Apple ignited the effectual euphony - download revolution withiTunes , led again by dropping copy - protect DRM from its music downloads , and in 2007 led a major upgrade in digital - medicine qualitywith the launch of iTunes Plus .
But more than a tenner afterward , the fellowship finds itself as a music - rain cats and dogs drone , to borrow a term that Steve Jobs used to throw around a caboodle . When it come up to medicine quality , Apple ’s not streets ahead — it ’s streets behind .
It ’s prison term for Apple Music to get a huge climb — and some late - launched Apple technology could even allow it to surpass its rivals when it comes to audio lineament .
The facts about audio quality
Just to back up for a second . Most digital music , whether it ’s download or rain cats and dogs , uses datum - condensation algorithms to reduce file size of it . This was urgently important back in the day where store space on euphony playback devices and internet bandwidth were both limited .
Those algorithms generate files much smaller than the original master data track , but at the price of some audio quality . At down in the mouth bit rate , everything sounds softened . At the most uncouth other MP3 geological era bit rate , music voice passably good , but if you listened closely you could hear unearthly artifacts . For me , it they were always obvious on cymbal — that shimmering rhythm section became a wash of random white-hot noise .
Apple ’s introduction of iTunes Plus doubled its standard bit rate . Today , that ’s the nonremittal audio quality of Apple Music . Spotify ’s default option calibre today is in the same compass — if you ’ve have a make up account . ( loose accounts get access to a much lower - tone stream . )
All these condensation algorithms are call “ lossy ” algorithms because they have away audio item in rally for smaller file cabinet size . But there ’s also a different method of shrinking audio files called lossless compression . The files are much larger ( though still a lot smaller than uncompressed audio files ! ) , but they thrownoinformation forth from the original “ CD quality ” audio file .
Personally , I think current streaming turn rates are somewhat good . Only the most apprehensive ear will be able to tell the difference between a high - bit - pace lossy data file and a lossless one . Still , some multitude will be able to tell — and others will feel better knowing they ’re getting the original auditory sensation , even if they ’re not sure if they can try the difference .
Behind the curve
no matter of the literal appeal of high - resolution sound to a broad audience , the fact remains that Apple is presently behind all its competitors . It will guide to a perceptual experience that Apple does n’t like as much about audio quality as Spotify — and that ’s not slap-up for rivalry , even if most hoi polloi wo n’t see the value in compensate for a lossless version of their medicine program library .
That ’s why it feels inevitable that Apple will have to upgrade its streams and offer a high - quality variation , presumptively encode with Apple ’s own lossless encryption codec , ALAC . The ship’s company ca n’t permit Spotify to sow the perceptual experience that Apple Music is 2d charge per unit when it comes to audio quality .
If Apple does this , it ’ll probably charge extra for access to high - quality streams , though perhaps they ’ll be rolled into some of its Apple One bundle , especially the gamey - final stage Premier megabucks .
Going beyond lossless
But I think Apple can leapfrog Spotify , and it can be assist in this exertion by some of its recent work on the hardware side of its stage business . Not only are the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max pretty good timbre earpiece , but they now supportSpatial Audio , which decrypt multi - channel audio from picture show and TV shows and status sound in space around the listener .
For geezerhood now , the music industry has been try out with multichannel audio . I bought a few DVD - Audio magnetic disk in the 2000s that offered high - quality audio and a movie - elan 5.1 audio mix playable on my household - theater system . Those magnetic disk - free-base audio formatting flopped , but the ones I bought soundedgreat , and made me a worshiper that multichannel audio could be popular if shape were right .
Apple Music could offer up approach to multichannel audio and combine it with AirPods Pro or AirPods Max to supply a unique audio experience .
Between AirPods and the Apple TV , Apple has access code to multichannel audio output in hoi polloi ’s ears and potentially in their living rooms , if they ’ve got home - theatre speakers or a soundbar connected .
Imagine Apple Music offering access to multichannel audio that , combine with AirPods Pro or AirPods Max , can provide an audio experience that move way beyond lossless audio in plain quondam stereophony .
The pieces are there . Apple ’s probably got the clout ( and the cash ) to boost record company to discharge multichannel mixes . And it would put Apple back in a place of leaders , alternatively of where it find itself this week — behind Spotify and just about everyone else .
