Apple Music made a $450 coffee table book celebrating its top 100 albums
A pretty book that costs a pretty penny. | Image: Apple Music / Assouline
You can now buy a physical version of the 100 Best Albums list that Apple Music released this year — if you have some serious cash to burn, that is. Apple Music: 100 Best Albums, a 208-page coffee table book produced by luxury print company Assouline, is available to preorder today for $450, with an estimated shipping date of November 25th. Shipping itself is thankfully free.
One explanation for the high price tag is that availability is extremely limited — only 1,500 copies are up for grabs, each numbered on the rear and inside the book. The design of the book itself is also very luxurious, featuring a “custom-designed translucent acrylic slipcase etched with the Apple Music logo” that protects the white linen hardcover, and gold gilding on the page edges and spine lettering. Then again, Apple has released similarly expensive books before — at least this one has words in it.
Image: Apple Music / Assouline
Gold page gilding is hardly an exclusive feature, but it sure is pretty.
Image: Apple Music / Assouline
If this example page is anything to go by, then you get more content from checking out the digital version of the best album list.
The foreword in the book is provided by Apple Music’s Creative Director, Zane Lowe. The content itself is otherwise pulled directly from the text entries of the digital version of Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list. If anything, readers are actually missing a lot of the original content, as videos (for obvious reasons) and additional imagery aren’t included, so this is largely targeted as a collector’s item.
“If our list sparks more debate among fans outside of Apple Music and gets people talking passionately about the music they love, then we’ve done what we set out to do,” Lowe said on the listing. The lofty price has already sparked outrage online, but some music lovers have confessed that it won’t deter them from trying to get a copy.
A pretty book that costs a pretty penny. | Image: Apple Music / Assouline
You can now buy a physical version of the 100 Best Albums list that Apple Music released this year — if you have some serious cash to burn, that is. Apple Music: 100 Best Albums, a 208-page coffee table book produced by luxury print company Assouline, is available to preorder today for $450, with an estimated shipping date of November 25th. Shipping itself is thankfully free.
One explanation for the high price tag is that availability is extremely limited — only 1,500 copies are up for grabs, each numbered on the rear and inside the book. The design of the book itself is also very luxurious, featuring a “custom-designed translucent acrylic slipcase etched with the Apple Music logo” that protects the white linen hardcover, and gold gilding on the page edges and spine lettering. Then again, Apple has released similarly expensive books before — at least this one has words in it.
Image: Apple Music / Assouline
Gold page gilding is hardly an exclusive feature, but it sure is pretty.
Image: Apple Music / Assouline
If this example page is anything to go by, then you get more content from checking out the digital version of the best album list.
The foreword in the book is provided by Apple Music’s Creative Director, Zane Lowe. The content itself is otherwise pulled directly from the text entries of the digital version of Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list. If anything, readers are actually missing a lot of the original content, as videos (for obvious reasons) and additional imagery aren’t included, so this is largely targeted as a collector’s item.
“If our list sparks more debate among fans outside of Apple Music and gets people talking passionately about the music they love, then we’ve done what we set out to do,” Lowe said on the listing. The lofty price has already sparked outrage online, but some music lovers have confessed that it won’t deter them from trying to get a copy.