After much ado, Apple's new streaming service Apple Music has officially arrived today with the iOS 8.4 update available to iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and iTunes users. The first three months are free, and after that it will cost $9.99 a month for individuals or $14.99 for a family plan, which can support up to six users each listening on his or her own individualized channel (think of your personalized profile on the Netflix account you share with your friends). It's rich with playlists and recommendations, and it seems to be relatively intuitive to use. Below, Apple Music's five main sections and what they do.
Initial Thoughts
I've been playing with Apple Music on my iPhone for the better part of the day, and my cursory first impressions: Apple Music facilitates a whole lot of opportunities for music discovery—personalized recommendations, hand-curated playlists, suggested searches based on trending topics, and the radio stations—for lean-back listeners and more engaged music consumers alike. The interface is mostly intuitive, but it does take some playing around and a lot of scanning the app's busy pages to find what you want and figure out what will work best for you. I can't imagine I will be checking Connect with anywhere near the frequency I check Instagram and Twitter. And I heard four Eminem songs in a matter of a few hours of listening to Beats 1, but I also heard a song or two I'd never heard before—when was the last time you heard something new on the radio?