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Apple Music web player discovered ahead of WWDC

Last updated

Apple briefly updated its suite of Apple Music tools, allowing signed-in users to play more than just a sample of a track without using the Music app on iOS or iTunes on Mac and Windows.

Previously, a shared Apple Music track would play about 45 seconds, or launch iTunes to play a whole track.

First spotted by a Reddit user on Sunday, and confirmed by AppleInsider very early on Monday morning, if a user signs in to Apple Music with a new login button, the web player will now play the entire track, and give controls to the user in a web interface.

Users can also listen to full albums and already saved playlists through the web player. However, the functionality does not extend to creating new playlists, or browsing through the user's Apple Music library

However, Apple may have caught wind that users have discovered the new feature. Logins started failing during additional testing after 7 a.m. eastern time on Monday morning.

The rollout appears to be part of a web-based client rollout for wider acceptance of Apple Music without using an app. Such a move would further cut back on friction for adoption of Apple Music, as main competitor Spotify has one already.

At launch, Apple Music was only available on iTunes on Mac and PC and the Music app on iOS. Since that launch, Apple has released an app for Android as well. Apple's rollout over the weekend is the first in the direction of a full-featured web-based player.

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7 Comments

Sgt Storms(trooper) 7 Years · 14 comments

This is great news for folks stuck in certain locations that don't have access to their personal devices. Crossing my fingers.

jarredkm 7 Years · 5 comments

I was able to sign in just then on the track you posted, 7am central

ericthehalfbee 13 Years · 4489 comments

Fantastic news if this is actually coming out.

Now what about iMessage on your PC?

Mike Wuerthele 8 Years · 6906 comments

jarredkm said:
I was able to sign in just then on the track you posted, 7am central

Nice. It seems spotty at present -- we'll see what happens as the day wears on.

StrangeDays 8 Years · 12986 comments

Fantastic news if this is actually coming out.

Now what about iMessage on your PC?

Apples and oranges. AM is a cross-platform service anyone can subscribe to for a monthly service fee. iMessage is not cross-platform and doesn’t generate income on its own, so I would bet it remains a perk to the ecosystem.