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Experience music in your car in a new way

With the integration of Apple Music in selected models, Audi creates a seamless entertainment experience for its customers.

Text: Nadia Riaz-Ahmed - Photo: AUDI AG Reading Time: 3 min

Close up of the display in the vehicle playing music.
Apple Music not only gives you access to your personal favorite songs in the car, but also lets you discover new music - in the premium streaming service's music library with over 90 million songs.

The car is increasingly transforming itself into a very personal space. A space that opens a world of experience that goes far beyond transport from A to B. The car is becoming a mobile retreat that offers passengers more and more individual options. Here, the worlds of living and working merge and the vehicle becomes a mobile sanctuary that offers its occupants more and more individual options. The car is becoming a "living space," a genuine "experience device".

 

This becomes clear when dealing with the topic of music. Audi is systematically taking advantage from the opportunities presented by digitization and is intensifying its cooperation with Apple. The Apple Music streaming service is now available in selected models. By providing direct access to personal favorite songs, Audi offers a digital experience in the vehicle. Apple Music is integrated directly into the infotainment system so that the streaming service can be used without pairing the iPhone. Users simply have to log in to the new app in the Multi Media Interface (MMI) with their Apple ID. This not only gives direct access to Apple's complete music library with over 90 million songs and 30,000 curated playlists, but also allows access to the personal Apple Music account and thus the experience of seamless entertainment in the car as well¹. Through the native integration of Apple Music via the MMI, all subscribed services, such as podcasts, can be accessed directly. Under certain conditions, integration is also possible conveniently and automatically via over-the-air update for vehicles that have already been purchased.

¹Audi owners are invoiced for the mobile phone costs incurred for data streaming via a data volume with Cubic-Telekom. The first three gigabytes are free.

¹Audi owners are invoiced for the mobile phone costs incurred for data streaming via a data volume with Cubic-Telekom. The first three gigabytes are free.

The power of music in the car

Dr. Tobias Gründl, sound strategist at Audi, holds a doctorate in physics, composes, and arranges songs and plays various instruments such as the accordion, piano, saxophone, violin and cajon. Sound in cars is close to his heart. 5 questions for Dr. Gründl about the importance of music and acoustics in vehicles.

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Portrait picture of Dr. Tobias Gründl.

Dr. Gründl, why is the car such a popular place to listen to music?

This is probably because you not only listen to music in a car but can experience it. You are often alone and can relax. Our product portfolio ensures that our customers are optimally enveloped by sound in every seat. In accordance with our sound philosophy, we enrich every seat with our sound DNA. The vehicle becomes a concert hall.

 

What influence does music have when driving?

Depending on the mood, music can relax, give strength, stimulate reflection, arouse emotions, intensify, or even subdue them. That's why interior sound design is so important to us. We reproduce the most common music genres, from classical to rock, pop, jazz and much more. In this way, we ensure that the musical needs of our customers are met in line with our premium standards.

 

What distinguishes the special sound experience?

The naturalness, transparency and brilliance. Our sound is clear, lean and yet emotional, and thus represents a perfect symbiosis with the interior design. Base frequencies in the footwell merge with midrange frequencies at shoulder height and the high-frequency spectrum in the area of the A-pillar and the headliner to form a greater whole. The result is a spatially and tonally balanced cloud of sound, enriched by an emotional, clearly differentiated, rich and crisp subsonic range.

 

Are the acoustics in an electric car particularly important?

Yes, because electric vehicles have a fundamentally quieter acoustic effect on the occupants due to the lack of combustion engine frequencies. This allows us to develop a sound design that we have always wanted. Every low, mid and high frequency is perceptible. A milestone for us and every audiophile music fan.

 

And what music do you listen to in the car?

That varies a lot. I don't prefer any particular style, I listen to operas and operettas, sophisticated easy listening music, rock, pop, but also jazz, reggae and folk music. 

Portrait picture of Dr. Tobias Gründl.
Audi sound strategist Dr. Tobias Gründl knows what premium sounds like and what is important for a good sound.
The interior of the Audi Q8 e-tron

Premium music experience in the Audi Q8 e-tron

The integration of Apple Music in the Audi Q8 e-tron complements the progressive interior of the all-electric Audi. Learn more about the vehicle's technological innovations, sportiness, and functionality.

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Audi Q8 e-tron: Power consumption (combined) in kWh/100 km: 25.3–20.1CO₂ emissions (combined) in g/km: 0CO₂ emission class: A

Audi Q8 e-tron: Power consumption (combined) in kWh/100 km: 25.3–20.1CO₂ emissions (combined) in g/km: 0CO₂ emission class: A