We can’t expect Apple Music to be a huge hit for Android users but there are still who prefer it to be their music streaming service. And so Apple will continue to improve on the app bringing updates every once in a while. The latest one, version 3.30, brings gapless playback support, something that other Android music apps actually don’t have. It may not be the most exciting addition to the app but it’s useful for those who want to have this feature. There are also some other minor tweaks and improvements with this update.
If you’re not familiar with gapless playback and what it can do for your music listening experience, it simply means that there is no time in-between music tracks. So basically, you’re listening to a whole album or playlist as just one long, continuous track. It gives you a different feeling, especially if the album is meant to be listened to continuously and in its correct sequence. This is also perfect for classical music, live recordings, concept albums, etc.
The changelog also says it has made improvements to Android Auto although they didn’t specifically say what those enhancements are. 9 to 5 Google speculates that it may be about in-car head units. Maybe we’ll get a bit more information about this if Apple makes an announcement or press release about Apple Music for Android’s update, although that will probably not happen.
It also mentions improvements in music downloads although no explanation is provided again. But some have observed that the download progress is tracked better and that tracks are easily accessed and shown when saved to local storage compared to before. There are also some performance enhancements in terms of interface and navigation but none that are obvious except if you look for it.
Gapless playback is enabled by default once you update to version 3.30 of the Apple Music for Android app. We’re still waiting for something to be added that will make it at par or even better than other music streaming apps though.