I stood in line on launch day in June 2007 for the first iPhone, and used one exclusively until 2022 when I started running it side-by-side with a Pixel running GrapheneOS.
I personally tried it with Apple Music and it did not work if you had no connectivity — and, in fact, because about half of the app itself appears to be loaded on demand, parts of the UI were non-functional as well.
Also, it was not possible for me to download the equivalent of my Discover Weekly playlist for use offline; it HAD to be streamed for each. and. every. play.
I gave up and went back to Spotify. A few months later, I wiped the iPhone and sold it, leaving me with GrapheneOS exclusively.
Just last night I wiped the storage of my last Mac and it will be given away.
Given the direction Apple is going, I made the right call, which is a damn shame.
I am in the same boat and I suspect a lot of the early hour Apple users are in a similar process of thinking about it.
Some of the main draws of Apple were the freedom of the platform as a whole and the total cost of ownership that was much lower than the price tag would suggest at first.
Nowadays not only do you pay for the privilège of locked down hardware but the software is very often "meh" at best, when it's not completely trash compared to the alternatives. And their push to everything subscription with the inability to both upgrade/repair the hardware easily makes the price tag unpalatable. They aren't better built than many expensive options nowadays...
Most of the current Apple software works well only if you want to pay for content, for your own stuff the softwares are rather lacking which makes the base offering uninteresting and since 3rd party software has become extremely expensive in the ecosystem it truly is a luxury platform.
In the end, there is nothing that is better done on Apple's ecosystem nowadays, most of their historical advantage have evaporated and arguing about the battery life of Apple Silicon seems like splitting hair considering the overall cost...
A few months ago, I asked Siri to play a specific song from my iTunes library. I've done this successfully many times before, but this time it misunderstood which song I requested. The song it thought I asked for wasn't present in my library, but it was present in Apple Music. Without asking for confirmation, it enrolled me in a trial subscription and begin streaming.
I personally tried it with Apple Music and it did not work if you had no connectivity — and, in fact, because about half of the app itself appears to be loaded on demand, parts of the UI were non-functional as well.
Also, it was not possible for me to download the equivalent of my Discover Weekly playlist for use offline; it HAD to be streamed for each. and. every. play.
I gave up and went back to Spotify. A few months later, I wiped the iPhone and sold it, leaving me with GrapheneOS exclusively.
Just last night I wiped the storage of my last Mac and it will be given away.
Given the direction Apple is going, I made the right call, which is a damn shame.