Apple Music is a music streaming service just like Spotify. It offers you limitless streaming entry to a library of thousands and thousands of songs. Not like most opponents, Apple Music presents lossless and hi-res audio at no additional value, so you could need to subscribe if you happen to’re concerned with high-quality audio.

At first look, all music streaming providers are the identical. This can be true on some stage, however Apple Music takes a distinct strategy than a few of its opponents. Let’s check out what makes Apple Music particular.

What Is Apple Music?

Apple Music is a streaming music service, the place as an alternative of shopping for particular person songs or albums, you pay a month-to-month payment for all of the music you’ll be able to hearken to. You’ll be able to obtain the songs for offline listening as nicely. On the time of this writing, Apple Music’s library has greater than 100 million songs, essentially the most of any music streaming service besides SoundCloud.

By way of expertise, the place Apple Music differs from opponents like Spotify is the way you uncover new music on the service. Whereas Spotify focuses closely on music discovery, Apple Music focuses on unique radio stations like Music 1, which function new music, interviews, and breaking information. As well as, Apple Music presents curated playlists overlaying totally different genres of music and even moods.

Apple Music is, as you’d count on, obtainable on iPhones, iPads, and iPod contact units working any latest model of the working system via the AppStore. It’s additionally obtainable on any trendy Android system via the Play Retailer. On Macs, because the arrival of Catalina, you get a bespoke Music app. On older variations of macOS and on Home windows, you’ll be able to entry Apple Music by way of the iTunes app.

Talking of iTunes, whereas yow will discover Apple Music within the iTunes app and the iTunes Retailer within the Mac Music app, the 2 providers aren’t one and the identical. iTunes continues to be the best way to buy particular person songs and albums, in addition to films and TV exhibits, on Apple units.

Apple Music is supported in additional than 100 nations worldwide. In case you’re curious whether or not Apple Music is obtainable in a given county, you’ll be able to verify on Apple’s media service availability listings.

Constancy and Options

As we talked about earlier, Apple Music on the time of writing is one in all only some providers that provide lossless audio as a part of the bottom package deal. This alone offers the service a bonus, however remember the fact that you’re solely going to have the ability to benefit from lossless audio with wired headphones. Enabling lossless audio in Apple Music is a straightforward course of.

Hello-res audio (audio with better-than-CD high quality) is obtainable, nevertheless it’s not precisely straightforward to entry. Apple’s Lightning adapter and related adapters assist as much as 24-bit / 48kHz audio. For something greater, like 24-bit / 192kHz, you’ll want an exterior digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a headphone amp, assuming one isn’t constructed into the DAC.

That mentioned, if you happen to’re listening on AirPods Professional, AirPods Max, or different supported headphones, you’ll be able to entry Spatial Audio, which is powered by Dolby Atmos. That is changing into obtainable with increasingly more albums, and may make headphone listening really feel like listening to audio system in a room. Different providers like Tidal additionally assist Atmos, however in Tidal’s case, it’s not a part of the bottom tier.

Lastly, there are the radio stations that Apple championed on the launch of Apple Music. These are nonetheless standard, however Apple’s curated style playlists are a spotlight of the service, particularly if you happen to take pleasure in diving into totally different genres of music and exploring their roots.

RELATED: What’s Dolby Atmos?

Plans and Pricing

Apple Music prices $10.99 monthly or $109 per 12 months for a person plan. A household plan can also be obtainable that lets as much as six individuals hear for $16.99 monthly, with no yearly subscription presently obtainable. School college students get a reduction, paying $4.99 monthly for a person subscription.

Apple Music can also be obtainable as a part of the Apple One bundle. This begins at $16.95 monthly for people and bundles Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud storage. The Apple One bundle for households begins at $22.95 monthly, with a $32.95 monthly Premier subscription that provides Apple Information+ and Apple Health+.

Apple Music doesn’t cost additional for lossless audio, which was added to the service in 2021. The service additionally doesn’t cost an additional payment to hearken to music in hi-res audio when obtainable, whereas many competing providers do.

Lastly, Apple Music Voice presents a restricted model of Apple Music for $5 monthly. That is a person subscription, with the restrict that you could solely work together with the service utilizing Siri, so that you’ll want a suitable system.

Apple Music presents a one-month free trial to anybody who isn’t already a subscriber. That mentioned, generally you may get longer trials together with new headphones or the same buy.

Can You Use Apple Music With no Subscription?

Apart from the trial, you’ll be able to technically use Apple Music with out a subscription, although it doesn’t have a lot to supply. You’ll be able to hearken to Beats One and another radio stations obtainable on Apple Music, however with restricted skips. That is largely it.

Spotify offers customers with out a subscription ad-supported entry to many of the service with some caveats like restricted skips, and solely taking part in playlists and albums in shuffle mode. Apple Music doesn’t supply an equal service to this.

That mentioned, if you happen to personal digital music, whether or not bought from iTunes or elsewhere, you’ll be able to play suitable music in your cellphone with the Music app. This doesn’t provide you with entry to the service, however you might be utilizing the app with out a subscription.

Ought to You Use Apple Music?

In case you’re already invested within the Apple ecosystem, Apple Music is an instantaneous suggestion. Not solely does it supply extra for the cash than many competing providers, nevertheless it’s closely built-in into varied Apple merchandise, which makes listening to music on any of your units straightforward.

Even if you happen to’re not an Apple consumer, Apple Music is sort of tied with the $9 monthly Amazon Music Limitless as essentially the most reasonably priced option to stream lossless and hi-res audio. Of these two, Apple Music is the superior service by way of catalog and options.

Lastly, if you happen to desire actual radio stations and curated playlists to Spotify’s algorithmic music discovery options and unique podcasts, you could discover Apple Music works higher for you. It’s not for everybody, however it’s completely among the many finest music streaming providers obtainable right this moment.