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Apple Music - page 13

Stunning iOS 13 concept packs all the features we want

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We hope iOS 13 looks a lot like this.
We hope iOS 13 looks a lot like this.
Photo: Alvaro Pabesio

WWDC 2019 and the grand unveiling of iOS 13 is just over a week away and based on the rumors, it could be one of the biggest iPhone and iPad upgrades ever.

Designer Alvaro Pabesio published a beautiful new concept that showcases what some of the most popular requested features could look like. Dark Mode, an updated Files, a redesigned volume indicator, iMessage profiles and more are on full display, plus some tweaks that Alvaro dreamed up himself.

Take a look:

Apple Music’s summer playlists show what top celebs are listening to

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Streaming services like Apple Music dominate the US music market
Apple Music now shares celeb playlists by Chris Hemsworth, Lizzo, and more.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s got no shortage of celebrity friends — and a few of them just shared their summer playlists to Apple Music.

Apple’s “Summertime Sounds” curated playlist collection contains the tracks hand-picked (well, presumably) by names including Chris Hemsworth, Lizzo, Shawn Mendes, J Balvin, and more. Want to know what Thor is bumping as he heads on the latest Avengers press tour? This might be your best hope of answering that question.

How to add your own music to your iPhone without iTunes

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Add your own music to your iPhone without iTunes.
Add your own music to your iPhone without iTunes.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Maybe in iOS 13 we’ll be able to add songs to our music iPhone libraries without having to wake up a Mac or PC running iTunes. Until then, there’s no way to listen to songs downloaded from Bandcamp, or exported from GarageBand, alongside the rest of your music collection.

But there’s a workaround. Vox is a slightly confusing music app that combines your built-in Apple Music library with your Soundcloud, Spotify, and other services. And it will also let you import any audio file, and then add it to playlists and so on. Let’s know more about how to achieve this.

10.8% in ’94. Plus, Apple’s software sales were growing more slowly than those of rival companies. Curious about what is an Apple Fellow? This article provides more insights.

Jay-Z’s Blueprint trilogy is finally available on Apple Music

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Jay-Z 2
Almost all of Jay-Z's back catalog is now available on Apple Music.
Photo: Mikamote/Wikipedia CC

Thanks to his rival Tidal streaming service, Jay-Z was somewhat M.I.A. from Apple Music for a while.

Somewhere along the line, the tide started to turn. Jay’s 4:44 album landed on Apple Music. As did Everything is Love, his collaboration with wife Beyonce. Now the Blueprint trilogy — home to what is probably Jay-Z’s greatest album — has arrived on Apple’s streaming service.

TikTok will fight Apple Music with new streaming service

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TikTok 1
TikTok is the current ruler of the App Store.
Photo: TikTok

The makers of TikTok, the runaway most popular iOS app for the past five consecutive quarters, are planning to get into the streaming music game.

According to a new report, ByteDance is gearing up to launch a streaming music service to take on the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.

How to use Apple Pay for App Store and iTunes purchases

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Apple Pay iPhone
Apple Pay finally an option for digital purchases.
Photo: Apple

Apple has finally given us the ability to pay for App Store, iTunes, and Books purchases with Apple Pay.

The company’s own mobile payments system can also be used for Apple Music and iCloud storage subscriptions. Here’s how to set it up.

Clothing brand LRG becomes Apple Music’s latest tastemaker

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Apple Music
The new LRG playlists on Apple Music have a little something for everyone.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music enlisted clothing company LRG to become the latest company to handpick songs for a new set of curated playlists.

LRG, short for Lifted Research Group, became popular for its street wear thanks to endorsements from some of the biggest rappers and R&B artists in the world. As you’d expect, its new playlists are highly influenced by those genres too.

Apple Music apparently isn’t as ‘intimate’ as Spotify

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Apple Music brand intimacy
How does Apple Music make you feel?
Photo: Apple

We make choices based on emotion and feelings can change on a whim. The best brands understand this as a science and if bonded closely with its customer base, can successfully influence its purchasing choices.

So the marketing team in charge of Apple Music may want to huddle up after a report on brand intimacy released today saw the music streaming service drop from its No. 1 spot from last year to No. 5.

Force Apple Music to play all songs at the same volume with Sound Check

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Sound Check evens out the volume of Apple Music songs.
Sound Check evens out the volume of Apple Music songs.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The song you’re listening to on your iPhone is a bit too quiet, so you adjust the volume. Perfect. Then the song ends, and the next one blasts your ears. You fumble your iPhone from your pocket and tap the volume down a notch or two.

Thanks, Apple Music. Why can’t you just play all the songs at the same volume? Obviously that’s what everyone wants.

Wait, what’s that? You can? How?

What we learned from Apple’s surprising earnings report

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European Commission could get even tougher on tech in 2020
European Commission could get even tougher on tech in 2020
Image: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Wall Street received surprisingly better-than-expected news from Apple’s Q2 2019 earnings report today — and the stock is soaring in after-hours trading.

iPhone sales remain down, but pretty much every other facet of the company’s business is firing on all cylinders. Customers are falling in love with the iPad all over again. Services are booming. And Apple’s wearables business is now the size of a Fortune 200 company.

Despite plenty of doom and gloom from analysts over the last 12 months, Apple’s future is looking bright again.

Brace yourself for Apple’s next ugly earnings call

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Apple earnings
Apple's Q2 earnings are expected to be a bit of a downer.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Wall Street is anxiously awaiting Apple’s earnings report for the second quarter of 2019 that will be delivered on Tuesday, April 30. Apple’s stock value has risen about 30% this year even though iPhone sales are slowing.

Most analysts predict that nearly all of Apple’s numbers will be down compared to the same quarter last year, but there are few bright spots that could cause the company’s stock price to surge. After looking at the analysts’ numbers, we’ve found a couple of key areas to watch for.

Spotify storms ahead of Apple Music with 100 million paid subscribers

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Spotify app now playing screen
Are you a Spotify subscriber?
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

Spotify has reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2019, revealing that it has passed 100 million paid users.

This gives Spotify around twice the number of premium subscribers as the last reported figures for Apple Music. However, Apple Music may still have more paid subscribers in the United States.

Amazon could one-up Apple Music with new high-fidelity music tier

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Amazon Music
Amazon already has its own standard music streaming service.
Photo: Amazon

Amazon is reportedly in talks with some of the world’s largest music rights holders to launch a high-fidelity streaming service, costing around $15 per month.

Rumored to launch by the end of 2019, the service would offer a superior bit rate than many rivals. “It’s a better bit rate, better than CD quality,” a source told Music Business Worldwide. “Amazon is working on it as we speak: they’re currently scoping out how much catalog they can get from everyone and how they’ll ingest it.”

Beyoncé’s Lemonade album finally lands on Apple Music

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Lemonade
The lauded album arrives on Apple Music three years after its release.
Photo: Columbia

Update: Beyoncé’s acclaimed Lemonade album finally arrived on Apple Music — three years after its debut.

Originally dropped on April 23, 2016, Lemonade is the singer’s sixth studio album and second “visual album.” It was accompanied by a 65-minute film. This marks the first time all of Bey’s back catalog is available for streaming on Apple Music.

Apple Music faces fresh competition from Amazon’s new free option

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The Amazon Echo.
Your Amazon Echo can serenade you without a subscription, if you’re willing to endure ads.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Amazon just launched a free streaming music service for its smart speakers. This is further competition for Apple Music and Spotify, who are battling it out in the paid music subscription business.

This service could bring additional pressure for a free Apple Music option.

New Apple Music docuseries charts the rise of Wiz Khalifa

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Wiz Khalifa 1
Khalifa is the latest rapper to be chronicled in an Apple Music documentary.
Photo: Tore Sætre/Wikipedia CC

Wiz Khalifa is the latest rapper to receive the documentary treatment courtesy of Apple Music. Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam is set to debut this month on Apple’s streaming music platform.

The multi-part docuseries will feature footage from throughout the rapper’s career. If you’re a fan of Khalifa’s music, all five episodes will be available to binge watch on April 17.

Major bank downgrades Apple for being late to subscription game

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Apple TV+ could have 26 million paying subs by 2025; 2.6 million currently
Has Apple left its pivot too long?
Photo: Apple

Apple is moving full speed ahead with its Services division, but is it too late for it to catch up with rivals? That’s what analysts at major bank HSBC are concerned about.

As a result, they’ve downgraded their expectations for Apple shares.

Spotify’s fight against increased rates is good for Apple Music

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Apple Music
The #CancelSpotify movement is a win for Apple.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify’s efforts to avoid paying higher rates is giving Apple Music a big advantage, according to a new report.

Apple is the only major music streaming company that isn’t appealing a decision to increase the rate paid to songwriters. As a result, Apple Music is getting all the love on social media.

Apple Music finally passes Spotify in U.S. paid subscribers

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Apple Music
Apple Music beat its biggest rival in the U.S.
Photo: Apple

More Americans pay to listen to Apple Music than Spotify. The Swedish company had been ahead since the iPhone maker got into the streaming music business back in 2015, but Apple finally closed the gap. And its growth is continuing to outpace its rival in the US.

Spotify still has many more paid subscribers globally, however.,

Apple Music undercuts Spotify in India with even cheaper prices

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Apple Music gift card
You won’t believe how cheap Apple Music is in India.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music has undercut rival streaming services in India with even cheaper subscription prices.

The cost of an individual plan has fallen to the equivalent of $1.43 per month. Apple’s changes come just weeks after Spotify and YouTube Premium landed in India for the first time.

Spotify trials new Premium Duo plan for two

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Spotify Premium Duo
Sign up to Premium Duo today.
Photo: Spotify

Spotify has started testing a new Premium Duo plan for two.

The bundle offers two Premium subscriptions at a significantly discounted rate. It makes Spotify the only music streaming service to offer a couple’s plan — but it does come with some caveats.

40 million Android users have downloaded Apple Music

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Streaming services like Apple Music dominate the US music market
Apple Music is popular across the board.
Photo: Apple

You’d think that most of the subscribers to Apple Music would be firmly locked into the Apple ecosystem. That may be true, but new figures suggest that there are quite a few listeners on Android as well.

Figures shared by Sensor Tower‘s Store Intelligence platform suggest that 40 million Android users have installed the Apple Music app from Google Play. Not only that, but the analytics firm believes that the “current quarter will be the service’s best yet for new users on the platform.”

You can now enjoy Apple Music on your Chromebook

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apple-music
Grab the latest update from the Play Store now.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music’s latest update on Android finally brings native Chromebook support for the first time.

The release also includes the same user interface changes that were rolled out on iOS last week. Subscribers can access a new Browse tab that designed to make music discovery even easier.

Apple Music update shines a light on curated content

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Apple Music brand intimacy
Apple's 'Browse' tag just got an update.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music has updated the New Music section of its “Browse” tag to highlight playlists from a variety of genres.

While the UX tweak doesn’t fundamentally change the content of Apple’s Music app, it does make it easier to access some content.