Bitrate for Apple Music

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Level 1

25 points

Bitrate for Apple Music

Hey!

I don't know if this is the correct community for this thread, sorry if it is not!

Very recently Apple Music was announced, Apple's own streaming/downloading service. My question is what will be/is the bitrate, sound quality, or whatever of the audio offered by Apple Music? I would assume that it would be the same as standard iTunes music which I believe is at 256kbps? Or is it the same as Spotify, 320kbps? Or did they adapt something else when they rebranded Beats Music?

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8.3

Posted on Jun 8, 2015 7:41 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

nathan_h

Level 1

36 points

Sep 10, 2015 2:20 AM in response to Qat_

Apple never misses an opportunity to emphasize and demonstrate when they are rolling something out that is better than the competition. So if the bit rate was better than other services, they would have said so. They didn't say so.

So it's safe to say it won't exceed 320kbps.

And they would have emphasized that it was on par with class-leading competition if it was on par, at 320kbps.

Which they didn't say.

So, it will probably be 256kbps at best.

So if sound quality is a defining factor, other services are a better bet so far.

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Answer 2

Maggot

Level 2

209 points

Jun 9, 2015 9:24 AM in response to nathan_h

I sincerely hope they at least match the streaming quality of Beats Music (320kbps MP3 files). Beats sounds good — much better than the 256kbps iTunes files. For them to dumb down their existing streaming service in favour of a feature-cluttered, social media-burderened interface would, in my opinion, be a dismal play.

Give me excellent quality music. Make the UI simple and easy to use, with quick search functions, history of listening, and a forward-thinking discovery engine. I'll give you ten bucks a month, no problem.

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