Apple today announced Apple Music, a new all-in-one app and service for discovering and listening to music. Apple Music includes a streaming music service that delivers on-demand music for $9.99 per month, much like Apple's existing Beats Music service.
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Many users have wondered whether Apple Music will allow for song downloads for offline listening, and the answer to that question is yes. Apple did not give details on offline listening during its keynote event or press release, but according to an Apple representative that spoke to Re/code, content from Apple Music can be added to a playlist for offline listening.
"As an Apple Music member you can add anything from the Apple Music library -- a song, an album or a video -- to your collection," Apple said in a statement to Re/code. "And that's just the warm-up act. From there you can create the perfect playlist from anything you've added. You can save it for offline listening and take it on the road."
Offline listening is also listed as a feature available on Apple's new Apple Music page, which details what you get with an Apple Music membership. Apple Music subscribers will also get unlimited skips when listening to Apple Music radio stations, the ability to play and save Connect content, and the ability to add Apple Music content to one's music library.
Apple Music will launch to the public on June 30, as part of iOS 8.4. It is priced at $9.99 per month for individuals and $14.99 per month for a family of up to 6.
Top Rated Comments
there was NO mention of the state of iTunes Match in the keynote? is uploads now unlimited with the new service or what?
In one place the FAQ makes it sound like iTunes Match is included. Then lower it says they're two separate services that compliment each other. I'm confused.... oh and a streaming service
Even though the quoted bitrate is lower, iTunes 256kbs AAC sounds way better than Spotify. You'll often see Spotify users complaining they can't hear the difference between the normal quality and extreme qualify encodes.
I totally agree! I have both, Spotify and iTunes Match. Even though I have access to all songs in Spotify that I once bought in iTunes, I switch to iTunes in the Cloud for the streaming because of the better sound quality. Spotify use 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis, which is good, but 256 AAC sounds way better. It has a wider soundstage and more oomp. You can definetly tell a difference when listening to Rock and House music.For me, the sound quality is THE reason I will switch to Apple Music when 256 AAC is confirmed. I don't give a damn at the other features like Connect.
one thing they DIDN'T mention was how deep the library was? I got the impression that it was NOT "everything for sale on iTunes" or they would have emphasized that.
So what is missing other than the Beatles and Taylor Swift?
Only thing keeping me from switching from Spotify is the music quality. Their "extreme" is 320 kbits/s. Any confirmation on Apple's?
If their "extreme" is 320kbps MP3 like most, then Spotify is lower quality than Apple's standard 256 AAC (MP4).