Apple Music HiFi Tier incoming?

Streaming Audio
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TechRadar Story

Could just be a rumour, we will see!

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Elon Musk might move to Mars. Might be a rumour. We will see!

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Yeah saw this earlier.

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Apple was great for „inventing“ the iTunes store, using AAC/256kbps, then rather quickly removing the copy protection.

…

Now it feels like more than 1.5 decades later, and except for some aborted experiments (ping anyone?) they have about managed to copy the Spotify idea. (Okay, they got their „mastered for“ and at least did not follow into the „loudness war“.)
(And I‘ve stopped buying music with them even through the years, I did not have a streaming service. CDs stopped being more expensive in many cases and provide higher quality.)

About time they do something, to stay relevant on the market.

(PS: okay, with users often using phones and (Apple) Bluetooth earphones which only support AAC, maybe they saw no use in higher quality so far…)

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I believe that last calendar year Apple Music booked $4 billion of revenue and Spotify $8 billion. So as far as I can see a clear second place, it’s impossible as far as I can tell to see what the profitability of Apple Music is, Spotify lose a lot. So they seem pretty relevant.

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Apple is the best-capitalized company. It’s strong and can absorb losses just like Amazon. The same cannot be said (unfortunately) of smaller players like Qobuz and Tidal. Even Spotify who is not associated with any giant could suffer. Apple 2,000 milliards

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Spotify is backed by the three major music labels and banks like Morgan Stanley.

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Lets hope it is not only streaming but also buying downloads. The only thing they need to then is to revive the iTunes LP format they killed in 2018. That would really disrupt Roon.

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Oh I didn’t know about Morgan Staley. Wish them luck in a tight market

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I expect Spotify to du just fine. Apple created the iTunes Store twenty years ago when none of the existing stores supported Macintosh, only Windows. Apple will only support the Apple ecosystem giving plenty of room for Spotify.

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Totally agree. Apple has always been closed. And I don’t like Amazon any more

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Apple having been “talking” about hi zes for years and so far nothing. I wouldn’t be holding my breath also their phones (where most get their music) have limited dacs.

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What’s the point if it is true. No music devices other than Sonos have access to it it’s a locked eco system, you have to use Airplay or Chromecast, Apple TV or PC to a DAC. Hardly a challenge to Spotify connect which most systems support these days, is platform agnostic and much easier to get into a hifi. Apple is much better suited to mobile and its own eco system of customers which it’s grown on AAC.

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Apples revenues for the last quarter were a record 89 billion dollars.

Let that sink in for a moment. At this stage they could give music away, preferably not U2.

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Airplay is hardly difficult to use though, and allows use of the Apple Music interface which is somewhat more developed than Naim’s own interface and is used by many millions.
Possibly may not convert existing Spotify subscribers (when they eventually deliver their “HiFi” tier… if Spotify delay delivery if this tier it may well convert them), but would strengthen and grow their userbase further.

So, may not be a point from your perspective, but certainly is from Apples and their current user base and those wavering Spotify subscribers.

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I think you are correct about strengthening the existing user base. As more hires streams come ,well, on stream Apple risk losing users to them. My son has been happy with mp3 streams ( I’m so ashamed) for ever, but has now got himself a turntable and has been asking me about hires streaming. Apple will lose him to Qobuz or Amazon HD unless they get a hires service running.

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I think that Apple can only go to hi-fi, not hi-res though, as Airplay is limited to 44/16. Unless they have a surprise up their sleeve?

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I have some music on my phone that I use when walking or in the car (CarPlay). Every time I open the music app they try to encourage you to sign up. But why would you it’s so lo fi it’s not worth it.

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I can airplay what looks like 4K phone footage to my TV I think it is much more capable than what they state.

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Exactly…

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