Cider Review

The Apple Music App Windows Deserves

Ok, so I know. It’s a bit weird to be writing an app review when I still have the travel blog to finish, or complete that short story, or update you on my financials. But hear me out! I have no excuse. I have just been lazy. And this seems like a suitable time to distract from all these half-finished blog ideas by introducing a new one. Yay! Aren’t you lucky!

As you know, I am an avid Apple Music fan. Going from Groove Music to Spotify and ending up with Apple Music, I have a good idea about what I am looking for in a music service. After all, I am paying a monthly fee for the privilege of streaming music from your service, so you have the privilege of making sure said service is worth the money.

As you no doubt know (and not just because I have pointed it out), Apple Music still uses iTunes on Windows. Yes, you heard that right. Apple, the world’s first trillion-dollar company, arguably one of the best software makers, Apple, the guys whose DNA started the iPod, that Apple, still force everyone on Windows, 89% of all 2+ billion computers in the world, to use iTunes.
iTunes. The software that should have been retired in 2008. Can you freaking believe it! I can’t. Well, I mean, I can, I work in I.T, but I still can’t.

I mean, have you seen iTunes? Do you even remember what it looks like? Well, you don’t have to worry. I got you boo. Here it is.

Now that I have reminded you that this monstrosity still exists, let me show you the alternative.

Cider is an open-source alternative to iTunes on Windows. And it’s great! A solid 4.5/5 stars for this one. Cider plugs into Apple Music and is almost feature parity with the Music app on Mac. If Apple ever remembered Windows exists and decided to make a Music app for Windows, I would be hard pressed to switch unless it can match Cider and its feature set. In fact, I think this app has even more features than the Music app on Mac. So, let’s dive in!

Cider’s default look is a 1:1 copy of the Music app on Mac. Modern, clean, beautiful. It has everything an Apple Music subscriber could want in an app. But why only 4.5 out of 5 if it’s so good? Ok, lets start with the only con this app has. That sounds like a good way to start. At least you know it can only get better from here right…

Due to no fault of their own, Cider is an Electron app. This means it’s a glorified web-app. And we all know my distaste for anything Electron based. It’s an Electron app because Apple Music only supports web-based music apps on Windows through MusicKit. Thus, you cannot make a native app for Apple Music. Something I found out when I was trying to make an Apple Music app… And because of this big caveat, it means that streaming music is limited to 256 kbps. While Apple Music on Mac enjoys Dolby Atmos and Lossless streaming. This is the biggest downside to Apple Music on Windows – missing out on lossless music streaming. And I can hear the difference when I play from my laptop vs when I play from my iPhone/iPad. I have studio monitors for a reason!

And now onto the great! I mentioned that the above picture is the default look, but we’re not all fans of the music at the top window. What if we could, I dunno, go wild, and change it? Welcome to customizing your Apple Music experience! And it’s here that Cider really shines. I have set mine up to look like the native Windows Groove/Music/Media Player/Name-of-the-week app, and it looks incredible. My view is a mix of the Music app found on my iPad and Groove Music found on my Windows PC. And its currently set with the new Windows Mica blur, meaning no matter my background, the window shade changes. And if thats not to your liking, you can have the window take on the album art shade, an image, a colour tint or just no shade at all.

Cider does a great job of being a fully fledged music app too. Everything you could want from your Apple Music subscription is here, and more. For instance, to get to your Replay stats on Apple Music is a pain. Knowing where to look, opening the page in a web browser and still not having a break down of your listening stats for the year is what you’d typically experience on the Apple side. Cider has a one click button, right on the Home page. And stats galore! What can I say? This year has been a Limp Bizkit sorta year…

All other features are exactly what you expect from Apple Music. The Artist pages, album pages, playlist pages – all look amazing. Support for animated cover art is there, so you end up with these really beautiful high res animated covers. The app itself has really fluid animations – fitting in really nicely to the new Windows 11 animations. The albums have the deep Apple Music notes as well! Something I love love love from Apple Music! Oh, and of course – it has gapless playback. You wouldn’t think that would be worth mentioning in 2022, but hey, it’s a feature you must turn on in Apple Music (for who knows what reason).

A music app has to do a few things. It must play music really well, which is a given. But it must also make that listening experience fun, exciting, enticing. And it should make you want to listen to music. Cider excels in all these metrics, whereas iTunes makes me feel like listening to music is work. And it all comes down to the fact that iTunes is just not great to use.

You can get Cider on the Microsoft Store now for $1.49 and it’s worth every penny. However, I said it was open source and they are giving it away for free as well. You can find it on GitHub, WinGet and AUR, and I highly recommend it if you’re an Apple Music subscriber.