6 Reasons to Love Apple Music, 6 Reasons to Hate It
Sometime in the recent past Apple gathered its executives and made the decision that, yes, the world does need yet another major music streaming service.
On Tuesday, June 30, that music service will be officially unveiled to the world. Apple Music is a Spotify-Rdio-Google Music-Tidal-Pandora competitor that asks the question: “Should you ditch all these other services and devote yourself entirely to Apple?”
The answer depends on a lot on your personal tastes. To help you make the right decision, here are six reasons we think you might love Apple Music, and six reasons we think you could very well end up hating it.
READ: Here’s How Apple Music Compares With Spotify, Pandora, and Tidal
(And remember, as the song goes, “There’s a thin line between love and hate.”)
Love: They’ve got Taylor Swift
Swift was so pleased with Apple’s response to her Music takedown Tumblr post that the pop star decided to make the new streaming service the first ever to carry her blockbuster 1989 album. Beyond her latest joint, subscribers of Apple Music will also find for their streaming pleasure Taylor Swift’s full back catalogue of music — all of which Tay yanked from Spotify last year.
Hate: There’s no free version
Sure, the free version of Spotify is peppered with ads. But, hey, it’s free. You can stream all 30 million of its songs for $0. To stream from Apple Music’s library, it’s going to cost you $10 a month. Otherwise, there is the free Apple Music radio, a Pandora-like service that lets you create streaming radio stations themed by a specific genre, artist, or song.
Love: Apple makes it
Have an iPhone or an iPad? OK, then you already have the Apple Music app, which will come built into iOS 8.4. That’s pretty easy!
And thanks to the streaming service’s integration with Siri, those who use Apple Music on Apple mobile devices will also be able to quickly zip over to their favorite tunes simply by barking the names of artists or songs at their home screens.
Hate: Apple makes it
Sure, Apple Music is being brought to us by the same company that created iTunes and the iPod. But those music breakthroughs were announced almost 15 years ago. Since then, Apple has come out with iTunes Radio, which is becoming Apple Music radio, and iTunes Match, which allows listeners to stream their own purchased music for a subscription fee (we’re still puzzling over that one).
Also, in just a two-year span, the company birthed and killed music social media service Ping, which seemingly no one decided was good enough to drop Twitter and Facebook for — much to the dismay of the late Steve Jobs.
Love: It was created by hip and successful music producers
Beats Music, the service Apple acquired and that forms the basis for Apple Music, was the brainchild of Beats by Dre executives (and experienced music producers) Trent Reznor, Dr. Dre, and Jimmy Iovine. All these honchos now work for Apple.
That’s some decent cred.
Hate: It’s managed by Eddy Cue, dad-dancing classic rock fan
“How ‘bout some Led Zeppelin!?”
Love: It works on Android and Windows
Apple Music will be the first Android app to ever emerge from the Cupertino campus. And like iTunes, Music will be coming to Windows, due out the same day as all the Mac and iOS versions.
Hate: You won’t be streaming any summer jams on your Android
There’s still no firm release date for Apple Music on Android. Apple has only said “coming this fall.”
Love: It comes with a real radio station
Apple Music will offer a live radio station, Beats 1, manned 24/7 by living, breathing DJs. A real human touch.
Hate: Real radio? Really?
When was the last time you tuned in to an actual radio station?
Love: It lets you connect directly with musicians and other fans
With Music Connect, Apple is letting artists communicate directly with fans by including abilities to sharing photos, videos, and songs right from within the service.
Hate: Where have we heard that one before?
Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com. Follow me on Twitter at danielwbean.
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