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User profile for user: mc-ornell
mc-ornell Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Lossless Apple Music

My main way to listen to music is at home, through my hi-fi, either with vinyl, CD, or Apple Music through my late 2012 Mac Mini through a USB Dac connected to my stereo. Apple Music/iTunes on my Mac has a mix of albums/songs at AAC from Apple Music, CD rips at 16/44.1 ALAC and Hi-Res downloads (ALAC at 24/96). MacOS upgrades stop at 10.15.7 for my Mac Mini but apparently in order to listen to the upcoming Apple Lossless and Hi-Res tracks on a Mac, you need MacOS 11.4. As my Mac can currently play lossless tracks, why would MacOS 11.4 be necessary, especially since it's not possible to update to this on a 2012 Mac Mini? Is it because the Music app needs to be upgraded and it is a part of MacOs overall? Why can't you just do a Music update that will allow my to play Apple Music lossless tracks even though my MacOS is stuck at 10.15.7? As I've mentioned, I can already play my downloaded/ripped lossless tracks, so just wondering why Apple says you will need MacOS 11.4 to play the upcoming Apple Music lossless tracks.

Posted on May 25, 2021 12:58 PM

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5 replies
User profile for user: Limnos
Limnos
User level: Level 10
418,567 points

May 26, 2021 7:16 AM in response to mc-ornell

Remember that this is a user to user form. Apple doesn't reply to this kind of question on this forum.


It is Apple's way of doing things. I know that isn't much of an answer but after using Apple hardware for 30 years it comes as no real surprise. I'm a bit surprised it doesn't extend back to Catalina since that still sees system updates, but who knows what Apple's reasoning is?


Realize that your Mac is now 9 years old. Once Macs are about 8 years old they really start to lose any kind of support from software developers. Typically iTunes (Music) was kept going the longest but I suppose even that has its cut-off point.

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User profile for user: mc-ornell
mc-ornell Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

May 26, 2021 8:09 AM in response to Limnos

True…I realize that, but it’s really just the music app that would need to be updated, not the whole OS. You already have the option to select video quality up to HD/4K within the app, so music quality should be a no-brainer. Plus I can already play lossless tracks that I’ve purchased or ripped. I suppose there are ways to get around it by Airplaying from an iPhone and just using the Mac for my downloads and rips but would be nice to have everything all in one place.

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Lossless Apple Music

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