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Has it really been a year since we reported that Apple is working on Apple Classical, which “will look and work like Apple Music’s main app, but will be available separately and probably for less money”? That’s it, but finally the app is actually here. And as we predicted, it looks and works like the main Apple Music app on iPhone, but it’s sold separately and costs less money.
In fact, it doesn’t cost any money at all: it’s free if you’re an Apple Music subscriber. I would not have expected this.
The app is live on the App Store today, but the service won’t launch until March 28th. And it looks like it’s going to be something special for classical music fans.
What is Apple Music Classic?
According to Apple, the app gives you access to the world’s largest classical music catalog in Hi-Res Lossless Audio, with over 5 million tracks in the highest audio quality (up to 192kHz/24-bit).
One of the most interesting parts of the announcement – please be patient about this – concerned the metadata of the tracks. In addition to the usual search options, Apple Music Classic makes it easy to find specific recordings instantly – something that’s a really big deal for classical music fans because, of course, the best works of most composers have been performed by a large number of orchestras over the years, so you need it a search function that is a bit more precise than just looking for Górecki’s third or Beethoven’s ninth.
Apple also says it will deliver “hundreds of curated playlists, thousands of exclusive albums, composer biographies, in-depth guides to many key works, intuitive browsing capabilities, and more” and will work with musicians and music institutions to deliver “unique and exclusive content and recordings.” .
The app will be available almost everywhere (but not initially in China, Japan, Korea or Taiwan) for iPhones running iOS 15.4 or higher and you can pre-order it now; It’s free if you have any of the Apple Music subscriptions, including Apple One bundles and the student plan.
