Apple has launched its own app for classical music on the App Store called Apple Music Classical. The app is only available for iPhones for now, with no word on whether it will be available for iPads or Macs. However, an Android version is planned for release in the near future. The app is available for use by all subscribers to Apple Music, but it doesn’t work with the cheaper Apple Music Voice – only with the full subscription.
Apple Music Classical offers a completely new user experience that eliminates the problem that Apple Music had when it came to classical music. The app has been in development since summer 2021 and is based on the acquisition of Primephonic. The app offers over five million classical tracks and has curated playlists, an improved search function that includes detailed metadata, and biographies of composers, performers and conductors. It is available in seven languages: German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch and Brazilian.
While the app is only available for streaming at the moment, Apple Music Classical ‘s titles, playlists and albums can be viewed in the original Apple Music app, allowing users to download the tracks there instead. The reason why Apple created its own app is that “classical music is different”. It has many artists for each work, longer and more detailed pieces, and hundreds of recordings of well-known pieces. The app was designed to support classical music’s complex data structure.
Apple Music Classical collects and displays classical music already in the user’s library. The tracks also come with Lossless and Spatial Audio/Dolly Atmos, but no shuffle functionality. Apple had planned to launch the app in 2022 but postponed it for a few months. The acquisition of Primephonic led to discontinuation of the service. However, existing customers received free access to Apple Music for six months.
