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Apple lossless official announcement

3125b

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On another topic has anyone used Apple music on a PC?
I do. It's ...well, it works, but I'm torn.
First of all, I have had my iPad for almost four years now and still dislike Apples user interface. It just doesn't work for me. I used Spotify for a couple years now on Windows, Android and iOS, so that is my reference.
On Windows you can use Apple Music via Browser or iTunes, seems to be structured just about the same.
Starting out you have to select genres and then artists, it doesn't give you a free selection though and always shoves those artists in your face going forward. Hope it suggests ones you like ...
The application not very intuitive to use and very slow to react, even slower than the Spotify application (although unlike that, it hasn't crashed yet). First thing I noticed is that the back and forward buttons on the mouse don't work for the interface but for the player, but back doesn't always work, only when playing an album but not a station.
Back in the interface is only via the on-screen button. There are many options in right-click menues for songs, but not for stations (I don't know if that feature is actually called "station" in English, I'm obviously using it in German). The "Discover" section has many playlists, but only generic top hits and no user specific ones. You can downvote those, but that doesn't actually do anything to change the recommendations, at least so far it has not for me. The search-function works very well and I like the way the results are presented. If you search for an album, song or artist (or lyrics, that works well too and is a definite plus) you can add that to your library and then right click that and have the algorithm create a station based on that song (like Spotify does those custom playlists), and that does work well.
All in all, it seems to have all the necessary features (and some innovative ones on top), the user interface is just terrible. But maybe the algorithm just needs some time, I only started using it a couple hours ago.
 

_thelaughingman

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Ha-ha :)
One of the problems for fans is that the people doing the commentating don't know the key things about how the car works, the people who have been involved are ex-drivers who know all about the racecraft but next to nothing about how the team functions in the pits and the others are journalists and team members assiduously avoid telling them anything important so it doesn't get to the opposition.
A corollary is that if, years later when the secrets do not need to be kept any more, the fans don't believe the facts if given them since the common knowledge of the day has been so deeply engrained for so long!

let’s talk about the love for F1 and racing in off topic thread dedicated to it. That way we can nerd out in that thread.
 

MattHooper

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Well I went early on with Tidal for full res. But now it's about catalogues. Does anyone know how the Apple music catalogue compares to Tidal?
Thanks.
 

Jimbob54

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They can keep their Dolby whatever, but lossless streaming at 10€/month I am interested in.
They offer a free three month trial period, so I just signed up. Let's see how it develops.
PS: Some young people don't listen to music on their phone speakers :)
Is lossless live now or have you just got an itchy trigger finger?
 

voodooless

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Apple says they have about 20M lossless now. The balance will be available by year end.

The press release said start of June, and it mentioned 75 million lossless tracks. What is your source?
 

3125b

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Is lossless live now or have you just got an itchy trigger finger?
Starting with 20 million songs next month, all 75+ million by the end of the year. I just canceled my Spotify subscribtion since I no longer get the student discount and am shopping around anyway, so it just fit.
If I can get used to it, it seems like a good deal.
 

MediumRare

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Noob question: How do I get Apple Music off my phone and into my Chromecasts? (I presume I can use USB and/or BT into my DAC via a MacBook.)
 

MediumRare

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Seems like the Android version supports Chromecast, the iOS/MacOS version does not.
That's insane. I have an email into MusicStreamer support. I hope they'll cover this need, otherwise their app is dead meat.
 

BinkieHuckerback

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What is the additional cost to Apple (or indeed any other service) of providing 'lossless' music over 'lossy' music? Would they be doing it if it increased their overheads? Does it increase their overheads?
 

voodooless

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What is the additional cost to Apple (or indeed any other service) of providing 'lossless' music over 'lossy' music? Would they be doing it if it increased their overheads? Does it increase their overheads?

Sure it does, data usage goes up, a bit more server utilization. But compared to something like Apple+, it’s not that much. They might just have struck a better deal on their data plan ;)
 

BinkieHuckerback

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Sure it does, data usage goes up, a bit more server utilization. But compared to something like Apple+, it’s not that much. They might just have struck a better deal on their data plan ;)
Who's data usage tho? Surely the cost of that is to the end user...?
 

tomchris

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What is the additional cost to Apple (or indeed any other service) of providing 'lossless' music over 'lossy' music? Would they be doing it if it increased their overheads? Does it increase their overheads?

It is a question of product differentiation / market segmentation. Cost is slightly higher server utilization, but in this day and age of 4K streaming, video conferencing it really should not be a problem. I am just happy that this is yet another MQA roadblock.
 

BinkieHuckerback

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It is a question of product differentiation / market segmentation. Cost is slightly higher server utilization, but in this day and age of 4K streaming, video conferencing it really should not be a problem.
OK. So offering 'lossless' is not that big of a deal for them - indeed, why didn't they do it sooner...? I'm not complaining (tho' I doubt I can hear the difference). Just, why the fuss?
 

abdo123

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OK. So offering 'lossless' is not that big of a deal for them - indeed, why didn't they do it sooner...? Just, why the fuss?

because people are running out of things to complain about so it trickled down to lossless audio eventually.

256kbps AAC is arguably all a person should need.
 
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