16. Listening to Music
In this chapter, you learn how to listen to music on your iPad.
If you like to listen to music, you’re in luck. Your iPad is a versatile music playback system that lets you listen to the music you love wherever you happen to be. You can purchase and download music directly to your iPad, or stream just about any song in the world over your iPad if you have an Internet connection.
Listening to Streaming Music
The way we listen to music has changed over the years. When I was growing up, I could listen to music over AM or FM radio, or buy LPs and singles to play on my record player. Later generations listened to audiocassettes on their portable Walkman devices or purchased albums on digital compact discs. Still later generations learned how to download music from the Internet, either legally (through the iTunes Store) or illegally (via the infamous Napster).
That’s all old news, however, as digital downloads are being supplanted by the concept of streaming music services. These services, such as Amazon Prime Music, Apple Music, Pandora, and Spotify, stream huge music libraries (tens of millions of tracks) over the Internet direct to any connected device—including your iPad. All you need is an Internet connection, and just about any song you want is available for your listening pleasure. There’s nothing to buy, and nothing to download to your device.
Free—or Not
Most streaming music services offer some type of free listening level, typically supported by commercials. If you want to get rid of the commercials (and gain more control over what you listen to), paid subscriptions are available.
Listen to Apple Music
Not surprisingly, Apple offers its own streaming music service, which it would like you to use. Unlike most other services, Apple Music doesn’t have a free level; you pay $9.99/month for an individual membership, after a free three-month trial. (Other pricing is also available, including a $14.99/month family membership.)
You access Apple Music from the Music app on your iPad. To sign up for the service, tap the For You tab. When prompted, opt to get your three months free, choose which plan you want (Individual, Student, or Family), and proceed from there.
When you first log on, you’re prompted to choose your favorite music, which you do by selecting the genres and artists you like best. Apple Music then fills up the For You tab with music it thinks you might like.
From the iPad Home screen, tap the Music icon to launch the Music app.
Tap For You to view recommended playlists, albums, and artists.
Tap Browse to browse through new music.
Tap Radio to listen to Apple Music’s preprogrammed radio stations.
Tap Search to search for specific music.
After you tap Search, tap to select Apple Music. (If you select Your Library, you search only through the music you have stored on your iPad, not Apple Music’s much larger online library.)
Tap within the Search box and enter the name of the artist or track you’re looking for.
As you type, Apple Music displays a list of matching artists, albums, and songs. Tap to select the one you want.
Tap to listen to a given track, station, album, or playlist.
Playback now begins and playback controls are displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Tap Pause to pause playback; tap Play to resume playback.
Tap Next to play the next track.
Listen to Pandora
The most popular streaming service today is Pandora. With Pandora, you specify a song or artist or genre you like, and the service builds a custom playback “channel” based on your selection. For example, if you really like James Taylor, you can create a James Taylor Radio channel. Although you can’t specify which specific songs for Pandora to play, you do get a lot of music similar to those songs or artists you like. (And Pandora fine-tunes your stations over time, based on which tracks you like or don’t like.)
You listen to Pandora via the Pandora app, available for free from Apple’s App Store. Basic Pandora service (with ads) is free; upgrade to Pandora Plus service ($4.99/month) to get rid of the ads. There’s also a Pandora Premium plan ($9.99/month) that offers on-demand listening. (Basic Pandora doesn’t let you specify which songs to listen to; it’s more like traditional over-the-air radio.)
When you first launch the app, you’re prompted to either sign up or log in, so do one or the other.
From the iPad Home screen, tap the Pandora icon to launch the Pandora app.
All your existing radio stations are listed on the left. Tap a station to listen.
Tap the Pause button to pause playback. The button turns into a Play button; tap Play to resume playback.
Tap the Thumbs Up icon if you like a track; the radio station will be fine-tuned to play more tracks like this.
Tap the Thumbs Down icon if you don’t like a track; it will now be skipped and the radio station fine-tuned to not play music like this.
Tap the Next button if the track is okay but you just don’t want to listen to it now. The track will be skipped but it won’t affect how Pandora fine-tunes your station.
Tap + Create Station to create a new station.
Use the onscreen keyboard to type in the name of a song, artist, or genre.
Pandora lists matching artists, tracks, and genres. Tap a selection to create that station, add it to your station list, and begin playback.
>>>Go Further: AMAZON, SPOTIFY, AND YOUTUBE
Apple Music and Pandora have a lot of competition from other streaming music services. If you like to listen to music on your iPad, there are plenty of options you can choose!
Spotify, for example, is the largest on-demand streaming service. It works like Apple Music, in that you “dial up” the specific artists and songs you want to listen to. There is a free version that throws a lot of stuff you may not want into the mix. Spotify Premium, at $9.99, is the on-demand plan that lets you listen to what you want, when you want. Download the Spotify app from the App Store to get started.
Then there’s online retailer Amazon.com, which offers two different streaming music services. (That’s in addition to all the digital music it has for purchase and download, of course.) Amazon Prime Music offers two million on-demand tracks for members of the Amazon Prime service. (Amazon Prime offers free two-day shipping on qualifying purchases; a one-year subscription costs $99 and includes free access to the Prime Music service.) If you want more selection, pay $9.99/month for Amazon Music Unlimited, which offers tens of millions of on-demand tracks. Get the Amazon Music app for free from the App Store.
Then there’s YouTube. Although it’s not technically a streaming music service (it’s a video sharing site), a lot of people use YouTube to listen to their favorite music—and it’s all free. Most major artists and record labels have official music videos on YouTube, and many artists and individuals have created and uploaded so-called “lyric videos” (music with lyrics superimposed onscreen) for other songs. In short, there’s a lot of music available on YouTube, and it’s all available for free. Use the YouTube app from the App Store.
Buying and Playing Music from the iTunes Store
While streaming music may be all the rage, many of us still prefer to own the music we like, so we can take and listen to it anywhere—even if there’s no Internet connection handy. The way to do this on your iPad is to purchase digital music from Apple’s iTunes Store, and then download your purchases to your iPad for playback.
Purchase Music from the iTunes Store
Apple offers tens of millions of individual tracks for purchase in the iTunes Store. Most tracks are priced from $0.99 to $1.29, which means it’s affordable to build your own personal music library.
From the iPad Home screen, tap the iTunes Store icon to open the iTunes Store.
Tap the Music tab to view music available for purchase.
Tap Genres to browse music by genre; tap to select the genre you want.
Tap within the Search box and enter the name of a song, album, or artist.
iTunes displays a list of matching artists or music. Tap the one you want.
Tap an album to purchase the album or view its individual tracks.
Tap the price button to purchase an album or track.
Tap the Purchase button and follow the instructions to enter your Apple ID and complete the transaction.
Play Your Tunes
When you purchase a track from the iTunes Store, that track is automatically downloaded to and stored on your iPad. You play this music with the iPad’s Music app.
From the iPad Home screen, tap the Music icon to open the Music app.
Tap the Library tab (at the bottom of the screen) to view all the music stored on your iPad.
Tap Library (at the top of the screen) to select how you view your music—Recently Added, Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, or Downloaded Music.
If you select Artists or Albums, tap through to view individual tracks.
Tap Play to play all the tracks in order.
Tap Shuffle to play all the tracks in random order.
Tap a track to play that track.
Playback controls appear in the lower-right corner of the screen. Tap Pause to pause playback; tap Play to resume playback.
Tap Next to skip to the next track.
My Digital Entertainment for Seniors
If you want to learn more about digital music available on your iPad and elsewhere online, check out Que’s companion book, My Digital Entertainment for Seniors, available at www.informit.com/title/9780789756602 or wherever books are sold. There’s a lot more to listen to online if you know where to find it!