NowPlaying Album Discovery: A New Way to Find Your Next Favorite Record
Remember the thrill of flipping through records at your favorite music store, discovering hidden gems with each turn? NowPlaying’s latest update brings that magical experience to your device, reimagining how we discover new music in the digital age.
Introducing Album Discovery
At the heart of this major update is Album Discovery, a feature that transforms music exploration into an engaging, tactile experience. Like browsing through a carefully curated record store collection, users can swipe through a diverse selection of albums, complete with preview snippets that play automatically as you browse. Found something that catches your ear? Simply drag the album down to add it to your Apple Music library.
For the true crate-diggers among us, there’s even a “blind listening” mode that hides artist names and titles, letting the music speak for itself. It’s about rediscovering the joy of unexpected musical discoveries in an age of algorithmic recommendations.
These albums are picked from the following sources:
- Apple Music Top 100 Best albums
- The Rolling Stop Top 500
- Random Albums from your library
- Albums curated by us
- New Releases
- 1001 Albums you must hear before you die (Book)
- Apple Music recommendations
Album of the Day: Now Free for Everyone
Our popular Album of the Day feature is now available to all users across iPhone, iPad, and – for the first time – Apple Watch. We’ve added new widgets to keep you updated on daily picks, and you can now play the featured album directly from your lock screen or control center.
Enhanced Album Information
This update also brings several exciting enhancements to album details:
- Record value and rarity indicators for vinyl collectors
- Integration with Vinyl Fetish app
- Comprehensive awards and media coverage for albums
- Universal streaming service support and sharing
Accessibility and Performance Improvements
We’re committed to making music discovery accessible to everyone. This update introduces OpenDyslexic font support, helping users with dyslexia better enjoy our extensive music content. We’ve also significantly improved content loading speeds and fixed several UI issues.
Press Access
Journalists interested in early access can request TestFlight access
We’re also happy to provide additional information and assets upon request (or use the images on this page).
Looking Ahead
This update represents a significant step forward in our mission to make music discovery more engaging and personal. And we’re not done yet – we’re already preparing something special for International Women’s Day 2025, continuing our commitment to highlighting diverse voices in music.
The Album Discovery update will be available as a free download on the App Store starting March 6, 2024.
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Hidde van der Ploeg & Pol Piella
