Apple Music is here.
Welcome to JOE’s weekly TechXplanation, where we take the most about talked about pieces of tech/apps and give you the knowledge.
This week we look at Apple’s first foray into music streaming, Apple Music.
So what is it?
In a nutshell, Apple has teamed up with rap superstars Drake and Pharrell to launch a music streaming service designed to compete with Spotify.
The service has been created in collaboration with Beats. It was purchased by Apple purchased in May last year for $3bn, and will be available for iOS users from later this month.
It’s essentially a streaming service and app that puts the entire Apple Music catalog at your fingertips across all your devices.
Starting with the music you already know — whether from the iTunes Store or ripped CDs — your music now lives in one place alongside the Apple Music catalog with over 30 million songs.
Why is it in the news?
It’s been announced as part of Apple’s latest iOS8.4 release scheduled at the end of June and is seen to be a real challenger to Spotify.
Why should I be using it?
You won’t have a choice about installing it. It will be automatically installed when iPhone users upgrade to iOS 8.4 later this month, while iPhones sold with that software on board will have the app pre-installed. That alone is a massive advantage for Apple over Spotify who must be seriously worried for the future of their platform.
Cost?
American users can stream any song, album or playlist you choose and all for $9.99 a month, probably the same in Euro, with the first three months free as a trial. That price isn’t arbitrary, it matches what Spotify’s paid users are currently forking out.
What’s the alternative?
Spotify and Tidal but Apple will have the benefit of being able to avoid the cosmic levels of smug Jay-Z and his chums managed to channel in the latter’s launch video.
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