These Traces 094

Nov 23

Apple Music Classical is finally on iPad, for realz. The update appeared in the App Store on Monday without much fanfare, and I'm very happy about this (no more floating iPhone app, circa 2010). But I remain deeply puzzled by the way Apple is handling Classical: was there an official announcement about this release, anywhere? Is there a Mac version in the works? Who knows. The whole saga, so far, feels slightly off.

Here's what I wrote when the app first came out:

How can Apple release Classical as iPhone-only—in 2023—without even mentioning a timeline for an iPad or Mac version? It's a terrible signal to send to developers, it diminishes the other platforms, and it looks plain lazy...
...I can only make sense of this release—in its current shape—as a stopgap measure until the functionalities it offers are folded into the main Music app.

Classical offers exactly the same content found in Music's classical section. Heck, it even shares the same name. The big difference is in its handling of metadata, which isn't a trivial feature: it's a huge advantage that should absolutely be part of the main app (the current lack of coherence between the two, because of this, can be jarring). But I'm also concerned about what can only be described as sloppiness. Even now, several versions in, I find this in my Playlists:

Fluke? Well, no. There's also a lot of Björk in there, along with Laurie Anderson, Curved Air, and Brian Eno. Now, we can certainly argue about the definition of the classical genre (and its resolutely European bias), but in these cases, there's little ambiguity. It's messed up, but this highlights how tightly integrated these two apps already are (these are all from playlists I saved in Music).

Why is this happening? How do songs from Björk's Homogenic end up in Classical? Isn't there a basic genre tag somewhere? Why yes, there is. So I don't get how something like this happens, programmatically. More importantly: how it's allowed to happen.

Apple recently purchased the very reputable Swedish label BIS, so they're clearly serious about this genre, and its overall experience [1]. Which leads me back to my original take: this is temporary. There's a major, secret, Apple Music overhaul in the works, and Classical is only a tool meant to test the waters. A stopgap measure to retain Primephonic's user base until the real consolidation comes. I mean, there has to be a plan, right?

Again, I'm glad Classical is on iPad. Really. But I hope this saga turns out to be an exception—and not the proverbial canary in the coal mine. [2]

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Ok, marketing hat on (I don't do this very often): I have a new shop! The Lightroom Collection is out! And everything's on sale until midnight Friday Monday (November 27)!

I'll let you read yesterday's post for details if you're interested. Or you can just follow this link and use the code HOLIDAYS23 at checkout to get a 15% discount on all items :)

And now, the other links...

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Unless it's part of some nefarious plot to save on royalties. Which I desperately don't want to believe because...ugh.
For instance: a few days in and the iPad version clearly struggles loading album covers in full screen view. What?