Apple Music Classical Launch Could Be Approaching Based on Code in iOS 16.4 Beta 2

[QuarterSwede]

The repetitive bugs we experience on Apple Music have to be experienced inside Apple HQ. So why isn't Apple fixing them?! Instead of spending money on sponsoring a Super Bowl halftime show, use the money to hire programmers to make this a premiere app. It just doesn't make sense the drastic difference in quality between Apple Photos app on Mac compared to Apple Music on Mac. Throw away the iTunes underbelly & start over. Please.

Oh man, from an operations perspective it’s not about the money at all. I’m mean, Apple is the richest corporation on Earth by a wide margin. At some point you have a people and project management issue that’s the problem. It’s definitely not the money. The half time show was probably something like an hour of their profit (they make $109K per minute currently according to, all knowing, Google).

 

[Blue Nova]

This can't come soon enough. I hate using Apple Music when the search uses exact naming of artists vs tracks for Classical content. You can easily have 200 artists that performed some older classical work as an example.

But this will still happen even when splitting the app to Classical music vs others. Apple need to improve their Siri, why not say
Hey Siri classical, could you play Tchaikovsky.
Or for Anything else, Hey Siri -. Could you play Three Dog Night.
But what if you don’t know it’s a classical music, or a Beatles song turned into classical.
I think they should leave it alone and enhance Siri.

Hey Siri could you play the last song again? Sure here is the last song again, by Bob Meadow.
It happens to me all the time. Improve Siri.

 

[QuarterSwede]

"Classical' music soundtracks always make me throw up in my mouth a little each time I hear one.
Andrea Bocelli sounds like a duck …

Yes, I am a snob. It is a different type of listening.

I … I don’t even know how to reply to this. It’s like saying Michael Jackson sounds like a whale. The VAST majority of people will disagree with you.

What you are isn’t a snob …

 

[Solomani]

Whilst every genre needn’t have its own app, classical music is in a different category.

As explained above, searching for Chopin is far harder than you searching for Barry Manilow in the current app. Not every Chopin or Rachmaninov Recording or performance is the same.

You can keep Copacabana and Mandy to yourself 😂

Looks like you made it, huh?

 

[svish]

Hopefully Apple will release it in March or April.

 

[Thomas Weber]

Astonishing how this has triggered so many people

Aside from that, scrolling the titles would be awesome. Many times I can’t figure out which track is the one I am searching for because the title is so long. see random example.

 

[trhoffmann]

Apple bought a classical music streaming service called Primephonic back in 2021. This app is probably based on their work.

If you browse the Classical genre in Apple Music, it has been transformed into what is essentially the Primephonic experience in every regard except for liner notes and a proper search function. All the playlists and “essentials” collections are now tagged as Apple Music Classical. I don’t know why Apple would put in this effort if there is a separate app coming for Classical music. Of course, I guess they could just fork Apple Music now and strip away everything non-Classical to create a new app, but this would be an odd approach.

Anyway, I don’t think there will be a stand-alone Classical app. It is really not needed. But I could be wrong.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

.

 

[Realityck]

If you browse the Classical genre in Apple Music, it has been transformed into what is essentially the Primephonic experience in every regard except for liner notes and a proper search function. All the playlists and “essentials” collections are now tagged as Apple Music Classical. I don’t know why Apple would put in this effort if there is a separate app coming for Classical music. Of course, I guess they could just fork Apple Music now and strip away everything non-Classical to create a new app, but this would be an odd approach.

Anyway, I don’t think there will be a stand-alone Classical app. But I could be wrong.

If you search for Apple Classical Music in Apple Music, then click on Apple Music Classical category in Top results, you are taken to probably what the classical app will show by default. But there isn't a specific link provided yet to get there. You need to look at this to see how useful it is without different search parameters.

 

[Realityck]

Another view of Apple Classic Music category, you need to scroll through this to judge if this is what they are getting ready.

 

[eicca]

Here's why classical music needs its own app or categorization system:

You want to listen to Dvorak's cello concerto? How many different orchestras have played it? How many of those orchestras have played it multiple times, each with a different conductor that will drastically change the style of the performance? Now each of those will have a different soloist. Sometimes you can have the same orchestra, conductor, and soloist but in a different venue on a different occasion, and that recording will have desirable traits over the others.

There are exponentially more variables in tracking down a classical recording than pretty much anything else. And every single one of those variables is critical in the presentation of the performance. It's orders of magnitude more subdivided than all other genres. There needs to be a better way to search through all of those variables to narrow down a recording, instead of just the typical "artist-album" format.

It gets even worse when you want one specific piece that's buried in an album that has a different title.

I want "Photograph" by Def Leppard? Easy to find, even with live versions and covers.

So if you don't understand it, just ignore it. A well-constructed classical-specific app could be a godsend for those of us that enjoy the art.

 

[zenwave]

People who don’t listen to classical music a lot don’t get it. Mozart and Beethoven aren’t ‘Artists’ in the sense of performers, they are Composers. Each symphony or chamber work has been recorded dozens, if not hundreds of times, with listeners preferring various versions. This is just the tip of the iceberg. In iTunes we could sort these to our liking - in Apple Music, it’s a mess.

Looking forward to this.

 

[alfonsog]

I just performed Mozart Symphony 41 a few weeks ago. Here's a link of 10 versions. Same score, same parts, vastly different. If you don't get what the difference is just listen to the first few seconds of the first 2 versions, track 1 and 5. Also notice how even though tracks 1-4, 5-8, etc. are the same performance with 4 movements Apple Music separates them by track, a good classical service would nest the 4 tracks so there's 1 symphony with 4 movements. That's what we really need. Although I really don't listen to much older classical music with lots of different recordings, most of the stuff I listen to is newer and only has one or two recordings. We actually play a lot of active living composers' music in my chamber orchestra. Here's a program coming up: Jessie Montgomery Starbursts, Peter Boyer Three Olympians, Jennifer Higdon Dance Card, Christopher Theofanidis Visions & Miracles


listen on Apple Music

 

[Kimmo]

Here's why classical music needs its own app or categorization system:

You want to listen to Dvorak's cello concerto? How many different orchestras have played it? How many of those orchestras have played it multiple times, each with a different conductor that will drastically change the style of the performance? Now each of those will have a different soloist. Sometimes you can have the same orchestra, conductor, and soloist but in a different venue on a different occasion, and that recording will have desirable traits over the others.

There are exponentially more variables in tracking down a classical recording than pretty much anything else. And every single one of those variables is critical in the presentation of the performance. It's orders of magnitude more subdivided than all other genres. There needs to be a better way to search through all of those variables to narrow down a recording, instead of just the typical "artist-album" format.

It gets even worse when you want one specific piece that's buried in an album that has a different title.

I want "Photograph" by Def Leppard? Easy to find, even with live versions and covers.

So if you don't understand it, just ignore it. A well-constructed classical-specific app could be a godsend for those of us that enjoy the art.

Nice explanation.

Music search can be challenging, especially for Jazz and Classical. I'll be interested to see what Apple comes up with here.

Having said that, sound quality tops all (for me, at least). I moved to Qobuz a couple of years ago because I was impressed with their Hi-Res library and found it superior to other offerings I tried.

If Apple can marry best in class search with comparable file quality I'll consider switching. If not ...

 

[iGuy73]

Pictures, Exhibitions and stuff!

 

[Tozovac]

[/LIST]

This post reminds me of the first time I went to a wine tasting class, and the presenter told the group “there really are more types of wine than Merlot, Chardonnay, and Cabernet.” A few in the room were completely dumbfounded.

 

[MRrainer]

I really wonder what it's going to cost. And as outlined by other comments, how it will look like and feel to use.

Apple being Apple, I could imagine them re-digitizing some of the works, cleaning up old but priced recordings etc - it could really be something.

Apple Music doesn't really interest me - but this one might be different. I listen to classical music for my work-outs. Can't stand modern music, TBH.

 

[Da_Hood]

Whilst every genre needn’t have its own app, classical music is in a different category.

As explained above, searching for Chopin is far harder than you searching for Barry Manilow in the current app. Not every Chopin or Rachmaninov Recording or performance is the same.

You can keep Copacabana and Mandy to yourself 😂

So Music search needs advanced option not a seperate app.
music/prefernces/classical mode, fixed

 

[hagar]

The Music app is really a mess. My library is stuffed into one tab (Library), and I almost never use the other 4 tabs. It's basically designed to push you to Apple's music, which I don't care about.

I'm back to cs player now, which I forgot about for a few years. It implements the old iTunes interface, and seems to work pretty well.

True.

And that’s why Spotify is rightfully upset. Apple Music is basically baked into iOS.

Smart move on Apple but annoying if you have no interest in AM and just want your own music (iTunes) library.

 

[Bustycat]

Apple should fix its Music service that keeps splitting the albums I added. Some of them are split into one album per each song!

 

[Dave245]

Maybe they announce it at an event in March (if there is one) alongside the new 15" MacBook Air and a couple of other things.

 

[AhRiHmAn]

Apple should fix its Music service that keeps splitting the albums I added. Some of them are split into one album per each song!

Can’t believe this has not been fixed , it’s been like that for years.
Last week I added the last Gorillaz album , the day later it was split with one song in a place and the rest in the second one…

 

[QuarterSwede]

I really wonder what it's going to cost. And as outlined by other comments, how it will look like and feel to use.

Apple being Apple, I could imagine them re-digitizing some of the works, cleaning up old but priced recordings etc - it could really be something.

Apple Music doesn't really interest me - but this one might be different. I listen to classical music for my work-outs. Can't stand modern music, TBH.

Continuing on this line of idea I’d guess they’re adding a bunch of Spatial and/or Atmos recordings that will impress.

 

[MRrainer]

Continuing on this line of idea I’d guess they’re adding a bunch of Spatial and/or Atmos recordings that will impress.

LOL.

I have an audio system with two speakers. From 15 years ago. Wasn't too cheap, but wasn't expensive at all either (as audio-gear goes).

I recently bought 20 CDs with classical music for about 5 USD. Though of course, the recordings are (even to me) of varying quality.

 

[philstubbington]

How very sad. You will never be able to feel how classical music can touch the very deepest parts of our souls.

Classical music isn’t the only music that can have that effect. If it works for you, that’s great but we’re not (thankfully) all the same.