Music, Apple TV, Podcasts & Books
It was evolution rather than revolution for these apps in Big Sur
One of Catalina’s biggest changes was the end of iTunes and its replacement with separate apps, Music, TV, and Podcasts. It’s no surprise, then that these apps don’t get huge updates in Big Sur. The biggest change in Music is the replacement of For You with Listen Now. Similar to its predecessor, and like the iOS version, Listen Now suggests music, artists and interviews it thinks you might like based on your previous listening habits. Search has been improved, too, with new filters. Listen Now also pops up in the Podcasts app, making it easier to find the next episode of podcasts you listen to.
1 Go social
Apple Music allows you to find out what friends are listening to and share what you listen to with them. Click on Listen Now, then on the ID profile icon. Click on the Camera icon to choose a profile picture, and type in the box next to ‘username’ to create a name.
Press Continue to Find Contacts, to see who among your friends is using Apple Music. Scroll through the list of
Contacts and press Follow next to those you want to add. You can also invite any who aren’t currently using the feature. Click Next and choose the playlists you want to share. Follow the instructions on screen and choose the options you want in order to complete setup.
2 Help Music get a better idea of what you like to listen to
Listen Now attempts to work out what you like, but you can give it a helping hand. When you hear a track that you like, or dislike, click on the More button next to the song title and choose Like or Dislike from the menu.
3 Check and manage what third-party services access Music
If you have an Amazon Echo, you will hopefully already know that you can play Apple Music directly from the Echo just by asking Alexa. To see which devices and services have access to your Music account, click on Account then ‘Apps with Access…’ In the window that opens you can revoke access to specific services if you choose.
4 Manage family access
If you pay for the Family tier of Apple One, family members can access Apple Music. To manage who has access, click on Account and choose Manage Family… You’ll be taken to the Family Sharing section of System Preferences, where you can then add and remove family members.
5 Specify the quality of music you import
Unfortunately, you can’t do anything about the quality of audio you stream from Apple, but you can choose the quality of music you import from your own collection.
Go to Music > Preferences > Files and press Import Settings. From here you can choose the format and bitrate of files you import.
6 Create a Smart playlist in the TV app
The TV app allows you to create playlists, just like Music. They are displayed in the sidebar in the Library tab. You can also create Smart playlists, where movies and TV shows in your Library are added automatically if they meet the criteria you specify, such as the name of the director or the year they were made.
Click on File > New > Smart Playlist… Choose an option from the first dropdown menu and set the parameters, such as ‘Director… is… Ridley Scott’. Click the ‘+’ to add additional criteria. And check the box next to Live Updating if you want it to update automatically.
7 Set TV download and streaming options
The TV app allows you to limit the data you use while streaming or downloading TV programmes or movies. Go to TV > Preferences > Playback. From the Streaming menu, choose High Quality to stream the highest available quality for everything you watch, or Data Saver, to limit streaming to 500MB/hour. From the Download options, choose High Quality or Fast Downloads if you only want to watch the download on your Mac, or Most Compatible HD or Most Compatible SD if you want to transfer the downloads to another device such as an iPhone.
8 Create a Podcasts station
Stations enable you to group podcasts you subscribe to together. How you group them is up to you. One way to do it would be to group all the movie podcasts you subscribe to, or all the food podcasts. The only stipulation is that you must subscribe to a podcast in Podcasts to add it to a station.
In Podcasts, go to File > New Station (alternatively, press ç+N). Give the station a name and choose the order you want to play episodes and whether to group them by podcast.
At the bottom of the window, under Podcasts, click on the arrow next to Choose Podcasts (you might have to scroll down). Check the box to the right of the podcasts you want to add to the station. Click OK, then OK again.
9 Make notes in Books
Books didn’t get an upgrade in Big Sur and, sadly, you still can’t set reading goals, as you can in iOS. But you can make notes on books. When you’re reading a book on your Mac and you come across a passage you want to make notes on, select it. In the menu, choose a colour for the highlight, or choose to underline it in red. You’ll see the passage appear in the sidebar with a notes section underneath. Type your note.