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Hands-On With Apple's New Classical Music App

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Apple today officially launched the much anticipated Apple Music Classical app on the iPhone, allowing ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers to download and access an app dedicated just to classical music. We went hands-on with the new app to give MacRumors readers a closer look.

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Design wise, the app is similar to ‌Apple Music‌, but it is entirely dedicated to classical titles. The Browse section, for example, is broken down into Composers, Genres, Periods, Conductors, Orchestras, Soloists, Choirs, and Ensembles, making it easier to discover the specific classical content that you're looking for.

A Listen Now section offers up New Releases, Spatial Audio content, and other recommendations in various genres, plus there is a dedicated Library for aggregating saved content. A search function makes it simple to find something specific.

All in all, the app will be familiar to ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers, and it is in fact very simple. Unfortunately, it is limited to the iPhone at the current time, with no Mac or iPad version available. It's also not available on CarPlay.

Have you tried ‌Apple Music‌ Classical? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Top Rated Comments

nutmac Avatar
nutmac
41 months ago
The app is incredible. The team did a great job with curation and normalizing the meta data. My current wishes are:

* Filter for Spatial Audio, Lossless, etc.
* Video
* Bring on the iPad and Mac versions!
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
citysnaps
41 months ago

dedicating an entirely diff app to one genre of music is dumb.
Not dumb at all.

If you were a regular listener to classical music you'd understand why this app is standalone and makes sense.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vlad Soare Avatar
Vlad Soare
41 months ago

does not have a shuffle mode, for a strange reason.
Probably because it rarely (if ever) makes sense to listen to classical music in shuffle mode. I can't imagine listening to, say, Vivaldi's Four Seasons in completely random order. Or symphonies, concertos, sonatas, you name it - imagine listening to Eroica shuffled: first the funeral march, then the last movement, then the first, then the third. It would be quite awkward. :)
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Phogro Avatar
Phogro
41 months ago
As a person with limited Classical exposure, I'm enjoying "The Story of Classical" as a way to understand better what this genre is and why it needs its own app.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
decypher44 Avatar
decypher44
41 months ago
Also not available on tvOS. Booo!!!
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vlad Soare Avatar
Vlad Soare
41 months ago

Sad but true.
Not necessarily sad. Many people have no interest in classical music, like they have no interest in gardening, or in hiking, or in 19th century literature, or in sports cars, or whatever. It's not like classical music were some kind of pinnacle of culture. It's just one of several kinds of music, neither intrinsically better nor worse than others. Some like it, some don't, and there's nothing wrong with that.
What's sad, however, is that so many who have no interest in - and indeed no knowledge of - classical music feel the need to have strong opinions in regard to the usefulness of a dedicated app.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments
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