Finally, it’s here!
‘Apple Music’ is built into iOS 8.4 and it represents Apple’s long awaited debut in the streaming music space and gives Spotify another whale to compete with as
So let’s break Apple Music and the rest of iOS 8.4 down:
What Apple Music Brings To The Table
It may be arriving years later than many expected, but Apple Music debuts as a remarkably well rounded service.
Perhaps most importantly it fuses some of the best aspects of Google Music and Spotify in one, namely:
- A 30M track library from major and independent record labels that matches both rivals
- The right to upload 25,000 of your own tracks free which will increase to 100k with iOS 9 (Google Music offers 50,000 at present)
- A manned ‘Beats One’ radio service that steps beyond the automated radio playlisting of Google and Spotify
- Bespoke, human curated, playlists
- A $14.99 per month ‘Family Pack’ for up to six people Vs the $9.99pm single user rival options
- A longer 3 month free trial period (with enhanced Taylor Swift smackdown) compared to 1 month on Google Music and 2 months on Spotify
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But it isn’t all a success. Apple has yet to detail how Apple Music will work offline (presumably it will) and audio tracks max out at 256kbps verses the higher quality 320kbps of Spotify and Google Music (Apple uses AAC's excellent compression, but Spotify and Google use the equally powerful Ogg Vorbis standard - both of which are far ahead of the ageing MP3).
In addition, while Apple Music will break new ground with a Fall release on Android, Google Music and Spotify are already available on iOS with the latter also on Windows Phone.
As such Apple Music isn’t quite the revolutionary knock-out blow many predicted, but it’s a compelling start and, with Apple’s marketing potential behind it, could well become the most high profile streaming music service around.
What would Wow Us? Apple giving Apple Music subscriptions free for two years with the purchase of a new iPhone or iPad (and probably one year with an iPod touch). Google and Spotify simply don’t have the hardware backbone in their business models to compete with that.
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iOS 8.4 Other Features
But iOS 8.4 isn’t just a one trick pony. For those who couldn’t care less about Apple Music, it also has some small, but very useful new core iOS enhancements and bug fixes as well…
Enhanced iBooks App - with iOS 8.4 you’ll find your audiobooks have been shifted from the Music app and now reside directly in the iBooks app. This means all your print and audio is in one place, which makes a lot of sense.
Boosted CarPlay - iBooks also get upgraded here as Apple’s CarPlay platform now has a dedicated audiobooks app.
Typically Apple likes to keep a few secret features behind for users to discover, so I'll be writing more about any that do emerge.
Read more - Apple iOS 9 Has 5 Brilliant New Features
Bug Fixes
Apple rarely details every bug fix a new iOS update brings, but it does point out three in particular:
- The dreaded iOS text crash bug is fixed
- A GPS fix for accessories which prevented location data from being sent is no more
- An Apple Watch update which addresses a bug that stopped uninstalled Apple Watch apps from being reinstalled has been squashed
As always, I’ll be keeping an eye on the iOS community and developer forums and will be bringing my ‘Should You Upgrade’ guide once it becomes clear whether iOS 8.4 packs any nasty surprises.
How To Get iOS 8.4
Sooner or later most users will find they get prompted to download iOS 8.4 automatically, but if you are impatient you can manually check by going to: Settings>General>Software Update.
Note you will need to have at least 50% battery capacity before it will install and those with very little free storage space may need to free some up some space, though Apple is working hard to reduce this.
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