Additional finding: the failure may involve Apple’s outdated Android Media Playback AAR
I investigated the remaining large-catalogue-ID playback failure after confirming that Apple Music for Android 6.5.3 fixes MusicKit authentication.
The application is using the latest Android MusicKit binaries I can locate in Apple’s currently published resources:
musickitauth-release-1.1.2.aar
mediaplayback-release-1.1.1.aar
The Media Playback AAR identifies itself as version 1.1.1, targets Android SDK 28, and appears to date from 2020.
Current public discussions still identify these same raw AAR files as Apple’s distributed Android SDK. I could not find a newer official Media Playback AAR.
The application sends catalogue IDs through Apple’s documented string-based API:
new CatalogPlaybackQueueItemProvider.Builder()
.items(MediaItemType.SONG, catalogId)
.build();
Apple documents the items parameter as String... itemIds. The application preserves the full catalogue ID as a string and does not parse, truncate, or convert it to a 32-bit integer.
Controlled results with Apple Music 6.5.3:
Catalogue ID 1588482071 plays normally and its playback position advances.
Catalogue ID 6798551300 is accepted and appears as the current item, but playback remains silent and its position is -1.
Alternate exact-match ID 6797908353 behaves identically.
2,147,483,647 is the maximum value of a signed 32-bit integer.
This consistent boundary suggests that an Apple component may still be treating newer catalogue IDs as signed 32-bit integers internally. The possible location is:
mediaplayback-release-1.1.1.aar;
its bundled libappleMusicSDK.so;
Apple Music’s Android playback service; or
the interface between the playback AAR and Apple Music.
Because these components are closed source, I cannot determine which internal layer performs the incompatible conversion. However, the calling application demonstrably passes the complete identifier as a string.
Current status:
Apple Music 6.5.3 successfully completes MusicKit authentication.
A valid Music User Token is returned.
Older catalogue IDs play correctly.
Newer catalogue IDs above Int32.MAX_VALUE load metadata but produce no audio.
The current Android playback AAR is still mediaplayback-release-1.1.1.aar.
Could Apple please confirm:
Whether mediaplayback-release-1.1.1.aar is still the newest supported Android playback library.
Whether it and libappleMusicSDK.so support catalogue identifiers greater than 2,147,483,647.
Whether an updated Android Media Playback AAR is planned or available for testing.