Cider 4.0.31

On Windows, Apple Music no longer stops when Widevine cannot get a license. Cider switches that session to PlayReady, tells you what changes while it does, and comes back to Widevine once a newer copy is on the PC.

Playback

• Apple Music keeps playing. When Widevine fails to start, or Apple Music refuses the copy on this PC, Cider asks PlayReady for a license for the same song. If that license is granted, the rest of the session plays through PlayReady. The next time Cider starts, it tries Widevine first again.
• An out-of-date Widevine switches over straight away. A refusal that means the copy protection is too old no longer waits through a run of retries. Cider moves to PlayReady on that first refusal.
• Songs keep the quality you were already playing. The switch no longer forces every track onto a special stereo version. Atmos still plays in stereo while PlayReady is in use.
• Music videos and live radio follow the same switch, so they keep playing instead of stopping on their own.
• High and standard stereo are labeled 256 and 64 again, instead of showing up as binaural.

The notice

The first time a session switches, a dialog opens, and a badge stays up for as long as PlayReady is in use, including after a reload.

• It says whether Widevine is simply not working, or out of date on this PC.
• While PlayReady is in use, the equalizer, Audio Lab and other effects are off, Dolby Atmos plays in stereo, and audio goes to your default output device. Playback speed reverb is off for the same reason.
• If a track sits at the start and will not move on, turn off Crossfade and Automix under Audio, in Mixing.
• You do not need to reinstall anything. Cider tries Widevine again the next time it opens.

Coming back to Widevine

• Cider looks for a newer Widevine on the PC, including one that Edge has already downloaded. When it finds one, a dialog and a badge say Widevine is ready again.
• Restarting loads that newer copy. Cider can do this on its own after playback has been paused for five minutes with the window open, when queue restore is on. The queue comes back after the restart. If queue restore is off, the dialog says that restarting clears the queue.
• On a PC that can take the newer copy, the PlayReady notice says Cider is waiting for an updated Widevine, which usually arrives within a few minutes, instead of only that it will try again next launch.
• Prefer preview WebView2 runtime, under the Windows client settings, lets an installed Edge preview channel win over the stable one. It does not, on its own, bring in a Widevine Apple Music will accept.

Menus and search

• Windows menus can draw Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The typeface follows the language Windows is set to, so Chinese and Korean text use the forms those languages expect. A menu that was falling back to Segoe UI now uses the family it was meant to.
• Settings search is more forgiving. A small typo still finds the setting, and queries in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai match even when the words are not separated by spaces.

Sign-in

• A Taproom sign-in replaces an old Microsoft Store license. If a Store or dashboard license was still saved on this PC, signing in from Taproom now goes through, and the new license takes its place. That old license no longer removes the update you already have installed.
• A sign-in meant for another PC is refused before it is saved, and a sign-in that could not be confirmed no longer looks like it was lost.