What Does Apple’s Shift to Offer “Lossless Music” Really Mean?

Apple recently announced an expansion of Apple Music to include spatial audio and lossless music. Both represent a way to listen to compressed audio (like an MP3) without losing sound quality. This is something the industry and audiophiles have been anticipating for a long time, but what surprised many was that Apple decided to offer it at no additional cost for Apple Music subscribers. It’s certainly out of character for the brand to skip any chance to charge extra for something.

For competing services planning to charge a premium for hi-fi audio, this was a shock that might shift the entire industry. It is also pretty clearly the latest move from a big player to try and develop a near monopoly in a growing space. Many savvy observers identified a similar motive behind Amazon’s mega acquisition of the MGM studio library. In film and music, the biggest players are getting bigger ... which will eventually leave little room for anyone else.