I can concur, and also recommend a major cleanup and overhaul.
I have been using Cider for years now and have had to pay for this open source client twice as they continue to update their standards and distribution (part of this is Apple's fault for always changing their API, thus breaking the cider app everytime Apple makes a change). That being said, there is a lot left to be desired from a usability standpoint. I put up with a lot for a while during the beta, but it still feels "pre-alpha" levels of buggy at times, successful sign-in often requires multiple attempts (sign in via token doesn't work at all), and then, you need to restart the app in order to get the interface to properly load your library and *maybe* display your name. Also hovering over the side bar items affects the styling of other elements. A lot of questions, not a lot of answers.
Almost every time I've installed this app, be it on Linux or Windows, there is always some issue preventing sign-in or proper installation that has a "temporary fix" from the devs, posted via discord or the itch forums here... Until the next release breaks everything again, or they change their minds on the interface, CDN, or ecosystem AGAIN.
As you say, there's inconsistency in releases, too. The FlatHub distribution has long been abandoned for instance, yet it is still there, cat-fishing people with a broken app (idk what it is about Flatpack that devs don't like, but it seems like every app on there is unmaintained). Taproom provides straight forward "enough" downloads once you've signed in (even though the "Access Downloads" button on the homepage does nothing), but then there's also the package manager route which is the most direct, if most involved, way of getting the latest release.... ALL OF THAT and you STILL have to download the client through the app-portal you just downloaded which may or may not work depending on your Linux distro or Windows environment.My hunch? Cider is primarily developed by frontend devs who are more concerned with working on what is interesting to them and their Discord server audience- aesthetics, and "nice to have" features like plugins and themes- which have bloated the program and resulted in a tonne of UI and API bugs, biting off more than they can chew as they struggle to maintain so many releases and various features.. Thus the app looks very "polished" yet feels terrible to setup and use- very much a small, community-driven project that masquerades as a more organized solution based on its appearance. This is exacerbated by Apple's capricious SDK and API's as they have no allegiance to any projects relying on the Apple Music Web kit. The popularity of the project forcing it to grow from one dev's side project to a larger, more time consuming task necessitating monetization to pay for their time, which always feels awkward for Open Source projects.
Alas, it still remains the most serviceable option for Apple Music on Linux, and so I'm still using it and supporting it.
I hope it gets better.