Posts tagged with "Apple Music"

AirPods and HomePods Will Not Support Apple Music’s New Lossless Audio

When Apple announced that Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio are coming to Apple Music, it wasn’t entirely clear from the press release whether Lossless Audio would work with AirPods or HomePods. Since then, Apple has confirmed to T3 that AirPods Pro and AirPods Max do not support Lossless Audio. In a statement to Chris Welch of The Verge, Apple definitively said:

“Lossless audio is not supported on AirPods, any model,” an Apple spokesperson said by email.

AirPods support Spatial Audio, but if you want to listen to Lossless Audio, you’ll need wired headphones, an Apple TV, or a Mac connected to good speakers.

If you were thinking you might be able to get around the wireless limitations of Lossless Audio with a Lightning cable connected to your AirPods Max, you’re out of luck there too, according to Billboard’s Micah Singleton who raised the question with Apple. The Verge’s story confirms what Singleton was told too.

In addition, MacRumors reports it has confirmed from an unnamed source that the original HomePod and HomePod mini do not work with Lossless Audio either.

Apple Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Playback for Apple Music Subscribers Coming in June

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Today, Apple announced that beginning in June, it will offer Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos to its Apple Music collection. The company also announced that it is bringing Lossless Audio to the entire Music catalog. Both features are being added to Apple Music at no additional cost to subscribers.

According to Apple’s press release:

“Apple Music is making its biggest advancement ever in sound quality,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats. “Listening to a song in Dolby Atmos is like magic. The music comes from all around you and sounds incredible. Now we are bringing this truly innovative and immersive experience to our listeners with music from their favorite artists like J Balvin, Gustavo Dudamel, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Kacey Musgraves, The Weeknd, and so many more. Subscribers will also be able to listen to their music in the highest audio quality with Lossless Audio. Apple Music as we know it is about to change forever.”

Spatial Audio will be the default playback option for AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, including AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, BeatsX, Beats Solo3 Wireless, Beats Studio3, Powerbeats3 Wireless, Beats Flex, Powerbeats Pro, and Beats Solo Pro. The feature will be available with other headphones, too, by going to Settings → Music → Audio and setting Dolby Atmos to ‘Always On.’ The playback feature is also supported by the latest models of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs. At launch, Apple says there will be thousands of tracks available with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support and that new ones will be added continuously. Music that supports the feature will be badged in the Music app so subscribers can find it more easily.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

In addition to Spatial Audio, Apple is offering lossless audio versions of the entire Apple Music catalog beginning in June, which Apple confirmed to The Verge, is an Apple Music exclusive. In other words, you won’t be able to purchase lossless versions of music from the iTunes Store. The 75 million songs in the catalog will use the ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) format and start with CD-quality 16-bit audio at 44.1 kHz and go up to 24 bit at 48 kHz. Apple will also offer Hi-Resolution Lossless up to 24 bit at 192 kHz, for which subscribers will need an external USB DAC. Lossless playback is also opt-in due to the large file sizes involved. After iOS, iPadOS 14.6, macOS 11.4, and tvOS 14.6 are released, you’ll go to Settings → Music → Audio Quality to pick between Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless. From the details released today, it is not clear whether AirPods and Beats wireless headphones will support Apple’s lossless formats.

As someone who owns good quality headphones, I’m glad to see Apple adding lossless options to Apple Music. Spatial Audio is intriguing too. It remains to be seen how widely adopted it will be, but I’ve enjoyed it with video via the TV app, so I’m eager to try it with Apple Music too.

Hands-On With Apple Music’s New Collections of Chart-Toppers in Cities Around the World

In the aftermath of the release of iOS and iPadOS 14.5 and other OS updates yesterday, Apple updated the Browse tab of the Music app with a collection of Apple Music playlists called ‘Chart-Toppers in Cities Around the World’ that are available on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS. The playlists collect the top 25 songs in 103 cities around the globe.

The new collections occupy a row just below the featured content at the top of Music’s Browse tab. To access all 103 playlists on iOS, tap ‘See All.’ The twelve playlists that I see in my US-based account are US cities presented in no discernible order. After that, cities are listed alphabetically.

Browsing through playlists, I’ve occasionally come across a grayed-out song that isn’t available in the US, but that’s been very rare. It’s been fun browsing through playlists to see what’s popular here in the Chicago area compared to other cities in the US and elsewhere. My music tastes aren’t very well aligned with the top 25 lists, but I’m glad the playlists have been added. The collections are a fascinating peek into pop culture worldwide and an easy way to listen to what’s popular with other Apple Music subscribers.

Apple Music Editorial Content Is Coming to Apple News

Yesterday as Federico was putting the finishing touches on an in-depth review of iOS and iPadOS 14.5 that we will publish next week, he discovered something interesting: Apple Music is in the process of establishing a presence on Apple News. The content added to Apple News so far is limited, but it appears that the company is in the process of enhancing both services by connecting them in a way that is reminiscent of the way it brought Apple News to the Stocks app with iOS 12, but so far, also different.

A Music and News integration has been on Federico’s wish list ever since iOS 12. As he imagined in his iOS 12 review:

Using Apple News as a content provider for Stocks is fascinating as it could be applied to a variety of other Apple services in the future. Imagine, for instance, if Music news became part of the Music app and if you could read interviews and album reviews on an artist’s page.

It’s an idea that he returned to in 2019:

and that we have discussed repeatedly on AppStories.

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Apple and Others Invest $50 million into Music Distributor UnitedMasters→

Apple quietly acquires companies with products and teams that complement its own offerings all the time, but it’s not often an investor, which makes the company’s recent investment in UnitedMasters notable. As reported by Matthew Panzarino at TechCrunch, Apple is joined by Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and A16z as leads in UnitedMasters’ $50 million Series B round.

Historically, artists’ relationships with music distribution companies have prevented artists from connecting directly with fans. UnitedMasters’ goal is to change that providing artists with access to data and allowing them to retain control of master recordings and sell merchandise, tickets, and more directly to fans.

As Panzarino notes, the investment comes as the music industry is changing:

We are currently at an inflection point in the way that artists and fans connect with one another. Though there have been seemingly endless ways for artists to get their messages out or speak to fans using social media and other platforms, the actual business of distributing work to a community and making money from that work has been out of their hands completely since the beginning of the recording industry.

UnitedMasters’ mission is to assist artists in making the transition to music’s future. If UnitedMaters’ objective sounds familiar, it’s likely because, as Panzarino explains, it bears a lot of similarity to what Apple Music Connect could have been:

In music, Apple is at the center of this maelstrom along with a few other major players like Spotify. One of the big misses in recent years for Apple Music, in my opinion, was Apple’s failure to turn Apple Music Connect into an industry-standard portal that allowed artists to connect broadly with fans, distribute directly, sell tickets and merchandise but — most importantly — to foster and own their community.

The streaming music industry is moving fast. Over the past several weeks, Spotify has introduced a long list of features to attract new listeners to the service. Apple Music seems to be evolving slowly compared to Spotify, but Apple’s investment in UnitedMasters shows that the company has its eye on the industry’s future too. Which new features stick with music fans remains to be seen, but judging from the first three months of the year, 2021 will be another interesting one for music streaming services.

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Apple Clarifies Ability to ‘Set Default’ Audio Apps in iOS 14.5→

Earlier today, Apple provided TechCrunch with a fascinating clarification regarding the ability in iOS and iPadOS 14.5 to pick “default” audio apps for music, podcast, and audiobook playback.

From Sarah Perez’s article:

Apple has clarified that the iOS 14.5 beta is not actually allowing users to select a new default music service, as has been reported. Following the beta’s release back in February, a number of beta testers noticed that Siri would now ask what music service they would like to use when they asked Siri to play music. But Apple doesn’t consider this feature the equivalent to “setting a default” — an option it more recently began to allow for email and browser apps.

Instead, the feature is Siri intelligence-based, meaning it can improve and even change over time as Siri learns to better understand your listening habits.

For example, if you tell Siri to play a song, album or artist, it may ask you which service you want to use to listen to this sort of content. However, your response to Siri is not making that particular service your “default,” Apple says. In fact, Siri may ask you again at some point — a request that could confuse users if they thought their preferences had already been set.

On the surface, it appears as if Apple’s argument boils down to semantics. Because iOS 14.5 will not offer a proper page in Settings to configure “default” audio apps (like you can for browsers and email clients, as I argued on yesterday’s episode of Connected), then it’s not correct to say you’ll be able to change the default music app on your iPhone or iPad. We could debate why Apple is not building a page in Settings for this but still allowing Siri to integrate with third-party streaming services and apps (competitive advantages vs. antitrust concerns?), but that’s besides the point. What I find more interesting is that Apple explains this feature is actually doing more than just sticking to a default option:

The audio choice feature, of course, doesn’t prevent users from requesting a particular service by name, even if it’s not their usual preference.

For instance, you can still say something like “play smooth jazz radio on Pandora” to launch that app instead. However, if you continued to request Pandora by name for music requests — even though you had initially specified Apple Music or Spotify or some other service when Siri had first prompted you — then the next time you asked Siri to play music without specifically a service, the assistant may ask you again to choose a service.

From this perspective, given the dynamic nature of this functionality, I understand why Apple may be uncomfortable comparing it to the ability to switch default browser and email apps. At the same time, I want to mention how I’ve been using iOS 14.5 for the past month, and after an initial configuration, Siri continued to default to Spotify and never prompted me to pick another one again. I’m giving Apple’s explanation the benefit of the doubt, but I’m curious to see how this feature will work in the final release of iOS 14.5.

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iOS and iPadOS 14.5 Betas Let Users Pick The Default Streaming Music Service Used by Siri→

As MacRumors’ Tim Hardwick reported earlier today, the iOS and iPadOS 14.5 betas permit users to change the default music streaming service used for playback by Siri.

The new feature, which originally surfaced on Reddit and reported on by The 8-Bit, appears the first time you ask Siri to play music. Siri displays a list of audio apps installed on your device, asking you to pick one. As you can see from screenshots of Federico’s iPhone above, the feature currently suggests audio apps that can’t respond to music requests like podcast players, but he has confirmed that it works with Spotify for playing individual songs and playlists. Switching streaming services after the initial prompt to pick one can be accomplished using Siri too.

Late last year, Apple introduced the ability to change the streaming service used with the HomePod and HomePod mini, so it’s not surprising that the feature that Apple is expanding the feature to all Siri requests. However, the new iOS and iPadOS 14.5 feature is nonetheless significant because it will reach a far larger audience of iPhone and iPad users that don’t own a HomePod.

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Apple Releases macOS 11.3 Beta with New Safari Features, Reminders Sorting, Music Updates, and Improvements to iOS and iPadOS Apps Running on M1 Macs

Start page items can be reordered.

Start page items can be reordered.

Apple has released the first beta for macOS 11.3 Big Sur, which includes new Safari features, changes that parallel yesterday’s updates to iOS and iPadOS, and more.

Some of the most interesting features of the latest Big Sur beta are in Safari. As I wrote in my Big Sur review, I like most of the changes made to Safari’s start page but wished I could reorder the default sections. That’s now possible, which is terrific, but there’s also a new third-party extension point for developers to build start page integrations, which is very interesting. We’ll have to see what developers do with the new feature, but I expect it will allow RSS clients to list recent articles on the start page that could be opened directly in Safari, for example. There’s a new Web Speech API that allows speech recognition functionality to be built into a webpage too.

Music's new Made for You tab

Music’s new Made for You tab

Similar to iOS and iPadOS, Reminders is gaining the option to print lists. Music adds a dedicated ‘Made For You’ section in the sidebar that includes your annual Replay playlists and Apple’s personalized algorithmic playlists. The Listen Now tab will also suggest upcoming live events tuned to your music tastes. There’s an enhanced News+ tab in Apple News designed to make it easier to access magazines and newspapers and manage downloaded issues. Sony PS5 DualSense and Xbox Series X/S controllers are supported too.

The News+ tab has been redesigned.

The News+ tab has been redesigned.

Finally, the experience of using iOS and iPadOS apps on the Mac got a boost too. There’s a brand new Preference pane in iPhone and iPads running on an M1 Mac that provides more keyboard control over touch commands. Apps can also be opened in larger windows.

The new iOS and iPadOS app Preferences window.

The new iOS and iPadOS app Preferences window.