APPLE MUSIC GETS PANNED...
BEFORE IT LAUNCHES

It appears we can divide the people who were closely watching Monday morning’s Apple Music intro into two camps—those feeling euphoric about a potential game changer, and those who see the undertaking as a colossal miss.

It didn’t take long for the skeptics to step up. Among those dismissing the endeavor on Tuesday were The New Yorker’s John Seabrook in a piece bearing the headline “Apple’s Music Revolution That Isn’t,” “card-carrying Apple fanboy” Chris Taylor on Mashable (“Apple Music is a major mess, and it won't beat Spotify”) and Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary on CNBC (“Apple music is a ‘giant nothing burger’”).

What these pundits were panning wasn’t the service itself—they haven’t tried it because it doesn’t launch until June 30—but the presentation by Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue, whose untucked, coral-colored shirt generated its own substratum of online derision. At least the New York Post’s Hardeep Phull clearly specified his target in a critique headlined “Apple Music’s launch was even lamer than Tidal’s.”

Iovine and Cue may not be the super-salesmen that Steve Jobs was, but can we just ease back and explore Apple Music before we damn it as the Digital Age equivalent of the Edsel?