Apple Music will stream at 256kbps, below the ‘industry standard’ 320kbps

Arriving June 30, Apple Music is going to try and curate tracks with a human touch. It won’t stream them at the highest possible bitrate, though. Apple has confirmed Apple Music’s streaming bitrate is 256kbps. That’s Apple’s standard playback rate for existing iTunes tracks, but below some of the competition. It’s even below Beats Music’s threshold of 320kbps — the company Apple purchased last year. Spotify, Google Play Music and Tidal all stream at “up to” 320kbps, too. So what gives? Why doesn’t Apple Music stream in 320kbps? Beats may have the answers we’re looking for. Via an old FAQ…

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