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With the release of iOS 8.4, Apple has now made its new music service official. As with anything, there are always caveats. We cover seven of them here so as to inform you before you dive in.
Three months free, $9.99 afterwards; disable auto-renewal
One of the most transparent features of the new Apple Music service is that it gives iOS users three months free. After the three-month trial, you will be billed $9.99 monthly to continue using the service unless you decide to halt the service in the month you’ve already paid for. You can disable the auto-renewal service by going on your iPhone to the new Apple Music app and tapping your profile icon, logging in with your Apple ID and iTunes password, then visiting your “Managing subscriptions” menu. There will be an auto-renewal toggle that you can enable or disable (just disable the auto-renewal).
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsIf you only desire to enjoy your free three months, then disable auto-renewal. Despite the $9.99 monthly charge you agree to, you need not worry about being billed if the auto-renewal toggle is turned off.
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- REBUILT FOR COMFORT — AirPods 4 have been redesigned for exceptional all-day comfort and greater stability. With a refined contour, shorter stem, and quick-press controls for music or calls.
- PERSONALIZED SPATIAL AUDIO — Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking places sound all around you, creating a theater-like listening experience for music, TV shows, movies, games, and more.*
- IMPROVED SOUND AND CALL QUALITY — AirPods 4 feature the Apple-designed H2 chip. Voice Isolation improves the quality of phone calls in loud conditions. Using advanced computational audio, it reduces background noise while isolating and clarifying the sound of your voice for whomever you’re speaking to.*
- MAGICAL EXPERIENCE — Just say “Siri” or “Hey Siri” to play a song, make a call, or check your schedule.* And with Siri Interactions, now you can respond to Siri by simply nodding your head yes or shaking your head no.* Pair AirPods 4 by simply placing them near your device and tapping Connect on your screen.* Easily share a song or show between two sets of AirPods.* An optical in-ear sensor knows to play audio only when you’re wearing AirPods and pauses when you take them off. And you can track down your AirPods and Charging Case with the Find My app.*
- LONG BATTERY LIFE — Get up to 5 hours of listening time on a single charge. And get up to 30 hours of total listening time using the case.*
Prepare to provide a credit or debit card to receive the free trial
If you’re an iTunes user or someone who’s purchased apps at the App Store before, having a credit or debit card on file won’t surprise you. Android users who’ve purchased apps from Google’s Play Store, however, need to understand that a similar setup will be mandatory to enjoy Apple’s new Apple Music service that will arrive this Fall. We still think it’s good to warn you before you engage in the service, though.
Free vs. Paid membership comes with some differences
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- WORLD’S BEST IN-EAR ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION — Removes up to 2x more unwanted noise than AirPods Pro 2* so you can stay fully immersed in the moment.*
- BREAKTHROUGH AUDIO PERFORMANCE — Experience breathtaking, three-dimensional audio with AirPods Pro 3. A new acoustic architecture delivers transformed bass, detailed clarity so you can hear every instrument, and stunningly vivid vocals.
- HEART RATE SENSING — Built-in heart rate sensing lets you track your heart rate and calories burned for up to 50 different workout types.* With iPhone, you will have access to the Move ring, step count, and the new Workout Buddy,* powered by Apple Intelligence.*
- LIVE TRANSLATION — Communicate across language barriers using Live Translation,* enabled by Apple Intelligence.*
- EXTENDED BATTERY LIFE — Get up to 8 hours of listening time with Active Noise Cancellation on a single charge. Or up to 10 hours in Transparency using the Hearing Aid feature.*
Apple’s Music service comes with distinctions between free and paid members (no surprise for anyone who’s been active in the internet music scene). Free users will get the option to listen to Apple Music and Beats 1 radio stations, as well as follow artists on Connect, but they won’t get to save content offline, like certain songs, and have “unlimited listening” capabilities as paid users get.
The good news is that you’ll get 3 months to decide if it’s better than Spotify, Pandora, Samsung’s Milk Music, or even Google’s own music service.
Apple Music streaming quality doesn’t match that of Google’s Play Music
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- REBUILT FOR COMFORT — AirPods 4 have been redesigned for exceptional all-day comfort and greater stability. With a refined contour, shorter stem, and quick-press controls for music or calls.
- ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION — AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation help reduce outside noise before it reaches your ears, so you can immerse yourself in what you’re listening to.*
- HEAR THE WORLD AROUND YOU — The powerful H2 chip comes to AirPods 4. Adaptive Audio seamlessly blends ANC and Transparency mode — which lets you comfortably hear and interact with the world around you exactly as it sounds — to provide the best listening experience in any environment.* And when you’re speaking with someone nearby, Conversation Awareness automatically lowers the volume of what’s playing.*
- IMPROVED SOUND AND CALL QUALITY — Voice Isolation improves the quality of calls in loud conditions. Using advanced computational audio, it reduces background noise while isolating and clarifying the sound of your voice for whomever you’re speaking to.*
- MAGICAL EXPERIENCE — Just say “Siri” or “Hey Siri” to play a song, make a call, or check your schedule.* And with Siri Interactions, now you can respond to Siri by simply nodding your head yes or shaking your head no.* Pair AirPods 4 by simply placing them near your device and tapping Connect on your screen.* Easily share a song or show between two sets of AirPods.* An optical in-ear sensor knows to play audio only when you’re wearing AirPods and pauses when you take them off. And you can track down your AirPods and Charging Case with the Find My app.*
Apple Music may work for iOS users, but Android users interested in the service will find that it doesn’t match Google’s Play Music service when it comes to internet streaming speed. Apple Music will stream at 256kbps while Google’s Play Music service streams at 320kbps. You may or may not notice these differences unless you’re on a spotty network, for example, but it can be noticeable at times.
Every iTunes song cannot be streamed via Apple Music
iTunes and Apple Music may be controlled by Apple, but these two services don’t work in the same manner. Apple Music will allow you to have access to a wide range of songs and artists (including Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” and Taylor Swift’s 1989 album), but not every song at iTunes will be played on Apple Music. As can be seen with the Taylor Swift controversy surrounding the new music service, Apple is still working with artists and groups to bring more music to its service. Not all deals are finalized, so don’t expect to access Beatles music on the new service just yet.
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- Automatically on, automatically connected
- Easy setup for all your Apple devices
- Quick access to Siri by saying “Hey Siri”
- Double-tap to play or skip forward
- New Apple H1 headphone chip delivers faster wireless connection to your devices
Apple Music Family Plan is available
Apple offers a Family Plan for its new service, but it may choose to be a no-go for Android users whenever the Apple Music app launches on Android in the Fall. In particular, users need to use the iOS 8 Family Sharing setup for iOS that allows all family members to be connected to the same account and have one credit card or debit card for all users. If you want to share music with friends, for example, know that they’ll be able to purchase music in the same way that your child or spouse would be able to, however.
The iOS 8 Family Sharing setup was designed by Apple to help parents prevent their children from downloading paid apps for which a parent could be billed. Apple was somewhat forced to do this because of the parental lawsuit waged against the company (in the millions of dollars) for Apple’s allowance of child downloads, but the music service may be the best use of the feature for iOS users. Apple Music will charge $14.99 monthly for up to 6 users, and, depending on your family, may be worth having.
Apple Music for Android will be available this Fall
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- Active Noise Cancellation blocks outside noise, so you can immerse yourself in music
- Transparency mode for hearing and interacting with the world around you
- Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking places sound all around you
- Adaptive EQ automatically tunes music to your ears
- Three sizes of soft, tapered silicone tips for a customizable fit
Apple’s Music service will be a big hit with users, no doubt, as many will be tempted to try a radio service from the company that manufactures their favorite iDevices, but tempting Android users away from Google may be a bit more difficult. Apple’s Family Sharing plan may work for large families or those with some size, but Apple’s greatest difficulty will come with single users or a couple that has no children, for example. Android users are likely dabbling into Google’s YouTube Music Key service at this point, with many still using Google’s Play Music service to download songs they want to listen to.
A large majority of Android users in the world are Samsung users, and someone using Samsung devices should question why they’d use Apple Music in the first place when Samsung’s own Milk Music radio service works just as well if not better. For just $3.99 monthly, users can have unlimited skipping of songs, play radio offline without an internet connection, among other features. This may not be the question to ask if you’re a Samsung user who’s planning to grab the iPhone 6s this Fall, but diehard Android users have Samsung and Google from which to grab the best of radio music.
That doesn’t mean that Apple won’t try to win Android users over, however.
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