It’s A Living Thing – will Apple bring music back to my sofa?
I have given up my Foxtel, and I now have to find a new solution for my living room. Lucky for me, Apple have a new AppleTV coming out that will solve a lot of my TV issues. And quietly, they’ve brought back music to my living room as well.
Quietly, and without any real comment, music has left the living room in the last ten years. It left the living room, crawled into little white cables and drilled straight into our ears. But the living room is once again a battleground – for companies like Google, Apple, Samsung and more. And they will use music as one of their weapons.
Sure, there has been airplay and chromecast and sonos and other fancy things in the last few years, but they have been expensive, or technologically niche. And I believe it has led to our declining market. Not everyone wants super high quality, or that exclusive personalised playlist. They just want to turn on something in the living room whilst doing housework, or with some friends over.
And frankly, it can get very painful.
Hey, just let me unlock my phone. Where is that music app of mine? Sorry, yeah, the airplay thing isn’t coming up. Oh, am I on the right wi-fi? Let me just find a good playlist, hold on where is it. Let me just do a search instead. There it is, scrolling down. Oh crap I’m getting a call.
All that clicking and swiping and searching – it’s easier to turn on the radio. It was easier putting on a CD. It is easier to just plug in and I’ll listen to this, talk to you another time.
The inclusion of Apple Music in the new AppleTV could mean a change. And it means a change for the TV itself. Apple Music provides a native app, so now airplay, no unlocking your phone, it is all there. That big flat thing is now also your new home stereo system. And if Apple can smooth out the clunkiness, if they can make it easier than turning on the radio, they might have the first win the living room music war.
It looks like only Apple Music will be there at launch, but with the world of apps coming to TV, anything is possible. Surely Spotify, RDio and the like are building apps quick smart. But what is the Taylor Swift AppleTV app? What is the Mushroom Music AppleTV app? What are the next generation of clever ideas when it comes to group listening?
There are challenges, and there will be competitors. Will there be another round of terrible screen savers playing over the music? Will music videos become even more important? Will I need a more comfortable sofa?
Until the – hey Siri, play me some ELO.
