New Music App

Let’s take a look at what’s new with music on the Mac with macOS Catalina. We no longer have iTunes. We have separate apps that hold all of our different media. In this particular video, we’re going to look at the music app. Let’s go to my Mac.

Let’s first look at the application music. We no longer have iTunes as our application. With iTunes, we could view our media, podcasts, movies, and music. Now, it’s all in the music app. What I’m going to do is I’m going to go up to go here in the menu bar and then select applications. You’re going to see we have a new amp here called music. We no longer have iTunes. If you want to listen to your podcasts, what you will do is you’ll go over to the podcasts app. They separated all of the different media into separate apps.

Let’s go back over to music. You’re going to see the icon looks still the same. It still looks like iTunes, but when I opened this up, it’s going to be completely different, but before I open it up, let’s take a look at the music folder. If you’re coming from an older version of the Mac, where we had iTunes, you may recall that your music was stored in the music folder in your home folder. It’s still in that same location.

I’m going to close this and let’s go and open up a new window. I’m looking at my home folder. You’re going to see; I have my music folder. Now, this has not changed. I double click on it, I have my music. Double click on it again, I go to my media. This is where we used to have our TV shows and our podcasts. Now it’s just going to be my music. I double click on it, and here are my albums. Let’s put this in list view.

Where our Mac stores, our music is still in the same location. It is located in our music folder in the home folder. Again, the app is entirely different. I’m going to close this, and now I’m going to open up my music app. You’re going to see it looks completely different. What Apple did is they simplified it. Now that it only controls your music. Over on the left, we still have our sidebar, and it’s divided into different sections. I have my Apple music. I’m not signed in to Apple music. What it’s going to do is it’s going to entice me to try it free and sign up. We have our Apple music here.

If you’re not signed into Apple Music, or you’re not a subscriber of Apple music, you can still listen to the radio. I click on radio, and I can still listen to a few stations that Apple provides. You do not have to be an Apple Music subscriber to listen to some of the radio stations. Below that, we have our library. We can see, I have recently added artists, album songs, and music videos. I want to see what albums I have. I just click on albums, and I’m looking at my albums. I want to see my songs. I click on songs, and I’m looking at all my songs, the same thing with artists.

Now I’m looking at my artists. When I’m looking at them by artist, if I click on an artist’s name, let’s go over to Aaron Neville. You’re going to see, I have two albums, a total of 24 songs. It does categorize all of the different albums yet, even when viewing them by the artist. If you want to do more, what you do is you click on the three dots here. This is the more button. What I can do with this when I click on it is I can go and add this album to a playlist. I can go and play it next. I can get information on it. I can show it in the iTunes store.

You’re going to see that this more button here is located throughout the interface of music. It was also there in iTunes. Depending on what you have selected, if I go and select a song here, and then I go over to the three dots, you can see, I can love this song or dislike it. I couldn’t do that with the album. The options will change depending on what you have selected.

Let’s go back over to my sidebar. I have the store. This is where I can go and purchase music. Where are my playlists? The first thing I need to do is I need to create a playlist. As you saw, what I could do is I could click on the more button when I’m looking at an album or song, but also what I can do is I can go up to file in the menu bar, and then you’re going to see new. Then from here, I can go and create a playlist. I can create it from a selection. I can create a smart playlist, and then I can also create a folder for my playlists. We still have all of our different options for playlists. They just aren’t showing until we create one.

Let’s go ahead and create one. I’m going to click on the playlist, and now you’re going to see we have my playlist here. All I have to do now is just name this. I’m going to call this my favorites, and I want to add some songs to it. Now I go back over to my songs and let’s say I wanted to add this song here, I go over to the three dots, and you’re going to see add to playlist. Then I have my favorites. Now that song is in my favorites. You’re going to see it as over here in my favorites. I could also use drag and drop to add songs to my playlist. Just drag the songs that I want over to my playlist.

What else is new? When we play a song, I’m going to double click on this to play it. Let’s go ahead and turn it down, so I don’t get any copyright infringements here. When you’re playing a song, you can see what song is playing up at the top. You can also see how far you are into the song here with the playhead. You’re going to see we have the three dots again, the more button. I click on it, and what I can do is I can add this to my playlists as well as create a station with it. Then I also show my album in the library or show it in the iTunes store.

Again, as I mentioned earlier, when we see these three dots here, you’re going to have different options depending on what you have selected. Over to the right, we have our volume. If you’re using AirPlay, what you can do is you can select different speakers. I have an Apple TV; I can play it in my living room. I can switch it to my living room Apple TV. I can also play it from one of my AirPort Expresses.

Over to the right, we have the little Carmen bubble here. When I click on this, I get lyrics. The song does not have any lyrics, but this is where we can see our different lyrics. Then over to the right, we have these three lines here. This is my playlist. I can see what is playing next again. I did not add anything to play next. Let’s go and add something. I’m going to go back over to my songs here and let’s go and play Tell it Like it is, I like that song. I click on the three dots, and what I’m going to do is I’m going to add it to play next. Let’s go and add one more. We’re going to go with Grenade by Bruno Mars. Click on the three dots, play later. Now when we go back up to my playlist here, you’re going to see I have, Tell it Like it is, and Grenade.

We also have our MiniPlayer. If you’re familiar with iTunes, you may have noticed that you had a MiniPlayer. You could minimize the window. When we go up to window here, you’re going to see we have MiniPlayer. I select it, and now I have a smaller window for the MiniPlayer here. I can see what’s playing. Next, I can pause it, go to the next song, go to the previous song, and have more buttons.

If you want to sign in to your different accounts, you go up to account, and from here, you can sign in. You want a view of the equalizer, you go up to the window, and you can view the equalizer. We also have visualizer settings. If we want to change the view, you go up to view, and then you can switch it to a column browser. When I’m viewing in the column browser, I can select by my genre here. Once I select the genre, I can select the artist, and then I’ll be able to see all of the songs. I’m going to switch it back to just my regular view. I’m going to turn off my hide column browser.

That’s a look at the music app. The music is still stored in your music folder, and you’re going to have a lot of the same options as you did with iTunes. It’s just going to be in a simplified interface. In the sidebar, you’re going to find your Apple Music, also, you’re going to find all of your different artists, albums, and songs, and then your playlists.

If you do not see any playlists, you just need to create a playlist, and then it’ll create that section. You can also purchase songs from the iTunes Store.

If you see the three dots, the ellipsis, the more button, depending on what you have selected, click on that more button, and have different options. You can add the song to the playlist. You can love a song. You can add an album to a playlist. You also have the MiniPlayer and the equalizer. You access these through the menu bar.

That’s a look at the new music app with macOS Catalina.