It's like Radio 1's Live Lounge (if you're British) or MTV's Unplugged (if you're old enough to remember the early 90s), but this time we can enjoy it in Apple Music's glorious and immersive Dolby Atmos. Improved spatial audio.
What is the problem? Good question, and if you're an Apple Music subscriber, you should keep reading.
Apple has just released Apple Music Sessions. The free release gives Apple Music subscribers, who number around 98 million (my membership is proudly somewhere in that number) exclusive access to live releases featuring some of the world's most prolific and up-and-coming artists, all on Spatial. Audio.
Apple says the sessions are recorded at Apple Music studios around the world, giving artists the ability to reimagine and recreate hits from their catalog and create creative new covers.
And one of the best parts is that these unique performances are also filmed, resulting in a live collection of new music tracks from Spatial Audio (Apple's technology that recently celebrated its one-year anniversary for music) and live performances. of music videos.
Early releases have a country flavor in that they come from Carrie Underwood and Tenille Townes, recorded at Apple Music's new state-of-the-art studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Both releases include three audio tracks and three videos, and after listening to them, I can tell you there's a lot to celebrate.
Opinion: Apple Music just makes Spotify look bad at this point, and so does Netflix
Netflix recently released Spatial Audio, but just like Dolby Atmos (whose badges seem to show up with alarming regularity on tablets like the Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus, where the ability to deliver truly immersive airborne sound from those tiny speakers built into the top just can't). match that of a recording studio or theater 9.1.7) Not all spatial sounds are created equal.
In fact, Netflix streams its Spatial Audio content using AMBEO 2-Channel, a technology licensed from Sennheiser that allows sound mixers to tailor Dolby Atmos soundtracks for Spatial Audio presentation on stereo speakers.
Apple's Spatial Audio system, on the other hand, uses a 5.1, 7.1, or object-based audio track like Dolby Atmos, and as we know, Apple also makes the hardware with which to take full advantage of its Spatial Audio offering. If you're listening to Apple Music Sessions on the Cupertino giant's AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, or AirPods 3, these headphones take the Dolby Atmos music recording and process it on-device for an enhanced head-tracking sound experience.
And let's not forget that Apple's original HomePod also supports spatial audio, but the HomePod mini doesn't. If the highly anticipated and yet unofficial HomePod 2 supports Apple Music's enhanced Dolby Atmos, we're all in for a rare treat.
Now Spotify. The whole concept of Apple Music Sessions sounds like Apple's answer to Spotify Sessions (opens in a new tab) (barely subtle, huh?), but let's be honest: We know who looked better. Spotify has yet to release its higher-resolution Spotify HiFi tier (which it promised to introduce by the end of 2021, but hasn't) or add Dolby Atmos-enhanced music to its work.
Despite the recent price increase for its student plan, Apple Music is, in my opinion, a cut above the rest and now even superior to longtime audiophile choice Tidal. And with Custom Spatial Audio on the horizon and more sessions promised, the Tim Cook juggernaut has just laid out the best case for turning around music streaming services yet.