817640_largerBeats has updated its Beats Music streaming music app with in-app subscriptions, Facebook friend search, an offline mode and more. The move allows users to subscribe to the Beats Music service via their iTunes account.

What's New in Version 1.0.7

You asked for it, and we listened! Some highlights in this release include:

- In-app subscription and account management via your iTunes account
- Find Your Friends -- find and follow your Facebook friends on Beats Music
- Improved Facebook and Twitter account management
- Thousands of new tracks available in The Sentence
- Artist Offers -- discover new content and merchandise from your favorite artists
- Offline Mode & Downloading improvements
- Music Player performance fixes

Previously, users had to subscribe to Beat Music on the service's website, allowing Beats to bypass Apple's 70 / 30 split with developers, which would result in the Cupertino company netting $3 a month from Beats Music's $10-a-month fee for every subscriber Beats adds within the app.

Beats CEO Ian Rogers tells Re/code that the company made its decision to add in-app subscriptions, and therefore submit to the 70 / 30 split, when it found that more than half of its users used iPhones, making it difficult to get an iOS user to subscribe with no in-app subscription option.

Other music streaming services like Rdio and Rhapsody also sell subscriptions in-app, although Rdio's in-app subscription price was raised from $10 a month to $15 a month to make up for Apple's cut. Spotify, however, does not offer in-app subscriptions, though it does offer a free, ad-supported mode available in its app.

Beats Music is available in the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

malnar Avatar
129 months ago
Agreed, beats is down there with Samsungs milk service

----------



There has always been album listings. You just don't know how to use it I guess.
Nope, I've got it open in front of me right now. Subscribed, by the way, to the full $9.99 rate. I go into Your Music, go to Artists, scroll to something I want, let's say Led Zeppelin. I have 6 LZ albums saved to my iPhone. I go into their section and what do I find? I seemingly endless list of songs. No albums. I have to go into Your Music>Albums for albums to show up, but then they're not listed by artists but alphabetically. So if I've downloaded Led Zeppelin's III and Physical Graffiti as well as Metallica's Master Of Puppets, the listing goes

Led Zeppelin III
Master of Puppets
Physical Graffiti

Not

Led Zeppelin III
Physical Graffiti
Master of Puppets

Which would be fine... IF it did that in the Artists view. But it doesn't. Spotify has NEVER understood this.

I would love for all the Beats naysayers to actually explain what is wrong with it. I've been using it since day 1 and it's been a better experience than any of the other services. It had a few rough weeks right at the start where some issues popped up, but they took care of them right away. I even contacted their customer service and they were right on top of things. Sound quality is, just like MOG before it, excellent, and its recommendations are pretty sharp. The app is well organized and easy to use. I have few complaints, and they're the same complaints I had about MOG, which is that they're missing a handful of vital albums from artists I care about - but luckily I own those anyway (I just like to have them all available in the same place).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bryanw3535 Avatar
129 months ago
I've been a Beats Music user from the start, and they had an offline mode before this update.

I think what you're reading in their update notes is improvements to the Offline Mode.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aluminum213 Avatar
129 months ago
Still no iPad app, Beats music has a long way to go to catch up to spotify


The new spotify revision on the iPhone is fantastic, once they update their iPad app it's game over
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SPUY767 Avatar
129 months ago
So why, or how, can Beats afford to offer the in-app price the same as their regular subscription and Spotify does not at all and Rdio is $14.99?
I prefer Spotify but I really would like managing my sub within iTunes (yes I know Apple will take a cut).

Because they have extra money from charging 300$ for headphones that ought to cost 25$?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macUser2007 Avatar
129 months ago
Spotify rules them all (so far).
Nope, not really.

MOG, which was acquired by Beats had the best selection (IMO) and consistently the best sound quality. Spotify seems to have the most covers....

Still not sure how Beats compares to MOG, though.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
malnar Avatar
129 months ago
Spotify rules them all (so far).
No, actually it doesn't. Spotify's pretty bad. The most minimal of organization within the app kills it for me. It's unusable in its current form, even after the "Your Music" upgrade. I decided to give Spotify another try when that was announced. Still sucks. Still no album listings under artists?! Just a big long list of songs?! Spotify doesn't get music. It's pretty clear this is something driven by a corporation and not music lovers. It's why Rdio and Beats Music are such better experiences. The only things going for Spotify are that it was one of the very first, and that it has a couple of exclusives like Led Zeppelin and Metallica.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Camera Lozenge 2 Perspective Gray

Five Key Upgrades Coming to iPhone 16

Friday March 15, 2024 1:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone is Apple's top-selling product, and it gets an update every year. In 2024, we're expecting the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup, with an arguably more interesting feature set than we got with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Capture Button All four iPhone 16 models are set to get a whole new button, which will be...
When To Expect New iPads Feature 1

Apple to Announce New iPads on March 26, Rumors Claim

Monday March 18, 2024 4:02 am PDT by
Apple is widely expected to release new iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro models in the next few weeks. According to new rumors coming out of Asia, the company will announce its new iPads on Tuesday, March 26. Chinese leaker Instant Digital on Weibo this morning 日发布%23">claimed that the date will see some sort of announcement from Apple related to new iPads, but stopped short of calling it an...
airpods 3 orange

Two New AirPods 4 Models Expected to Launch in September or October

Sunday March 17, 2024 7:56 am PDT by
Apple suppliers will begin production of two new fourth-generation AirPods models in May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Based on this production timeframe, he expects the headphones to be released in September or October. Gurman expects both fourth-generation AirPods models to feature a new design with better fit, improved sound quality, and an updated charging case with a USB-C...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Expected to Depreciate Heavily

Tuesday March 12, 2024 9:04 am PDT by
Resale value trends suggest the iPhone SE 4 may not hold its value as well as Apple's flagship models, according to SellCell. According to the report, Apple's iPhone SE models have historically depreciated much more rapidly than the company's more premium offerings. The third-generation iPhone SE, which launched in March 2022, experienced a significant drop in resale value, losing 42.6%...
iOS 17 Passkey With Apple ACCOUNT Feature

'Apple ID' Expected to Change to 'Apple Account' Starting With iOS 18

Sunday March 17, 2024 7:13 am PDT by
MacRumors was first to report that Apple was planning to rebrand "Apple ID" to "Apple Account" across its software platforms and websites like iCloud.com as early as this year, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has corroborated this change. A mockup of the new Apple Account branding In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new "Apple Account" branding will start to be used later this...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

iOS 17.4.1 Update for iPhone is Imminent

Monday March 18, 2024 5:27 am PDT by
iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 should be released within the next few days, with a build number of 21E235, according to a source with a proven track record. MacRumors previously reported that Apple was internally testing iOS 17.4.1. As a minor update for the iPhone, it will likely address software bugs and/or security vulnerabilities. It is unclear if the update will include any other changes. ...