Apple Reveals Apple Music Classical: What’s In It, Price And Release Date
Well, it hasn’t exactly been presto or even vivace. No, the arrival of Apple Music Classical has been rather adagio, or even lento. Okay, I’m laboring the point with my references to those Italian tempo indicators, but the point is it’s a long while since Apple Music promised to improve its classical experience.
Today, it’s been announced, and we know when it’s coming, how much it will cost and even that a lot of music will be in spatial audio.
In August 2021, Apple announced that it had acquired Primephonic, the highly-respected classical-music-only streaming service. At the time, Oliver Schusser, Apple’s VP of Apple Music and Beats, told me that he hoped the service would be in place in 2022.
Apple bought Primephonic not least because it has always had an unrivalled sophistication when it came to classical, letting users search by conductor, for instance, not just composer or title—a need unique to classical music lovers.
Primephonic subscribers were offered free time on Apple Music, and while they lost that special search capability, Apple at least offered more classical music than Primephonic, with much of it in lossless quality. Primephonic, by the way, charged a $5 a month premium for the best-quality music, but there’s no surcharge on Apple Music.
Nonetheless, the new Apple Music Classical has been a long time coming. Now we know the details.
Today’s announcement confirmed the service is coming at the end of this month, on Monday, March 28. You can pre-order now.
I had worried that classical music audiophiles might have baulked at scrolling past Justin Bieber and Barry Manilow to get to Bach, but that’s not going to be a problem. There’ll be a standalone app called Apple Music Classical and you can sign up for it now. If you do, it’ll automatically download to your device at launch.
If you have Apple Music, you’ll likely get the new service free. Providing you’re on an individual, student or family subscription, or have Apple Music as part of Apple One, you’ll get Apple Music Classical for no extra cost.
The only exception is Apple Music Voice Plan, which is the lower-priced version for users of the HomePod, for instance, which is entirely controlled by the user’s voice.
The world’s largest classical music catalogue with fully optimized search, Apple says. That’s more than 5 million tracks and works from, as Apple puts it, “new releases to celebrated masterpieces,” including thousands of exclusive albums.
Of particular interest to Primephonic loyalists is the ability to search by composer, conductor, work or even catalogue number.
Apple emphasized again that the audio quality, at no extra cost, is the highest: “up to 192 kHz/24 bit Hi-Res Lossless, with thousands of recordings in immersive spatial audio.”
Note that you need an internet connection to listen, there’s no offline listening to Apple Music Classical, at least, not yet.
For those of us not quite as confident about classical music, there deep dive guides to many key works, curated playlists and composer biographies.
In short, there’s a lot here. It will be hugely welcomed by classical fans now it’s finally on its way, who will doubtless sign up for the pre-order prestissimo.
