Recently, I signed up for Apple Music for the first time. I had done my research (I am a tech writer after all), weighing the various pros and cons Apple Music has when compared to rivals like Spotify and Tidal. When looking at the pros to Apple Music, the inclusion of a subscription to Apple Music Classical kept turning up, but it wasn’t something I dwelled on. To me, it was one of those “okay, that’s nice” features that wouldn’t be a dealbreaker if it were absent. 

Fast-forward to a few weeks after I finally signed up for Apple Music. Wouldn’t you know it, but Apple Music Classical turned out to be one of my favorite features. If you don’t know, it’s technically a separate app — one you have to download from the App Store, as opposed to the Music app that comes baked into new iPhones. Your subscription to Apple Music carries over, so it’s basically two music streaming services for the price of one. I fell in love with using Apple Music Classical while writing, which I do professionally for over 40 hours per week. 

I was in the middle of moving to a new place and was using my phone for music, as opposed to the TV I’d normally play tunes from. After I settled into my new place, I set up a new Apple TV streaming box in my office (aka my living room). And this is when I discovered an oversight that infuriates me more than it baffles me: Unlike standard Apple Music, Apple Music Classical is not available as a tvOS app. There is no way for me to use the app on my TV. Just web or my iPhone and its tiny, tinny speakers.

At this point, you might be wondering what’s so special about Apple Music Classical. After all, the vanilla Apple Music app has plenty of classical music available, including playlists and radio stations. Obviously, the app is catered toward aficionados of classical music — not just Baroque, Classical, Romantic, but also modern and contemporary symphonies swelling with big orchestras of woodwinds, brass, and all the trimmings. It features catered playlists and exclusives and other fun features classical music fans can appreciate, but why is this music genre getting the star treatment while much more popular ones, like rock and hip hop, aren’t?

It comes down to search. As in the search function for finding music on a streaming app. That’s really all it is — more than all the other perks and design and exclusives, what justifies a separate Apple Music Classical app is a custom-made search algorithm. You see, classical music has a problem most other genres don’t when it comes to being a part of a streaming database that includes tens of millions of tracks. Say you want to listen to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. One of the most famous melodies of all time, it’s very easy to find on Apple Music or anywhere else. But which recording? Which orchestra from which year, with which instruments and which conductor at the helm? 

There are countless options when it comes to popular and even lesser known classical works, and searching “Beethoven’s 5th” isn’t going to help you find the one you want. That’s why Apple Music Classical exists, allowing you, in Apple’s words, to “deliver exactly what users are looking for using all combinations of keywords, from composer and work, to opus number, conductor, artist, or instrument, and even a work’s nickname.”

Let’s rewind a bit. While I had my fair share of cassettes and vinyl, I came of age in the Compact Disc era. In college, I carried my Discman everywhere, and was late to class almost every day, taking too long to choose which handful of CDs to bring with me for the walk to and from (and sometimes during) class. When iTunes and the iPod came out, it was a game changer. I’d already been downloading and playing MP3s since high school, but the ability to bring hundreds, if not thousands, of them with me outside my dorm was a revolution.

It’s easy to take for granted now, but what iTunes really revolutionized was the organization and search of music libraries. I ripped hundreds of CDs to my PowerBook G4 to transfer via FireWire to my iPod. I clung to this method for longer than I’d like to admit and was very late to streaming audio (despite being one of the very first Netflix streaming customers with my first-generation Roku player). After getting my first smartphone (which I was also late to adapt to, well into my 30s), it wasn’t long before I said goodbye to my album collection and began streaming music. The convenience of it was impossible to deny.

I started with Amazon Music Unlimited because it worked best with my Amazon Echo. After years of FOMO from seeing everyone’s Spotify Wrapped, I switched to Spotify. However, I’d been considering the jump to Apple Music for a while, due to its lossless audio and to consolidate my subscriptions into an Apple One bundle to save money. By the time Spotify had finally introduced lossless audio, I had already made up my mind, going full circle from iTunes 1.0 to Apple Music.

The inability to use Apple Music Classical on my TV wouldn’t be such a big deal if switching to Apple Music as a whole was a wash, but I don’t think I’ll be switching back to Spotify anytime soon. While I hate to say goodbye to sharing playlists and live jams with my friends (and, yeah, sharing my Spotify Wrapped), Apple Music is good enough to stick with, especially if I end up getting an Apple One bundle. One of the reasons I bought an Apple TV was to use Fitness+, because I think it’s pretty useless on a phone (I’m starting to sense a theme here).

For the record, I don’t consider myself to be a biased Apple fanboy. I do use it for most of my hardware and services, as I love how easy everything within the same ecosystem works together. But I don’t obsess over making everything Apple or defend subpar experiences. That said, I can’t deny that Apple’s sound quality is strong, even if lossless is only imperceptibly better with ear buds. Apple Music’s algorithms and suggestions do seem to be better than Spotify and I really like their “radio” stations. I love that I don’t have to pay extra to remove ads.

Its interface isn’t anything special, but it’s clean and easy, and it works great as an Apple TV app. Not only does that free up my phone and computer as I work, but it also easily switches to my AirPods so I can listen as I make a snack. I’d go as far as to say that it’s one of my favorite ways to use my Apple TV, which is exactly why it pains me so much that I can’t do the same with Apple Music Classical.

Because they are essentially the same app, Apple Music Classical has all the upsides to Apple Music. That includes the interface, the recommendation algorithms, the speed, and lack of bugginess. The high-quality audio is especially appreciated, as classical music often features dozens of instruments with layers of sound, recorded in a rich soundscape you can truly feel.

If you do subscribe to Apple Music, I highly recommend you give it a go, since it’s free and takes just a few seconds to download. I’m not even some hardcore classical music snob. I don’t have season tickets to the philharmonic (though I probably would if I could afford it). I listen to all kinds of music — a lot of 90s grunge, old-school and new-school hip-hop, post-punk 00s, golden oldies, classic rock. Classical music, to me, is just one more genre to enjoy. But I do play it often (along with synthwave, EDM, and house beats) when I write. I’m not the type to get distracted by lyrics or familiar songs when I work, but the vibe of those genres does seem to fit nicely with my own workflow.

The problem with classical, though, is that streaming apps, including Apple Music, tend to give you the same handful of bangers over and over, and it gets repetitive quickly. Look, Beethoven’s Für Elise and Mozart’s Requiem are about as good as music can get, but I don’t want to listen to them every two hours. That’s exactly why Apple Music Classical won me over instantly. It’s so good at giving you new versions of music you know and music you’ve never heard before, including from modern classical artists, which is very cool. In gaming speak, it’s like a massive expansion pack to Apple Music.

I can see how someone reading this would be rolling their eyes, since it’s about as “First World problems” as it gets. “Wah, wah, my classical music app doesn’t work on my Apple TV.” But this is about more than just classical music. There are a few main reasons I think this is such an infuriating choice for Apple to make. For one, it’s limiting just how useful Apple TV can be — I was really on the fence about spending the money on one when my smart TV has nearly all the apps I need anyway. Why not include another killer app in its quiver?

It’s also indicative of a larger issue many tech companies, including Apple, make. It has this one missing thing that will make its users much happier — Apple Music Classical is already built and has an iOS app — it just needs to be ported over to tvOS. Sure, that would require Apple to put some developers to work on it, but the point is it’s a demand with a relatively straightforward supply fix, and yet it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon. App development costs money, but this seems like a slam dunk to bring more value to Apple Music subscribers and Apple TV owners.

Finally, it goes against what, typically, makes Apple stand apart from others. Using anything the company makes is usually intuitive and painless, especially when you have multiple products within the ecosystem. Forcing me to use one music app on my phone and the other on my TV when I want to switch genres feels like an annoying, absurd extra step. Funny enough, as I mentioned earlier, Apple Music Classical wasn’t a dealbreaker when I was considering switching to Apple Music. But now that I’ve used it? Well, I won’t cancel Apple Music over this issue, but the lack of Classical on my TV is one less reason to stay if I think about switching back to Spotify.