I'm very excited for object based audio (Atmos) to become the norm, I have been experiencing first hand how powerful it is with video games for decades now and it might provide a breath of fresh air to the declining innovation in mainstream music.
Airpods Pro do the head tracking spatial audio as well, I believe. So I doubt they would bother with special binaural tracks, there's no need and I can guarantee Apple does not care about people unless they're buying their most premium, newest products
But honestly, no clue. Saying "will change x forever" is what Apple says about everything they do. They could change the color of the iPad and they'd say it was revolutionary. It could easily just be another stupid hi-res lossless format.
If Apple does anything new or special, I will be surprised. They are good at recognizing a tidal wave trend and differentiating themselves before it hits land. I can't think of a single importantant innovation where Apple deserves credit.
Napster was already doing this. It probably had more to do with the technical limitation of the time it took to download music on dial up than some marketing innovation.You seem to forget that Steve Jobs was the person who pushed record labels to break down albums into tracks in iTunes.
they also were the first to make the first popular online music store (iTunes) that was made technically possible by their impressive AAC encoder at the time.
Napster was already doing this. It probably had more to do with the technical limitation of the time it took to download music on dial up than some marketing innovation.
Don't worry, news of Apple's move has sparked an instant reaction from Amazon
Also, Apple isn't offering any "tier", what this announcement was about was simply offering lossless streaming (up to 24-bit 192kHz), and Dolby Atmos official support that will create a curated and slowly expanding library of Atmos Music that will supposedly work with Spatial Audio head tracking in some fashion.
There won't be any new subscription tier or whatnot, it will simply be added into existing subscription service.
There's also bits here and there about proliferation of Atmos compatible studios (since Atmos for independent and smaller creators is basically a non-starter due to cost prohibitiveness).
Also, the lossless service will not be available on any Apple listening devices (their headphones and IEMs) because Bluetooth isn't lossless (nor does Apple support LDAC). For lossless, you're going to need compatible hardware, and for Hi-Res you'll obviously need an external DAC.
Another interesting thing is over 70 million songs will be offered through ALAC by year's end. Now that comes to consumers by opening up what seems to be their entire catalogue of lossless for streaming customers.
So basically, Apple is offering lossless and Hi-Res all under one price ($10) undercutting everyone, and also pushing in some features that people will be really happy with (Spatial Audio + Atmos support, with a seemingly serious commitment of having Atmos not be some niche as much as it has been in the area of music).
The only downside to this versus other streaming lossless providers, is player integrations (you're not going to be able to have Roon/JRiver control any of this stuff obviously). But everything else, seems like it slapped every other streaming platform out of relevance, especially seeing as how there will be no price increase. $10 for this coming in June is going to be a no brainer. I guess Spotify has the crown in terms of catalogue, but we'll see how long that lasts if any of the Atmos stuff starts spreading, and if Spatial Audio in tandem with it does what people imagine it would for surround emulation but in a proper VR type of experience.
If all this plays out, I’ll be dropping my Qobuz subscription. I’m already on a free 3-month trial of Apple Music.