The Apple Music service allows you to access more than 30 million audio tracks, clips, high-quality selections, and recommendations created based on user preferences. You can listen to music from Music not only on iPhone and iPod Touch, but also on iPad, Mac and Windows computers, Apple TV, Apple Watch and Android smartphones. In this article we will talk about two ways to save on purchasing an Apple Music subscription.
By default, Apple offers 3 types of subscriptions:
- Individual (1 month) / 169 rubles .
- Family (1 month) / 269 rubles .
- For students (1 month) / 75 rub .
In most cases, users do not hesitate to buy an Individual subscription costing 169 rubles, but there are two ways to listen to Apple Music for 141 rubles per month and for only 45 rubles per month. How it works?
ON TOPIC: 12 useful Apple Music settings you might not know about.
What is Apple Music
Apple Music is a special service for all Apple devices that is responsible for finding, purchasing and storing music. Thanks to it, you can listen to almost all the music that currently exists and save it to use applications without Internet access. The service also has several features that make it unique:
- 24-hour radio, with the ability to skip tracks;
- the Connect section, which makes it possible to communicate not only with other listeners, but also with popular performers;
- automatic music selection function based on your personal preferences;
- the ability to use the application for free, but with some restrictions.
Without an activated subscription, you will be able to:
- Listen to the Bears 1 radio station, but with a limit on the number of tracks you can rewind;
- view the Connect section, but without the ability to interact with it. That is, you will be able to view the posts of other users, but you will not be able to comment, rate or share them;
- listen to previously saved music, but without the ability to add new music.
Organization of a music collection
12. Music offline
If you have iCloud Music enabled (see step 3), you can save songs, albums and playlists on your phone for offline listening.
You can only download songs that are added to your library. If there is a plus sign next to the song name, it means it is not yet in the library. Click on the plus sign and it will turn into a bubble, meaning that the song has been added to the library, but has not yet been downloaded. Clicking on the bubble starts the download process.
There are no icons next to songs already downloaded to the device.
13. Browse your music catalog offline
If you are not connected to a mobile network or the Internet, select the Downloaded music
on
the Library
to see songs saved on your phone for offline listening.
Remember, this includes both songs and playlists downloaded from Apple Music, as well as your own files physically stored on your phone.
14. Alphabetical sorting of songs
If you want to sort songs by title rather than by artist, as is the default, then on the Library
Select
Songs
and click
Sort
in the top right corner, then choose
Title
or
Artist
.
15. Mix and repeat
Can't find where the shuffle and replay icons have gone? On screen Now playing
scroll down a little and they'll appear right below the volume slider.
Video tutorial: how to unsubscribe from Apple Music in 2 minutes
Apple services provide a lot of positive opportunities, simplifying the lives of many users. But, like all good things, you have to pay for them. Apple has chosen to pay monthly rather than one-time fees for their apps. This certainly has its advantages, since you can choose the type of subscription to suit your needs and capabilities, and also refuse to renew it at any time. It's worth remembering that not all tracks will initially be available in the Music app, as some of them are censored. To access them, give special permission in your phone settings.
How to Hide Apps, Photos and Videos on iPhone, iPad and iPoud touch
How to find out your Apple ID
Interface
8. View information about the album that includes the current track
This not particularly easy to access feature allows you to view the album that contains the currently playing song. This can be done in two ways. The easiest way to do this is to click on the artist name and album name in the Now playing
, and you will be immediately taken to the corresponding album.
A slightly longer way is to click on the three dots icon in the bottom corner of the screen, and then on Song Info
in the top section of the pop-up menu. This will take you to the desired album.
9. View a musician's page
On the album page, click on the artist's name, highlighted in crimson, and you'll be taken to the artist's main page, where you can see all the available music and related content (such as new releases, playlists with that artist, bios, and similar artists).
10. Using 3D Touch (iOS 10 only)
This feature is only available for 3D Touch-compatible phones (iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, iPhone 7, 7 Plus) running iOS 10. 3D Touch any song, album cover, or playlist and a pop-up menu will appear - the same as when you click on the three dots. This is a convenient shortcut.
11. Profanity
If you were wondering what the little "E" next to some songs means, it indicates that the song contains profanity. Be prepared for this.
Music selection
16. Click the heart
One of the popular sections of Apple Music is the For You tab, where you can find albums and artists recommended for you; their choice depends on what kind of music you like. To give Apple's algorithms reasons to make choices, click the heart icon in the pop-up menu of each song or album you like if you want to hear something similar.
Next to this icon is a “Dislike” icon in the form of a crossed out heart; it lets you tell Apple which songs you shouldn't recommend. The same can be done for entire playlists.
17. Evaluation of compositions
You can now rate songs in the Apple Music app, just like you can in iTunes.
When playing a song, click on the Rate Song
from the pop-up menu and select a rating from one to five stars.
By default this feature is disabled. To turn it on, go to Settings > Music
and toggle the
Show song ratings
.
18. New music
To find music that's new to you, go to the Browse tab and select the New section, which includes the latest albums, songs, playlists, videos, and more.
In the Playlists section of this tab, you'll find suggested playlists from sources like Pitchfork, NME, and Sonos, as well as ready-made playlists for every mood and activity.
19. Browse new music by genre
To find music that suits your tastes even more, select the appropriate item in the “Genres” section.
In addition, you can filter playlists by genre in the “Playlists” section.
20. Search
You can search for music both in your own library and in the entire Apple Music catalog. Simply select the tab you want when you start typing in the search field.
You have access to your last three searches and the option to erase them, in case you don't want to admit to secretly listening to Taylor Swift songs.
How to access?
Many people will like this benefit, which is why people are interested in how to connect an Apple Music family subscription. The connection procedure is simple:
- Find five people who are interested in this music service. These could be friends, relatives, acquaintances. It could even be Android and Windows users. This application is available for download on Google Play. Users of the Microsoft operating system can use the iTunes program to work and safely use the service.
- Proceed to setting up family sharing.
- On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings and click on iCloud. Next, click on “Set up family sharing”, and then click on the “Get Started” button and again on “Continue”.
- Specify the desired Apple ID and now click on “Continue” again. Please indicate your payment method. Don't forget that your card must be linked to your account!
- If you want to do all this on a MacBook, then open “System Preferences” on it, select the iCloud section, and then “Family Settings”, then double-click “Continue”. Now enter your Apple ID and password. Select the payment method you need and click on “Continue”.
That's how you become a "parent" and can now start inviting "family members."
Radio
21. Creating your own radio station
To play Apple's curated collection of music based on a selected artist or track, click the three dots next to the song or artist name and select Create Station from the pop-up menu to listen to similar music. Tap the star icon on subsequent songs to tell Apple you want to listen to more music like it.
22. Beats 1 radio station schedule
Beats 1 is Apple's 24/7 internet radio station. On the Radio tab, go to Beats 1 to find out what's on air right now, what to expect in the next 24 hours, and what other songs are currently in rotation.
Check out the Beats 1 tumblr page for a list of artists for the coming month; it changes periodically, so it's worth checking from time to time to see if your favorite artist has appeared (or disappeared).
23. Beats 1 on repeat
The station's three main DJs, Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden and Julie Adenuga, play live on Beats 1 Radio from Monday to Thursday. Each DJ's broadcast is repeated 12 hours after the first broadcast. These are 5, 11 and 8 o'clock in the morning and evening GMT, respectively.
24. Beats 1 on demand
Missed the right program? Don't worry, you can listen to the entire program later on demand, as well as view playlists in shows and play individual songs.
Click on an individual show on Beats 1 to see all available on-demand content and playlists for each episode aired.
Connect
The most, dare I say it, stupid and incomprehensible part of Apple Music is the Connect section. Purely theoretically, this is something like a social network, where musicians can post various content (blog posts, photos, music), and users can discuss this content. In practice, I followed several musicians in this section (Björk, Norah Jones, James Blackshaw), but none of them, apparently, have posted anything yet, because I see a blank page in this section without the ability to go back to the list of artists and subscribe to someone else.
Bottom line
Regular readers of gagadget know that I used to actively use the Spotify service and was one of its main popularizers in Ukraine. I'm currently seriously considering canceling my Spotify subscription and sticking with Apple Music.
In my opinion, Apple Music has the following advantages over Spotify:
- the ability to legally pay for the service and use it in Ukraine or Russia;
- lower subscription cost;
- great recommendations and amazing playlists hand-curated by experienced music editors;
- integration of the service into iTunes and iOS;
- iCloud Music Library is a convenient cloud storage for an existing music library.
The advantages of Spotify are a slightly wider selection of music (at least this applies to the music that I usually listen to) and the ability to create “radio stations” based on specific artists or compositions (Apple Music has this functionality, but for some reason it doesn’t work ).
