While I am glad to have the app. I looked at it and wonder why it took them so long to deliver such a bland app. The music and podcast app designs really are bad. Despite that I still use them a lot, but they are real weak points
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Apple Explains Why It Launched an iPhone App Dedicated to Classical Music
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So should we remove the classical albums from our Apple Music libraries now? And is everything that's in Classical app now, is there any chance that an album might be removed from it, meaning if we removed it from our Apple Music library and Apple remove it from the Classical app, that it just won't be in our libraries at all anymore? Like if Apple decide that muscles don't count as "classical" music anymore.
I mean I can finally see why this is its one app because the metadata is a train wreck and the classical is unusable for some albums, and definitely isn’t what anyone wants the main music app to look like. But hopefully they can resolve it and eventually roll it into the main app.
… and while we’re at it lyrics from the opera just like song texts in the regular music app.
But hey, I get the feeling we’re going to get loads of extra refinements in the future. To get such a catalogue from day one!
In the search field you can type orgel (thanks to the primephonic heritage loads of explanations in Dutch!) and all organ music is filtered.
It’s only a matter of icons to put these refinements in the UI.
Super happy about this app and it will open up Apple Music to a huge amount of people without competition! (And that might be a problem for them to get off their a… and provide those extra refinements).
We’ll see.
On the bottom you got
Listen now, discover, library and search!
And there at your service top of the screens,
Being this elitist about classical music is displaying just as much vanity as people on tiktok and instagram.
Sad that Apple couldn’t have just rebranded their acquisition and named it i-phonic or apple-phonic or something and left a perfectly workable proper app alone instead of releasing this waste of screen space. Terrible.
They don’t want you to actually play music because podcasts are most definitely cheaper for them
i LOVE it!! really cool to finally get solists search !!!! With my AirPods Pro spatial audio is cool but not overwhelming which is good!
People with HomePods tell me because it might push me to buy a pair!
Good job Apple BUT now I want a bridge to Apple musique app, seamless transitioning to the normal app because I like classical but I also want to switch faster to other genres !!!
People with HomePods tell me because it might push me to buy a pair!
Good job Apple BUT now I want a bridge to Apple musique app, seamless transitioning to the normal app because I like classical but I also want to switch faster to other genres !!!
Much like the Music app, I feel like this lacks the powerful drill-down abilities of iTunes back in the day. The Mac version of Music still has those if you know where to look, but the mobile app never got them.
It also has "Listen Now" and "Browse". I don't really know what those mean on the Music app (which also has "Radio", which, same), and I don't know what they mean here. They just seem to be like random "maybe this is where I find music" categories. Seems better to merge them into a "Discover" tab.
It also has "Listen Now" and "Browse". I don't really know what those mean on the Music app (which also has "Radio", which, same), and I don't know what they mean here. They just seem to be like random "maybe this is where I find music" categories. Seems better to merge them into a "Discover" tab.
Initial thoughts are it's a good start. They seem to have got the metadata right, and they've got a single set of 'introduction to classic music' audio-programmes for each of the eras, the kind if thing you might get on NPR in the USA or Radio 3 in the UK. But that's it. I was hoping for a lot of this kind of additional content - good curation, more of the history of the composers, more detailed explanations and context.
They should incorporate podcast / Apple Music style shows. But then again there Apple Music shows are still a mess - halfway between being 'songs' you can play and true podcasts; and no ability to follow or get alerts on when there's a new episode.
But the content is good enough. I was indulging in some medieval music this morning. It does need more search features, the data is there but it's not immediately obvious. You should be able to enter a date range or choose a particular composition and get a beautiful pages highlighting the most popular / commonly accepted performances, and also more information about why particular performances are well known or well regarded.
Classical music is hard to get into - there's an opportunity here to bring in new fans.
They should incorporate podcast / Apple Music style shows. But then again there Apple Music shows are still a mess - halfway between being 'songs' you can play and true podcasts; and no ability to follow or get alerts on when there's a new episode.
But the content is good enough. I was indulging in some medieval music this morning. It does need more search features, the data is there but it's not immediately obvious. You should be able to enter a date range or choose a particular composition and get a beautiful pages highlighting the most popular / commonly accepted performances, and also more information about why particular performances are well known or well regarded.
Classical music is hard to get into - there's an opportunity here to bring in new fans.
I think it's about discoverability. From Spotify's perspective, it's easier to push podcasts to existing spotify app users, than try to get them to download a separate app. It also allows them to mix and match music tracks and podcasts into a common playlist.
Where Apple is concerned, they don't really care whether people use their podcast app or not, since it's already preinstalled, and they don't make any money off it. So they can keep them as separate apps.
Now if only they would have explained why there is no Mac or iPad app?
Surely, surely it can't be that difficult. Or is this going to be like the strange case of the iPad Calculator app?
Surely, surely it can't be that difficult. Or is this going to be like the strange case of the iPad Calculator app?
> hundreds of recordings of well-known pieces.
But so do many other genres of music!
I haven' tried the Classical app yet, but I'm willing to guess that it's a much better app than Music, which interface I'm still struggling with.
But so do many other genres of music!
I haven' tried the Classical app yet, but I'm willing to guess that it's a much better app than Music, which interface I'm still struggling with.
Is it just me or is it not possible to "Control other speakers" from within the Classical app like you can with Apple Music? If that's the case, it's going to only use AirPlay and not be playing directly from HomePod. That probably means I'm not going to be using it. What a shame - actually really like the app so far.
Like me! I sometimes listen to Classic FM but don’t “know” anything about classical music and don’t know where to start. Occasionally listen to Bach Essentials or similar or take a lucky dip and try classical albums in Atmos almost at random.
At first glance this new app seems ideal for me - some intriguing playlists there and will get stuck into “The Story of Classical” ones at some point. Currently listening on headphones to Vikingur Olaffson playing Bach and thoroughly enjoying it!
Been working from home since you-know-what and desperately need to broaden my musical horizons - I can’t listen to the Beatles and Metallica for the rest of my life! I have been ploughing through the recommendations in a coffee table book 1000 (popular) Albums to Hear Before You Die and this new app has made it easier to explore and learn about classical music.
I hope an Apple TV app comes soon though.