Apple Music Looks Like No New Classical Music App?

[trhoffmann]

When Apple purchased Primephonic in late 2021, Apple stated their plans to offer a stand-alone Classical Music app. Over the past several months as I have browsed the Classical Music category in the Apple Music app, as a former Primephonic subscriber, the “main” page has increasingly reminded me of the Primephonic home page. It makes me think a stand-alone Classical Music app is not coming and that the best aspects of the Primephonic experience are being merged into the Classical genre of Apple Music.

It does not make sense to me that Apple would incorporate Primephonic inspired changes into the Apple Music Classical genre of Apple Music if a stand-alone Classical app is on the way. It‘s extra, unnecessary work.

 

[wilsonlaidlaw]

I wish Apple would hurry up with their Classical Music App. I am becoming increasingly disillusioned with Qobuz, where the classical music editors/album pickers, seem to have become totally dominated over the last 12 months by early music or renaissance/baroque enthusiasts. Pretty much every classical pick in this month's new releases, was either early music, renaissance or baroque. This is far from my musical taste which runs forward from Beethoven right up to current living composers. My fear on Apple Classical Music is that it will be very mainstream, in effect a streaming version of Classic FM, who play endlessly, just the lollipops. Some of their presenters must want to scream if they hear Pachabel's Canon yet again and I would personally be happy to take a 12 bore to that damn lark ascending.

Wilson

 

[martens]

Having never seen what Primephonic app was like, I don't know what I'm missing with the current Apple Music app. Somewhere along the way most classical music shows more metadata than before, but apart from that, it functions much like any other kind of music.

What I'd be hoping for is, for example, ability to add entire symphony to a playlist without having to add each 'track' separately. Maybe pay some professional conductors or critics or performers of classical music to host radio stations or put together playlists. I'd like it to remember listening position in an album, playlist or multipart piece so that it can resume from that point (like you'd expect with an audiobook), rather than always starting from the beginning.

I still hope for a separate app but I think they've blown well past whatever expectation that was set when Apple made the acquisition, as long as it is not a separate subscription.

Also I wonder where you'd draw a line between 'classical music' (that would play in the classical music app) and everything else. It's not a very precise category.