Following the release of the much awaited iPad version, the company is yet again making moves with its Apple Music Classical app after it announced on X (formerly known as Twitter) that it will be coming to the Asian markets of Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
MARCH 28: Apple Music Classical—Apple's standalone music streaming app designed to deliver the listening experience classical music lovers deserve—is available now on the App Store. Photo included within an Apple press release dated March 28, 2023.
Details Surrounding the Apple Music Classical's Release in Asia
The actual date when the app becomes available is still unconfirmed, with the release only urging interested users to "pre-order" the free service available to all Apple Music subscribers in the meantime.
Originally, the app launched in March last year and has been released in most countries where Apple Music is available, bearing in mind a few notable exceptions including Turkey, Russia, and Albania. Apple has reportedly reassured users that future availability will be rolled out eventually.
The application was initially only available for iOS and iPhone users, but it was eventually updated to also include an Android and iPad port, last summer and this past November, respectively.
The company proclaims the app as "the world's largest classical music catalog" that enables Apple Music users to access over five million classical tracks, alongside 700 curated playlists, a higher quality processing of "lossless" audio, and even exclusive albums unavailable on other streaming apps, among other features.
In the US, the current pricing of the Apple Music subscription plans ranges from $5.99 for the student plan to $16.99 for the family plan, with the standard subscription costing $10.99 a month.
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Universal Music Group Acquires Its Own Classical Streaming Service
Apple's expansion to broader a continent-wide market is only one of the recent developments in a series of movements within the classical music space, as UMG itself has built its own classical streaming service through its acquisition of Hyperion Records and Deutsche Grammophon.
The app in question is dubbed Stage+ and towers over Apple's classical app in terms of its US pricing with a standard subscription costing a whopping $14.90 per month, almost the same cost as Apple Music's family plan.
The inclusions, however, also include access to documentaries on top of a solid classical library that rivals the collections of its contemporaries. That said, Apple Music Classical's lower costs and tie-in with Apple Music may still be the better deal of the two.
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