Micah Singleton, writing for The Verge:
As part of the deal it struck with the major labels for Apple Music Radio, Apple has licenses for up to five additional stations like Beats 1, without having to renegotiate with the labels. That means Apple could launch a Beats 2 station headquartered in Australia or Asia, allowing it to provide live radio around the clock (Beats 1 is only live 12 hours a day). Or Apple could take a more targeted approach and produce holiday stations.
I wonder about Apple Music’s goals for the car. Right now, SiriusXM satellite radio is the dominant pay service in cars. There are few cars made that don’t come with satellite radio capability built right in.
Is Apple looking to compete in the car? As is, they are the outsider. Your car is setup to deal with satellite radio. You’ve got presets for satellite stations, and the tuning knob makes it easy to move from station to station. Many cars allow you to access those functions without taking your hands off the steering wheel.
How does Apple Music compete here? Five stations won’t be enough if they want to compete in this way. But Apple Music does have one advantage. People bring their hardware into the car with them, plus they have the ability to customize their experience in ways that satellite radio will never be able to match.
Is CarPlay the answer? Could be. Even better, what if Apple designed their own car and had the chance to create controls designed specifically for the Apple Music experience. Now that’d be interesting.
I’m intrigued with the possibilities. But I mostly listen to NPR in the car. So that’s not likely going to be something I’d use a lot except on road trips. But, I don’t usually take long trips in cars.
And I’m afraid an Car is not going to be in my future. With their typical profit margins, my retirement is more important than a fancy schmancy car. I’d rather have a better house, or more trips, or more money for medical care than a car that costs as much as a heart transplant.
I think CarPlay is the answer, but I wonder if they might have an intermediate step – something that utilizes a lot of their current supply chains, like a really nice head unit?
I think CarPlay is the answer, but I wonder if they might take an intermediate step – something that utilizes a lot of their current supply chains, like a really nice head unit?
The more I think about it, the more I realize it’s probably not something they’ll do. They may have all of the best components for the job, but a head unit is such a small part of the experience, and it doesn’t seem very Apple-like.
Or…..partner with SiriusXM. Make Beats1 a station on SiriusXM. Leverage the DJs on SiriusXM as content creators for playlists and “Connect” content.
Sirius DJs are pushing the heck out of their redesigned app since AppleMusic was released. Sirius management clearly sees AppleMusic as a threat. But I think there is a lot of room for these two to work together putting their human curated content against the algorithms of Spotify and Pandora.
For those of us who live outside the city, satellite radio is the clear winner. Far better coverage, no matter what your cell carrier is.
I plug in my phone and use Apple Music – the curated set lists they’ve been adding in the “For You” section are great for car listening and they’re always changing. I’ve always hated radio and DJ’s – so this is perfect.
Is there a Car Play interface for the phone? (Sorry if that’s a dumb question – I spend so little time driving I never researched it).
Carplay is the phone’s interface on the car’s display.
I was stunned when I plugged my iPhone into a friends’ Carplay unit and Music didn’t appear. That’s right, Apple Music doesn’t seem to have an Apple Carplay app. Uh…
There’s a lot of blue sky ideas for how they can tackle the car, but it’s silly not to have your brand new flagship music service work with your in car solution. But then in general Carplay apps are scarce. Part of the issue, for me at least, is that I can’t easily tell if an app has a Carplay version. Marco Arment’s Overcast podcast app, for example, has a Carplay version. But you can’t tel that from the product page on iTunes. There’s a standard slot for saying that an app has a Watch version and that it’s for iPhone and/or iPad. But there’s no standard place for a developer to let their customers know that there’s a Carplay app.
satellite radio is only a northamerican thing. the competition (and pre-installed hardware in cars) in europe is still fm (smaller countries => nationwide coverage of lots of fm stations). i think, the answer is carplay, at least on a global scale.
Right – I guess I was asking if there is a way to use that interface on an iPhone – I assume not. It would be nice to go into huge button mode when I’m in the car, but mostly I use Siri anyway, so maybe moot…