Over the past few days, some Apple Music subscribers have noticed the appearance of a new playlist in the "For You" tab of the music streaming app, called "My Chill Mix." Redditor Elliotblyth posted about the playlist recently, noting that their iPad remains on iOS 10 and that they have not yet installed the iOS 11 public beta that released yesterday. Still, a few commenters on the Reddit post have noted the appearance of My Chill Mix while on the iOS 11 beta.
In screenshots, the playlist doesn't have a description like My Favorites Mix and My New Music Mix, but a few users who have been listening to the playlist have given a decent description of what kind of music it includes. As a point of comparison, currently My Favorites Mix (refreshed every Wednesday) gives subscribers a list of the songs they most listen to, while My New Music Mix (refreshed every Friday) recommends newly released music that aligns with the taste of a user's previous listening history.
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My Chill Mix is said to be similar to My New Music Mix, but without the rule that only newly released tracks can be in the playlist. This means that Apple Music will pull from music selections that are both old and new, all based on each user's personal listening history and likes/dislikes, to propagate My Chill Mix every Sunday. For subscribers who don't see the new playlist, asking Siri to "play My Chill Mix" sometimes works.
Apple describes My Chill Mix as follows: "Tailored to your music tastes, My Chill Mix is a selection of songs to help you relax and unwind." The playlist originally appeared in the watchOS 4 preview page after WWDC, with Apple including My Chill Mix among the playlists that will automatically sync to Apple Watch. Since then, any mention of the playlist has been removed from that page on Apple.com.
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My New Music Mix and My Favorites Mix originally appeared on the iOS 10 public beta last September, a few months after WWDC 2016 when Apple originally announced that personally curated playlists would be coming to Apple Music. A few tweaks are coming to Apple Music in iOS 11 as well, including a new social feature where subscribers can make profiles, share playlists, see their friends' playlists, and browse their friends' listening history.
Top Rated Comments
One of the hardest things for me is finding new music I actually like. Even listening to my favorite artists new albums sometimes there are only 1 or 2 songs that are worth listening to. Curated playlists like this, if populated with music that the user will actually like, could be a big reason to get an Apple Music subscription.
I've been listening to My New Music Mix since the iOS 10 beta last September, and I gotta say it's impressive. I've found new songs, entire albums, and artists on a really consistent basis that have all become mainstays in my main playlists.On the other hand, My Favorites Mix is hilariously inconsistent for me. Like, I listened to "Can't Stop The Feeling!" once or twice, and it's appeared in Favorites multiple times throughout the year.
I guess I'll try this new feature but I don't really like to be spoon fed songs that the labels are desperate to sell to me. I'd rather actively go hunting for something that catches my ear in a quirky setting.
Google Music has been pretty good at unobtrusively suggesting playlists based on different songs I chose to play. I like that their choices aren't necessarily all big names and heavily hyped groups. Sometimes I feel Apple Music is all about what Jimmy Iovine wants to push.
Despite my using it daily, Apple Music has no effing idea what kind of music I like.
Instead of liking individual tracks, try setting up a smart playlist on iTunes. Let the filter say "if I've listened to a song more than, say 10 times, "love" the song on Apple Music. Doing so could teach Apple Music 1,000's of songs you actually do like. That may help with future suggestions of what you do like.