Apple’s big Apple Music audio boost arrived during WWDC last week, bringing the headline-making Spatial Audio and Lossless music into play.
However, subscribers on the rival Android smartphone platform weren’t among those to receive the update when Apple first made the feature available last Monday.
That won’t be the case for long, it seems, with the latest beta version of Apple Music for Android featuring support for both Spatial Audio and the improved streaming quality called Lossless.
As 9to5Google reports, the features can be accessed now by those who’ve registered for the beta channel via the Play Store. However, it shouldn’t be long before the updates hit all Apple Music subscribers on Android.
Users will need a compatible device to access the Dolby Atmos-powered Spatial Audio feature, which simulates different elements of the music track coming at the listener from different points in space. However, there’s no news on which Android devices are compatible just yet.
Elsewhere, there’s access to the “bit-for-bit” accuracy enabled by the Lossless Audio setting, which will require an external DAC for users whose Android phones don’t contain one (i.e. the vast majority of them). There’s also Automatic Crossfade coming in the new update.
Strangely enough it was the presence of Lossless within the Apple Music for Android beta that turned us on to the news it was coming at all. Here’s the changeling for the Apple Music 3.6 beta on Android:
In this update, Apple Music adds spatial listening on compatible devices, with thousands of tracks in Dolby Atmos available at launch.
Other updates include:
• Lossless Audio, a new way to experience un-compromised sound, with bit-for-bit accuracy.
• Automatic Crossfade, a new way to listen that blends each song into the next for a seamless experience.
• Search enhancements to library, which allow you to more easily find your favorite music with in-line search.
Apple Music beta on Google Play
Apple has likened the arrival of Spatial Audio to the transition from mono to stereo and has released a playlist of 100 songs that best showcase the new technology. Lossless Audio, meanwhile, comes to subscribers at no extra cost. That’s a major challenge for the likes of Tidal, which charges double for the Hi-Fi tier, and lays down the gauntlet for Spotify to provide the update free of charge too.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
