Apple Music 'Lossless' Logo Surfaces Amid HiFi Tier Rumors

[BMox81]

Surely they can’t charge extra for this? It will be a marketing tool to sell more Music subscriptions and/or more hardware?

The vast majority will very quickly realise they can’t really tell the difference in sound quality if it’s actually costing them more money every month.

They aren’t charging extra.

 

[mazz0]

Maybe so, but it's got the look of a 'hi-fi company' logo, so they're targeting the market properly.

I don't think Apple's market is proper hi-fi nerds (it's not as though Apple's hardware plays nicely with proper hi-fi equipment is it?). Apple's market is Apple nerds with plenty disposable income who want to feel they've got the best Apple stuff. Lest that sound derogatory, I count myself among such people.

 

[DaSal]

They aren’t charging extra.

This is just an easy way for Apple to:

1. Gain some new customers that are currently subscribed to a lossless service like Tidal
2. Prevent users from switching once Spotify HiFi comes out
3. Make users on the fence pick Apple Music over Spotify because you get more for less

Honestly it’s brilliant, and we all should’ve seen coming that they’ve probably been having lossless sitting on the shelf as early as the release of Apple Music, just waiting for Spotify to announce a hifi tier so they could quickly launch it to undercut Spotify.

again goes to show how dumbass it was for Spotify to announce hifi without a release date. It should’ve been available immediately after the press release. That way they could’ve gotten some new customers (me included). Now they’re too late.

 

[Glideslope]

Be funny if this new tier only works on specific Apple headphones

I‘ll take that bet.

 

[kb923689]

Fixed that for you.

View attachment 1775897

Much more Apple like. Maybe that logo is an unfinished version.

 

[Googlyhead]

Fixed that for you.

View attachment 1775897

Perhaps the logo for this should be an apple with the ‘bite’ filled-in. put a intermediate shade over it, or outline it?

 

[Mattyman]

Is there a chance that you can buy the songs lossless going forwards?

 

[wanha]

I don't think Apple's market is proper hi-fi nerds (it's not as though Apple's hardware plays nicely with proper hi-fi equipment is it?). Apple's market is Apple nerds with plenty disposable income who want to feel they've got the best Apple stuff. Lest that sound derogatory, I count myself among such people.

It's not about being an Apple nerd that only wants Apple stuff, but about the UX, the ease of use and interoperability.

Most other companies' products simply don't stack up well if you value those things.

At least for me (and who knows, maybe I'm in the minority), it has less to do with the brand and more to do with the user experience.

 

[EmotionalSnow]

Surely they can’t charge extra for this? It will be a marketing tool to sell more Music subscriptions and/or more hardware?

The vast majority will very quickly realise they can’t really tell the difference in sound quality if it’s actually costing them more money every month.

TIDAL charges $20 and they aren't out of business yet, so ...

 

[goro123]

I am afraid this new service won't be supported HomePods. It would explain why they discontinued them.
Doesn't make much sense though as they do support FLAC and ALAC, but we know Apple…

 

[BMox81]

This is just an easy way for Apple to:

1. Gain some new customers that are currently subscribed to a lossless service like Tidal
2. Prevent users from switching once Spotify HiFi comes out
3. Make users on the fence pick Apple Music over Spotify because you get more for less

Honestly it’s brilliant, and we all should’ve seen coming that they’ve probably been having lossless sitting on the shelf as early as the release of Apple Music, just waiting for Spotify to announce a hifi tier so they could quickly launch it to undercut Spotify.

again goes to show how dumbass it was for Spotify to announce hifi without a release date. It should’ve been available immediately after the press release. That way they could’ve gotten some new customers (me included). Now they’re too late.

Yep-we’ve got the Premier Apple One sub and given this goes as everyone expects, I see no reason to ever jump off given the value we’re currently getting.

 

[DaSal]

I am afraid this new service won't be supported HomePods. It would explain why they discontinued them.
Doesn't make much sense though as they do support FLAC and ALAC, but we know Apple…

The HomePods aren’t hi-fi enough to tell the difference between high bitrate lossy and lossless, so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Honestly the only Apple device this might matter for a little are the AirPod Maxes. Besides that it’s meant for people with high end headphones or proper speakers with an A/V receiver.

 

[robd003]

Can anyone actually tell the difference? Seems kinda dumb to be sending 10x the file size for the same output...

 

[Jony Ive and Co.]

View attachment 1775872
That’s the least Apple thing I’ve ever seen in my life!

Jony Ive is gone, so we are seeing these unApple things starting to surface.
Like I also never expected to see that huge ass chin without a logo on the new iMac, the rumored return of more ports on MacBooks and other backtracking stuff.

 

[DanTSX]

Meh. Hifi nerds will lambast it and never be happy.

I’ll look forward to something better, but don’t care if the hifi critics are impressed or not.

 

[MBAir2010]

so
"if it aint broke done fix it"
but in this situation of listening to "music" through iTunes is damaging enough.

 

[MBAir2010]

I don't think Apple's market is proper hi-fi nerds (it's not as though Apple's hardware plays nicely with proper hi-fi equipment is it?). Apple's market is Apple nerds with plenty disposable income who want to feel they've got the best Apple stuff. Lest that sound derogatory, I count myself among such people.

great reply, and
apple also was to dominate everything

 

[ruka.snow]

So are we expecting an easy one click to pay an extra 20p or something per song to upgrade your previous purchases?

 

[imom]

again goes to show how dumbass it was for Spotify to announce hifi without a release date. It should’ve been available immediately after the press release. That way they could’ve gotten some new customers (me included). Now they’re too late.

Nope, they may have known that this Apple feature was coming before theirs and announced their own plan early to keep existing Spotify users from having a reason to switch to Apple for lossless content.

 

[imom]

I wonder why? We don’t have a way of listening to lossless music with Apple products right now.

Not sure what you mean by that. I've been listening to lossless audio on Macs for around 20 years already.

 

[contacos]

View attachment 1775872
That’s the least Apple thing I’ve ever seen in my life!

especially if you consider how PINK the AM interface is and how colorful their currated Playlist covers are

 

[cmChimera]

I wonder why? We don’t have a way of listening to lossless music with Apple products right now.

I’m assuming you mean with headphones? Firmware update.

 

[ErikGrim]

Or perhaps some sort of hybrid solution like MQA (lossy for the midrange + lossless low and high frequencies)

Yikes. MQA is all lossy compression, but ESPECIALLY in the high frequencies (where it "unfolds").

 

[ErikGrim]

The HomePods aren’t hi-fi enough to tell the difference between high bitrate lossy and lossless, so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Uh. Want to expand on that statement?

 

[videosoul]

I wonder how Apple's offering will compare to "Hi-res audio" which has been around for ages: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/hi-res-audio

The key difference there, is Sony have a full suite of products designed to go with it.

On a side note, I am so glad the iMac I have still has optical output. Such a bummer that they've dropped that feature.