There’s no better time than now to re-evaluate your listening game. Spotify Wrapped has just dropped and we’re over-analysing our music choices for the past year, the festive season has got us in the mood to treat ourselves, plus we’re coming up to a new year which means only one thing: time for a refresh.
Spotify has long been the market leader for monthly music streaming services, but Apple Music is a serious competitor.
Launched in 2015, Apple Music boasts over 100 million songs. The platform even lets you stream any song from your iTunes library on any device, whether that’s a song bought from iTunes, downloaded from the internet, or even copied from a CD (we remember doing this with Beyoncé’s I Am… Sasha Fierce album back in the day).
The streaming service lets you listen offline to downloaded songs, and once a year it reveals your Apple Music Replay: a round-up of your most listened to genres, songs and artists.
When choosing a new monthly streaming service — whether you’re a first time listener or you’re swapping from another platform like Amazon Music or Spotify — there are few things as important as the price. Apple Music could have all the amazing features in the world, but if it’s unaffordable or, worse, not good value for money, what’s the point?
Luckily, Apple Music sits at a similar price point to its competitors. Let’s take a deeper look into Apple Music’s plans and pricing.
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
Wanting to compare the top streaming services? Take a look at Spotify vs Apple Music and Amazon Music vs Spotify.
What is Apple Music?
Perhaps the easiest way to listen to music is through a monthly streaming service. For one payment every month, you can enjoy unlimited skips, a huge catalogue of music, the opportunity to listen offline, and in the case of Apple Music, crystal-clear audio quality.
In 2021, Apple Music updated its entire catalogue to give it high-res audio quality at 24-bit/192kHz. The platform offers lossless streaming and spatial audio support to all subscribers.
Like with all Apple products, such as AirPods, Apple Music is easier to use on an Apple device as the app is there, ready and waiting. However, Apple Music does not discriminate! You can be an Apple Music subscriber on Android devices, too. Simply download the app from the Play Store.
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
Take a look at the top Apple Music offers for this month.
How much is Apple Music in the UK?
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Unlike Spotify, Apple Music doesn’t offer a free entry-level subscription. Instead, it has four plans which start from £4.99 per month, and all provide ad-free, skippable listening.
First up is the Apple Music Voice plan. At £4.99 per month, it’s designed to play music using Siri exclusively. The plan gives you access to any song, playlist, or radio station using your voice. This cheap-as-chips plan is available on Apple devices, however it won’t work on other supported devices like the other plans do.
Being a student means one thing: budgeting. Well, it means another thing too, socialising, but that’s usually the reason for the budgeting. The £5.99 per month Student plan gets you the same features as the Individual plan, for example you can see what your friends are listening to and download up to 100,000 songs to your library.
It’s £5 more for the Individual plan, setting you back £10.99 per month.
Finally, there’s the £16.99 per month Family plan, which we’ll go into more detail about, as it sure is a good one.
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
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Is there an Apple Music free trial?
Where are all the free trials? It seems like nobody wants to offer free trials anymore! Luckily for us, Apple Music offers a one month free trial on all of its plans.
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
What is the Apple Music family plan?
For just £16.99 per month, up to six people can enjoy unlimited access to Apple Music on any device. Each family member will get their own music library, as well as personalised listening recommendations based on what they enjoy listening to.
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
What is Apple Music Sing?
With the iOS 16.2 update, Apple introduced Apple Music Sing: a feature in Apple Music that transforms you into a karaoke sensation.
The karaoke feature is available to all Apple Music subscribers and it includes a range of playlists. There’s one for party anthems, family favourites, iconic duets, and more. Playlists are also split into genres like pop, indie, rock, and others. For the more serious singers amongst us, there’s categories like Songs for Pros, too.
Apple Music Sing can be accessed on all devices, like your iPhone and iPad, and for the ultimate get together with friends and family, play Apple Music Sing on your Apple TV.
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
Once you’ve got Apple Music, you’ll need something to listen to it on! Check out the best AirPods alternatives and the best budget wireless earbuds.