If you’re getting error messages instead of media across your Apple devices and services then you’re not alone. The company’s status page notes an outage that’s affecting many of its connected services that bring music, video and pictures to you. Apple TV+, Apple Music, Photos and more are either running slowly or not at all for many people. Some are unaffected, but Apple confirmed the issue and said it’s investigating.

Apple

According to the status message, this latest issue began just after 8PM ET. This outage comes just a day after Microsoft’s Outlook and Office365 services had authentication problems, and just a few days after similar problems hit Google’s G Suite for a couple of hours.

“Once upon a time, children’s music was restricted to lullabies and play-songs that were passed down from generation to generation — or sometimes recited by a cheerful purple dinosaur,” the company says. “These days, the choices are endless. Children’s music has undergone a dramatic shift. Now it’s just great music the entire family loves.”

According to the company, the Kids and Family genre is one of the fastest-growing on Apple Music. In the past four weeks, Apple has seen a 105 percent increase in the amount of time people have spent listening to associated content. So it’s easy to see why it has decided to furnish the section with attention. Moreover, Apple says it considers the update as a way it can help families cope with the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic. We saw Apple try to do something similar earlier in the year when the company introduced its AI-generated Get Up! Mix. And then again when debuted its Come Together space, which collects all of the company’s upbeat playlists in one place.

Say goodbye to Apple Music’s Beats 1 — at least in name. Today, Apple announced it was rebranding its flagship radio station from Beats 1 to Apple Music 1. It’s a logical move, given that “Beats 1” was the only place Beats branding showed up in the Apple Music service. But on the other hand, the station has been going for over five years now, and Apple calls is “one of the most-listened-to radio stations in the world.” Regardless, it should be simple for regular listeners to make the transition, and the Apple Music brand at this point is strong enough to be the name for the company’s flagship offering.

Apple Music is also launching a few new, very mainstream stations today. Apple Music Hits will focus on, as you might expect, the biggest songs from the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s, something that implies it won’t focus on newer music. The show will be hosted in a similar fashion to Apple Music 1; hosts include Sayde Donovan, Estelle, Lowkey, Jenn Marino, George Stroumboulopoulos, Sabi, Nicole Sky and Natalie Sky. There are also artist-led shows by Backstreet Boys, Ciara, Mark Hoppus, Huey Lewis, Alanis Morissette, Snoop Dogg, Meghan Trainor, Shania Twain and more. That gives you a pretty good idea of what kind of music you can expect to hear here.

Despite the tepid reception the platform has received (to put it mildly), Quibi snagged its first Emmy nominations too. It picked up ten overall, mostly for acting performances in short-form shows. Quibi also earned Outstanding Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series nods for Reno 911! and Most Dangerous Game.

Netflix, on the other hand, is more of an Emmy juggernaut than ever this year. It received 160 nominations, by far the most of any network or platform. The Crown, Ozark, Stranger Things, Dead To Me, The Kominsky Method, Unbelievable and Unorthodox all received best series nominations in their respective categories. The company also dominated the television movie category with four of the five slots.

Amazon picked up 30 nominations for Prime Video series, including 20 nods for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale returned to the Best Drama Series lineup, with the streaming service claiming 26 nominations overall. Meanwhile, Oculus received three nods and YouTube landed two. HBO’s Watchmen scored the most nominations of any show with 26. You can check out the full list of nominees at the Emmys website.

You no longer need an Apple TV box to play Apple Music on the big screen in your living room. As of today, Apple Music is available on 2018 and newer Samsung Smart TVs — the first time it’s been available from a TV maker, or any TV-bound media player for that matter. You’ll have access to the same features you’d find on other devices, including Beats 1 radio and music videos. The interface will also be very, very familiar if you’ve used the Apple TV version.

The service has been on a wide variety of non-Apple platforms for a while, including Android and Alexa-powered smart speakers. This is relatively uncharted territory, however. Apple Music integration has been an incentive to buy an Apple TV if you’re already invested in the company’s ecosystem, and now you might not need any external device to start listening on your TV.

Beats president Luke Wood is leaving the company at the end of this month, with Apple Music and international content vice president Oliver Schusser set to take over. Wood’s departure, which was first reported by CNET and confirmed to Engadget by Beats, means the trio that led the audio brand when Apple bought it in 2014 are all out of the company. Co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine left some time ago. 

Wood wasn’t at Beats from the beginning, but he played a key role in its success after joining in 2011. For one thing, he played a significant part in the launch of Beats Music, a precursor to Apple Music. Schusser, a longtime Apple executive, will add Beats to his existing duties. 

Apple Music’s web player is no longer in beta, Mac Rumors reports. The browser-based version, which Apple introduced last fall, is now available at music.apple.com. This makes Apple Music essentially platform agnostic. You’ll no longer need to have iTunes or the Music app to stream your Apple Music playlists. Now, you can log in on devices running Windows 10, Linux and Chrome OS.

In the web version, you’ll find features similar to those in the Mac version of the Music app, like “For You,” “Browse” and “Radio” sections, as well as playlists and recommendations. You’ll also find Apple Music Replays, which curate your favorite songs from every year you’ve subscribed to Apple Music.

Another classic album is finally coming to streaming services, and with particularly good timing at that. Dr. Dre’s influential hit The Chronic is reaching all streaming music services on April 20th — can you imagine it arriving on any other day? It’s been available on Apple Music since 2015 (not surprising given Dre’s involvement with Apple), but now you won’t have to be picky about where and how you hear “Nuthin’ But A G Thang.”

It’s not certain what prompted the wider release besides an extremely appropriate date. Pragmatism frequently plays a role when holdouts make albums widely available online, though. Whether artists like it or not, streaming services dominate music revenue these days. They’re limiting their income if they stick to one service, not to mention their ability to reach audiences that wouldn’t even consider buying a CD. This ensures that millions more people can hear that definitive West Coast sound and understand where modern hip hop and rap find their roots.

The company wrote in its letter:

“These are difficult times for the music industry globally. Livelihoods are at risk, with multiple sources of income that our industry relies on vanishing overnight. Apple has a deep, decades-long history with music, and we are proud to be in close partnership with the best labels and artists in the world. We want to help.”

Some of Apple Music’s rivals also previously banded together to come to musicians’ and industry workers’ aid. Amazon Music, Facebook, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal and YouTube Music pledged to contribute to MusiCare’s COVID-19 relief fund. Spotify made it easy to donate to artists, as well, and vowed to match up to $10 million in donations. Meanwhile, SoundCloud and Bandsintown are helping artists earn money from their online concerts streamed via Twitch.