Cider Collective, LLC

Cider Collective, LLC is a small, developer-focused publisher that has channeled its efforts into a single flagship product: Cider, an open-source Apple Music client built for listeners who want the service without the weight of the official macOS or Windows apps. Written in TypeScript and Vue, the program re-packages Apple Music’s web streams inside a lightweight Electron shell that starts fast, remembers window size and theme, and exposes every toggle—from lossless audio and lyrics display to custom CSS injection—through a tidy settings panel. Typical use cases revolve around Windows gamers or Linux hobbyists who already pay for Apple Music but prefer a system tray player that consumes a quarter of the RAM, integrates with Last.fm, Discord Rich Presence, and Rainmeter skins, and does not spawn iTunes background tasks. Because the code is MIT-licensed, power users compile their own builds, strip out telemetry, or contribute plug-ins that add Spotify-style playlists, ReplayGain normalization, and even HomePod group control. Despite the narrow category—desktop media clients—the project has spawned a lively GitHub community that treats Cider less like a clone and more like a test bench for modern web-audio features such as WebGL visualizers and Chromium’s new media session API. Cider Collective’s software is available for free on get.nero.com, where downloads are delivered through trusted Windows package sources like winget, always install the latest release, and can be batched alongside other applications.