then improve the UX.
That doesn't mean, though, that you're allowed to not then publish the manual.
Assuming you have a subscription:
A Song exists in "Apple Music" (a subscription cloud service that is, confusingly, also the name of the app), your "Library" (a collection of music curated by you), both, or neither.
A Song in your Library might be there because it exists in Apple Music and you've selected to add it to your Library (via one of a number of routes), or because it started as an mp3 file on your local disk and was added to your Library from there.
Songs might be removed from Apple Music by Apple at any time. If that happens, they will be removed from your Library as well, if they were added from Apple Music (rather than from a local file).
Not clear: Are they silently removed from your playlists, as well, gaslighting you into believing that they never existed? Spotify does this by default; it's not clear if Apple Music also does.
You can play Songs either from your Library, or from Apple Music directly. Some features, like commanding Siri to play a song by name, or creating a Genius Playlist, only know about tracks in your Library.
There are actually three different ways to look at a particular Album:
In your Library. Access this from the Library section of the left side bar.
In "Apple Music". Access this by using the Apple Music section of the left side bar, by searching Apple Music, or by clicking either "Show In Apple Music" or "View on Apple Music" (the text on these two links is different but the effect is the same).
In "iTunes Store". Access this by clicking "Show in iTunes Store". It's not clear what this is, how it's different to "Apple Music", or why it still exists; possibly it is technical debt. There's no reason to do this.
The search box in the top left will default to searching Apple Music, but there is a toggle at the top right which can restrict it to searching your Library.
The search box at the top right, when it appears, looks only in your Library, and works by filtering the current view.
You can create Playlists, which are collections of Songs. Every Song that you add to a Playlist is automatically added to your Library (assuming you've turned this on in Settings). Removing it from your Library removes it from all of your Playlists (!!). (Not clear: whether removing it from all your Playlists will also remove it from your Library)
A song can be:
Note that you can love/dislike songs that are not in your library. However, these attributes are not entirely independent:
It's not clear what Dislike actually does, or what it should be used for. You can use it as a temporary reminder "remove this from my Library when I have the chance", but there's no way to stop it from coming back, because removing it from your Library destroys the Dislike.
It is also possible to Love and Dislike Playlists. This is hidden in the UI; there's no indication that you have done so, except by right-clicking on the Playlist and looking for a tick mark.
Many things are clickable (for example, "Top Songs >", or even artist names, though not album names), but they do not look like buttons or links, and do not react on mouseover. You need to memorise which labels are actually buttons.
There is a tiny, grey, "Back" arrow at the top left of the screen - sometimes. Sometimes it's missing. There doesn't appear to be any rule about when this happens. There's no way to open a second window or to navigate the stack except for the intermittent back button.
Often actions (like "loving" a track, or renaming a playlist) appear to have had no effect. This is because sometimes actions silently fail, and sometimes they succeed but there is a lag of 1-10 seconds before the UX updates. After taking an action, wait to see if it succeeded before taking another.
Some albums have duplicates of every track, or have track 1 missing.
Many actions aren't easily reversible. If you click a '+' to add a Song to your Library, you can't click it again to remove it (instead of the +, you'll see a gap that you can't click; you need to right-click and select Delete From Library).
You can add "comments" to a Song via the Get Info popup, but you can't search/filter for them, so there's no point.
Apple Music -> Listen Now: Algorithmically selected based on past listens. Sometimes you can click on the big square (but not the triangle in the middle) to see a list of tracks, sometimes you can only click on the triangle to opaquely play. It's not clear what the difference is. Be aware that there's a tiny grey arrow on the right-hand side that reveals a couple more options. You can click on some headings (but not others) to see more.
Apple Music -> Browse: Payola. I guess? It's not clear what's here or why it's here.
Apple Music -> Radio. Like a "curated playlist", except that you can't browse/skip/rewind? And it looks like some kind of Podcast thing is jammed into this? You can't remove this but it's probably best to ignore it.
Things you can say:
Things you can't reliably say:
The list of music in "My Library" isn't actually that helpful. That's because, as soon as you add a compilation, or some curated playlists, your "artists" and "albums" list will get spammed with dozens of artists / artist variants that you don't know, with a track each.
One option would be to tightly curate what's in the Library, but this affects other things (like recommendations, and what tracks Siri can use). Plus it'll destroy Dislikes, and it's a lot of work.
Another option would be a mega-playlist "Music I Actually Know", and look at that playlist, sorted by Artist. Seems like a lot of work.
Chosen solution: ignore the Artists and Albums section of Library, and use only the Songs list, sorted by Artist. This is a reasonable memory prompt for "music I actually know".
Next: ... playlist as an audition box. Mark tracks as Loved ("remember to move these into Master: ..." or Disliked). Throw things into the Audition box by exploring or asking ChatGPT.Master: ... playlist as "everything that fits the general theme/purpose"Master playlists.Library > Made For You. This runs into the "mood problem" (it is an undifferentiated mix of "music you might like" without considering where it fits), but is worth browsing for candidates to add to the Library or playlists.
Genius Playlist: input a single song, receive a playlist of music in your library that goes well with it. So this helps to build playlists (although not very well, since it only takes a single song as input) from music you already have, but doesn't help to find new music.