Apple is launching a new music streaming service focused on classical music. Based on its 2021 acquisition of Amsterdam-based streamer Primephonic, the new Apple Music Classical app will offer Apple Music subscribers access to over 5 million classical music tracks, including new releases in high-quality audio, as well as hundreds of curated playlists, thousands of exclusive albums, and other features like composer bios and deep dives on key works, Apple says.
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The app will also let users dive into the recordings to read editorial notes about the composers and descriptions of their key works. Famous composers will have their own high-resolution digital portraits available, which Apple commissioned from artists. These were designed with color palettes and artistic references from the relevant classical period, Apple notes, and more will be added in time. At launch, portraits will be available for Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
So, Apple’s challenge is partly to tempt older classical music fans who don’t already pay for a streaming subscription because they prefer their CDs and the radio. Or, indeed, because they don’t think streaming services serve classical well enough – which is where Apple Music Classical’s pitch should hit home.
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Classical music is fascinating right now. It’s still too often stereotyped as a niche genre for older listeners, but (apart from the fact it’s not a single genre) streaming has already expanded its audience, and there’s a youthful generation of listeners coming through.
Arriving for all Apple devices, the release brings the ability for user functions and conversions to call other functions and conversions, the option to reference constants within user functions and conversions, and more.
The MagEZ grip is also a great addition to this bundle; it is an extremely strong magnet that adds a finger loop and standability to the rear of the iPhone. It can be removed and added very easily with the power of magnets.
The dedicated MLB app for the iPhone now supports Live Activities following an update that was introduced yesterday. With Live Activities, MLB users can follow their favorite teams without the need to open the app, keeping track of scores right from the Lock Screen.
Apple today announced that its expanded range of App Store price points is now available to developers for use with all App Store purchase options, including paid apps and one-time in-app purchases.
“It really drives me mad because it’s not because of the content. It would absolutely be lapped up by the British public because it’s about our Premier League football. It is purely because of the medium,” she said. “I joke with my ['Ted Lasso' tour] guests — we see it as very American to have lots of channels. Trying to sell a channel package to people in Britain is quite hard. I think the second it’s sold to Netflix or even Prime, it’s gonna be big.”
AirPods maker GoerTek Inc.’s Vietnam business chief is leaving the company, days after the executive outlined how Apple Inc.’s Chinese suppliers are likely to move capacity out of the country far faster than anticipated to pre-empt fallout from escalating Beijing-Washington tensions.
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Apple’s suppliers rarely comment on its thinking, in part because of the US company’s famous insistence on secrecy across its global supply chain.
The description of the new Apple Music Classical app has this one single sentence that is a bit worrying for me: "To listen to music on Apple Music Classical, you must have an internet connection."
I can parse this sentence both ways.
Apple may be saying there is no offline mode. To listen to any music using this new app, you will need an internet connection to stream music.
Or, Apple may be saying you will need an internet connection in order to either stream or download music. But after downloading, you are good to go to offline mode.
I sure hope it is the latter, but given what Apple has wrote, I will not be surprised if it is the former.
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