Apple Music

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Apple Beta Tests Official Apple Music Web Player

Andrew Orr ·

Apple is starting to get the hang of what being a services company really means. Charlotte and I have wrote about unofficial web players for Apple Music, and now Apple is beta testing an official one.

To use the new Apple Music web version, subscribers can visit the link beta.music.apple.com and sign in with their Apple ID.

At launch, the service includes many core features, like searching and playing songs from the Apple Music catalog, searching and playing songs from your library (if Sync Library is enabled), accessing your playlists and more.

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New Shazam Discovery Playlist for Apple Music

Andrew Orr ·

Today Apple Music launches the Shazam Discovery Top 50 playlist, which is a weekly global ranking of 50 trending artists.

The chart will be updated every Tuesday and is exclusively available to stream on Apple Music. Artists at the top of the first list include Ohana Bam, A$ton Wyld, Tones and I and Regard…The chart ranks songs that are trending in the U.S. and “over 10 countries”; artists from more countries will be featured soon.

Sounds cool but I hope it’s not filled with hip-hop, because that seems to be Apple Music’s focus.

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Apple Music Alternative Playlist Renamed 'ALT CTRL'

Andrew Orr ·

Apple is slowly rebranding Apple Music, and its latest efforts include renaming the Apple Music alternative playlist to ALT CTRL.

The playlist, which features 50 songs, will change every week. Each song is hand selected by a group of curators. The songs featured have less to do with genre, and more to do with overall feel and themes.

“ALT CTRL, formerly known as The A-List: Alternative, is where you’ll find the best of those new left-of-center tunes.” reads the Editors’ notes on the new ALT CTRL page, “Alternative is more an attitude than a sound—music that colors just a bit outside the lines.”

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Every Final Fantasy Soundtrack Now on Apple Music

Andrew Orr ·

Square Enix has released every Final Fantasy soundtrack on Apple Music and Spotify. Search for “Final Fantasy original soundtrack.”

There’s been no mention of it on Square Enix’s social media channels, even the Final Fantasy-specific one. But it likely has to do with a special concert being given this week for FF VII, the remake of which is almost certain to appear at E3. I’ve listened to a few tracks and it all seems legit. The only thing is that many of the titles are in Japanese — so it might be difficult to pick out your favorite character’s theme or what have you if you don’t, you know, speak that language.