Mac|Life

Do more with your music

Going social and getting collaborat­ive – sounds good to us

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Apple seems to have realized that, for many of us, the social side of music is much more personal than following favorite artists or curators and reading what they post to Apple Music’s Connect service. So in iOS 11’s Music app, as long as you have an Apple Music subscripti­on, you can stay up to date with what your real friends are listening to by looking under the heading “Friends are listening to” in the For You page.

This feature at last puts your customizab­le Apple Music profile to more use than just for the attributio­n of your comments on artists’ posts. You can set your profile to be private or public, choose which playlists are shared with friends, and your and your friends’ chosen profile pictures are displayed as attributio­n on items in the aforementi­oned row in For You.

The biggest news concerning music is the announceme­nt of a new Apple-branded speaker called HomePod. This is the first speaker under the Apple brand since 2006’s short-lived iPod Hi-Fi. As well as putting out room-filling sound, HomePod contains an array of six microphone­s that enable you to give commands by speaking to Siri. HomePod also supports AirPlay 2, an updated version of Apple’s media-streaming protocol that supports multiroom audio. You can read more about HomePod starting on page 68.

An Apple Music sub also unlocks collaborat­ive playlist creation when you have a friend visiting; several people can queue tracks over AirPlay 2 without interrupti­ng what you’re listening to.

Apple has also announced that AirPlay 2 will be supported by Apple TV, on which you’ll be able to control multiroom music playback from the Siri Remote or by speaking to the virtual assistant.

Finally, Apple has introduced a new framework for app developers, MusicKit, that enables their apps and games to be given full access to your library, including tracks that are stored in the cloud. Apps will be able to create playlists, add to your library, plus search playlists, stations, and Apple Music’s 40-million strong catalog (if you subscribe to the service). We’re hoping this enhancemen­t spurs developers into offering stronger, more capable alternativ­es to iOS’s built-in Music app.

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