APPLE MUSIC
Apple Music’s 45 million songs means it has one of the biggest music libraries. It also works on PCs and Android devices using the operating system Jelly Bean 4.3 and newer.
With the might of Apple behind it, the service has been able to secure exclusive deals with big-name artists such as Taylor Swift, Frank Ocean and Canadian rapper Drake to launch their albums on Apple Music ahead of the competition.
It has a built-in radio service that offers dozens of stations based on specific genres, such as hip-hop, dance, alternative and indie. You can also create your own radio station based on your music tastes. For instance, if you’re an Abba fan, you can create an Abba station. Open one of their songs in your library, tap the “options” button at the bottom right of the screen and select “create station”. You’ll then hear other tunes by Abba, interspersed with tracks by artists with a similar sound. On your PC or Mac, go to www.apple.com/za, download iTunes and register.
On an iPhone you need iOS 8.4 or later but you can access Apple Music via the music icon on your home screen. Open the app and click on For You, then tap the profile icon and you’ll be guided through the subscription process.
On an Android device, download the Apple Music app from the Google Play Store. It costs R59,99 a month for the individual option. Although Apple doesn’t offer a free option, you can opt for a free three-month trial.
There’s also a family option that allows up to six members to use the service for a single fee of R89,99 a month. It’s not limited to families – a group of friends could also subscribe to this option, but because only one of you is in charge, that person will have to foot the bill for all the other members’ app, movie and in-app purchases – which can get quite pricey.
Students pay only R29,99 a month but first have to go through an online process via UniDays, an independent student verification service. Ten, but you can use only two simultaneously. 256kbps in AAC (Apple’s preferred audio compression format) None – you’re limited purely by the storage capacity of the device you’re using.