I rounded up all the audio and music-related news coming from Apple’s WWDC event yesterday. These new and improved features will be available in the fall with the release of iOS 14 and other new software.
“For You” in Apple Music has been replaced by “Listen Now.” It features roughly the same recommended playlists and friends’ listening.
The playing screen in Apple Music is now all translucent, like the lyrics screen in iOS 13.
Voice Memos has a new “Enhance Recording” ability to improve the sound quality of recordings.
Third-party music services will be supported on HomePod which means Spotify and Tidal, among others, can decide to use the speaker natively.
AirPods Pro is getting spacial audio support and can handle 5.1, 7.1, and Dolby Atmos audio formats.
AirPods will now display a low battery notification on a device’s screen.
AirPods can better switch automatically between Apple devices.
Apple TV 4K will now support two pairs of AirPods for listening silently with more than one person.
Apple Music will continue playing suggestions it thinks you’ll like after a playlist finishes. (Similar to what Spotify does.)
Improved music search can sort by “genre, mood, and activity.”
Better filtering in the music app for songs, albums, and artists.
The Memories feature in Photos will feature an expanded selection of music choices.
Siri will be able to send audio messages.
iPads will get full-screen lyrics and a redesigned queue. No further details on the queue are available at the moment.
Apple Watch will alert you with weekly notifications if you’re constantly listening to audio too loudly.
Other news items
Black music executives weight in on the term “urban” for music.
Bright Eyes have provided further details about their upcoming album, Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was. The latest single to be shared, and my favorite so far is “Mariana Trench.”
Spotify could include a music video player in the future.
Sonos is selling refurbished speakers for $99.
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