All this makes the Apple Music Classical app seem like an experiment. It’s quite polished for a 1.0 release, and, despite the issues that I’ve mentioned above that will irritate classical music fans, it’s a generally successful attempt to provide a better way to access classical music. Apple should be praised for paying so much attention to a genre that represents only 2–3% of the overall music market.
I’ve long complained about the way iTunes, then the Music app and Apple Music, have dealt with classical music. The earliest such articles I can find on Macworld date back to 2005. In Corral your classical music, I wrote, “If you’re a fan of classical music, then you’ve probably, at some point, become frustrated with iTunes and the iPod. Track information from the Web is inconsistent, pieces are difficult to tag and categorize, and imported songs don’t flow seamlessly into one another.”
I’m happy to say that Apple has finally solved many of these problems. It’s a shame that it took so long.
As they’re currently set up, all of the major streaming platforms encourage passive listening—hitting shuffle on whatever low-fi hip hop beats that fit your current mood. This is bad for music, and bad for music fans. Apple Music Classical shows there’s a better way.
In an announcement that surprised approximately no one, Apple has scheduled its 2023 Worldwide Developer Conference for June 5th through 9th. WWDC will once again take place online for free, along with a special one-day event at Apple Park, accessible by lottery.
Like in previous years, young developers are tasked with building an app playground, completing some written prompts, and providing documentation.
Apple’s Beats brand is teaming up with Girls Don’t Cry, the Tokyo-based brand founded by VK Design’s Verdy, for a special edition design for Beats Flex. Beats Flex are the most affordable way to enter the Beats and Apple wireless headphone ecosystem.
Apple today released an iTunes 12.12.8 update for Windows, with the software introducing security improvements and "support for new devices." [...] The "new devices" that Apple mentions in the launch notes for the update likely pertain to the HomePod, which was released in January 2023.
If we take the Oscars 2023 for example, then we can reveal that there’s almost not even one film that was edited on FCP. Most of those films were edited on Avid Media Composer, and furthermore, even Premiere Pro has managed to penetrate into the post-production phase of these films. Yes, I know it sounds strange— The super buggy program was recently utilized by high-end productions. Premiere Pro was chosen over FCP. It must be noted that the product guys of Premiere Pro have been busting their asses in order to sharpen the software. In fact, every month, Adobe released an update to Premiere Pro. As for NLE – every NLE, there are always a lot of updates. Editors’ feedback is pushed to product managers, which, in turn, push back their features, upgrades, and updates. DaVinci Resolve is another good example of that. A reborn multi-complex NLE, that is being involved on the go, with new features developed every month, on the clock. Apple doesn’t do that. And that’s another indication that Apple sees its FCP as iMovie on steroids and not more than that.
As with any “no fee, interest-free” credit deal, that’s only true so long as you keep up the payments. If you don’t, then it’s unclear how Apple will handle the matter, but it’s entirely possible you’ll then run up fees and charges. Additionally, while the original credit check was a soft one, Apple says that it may report payment history to credit agencies – so if you miss any payments, that likely will impact your credit rating.
The golden rule with any credit is: Only use it if you can comfortably afford the repayments, and are confident your financial position will remain stable for the credit period.
I'm sure Apple spent a lot of effort creating all the metadata, as well as creating the app to browse and search all these metadata. But after more than a year of development, and a three-month delay from it's own deadline, Apple Music Classical sure feel a little underwhelming in the first-impression department.
But, maybe it's just me who had a too-high expectation?
Nevertheless, I'm getting ready to do an all-classical weekend, to give the app (and all the records) a proper spin.
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Thanks for reading.