What Is Apple Music and Why You Should Care

Apple Music is almost here, and that means you’ll soon be able to stream all of your favorite tunes (yes, that includes Taylor Swift) on nearly all your favorite gadgets.

So how do you get Apple Music, what does it have to offer, and should you even bother? We’ve got all of the answers to your burning questions.

Related: 6 Reasons to Love Apple Music, 6 Reasons to Hate It

Let’s rock!

Wait, what is Apple Music again?

Oh, right. Apple Music is the company’s new streaming music service. It’s a direct competitor to the likes of Spotify and Pandora, and is essentially Apple’s way of admitting that music downloads are totally five minutes ago and streaming music is here to stay.

Cool. So why would I want to use Apple Music?

The service has two levels of access: a free version that only lets you listen to streaming radio, chooses songs for you, and includes ads between tracks, and a premium version that lets you listen to any music you want from Apple’s library of “tens of millions” of songs, as well as Apple’s ad-free Beats 1 radio.

Both Spotify and Google Play Music have 30 million songs.

How much does the premium version cost?

Apple is giving everyone a free three-month trial of Apple Music, after which you’d pay $10 per month for the service — the same price you pay for Spotify Premium and Google Play Music Unlimited.

What’s Beats 1 radio?

Beats 1 is Apple’s worldwide radio station that will stream 24/7. DJs will include big names like Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden, and Julie Adenuga.

The station will be ad-free, and Apple promises it will feature the hottest tunes and major celebrity guests.

The big deal is that no matter where you are in the world, Beats 1 will be playing the same music at the same time.

Can I listen to music offline?

You bet. Like Spotify and Google Play Music, Apple Music will let you search for and download songs and albums to your device.

Any other cool features?

Yep, Apple Music will also include a feature called Connect that will let artists post updates about what they’re working on and send out special messages directly to fans.

I already use a streaming music service — why should I even bother trying Apple Music?

That depends on what kind of music you want to listen to. The big get for Apple Music is Taylor Swift, who recently feuded with Apple for initially stating that it wouldn’t pay artists for songs played during a customer’s three-month trial.

But after Apple agreed to pay independent artists for the songs people stream during their trial period, Tay-Tay and Apple are back to being besties.

Spotify, for its part, has a massive library of songs and artists, but no Taylor Swift. Pandora, which costs just $5 per month, always chooses songs for you, so you never have control over what you’re listening to.

Google Music is similar to Spotify in that it doesn’t let you choose on-demand songs you want to play unless you sign up for the $10 premium version.

So if you want to listen to Taylor or try out Beats 1 radio, Apple Music is the way to go. But if you want on-demand streaming music and don’t care for Ms. Swift, then stick with Spotify or Google Play Music.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+.