As you point out, it is crowdsourced. So one album may produce several different possible sets of metadata, and some may be flat-out wrong.
Another problem is inherent to the CD audio format. There is nothing resembling a global serial number or other way of identifying the disc. Systems like Gracenote use the disc’s table of contents (number of tracks, start/stop times for each, etc.) as they keep for looking up metadata. And so you sometimes run across multiple albums that identify the same, even if all the data is valid.
There is a concept of CD Text, where album/artist/title information is recorded in the disc’s subcodes, but it is very rare to find a commercially-pressed disc that uses it, and I know that Apple’s software (iTunes and Music) do not use it when constructing metadata.
Which is a shame, because CD Text has the capability of representing most of what would be useful for a classical disc, if only publishers would use it.
Probably true for the general public, although I suspect enthusiasts such as us reading TidBITS probably have at lease one USB optical drive available, which can be connected to anything modern. (I have an Apple SuperDrive and it has no problem ripping and burning discs on my 2018 Mac mini running Big Sur).
So Classical is out. This morning I noticed it on my iPhone, so I opened it just to look. I see a “Periods and Genres”, then click on “Baroque Essentials”. And I see what’s essentially a pop playlist. Movements of various things, nothing more than 7 minutes. No complete works at all. I think Apple still doesn’t get classical… Oh, and my “Theme Songs” playlist is front and center in “Recently Played”, with “The Mandalorian” cover art showing. Of the other 3 in “Recently Played”, at least 2 of them are actually classical. That’s something, I suppose.
This is a frustratingly “beta” release. No Car Play. No iPad app. No downloads in the app itself. I hope Apple will quickly iterate on this release and finish what they started.
I’ve been positively impressed so far. First, search is much improved, and discovery is better. It’s not perfect, but Medieval and Early meta data is much improved.
Thanks Erik for sharing your thoughts. I was actually excited when I read this news and then your thoughts, as I think current streaming services (including Tidal) don’t particularly do a good job on classical music. I hope for improvements in collection size and cataloging. It might draw me away from Spotify into Apple Music as a subscriber.
I confess I’m using Apple Music Classical as what a librarian would describe as a finding aid. I mostly listen in Apple Music, but I am using Classical to locate specific pieces, composers, performers, to discover music that I may add to a playlist I listen to in Apple Music.