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Good and bad news for Spotify users

In the world of music streaming, Spotify has long been a benchmark, leading with a vast library and interesting features. However, their latest announcement at the recent shareholders meeting has left many with mixed feelings. The good news is that, according to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, the company is still working on its highly anticipated Hi-Fi support, a project first announced in early 2021, which is still in its “early days”. The bad news? The price of Spotify could skyrocket.

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High-quality audio yes, but at an even higher price

According to EK, Spotify will launch an ultra-premium level. This “deluxe” version aims to be an enhanced version of the current service “with more control and higher quality in all aspects”, although at a considerably higher cost. The expected price would be around $18 per month, approximately $5 more than the current premium fee.

This move may seem like a natural evolution in the service offering, but it raises an inevitable question: what about the price increase? The direct competitor, Apple Music, has been offering lossless audio and spatial audio with Dolby Atmos since June 2021, and it does so at no additional cost.

With Apple Music costing $10.99 per month, Spotify’s decision to charge extra for these enhancements could be a significant point of friction for its subscribers. While YouTube Music costs $11.99 per month, the premium plan of Disney+ costs $11.99 per month, and Amazon Prime, which gives us access to Prime Video and Amazon Music, costs $14.99 per month, the price of Spotify Deluxe is considerably high.

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For now, we will have to wait for an official announcement, but with an increasing offer in the music streaming market, raising the price for features that other services offer for free can be a risky decision. We will see how the news unfolds, but for now, we are in between bad and good news for Spotify.

Exciting Widget inbound for Apple Music Android

The latest build of the Apple Music Android beta rolled out recently with a considerable upgrade to how widgets look and function on the Android home screen. Decompiling this latest build may also reveal the name for Apple’s proposed standalone music app for the classical genre.

Apple Music users on Android devices will be familiar with the two widgets shipped with one of the first alpha builds of the app. These have started feeling a little stale as other music apps up their widget game. Happily, version 3.9 furnishes these staple widgets with much-needed cosmetic and functional updates.

The first update is that both widgets have lost their thick border padding. This means that they can now comfortably take up more space on the screen without looking out of place. The Apple Music Player widget has become wider and taller, and the Apple Music recently Played widget has more configuration options when you resize it.

Users now, therefore, have better control over the overall aesthetic of their home screens. The grid showing past tracks has had an update too and is now available in 3×2 and 3×1 configurations that seamlessly increase the size of the top half of the widgets.

Apple acquired Primephonic last year in August in an attempt to bolster its streaming utility’s prowess when it comes to classical music, an ever-popular music genre. They subsequently shut the app down and informed users that a replacement may launch early into 2022. The lines of code you find while decompiling the Apple Music Android beta reveal that Apple Classical may be the name for this new dedicated app.

This data string supports that notion: ‘<string name=” open_in_apple_classical”>Open in Apple Classical</string>.‘

While only time can definitively tell what the new app’s name will be, this instance reminds us of the Apple One name revealed in 2020. Details are always subject to change, especially closer to the launch. But hopefully, we’ll have new details about the dedicated app soon.