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Apple Acquires Classical Music Service Primephonic, Will Launch Dedicated Classical Music App
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As a current subscriber to both Primephonic and Apple Music I am excited about this. Looking forward to a classical music streaming service that combines the best of both experiences and platforms.
As my Primephonic subscription expires on October 1, the timing could not be better for me.
As my Primephonic subscription expires on October 1, the timing could not be better for me.
It doesn't say anything about a separate app in Apple's press release and I'd be surprised to see that. This sounds like it could easily be integrated into the existing Music app:
Exciting news in any case. Although I wish they'd solve some fairly basic issues even sooner than that. For example, the Music app on iOS (but not MacOS) will only display a composer for classical music if the metadata contains a grouping (or a work). Still a lot better than it used to be though.
"Together, we're bringing great new classical features to Apple Music"
It also says:"in the coming months, Apple will offer a dedicated Primephonic experience with improved browsing and search capabilities by composer and repertoire, better classical music metadata, and more".
I take the "dedicate primephonic experience" does not have to be talking necessarily about a separate app, which the way I see it will be available for those that want to browse the classical content exclusively.
But all the features should be also built in onto the native Music app IMHO.
If downloading a separate app is a pre-requisite for the improved classical music experience on Apple Music, that would be clunky, counter intuitive and very non Apple like.
We´ll see.
It also says:"in the coming months, Apple will offer a dedicated Primephonic experience with improved browsing and search capabilities by composer and repertoire, better classical music metadata, and more".
I take the "dedicate primephonic experience" does not have to be talking necessarily about a separate app, which the way I see it will be available for those that want to browse the classical content exclusively.
But all the features should be also built in onto the native Music app IMHO.
If downloading a separate app is a pre-requisite for the improved classical music experience on Apple Music, that would be clunky, counter intuitive and very non Apple like.
We´ll see.
Best news today.
Apple today announced that it has acquired classical music streaming service Primephonic, and will be folding it into Apple Music.
Primephonic offers an "outstanding listening experience" with search and browse functionality optimized for classical audio, plus handpicked recommendations and "contextual details on repertoire and recordings."Apple says that with the Primephonic purchase, Apple Music subscribers will be provided with an improved classical music experience. This will start with Primephonic playlists and audio content, and in the coming months, Apple will offer a dedicated Primephonic experience with improved browsing and search capabilities by composer and repertoire, better classical music metadata, and more.
Primephonic will be taken offline on September 7, and is no longer available for new subscribers. Next year, Apple says it will launch a dedicated classical music app that combines Primephonic's classical user interface with added features.
Current Primephonic subscribers will receive six months of Apple Music access for free with access to hundreds of thousands of classical albums that support Lossless and Spatial Audio.
Article Link: Apple Acquires Classical Music Service Primephonic, Will Launch Dedicated Classical Music App
This explains the separate app...
"Envisioned as a supplement to major streaming services, Primephonic aims to address the classical music niche with search features customized for the genre, hand-coded metadata, and compensation for artists based on time streamed, not songs played."
"Envisioned as a supplement to major streaming services, Primephonic aims to address the classical music niche with search features customized for the genre, hand-coded metadata, and compensation for artists based on time streamed, not songs played."
I have to say, I’m (pleasantly) surprised at how many people here love and enjoy classical music. It gives me a bit of hope for the world.
It seems like Apple may charge a separate subscription fee for this classical app and perhaps add it to its Apple One Premier bundle. If the price is at or below what Primephonic charged, I doubt anyone will complain. Perhaps it will add an Apple Music+ plan.
Excellent example tkermit! You also bring up the "artist", which is a very important part for classical music. It is not just the Bacarolle Op. 60 from Chopin - it is that record played by Dinu Lipatti. I hope, they do understand that part of Classical music - ok they will be taught now...
It's not a bad thing to be separated from the ****-****-****ety-**** of what's on Apple Music ordinarily.
Oh I sure hope so. I've been trying to make classical music live nicely in my Apple ecosystem since the iPod third generation, and it's always come down to (a) vast editing of track metadata and (b) staying absolutely out of Apple Music, which privileges its own crap metadata over the stuff you spent so much time editing in part (a).
Apple today announced that it has acquired classical music streaming service Primephonic, and will be folding it into Apple Music.
They do feints toward classical every few years, and it always ends up being wafer-thin. I hope this is the real thing, finally.
It's possibly tempting, especially if the first thing they do is stop calling each movement of a symphony a "song."
The metadata does need a massive cleanup. Any time I rip a CD, or buy music from Amazon (sorry I don't buy from iTunes any more), I always have to clean up the metadata, partly to separate out multiple works in the same album, but also to clean up track titles that contain the composer, piece, name of the piece if it has a separate name, opus number, and finally, the movement name or title - last. It would also be nice if some of these changes filtered over into iTunes and Music apps, for those of us who already have a large classical library.
I also want some profiling capability. Being able to specify "solo piano, chamber music, symphonic, no opera, no dodecaphonic or serialist, no war-horses, prefer 20th century" would be a good start.
Do some of these things, and I'll be tempted to consider streaming for the first time.
The metadata does need a massive cleanup. Any time I rip a CD, or buy music from Amazon (sorry I don't buy from iTunes any more), I always have to clean up the metadata, partly to separate out multiple works in the same album, but also to clean up track titles that contain the composer, piece, name of the piece if it has a separate name, opus number, and finally, the movement name or title - last. It would also be nice if some of these changes filtered over into iTunes and Music apps, for those of us who already have a large classical library.
I also want some profiling capability. Being able to specify "solo piano, chamber music, symphonic, no opera, no dodecaphonic or serialist, no war-horses, prefer 20th century" would be a good start.
Do some of these things, and I'll be tempted to consider streaming for the first time.
More than that. The paradigm of artist/track/album just doesn't fit classical music, and for twenty years we've had to live with all sorts of atrocious hacks trying to force four fingers (composer/work/movement/artist) into the three-fingered Muppet mitten of artist/track/album.
A setting for "maximum number of times a week I can stand Pachelbel's Canon in D" would worth the price of admission.
I see religion as a Philosophy, and therefore God as an artifact, the existence of which does not matter.
Agreed, no reason it can't just be a part of Apple Music. A separate app doesn't sit well with me.
Absolutely. To be fair, the Music app seems to get that right in a lot of places already (e.g. it will usually display both composer and artist when the artist is different from the album artist) although the Composers view on MacOS doesn't even display the album artist, which is completely inane.
Probably because it’s search interface will be more detailed, plus to show the additional information Primephonic currently provides with their service. It may end up being a completely different GUI than the Music App.
And, the fact that there could be multiple orchestras performing the same composition.