Go ahead and get it
_-_-_-Review
Pros: Cesium is exactly the type of app I wanted since I don't use Apple Music service. I play my own local music, and this allows me to do that easily without all the extra steps the built-in Music app forces me to do to avoid all the streaming and service options. The playlists and playcounts from iTunes are all honored, and there are even options for controlling the queue that are nice to add.
Cons: The app does leave music playing when quit, which the developer claims is by design. I'd like it to stop music when quitting, but it's easily remedied by the use of the music controls found when swiping the screen up. In a similar vein the app frequently gets out of sync with the play/pause button in the interface, forcing you to use those same music controls to get music playing again when the app won't. The documentation is out of date, showing screenshots which aren't from the current version. It claims the app will shuffle albums, but the steps aren't possible in the current UI.
Overall, a strong contender to completely replace the built-in Music app, just needs some fine-tuning. Well worth the $1.99 price tag, especially when considering it's a one-man (or very small) shop.
Pros: Cesium is exactly the type of app I wanted since I don't use Apple Music service. I play my own local music, and this allows me to do that easily without all the extra steps the built-in Music app forces me to do to avoid all the streaming and service options. The playlists and playcounts from iTunes are all honored, and there are even options for controlling the queue that are nice to add.
Cons: The app does leave music playing when quit, which the developer claims is by design. I'd like it to stop music when quitting, but it's easily remedied by the use of the music controls found when swiping the screen up. In a similar vein the app frequently gets out of sync with the play/pause button in the interface, forcing you to use those same music controls to get music playing again when the app won't. The documentation is out of date, showing screenshots which aren't from the current version. It claims the app will shuffle albums, but the steps aren't possible in the current UI.
Overall, a strong contender to completely replace the built-in Music app, just needs some fine-tuning. Well worth the $1.99 price tag, especially when considering it's a one-man (or very small) shop.
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If you don’t have or want Apple Music
It’s great. You have to keep the original Music app for it to work, but just hide it in a folder. Instead of having radio take up a third of the bottom bar, it’s just artists, albums, songs and more (essentially setting).
You only see the important things, none of apples filler. All your artists have a picture too, just an album, but better than a gray placeholder.. Also it’s much easier to arrange what’s playing up next or later. Just swipe left on a song and it’s one of two choices, up next or later. No need to scroll past delete this song or any of the other options. (Seriously why does Apple prioritize deleting your music over playing a song next)
Anyways I’m really happy with this app.
You only see the important things, none of apples filler. All your artists have a picture too, just an album, but better than a gray placeholder.. Also it’s much easier to arrange what’s playing up next or later. Just swipe left on a song and it’s one of two choices, up next or later. No need to scroll past delete this song or any of the other options. (Seriously why does Apple prioritize deleting your music over playing a song next)
Anyways I’m really happy with this app.
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Has Potential
I gave up on Cesium and went back to the Apple Music app. Cesium is feature rich but I sometimes found it confusing and non-intuitive. Sometime in ios 11.x I started experiencing more and more odd behavior with the app. The resume queue prompt was always confusing and of late choosing yes or no sometimes gave unexpected results. In shuffle song mode of my 3000+ songs It seemed like I was always hearing the same songs being played. When I went back to Apple Music I began hearing songs from my library that I haven’t heard for months. Then there’s the occasional crashes and slow operation when using Bluetooth in my car.
I think the app still has future potential and its developer does a good job of providing updates on a timely basis.
I think the app still has future potential and its developer does a good job of providing updates on a timely basis.
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Nicer interface than Apple’s Music app
This App was highly recommended all over the net as an alternative to Apple’s Music app which has become a mess to use. Especially if you don’t use Apple Radio/Music streaming service.
Cesium is much nicer. Controls are well laid out and easy to use. Hiding and showing your cloud library is one touch away - no need to look for any “downloaded music” section like in Apple’s app.
Getting to your queue at any time is a one clock operation as is shuffle, track info/rating and repeat.
Album art is nice and large and it looks beautiful. And you can also reorder, add and remove the tabs to your hearts content to have it set up as you like.
There’s also dark mode and theming and various app icons to choose from.
I’m so glad I found this. It’s what the Apple Music app should be.
Sadly it relies on the default equaliser, so for albums where I need a proper equaliser and sound engine I use the Onkyo HF player app. But for everyday listening Cesium is easily the best!
Cesium is much nicer. Controls are well laid out and easy to use. Hiding and showing your cloud library is one touch away - no need to look for any “downloaded music” section like in Apple’s app.
Getting to your queue at any time is a one clock operation as is shuffle, track info/rating and repeat.
Album art is nice and large and it looks beautiful. And you can also reorder, add and remove the tabs to your hearts content to have it set up as you like.
There’s also dark mode and theming and various app icons to choose from.
I’m so glad I found this. It’s what the Apple Music app should be.
Sadly it relies on the default equaliser, so for albums where I need a proper equaliser and sound engine I use the Onkyo HF player app. But for everyday listening Cesium is easily the best!
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Works with podcast playlists
I have an extensive and organized podcast setup which syncs well with my iPod, but as those are now phased out (thanks for killing those Apple !), I am grudgingly migrating it all to the iPad, only to discover Apple doesn't want you to do it that way (thanks again Apple ! ... seriously, I'm getting sick of their heavy handedness) ... Anyway, Cesium DOES allow podcast playlists to sync to iPad. (thanks Cesium... REALLY 😎)
Tech podcasts are hugely important for my professional development, and being able to listen to them on commutes is very important to me. And I live in a part of the world where constant connectivity isn't feasible.
Anyway, let's me keep staying in the Apple abusive relationship a little longer, I guess.
Tech podcasts are hugely important for my professional development, and being able to listen to them on commutes is very important to me. And I live in a part of the world where constant connectivity isn't feasible.
Anyway, let's me keep staying in the Apple abusive relationship a little longer, I guess.
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A beautiful app falling short by an annoying lagging issue!!
I have loved this app from the moment i downloaded it about a year ago. As a replacement to the stock Apple Music app Cesium is definitely the best on the market. Love the basic layout of the app, customisation of the app is a great bonus also (check out night mode).
Being able to order my playlists by song title/ artist etc is a lovely touch and I have yet to come across another app which offers this feature.
All the positives aside though there has been a major lagging issue for a while now, mainly when trying to do basic commands such as skip tracks and pause music. This really needs to be addressed as it can make using the app unbearable at times!!!!!
I do however continue to use the app on a daily basis as the overall layout and simplicity of the app makes for a much better experience than the stock music app and customising the look of the app (including the apps icon colour) is a nice touch!
PLEASE FIX THE LAG!!!
EDIT ****lag issue fixed.... thanks !!! ****
Being able to order my playlists by song title/ artist etc is a lovely touch and I have yet to come across another app which offers this feature.
All the positives aside though there has been a major lagging issue for a while now, mainly when trying to do basic commands such as skip tracks and pause music. This really needs to be addressed as it can make using the app unbearable at times!!!!!
I do however continue to use the app on a daily basis as the overall layout and simplicity of the app makes for a much better experience than the stock music app and customising the look of the app (including the apps icon colour) is a nice touch!
PLEASE FIX THE LAG!!!
EDIT ****lag issue fixed.... thanks !!! ****
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Almost perfect
I love this music player! I can't say enough good things about the excellent UI, the dark mode, the player controls. This is the UI I wish the default Music app had. If you have been using iOS since the original iPhone came out you will remember the much simpler Music app or iPod app as it was called in the beginning back when we still had iPod's This app feels like a modern take on that style of Music app and to put it simply "it just works"
My only minor complaints are sometimes there is a significant delay when I pause or resume or skip a track. I've encountered this in a few other music player apps that use the Apple Music library and I get the feeling it has something to do with the DRM protection in Apple Music files and the fact that some songs need to be buffered to stream while other tracks are already downloaded. Still sometimes the freezing crashes Cessium. Also I kinda wish the night mode had a pure black option for the iPhone X.
My only minor complaints are sometimes there is a significant delay when I pause or resume or skip a track. I've encountered this in a few other music player apps that use the Apple Music library and I get the feeling it has something to do with the DRM protection in Apple Music files and the fact that some songs need to be buffered to stream while other tracks are already downloaded. Still sometimes the freezing crashes Cessium. Also I kinda wish the night mode had a pure black option for the iPhone X.
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Apple should hire this guy
The app is certainly an improvement over the anaemic-looking, featureless Music app, with its clunky headers and awkward interface. To give just one example, Music is almost unusable with long song or album names found in classical music or jazz. Cesium handles these much better by scrolling the title faster when you tap and hold on the song. Why is such an intuitive feature beyond Apple these days?
I had vowed not to get another iPhone as Music/iTunes are so nasty to use these days, but this app might have turned me.
My only problem is the app can be a bit sluggish at times, particularly when playing a song from a cold start.
I had vowed not to get another iPhone as Music/iTunes are so nasty to use these days, but this app might have turned me.
My only problem is the app can be a bit sluggish at times, particularly when playing a song from a cold start.
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Outstanding - a audio gem
This guy is dedicated to fixing Apple’s woeful Music app. This app is a labour of love and while some may nit-pic on features it is limited by iOS 11 and related APIs as far as I understand. The main reason it is on my home app screen is due to a few key features:
1) Fav Playlists - I have a few I like to access regularly and this favouriting of them puts them front and centre
2) Star Ratings - easy to add and see, and they sync with iTunes and Music app no issue
3) Dark Mode - so much nicer to look at and a boon for my OLED sporting iPhone X
And overall is it just me, but a prefer a music player that doesn’t have any wasted space and the font in Cs is a nice compact size that makes this my go to app for music playing.
Looking forward to the next .1 release of this recently re-coded masterpiece!
1) Fav Playlists - I have a few I like to access regularly and this favouriting of them puts them front and centre
2) Star Ratings - easy to add and see, and they sync with iTunes and Music app no issue
3) Dark Mode - so much nicer to look at and a boon for my OLED sporting iPhone X
And overall is it just me, but a prefer a music player that doesn’t have any wasted space and the font in Cs is a nice compact size that makes this my go to app for music playing.
Looking forward to the next .1 release of this recently re-coded masterpiece!
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Apple Music Should Hire This Developer!
This is the music player I’ve been looking for since Apple destroyed their stock player in iOS 10. Cesium is a beautiful player and has even more features than Apple ever had. Simple interface, with plenty of customization options. I can see my album artwork again! It also gives you the view to see metadata on each song that Apple never exposes. I love the option for disabling auto-lock when you want to have the album artwork on display at all times. This works well with the gestures built in to the app that let you skip, re-play and pause. Playlist folders are displayed the way you organize them in iTunes; other players don’t display that way. Landscape mode was a nice surprise too. I’m not much of a streaming music user but it can also play your Apple Music. However, if you have a lot of local music you’ve carefully collected over the years, this is a must have app.
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