Apple announces lossless HD audio at no extra cost, then Amazon Music does too. The ball is now in Spotify's court
- Reference: 1621274709
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/17/apple_amazon_lossless/
- Source link:
In a surprising move for customers accustomed to the company's usual methods of extracting cash from pockets, the upgraded sounds (due from next month) will not incur an additional cost.
It'll be an opt-in thing "due to the large file sizes and bandwidth needed," according to Apple, and the new lossless tier will start at CD quality before going up to 24 bits at 48kHz. High-resolution lossless goes all the way to 192kHz, although needs some external hardware (such as a USB digital-to-analogue converter) to make it work.
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Those with recent Apple hardware will also get the Spatial Audio treatment (with support for Dolby Atmos) for "thousands of songs." The tech "gives artists the opportunity to create immersive audio experiences for their fans with true multidimensional sound and clarity," according to Apple. Sounds splendid.
Arch-rival [5]Amazon Music sought to deaden Apple's announcement somewhat by making its own HD plan available to subscribers in the US, UK, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain for no extra cost. Amazon Music HD has a library of 70 million lossless songs at CD quality. 7 million songs are available in what the company calls "Ultra HD" with a bit depth of 24 bits and a sample rate up to 192kHz.
Up until today Amazon Music subscribers were expected to pay another $5 a month for HD. As of now, upping the quality is free (and existing subscribers will lose the charge in their next billing cycle).
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[7]An individual plan for Amazon Music Unlimited starts at £7.99 per month for Prime Members (£9.99 otherwise) with the first three months free. [8]Apple also has a £9.99 per month tier with a three-month free period at the start.
Or maybe support your favourite artists by buying their stuff direct if possible? Plus, there's always [9]Bandcamp , which takes a much smaller cut and offered lossless files from day one.
The big beast of the music streaming world, Spotify, is due to unleash its own take on HD later this year in the form of [10]Spotify HiFi , also described as a "CD-quality, lossless audio format".
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Dates and prices have yet to be set, although Apple and Amazon's move will certainly give the giant pause for thought. ®
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[1] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-music-announces-spatial-audio-and-lossless-audio/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YKLnetfdOseGuoj2V6h-SAAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKLnetfdOseGuoj2V6h-SAAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YKLnetfdOseGuoj2V6h-SAAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-music-hd-all-now-no-extra-cost/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKLnetfdOseGuoj2V6h-SAAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.amazon.co.uk/music/unlimited/ref=sv_dmusic_amu_flyout_individual
[8] https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-music/
[9] https://bandcamp.com/
[10] https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-02-22/five-things-to-know-about-spotify-hifi/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YKLnetfdOseGuoj2V6h-SAAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Yay!
Mind you, actual Music Lovers would like to see the Artist getting a decent share of the streaming revenue.
What this has really done is removed another selling point of the CD - better than streaming quality for those artists you Really Love. And that means lower income for artists.
So yes, on one hand it’s good for the consumer and hard to compete with, but on the other hand it’s a cynical move to drive down the value in the music industry as a whole by a company that can afford to. They make better returns in ancillary hardware sales rather than paying the content creators.
Re: Yay!
The selling point of the CD is not only the quality but the fact you have a perpetual licence to play the music where and when you like.
Charity shops are full of 1980-2000's CDs at around 20p per album. For something that doesn't degrade, that's where to spend.
I picked up another 30 albums last Saturday..
Re: Yay!
It's irrelevant news for music lovers. If you love music and want anything other than major label factory produced pop to exist, you don't use streaming services regardless of how attractive they try to make it look.
The Only Loss...
...is felt in the pocketbook.
My 320 Kbps MP3's have never sounded so good. :P
Will they store the high end stuff on helium filled hard drives? I'm sure that will give a higher quality sonic experience, just like oxygen-free cables.
(No, the data for the songs, not the signers themselves, so no danger of the music shifting up a few octaves).
No, the helium would give you a weak tinny sound. You want cold air with a high moisture content for the richest sound transmission qualities. And obviously low oxygen copper with 24ct gold plating for the connectors.
Gold plated? That's so 1990s. Real audiophiles use rhodium plated.
Or even the singers...
An article on Spotify and not even the smallest mention that they still don't offer 2FA on their accounts?
Yes, this -
"Or maybe support your favourite artists by buying their stuff direct if possible?"
As above: Yes, this.
IT'S A TRAP!
Actually it does sound like better quality streaming for no extra cost.
I believe Apple also upgrade their video to 4K from 1080 too.
Hold on.....It's Apple....IT'S A TRAP!
Yay!
This is good news for music livers. Amazon's MP3s are prone to chirping and Apple's AACs have noticable low pass filtering. I can do without the studio 24 bits @ 192 kHz, though. My hearing isn't that good.