Apple has quietly dropped its three-month free trial for Apple Music – a huge differentiator between it and arch-rival Spotify. New users who want to try Apple Music for the first time will only unlock access to the streaming service for one-month before they’ll need to start paying or cancel their account. That’s exactly the same trial period available with Spotify. However, Spotify also offers a completely free subscription tier. While the latter is extremely limited (you can’t download music to listen when you don’t have an internet connection and you can’t pick individual tracks from an album – you can only shuffle it, to name just a few) it still enables access to the entire catalogue of songs, playlists, and exclusive podcasts.
Other competitors, like Amazon Music, have different approaches to offer a trial. Prime members, who pay the annual subscription to unlock next-day delivery on thousands of items, access to the Prime Video streaming service, unlimited photo back-up and more, can also listen to a limited selection of songs via Amazon Music at no extra cost. These songs are available via iPhone and Android apps, as well as smart speakers, including Amazon’s own Echo line-up. To gain access to more songs, albums and hand-curated playlists, users can pay an additional subscription fee. Amazon Music is also available to non-Prime subscribers, albeit it costs a little more.
The reduction in the three-month free trial period applies to every country where Apple Music is currently available, which is more than 150 nations worldwide.
So, how does Apple Music plan to set itself apart from the competition?
Well, the subscription does still have a few differentiators compared to rivals like Spotify. Last year, Apple Music upgraded its entire catalogue – some 50 million tracks – to its new lossless audio format. If you’ve got the right equipment (and unlimited download limits with your broadband contract), you can now stream every playlist, album and song in CD-like quality.
Spotify Premium subscribers can expect tracks to have a bit rate (this is the amount of data transferred per second and has a direct impact on sound quality) of roughly 320kbps (when set to the Very High quality setting within the app). For comparison, the same song burned onto a CD will have a bit rate of 1,411kbps. That’s more than four times the amount of data stored for the same 3-minute track. As such, it’s hardly surprising that the files are much bigger – and that the sound quality is so dramatically improved.
If you’re currently listening on Spotify with the audio settings set to Normal or Low, you can expect a meagre 96- and 24kbps, respectively. Ouch.
Apple also recently introduced its new Apple Music Voice plan, which unlocks the complete catalogue of 50 million tracks, hand-curated playlists by the teams of music editors, and other features available with Apple Music …but you can only request tracks, playlists and albums using voice assistant Siri. The subscription plan, which costs just £4.99 a month – half the price of a standard subscription with both Apple Music and Spotify, is designed to promote the clever hands-free voice features built into the music streaming service.
For those with an Apple HomePod or HomePod Mini smart speaker, it can be a great money-saver. Amazon offers a similar discounted subscription for those who want to listen via their Echo speakers, without access from the smartphone, desktop and tablet apps.
And Apple has one more trick up its sleeve. For those who purchase a new pair of AirPods Pro, AirPods 2, AirPods 3, AirPods Max, or Beats-branded earbuds and headphones, or the HomePod mini – Apple will bundle a six-month free subscription to Apple Music. If you fancy a new pair of wireless ‘buds to listen to your podcasts and make hands-free calls on-the-move, you’ll now be able to stream millions of songs and playlists at no extra cost. That’s a freebie worth £59.94.
Explaining the changes to its trial, a spokesperson for Apple told blog 9To5Mac: “New subscribers can get six months of Apple Music free with an eligible audio device. Make sure your iPhone or iPad is running the latest version of iOS or iPadOS. Then you can activate your Apple Music trial after you pair your audio device to your iPhone or iPad. You’ll have three months to redeem the offer after the first activation of the eligible device.
“Any AirPods Pro, AirPods (2nd generation and 3rd generation), AirPods Max, HomePod, HomePod mini, Beats Fit Pro, Beats Studio Buds, Powerbeats, Powerbeats Pro, or Beats Solo Pro is eligible. No purchase necessary for current owners of eligible devices. AirPods (1st generation), Beats Solo3 Wireless, Beats Studio3 Wireless, Beats EP, and Beats Flex are not eligible.
“Apple Music pricing remains the same, starting at £4.99 for the new Apple Music Voice plan and the Apple Music student plan. The individual plan costs £9.99 per month, while the Apple Music Family plan costs £14.99 per month. Apple Music is also included in the Apple One bundle, which starts at $15 per month for individual access to Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud+.”
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