Fingers crossed.
I spent some time with apple music when it got released. It never played what I wanted to hear, and I felt like it kept pushing me into hearing music I already knew and didn’t like (ACDC sticks out as a memory). Spotify did a much better job of introducing me to new music, being able to share it with friends and the app worked %100 better.
Algorithms suck and I don’t care who develops them. They will never predict music well, and I have no interest in giving them any more data about myself. I just care if they have the music I want to listen to on my own picks.
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I don’t make use of them other than Qobuz playlists, but my wife loves Roon Radio. Valence (their algorithm) is very popular and very good. The major apps have to be intelligent, interactive and include social media. That’s one of the key successes of Bandcamp, for example Spotify:
I doubt you are in the target market, but seeing my younger son aged 20 use these systems when he was at home during lockdown was quite something. He is also sharing music and playlists with his friends at the same time. I think you have to be a certain age to appreciate it and at 57 I think I’m 15 years too late.
I think it’s brilliant for musicians, they can get their music out easily, it can go viral, and they can collect up to 90% of download and product revenues, as well as streaming fees. It’s dreadful for record labels, producers and traditional media companies because it makes them redundant.
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Mike,
I love Apple Music, if you take the effort to browse through, they have great radio channels, I love the 80’s presented by Huey Lewis.
Then I can find easily my way around looking for artists after listening to an interesting song on one of the radio channels.
I manage my entire library with Apple Music, which serves as library for BluOS as well. AirPlay, Apple Music and BluOS play well together in my system.
When I saw the news about lossless CD quality upcoming in Apple Music on John Darko’s channel I equally got excited, according to John they might have waited for the switch till they were able to transmit that to their EarPods and wireless headphones.
I am glad I stuck around Apple Music. Mind you, To my ears their lossy sound sometimes is better than CD. That is because their re-mastered files are often really good.
If it now even becomes better, it is indeed good news.
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No one here has talked about the Spatial Audio aspect of the lossless music? Or are we mostly a 2 channel crowd. IMO it could be something great depending on how it’s mastered of course. I definitely enjoy multichannel music and video in my theatre room.
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You are correct, that multichannel sound (recorded not computed) will certainly sound amazing for those who have a Apple TV connected to a Dolby Atmos multi channel system.
I only own stereo speakers.
At the time I wrote the post I only knew they would offer RedBook for streaming.
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i like stereo. if it came to it mono would be preferable to multi channel (to me).
each to their own 
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After hearing that Apple Music announces Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos:will bring Lossless Audio to Entire catalog, I have some questions.
Would anyone know if the music with Spatial Audio mix will be a separate file from the strait stereo mix, or will the only option be the Spatial Audio mix?
Will the Spatial Audio mix have any audible effect on a stereo playback sound? if so, will this effect be an enhancement or distraction for the audiophile?
Long term, if a large quantity of music gets released as Spatial Audio and becomes expected by the common consumer, will this effect be a good thing?
It has to be.
It’s basically Atmos for Music and its a lossy format. Historically no multichannel format has ever maintained widespread popularity. The most popular multichannel releases have always been a new way to hear a popular 2-ch release. Will we see multichannel only releases? I really doubt it. I just don’t see this benefiting the artist in any way. There have been some one-off projects which were really fun (Beck’s Sound and Vision experience comes to mind) but I don’t see this replacing 2-ch.
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Personally, I’ve really been enjoying live recorded concerts in multichannel formats. Gives exceptional feel of the venue. I sure hope that they do more of this and am onboard with what Apple is doing with Spatial Audio can do for gaming as well as music. Dolby Atmos is entrenched as a format and is Not going away. Remember, most users could care less if it’s lossy or not. All movies are encoded in a surround format and they can sound excellent.
Also Apple is also releasing HD non-lossy recordings which will benefit us Audiophiles in 24 bit 48khz all the way up to 192khz.
We need PS Audio to ensure that the end user can utilize all the different streaming services available today and in the future. Hopefully this will happen with the Bridge III etc.
This is an interesting video from a producers perspective:
Lossless/Spatial Audio for Apple Music: A Producers Perspective - YouTube
So, this is interesting…
https://www.apple.com/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/
Apple is identifying the source master, at least for their own masters. I wonder how this will work with older music as they upgrade to lossless/hi-res. Still, interesting. At least you’ll be able to recognize that some music on services isn’t apples-to-apples, pun not intended.
Mike
If it sounds better then all good.
This is reminiscent of “Mastered for iTunes” which was marketing, not substance.
This may well be different however.
And again, why trust corporations with your music when, for example, “The Trinity Session” by Cowboy Junkies is NOT AVAILABLE ON APPLE MUSIC.
SERIOUSLY, RCA, WTF??
Ever since 2012, Apple had demanded that every album submitted to Apple be in at least 96/24, and preferably 192/24. Most, if not all hit albums dating back to even the 1960s have probably been remastered / rereleased since 2012. So it’s not surprising to see anything in the S&G catalog show up like this. I wish AM did FLAC and DSD as well as ALAC and AIFF, as my local library is 300K+, and only 915 are not FLAC or DSD. Sure, I could convert to ALAC or AIFF, but, being a crotchety 70 year old man, there is no way I’m converting all of those, So, I guess I will not be an Apple Music customer.
Huhhh??? How did that happen, or not happen, depending how you look at it?
