Now that streaming has become mainstream; there are several music streaming services to choose from. Are you thinking about subscribing to Apple Music? You can’t avoid it. Apple is one of the world's most valuable and influential companies, especially in digital music.
Apple fans can easily accept Apple Music as their provider. But, if you want to get the most bang for your subscription buck, get to know the pros and cons of Apple Music. Apple led the digital music revolution with the iPod and iTunes Store, but not with streaming. Apple Music launched only in 2015, a decade after YouTube and Pandora launched their services.
But unsurprisingly, the service soared up the ranks and is now the second-largest music streaming in the West. Apple Music’s number of paid subscribers in the US even surpasses Spotify, the king of streaming. Check out how you will love or hate its features in this article.
Contents Guide Part 1. Five Main Features of Apple MusicPart 2. What are the Pros of Apple Music?Part 3. What are the Cons of Apple Music?Part 4. Bonus: How to Remove DRM Protection from Apple Music?Part 5. Conclusion
For those who want to get to know the pros and cons of Apple Music, first, let's have a look at the main features of Apple Music and see what it can do as a music streaming service provider. This will be discussed in the following sequence: music quality, availability, device compatibility, user experience, and pricing.
First of all, we are going to talk about the music quality of Apple Music. Apple Music offers high-quality audio using a combination of lossy and lossless audio formats. The standard audio format used is AAC, which strikes a balance between file size and audio quality. This ensures that the music you stream maintains a decent level of audio quality suitable for most users.
Additionally, Apple Music offers a feature called "Hi-Resolution Audio" for select songs and albums, providing even higher quality audio. However, it's important to note that the availability of Hi-Resolution Audio is limited, and playback of these files requires compatible devices.
The second feature of Apple Music that we want to talk about is availability. Currently, Apple Music is available in over 115 countries, making it widely accessible to users around the world.
This extensive availability allows music enthusiasts from various regions to enjoy the vast library of songs, albums, and playlists offered by the platform. Whether you're in North America, Europe, Asia, or elsewhere, Apple Music is likely to be accessible in your country, offering a diverse range of music content to a global audience.
Next, we are going to talk about the device compatibility of Apple Music. Apple Music is compatible with a wide range of devices, including iPhones, iPads, Mac and Windows computers, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and various smart speakers.
Additionally, it is available on Android devices, which extends its compatibility to a broader user base beyond Apple's ecosystem. This widespread device compatibility allows users to access their music seamlessly across different platforms and devices, enhancing the overall user experience.
The fourth main feature of Apple Music is that Apple Music offers a user-friendly interface with easy navigation, making it convenient for users to explore its vast music library. The platform provides personalized recommendations, curated playlists, and radio stations tailored to individual preferences, enhancing the overall listening experience.
Additionally, features such as offline playback, lyrics display, and seamless integration with Apple's ecosystem contribute to a cohesive and enjoyable user experience. Overall, Apple Music aims to provide an intuitive and immersive platform for music enthusiasts to discover, stream, and enjoy their favorite tunes. This could be one of the pros of Apple Music as well.
Apple Music offers a variety of pricing options to cater to different user preferences. It provides individual, family, and student subscription plans. The individual plan typically offers a monthly subscription at a set price, while the family plan allows multiple family members to share a single subscription at a slightly higher cost.
The student plan offers a discounted rate for eligible students. These subscription options provide flexibility and affordability for users to access Apple Music's extensive music catalog and features according to their needs and preferences.
After reading the previous paragraphs, you already know the main features of Apple Music. Now, we could have a look at the pros and cons of Apple Music. First, we are going to have a look at the advantages of Apple Music.
Compared with other music streaming service platforms, Apple Music has the following shining points, let's have a look one by one.
The first pros of Apple Music are that you can stream from your music collection with Apple Music. Add your local music files to Apple Music, then stream them in addition to Apple Music’s songs from all of your devices seamlessly. This is made possible with the iCloud Music Library. You can upload your local tracks to iCloud via iTunes.
A subscription to Apple Music includes an iCloud Music library as a part of its membership perks. iCloud Music Library is Apple’s service for storing your personal music library online. You can then stream and download them from your devices using your Apple ID.
The second benefit of using Apple Music is that it has more songs for streaming. Spotify says that has a collection of over 70 million songs, while Apple Music has over a whopping 90 million.
Apple has already forged relationships with major record labels long before the age of streaming and seems to have gained an advantage. The size of its catalog does not yet include all tracks from the iTunes Store (probably due to copyright).
If you want to try Apple Music without the monthly subscription payment, Apple offers a free 3-month trial. Ninety days is a relatively long trial period (more than enough to form a habit), as other music streaming service competitors offer only 30 days. The trial period allows you to test Apple Music with its full features, including offline listening.
You only need to have an Apple ID, credit card details, and a chosen membership plan to access Apple Music’s trial period at zero cost. After the 3-month trial period and you love the service, Apple Music will start billing you automatically through your registered credit card. If you decide their service is not worth the money, cancel before the 3rd-month trial ends to avoid charges.
You might have the opposite view and see this feature on either the pros and cons of Apple Music list. But, Apple Music has better radio-like programs in its service and has a lot more cool features, too. Apple Music currently has three radio stations, each with a different theme.
Apple had only one radio station when it launched its streaming service, called Beats 1. Rebranded as Apple Music 1, this 24/7 radio station airs a mixture of pop, hip-hop, and indie music with programs hosted by globally renowned and notable music personalities.
Two recently added stations are Apple Music Hits, dedicated to classic hits from the 80s to the 2000s, and Apple Music Country, for America’s fastest-growing genre in music today.
Aside from radio stations, you can also get exclusive interviews, news like BBC and ESPN, and playlists from your favorite show. Apple Music is just more creative and influential with radio programming than its direct competitors like Spotify or Amazon Music.
After learning the pros of Apple Music, now, it's time to get some knowledge about the disadvantages of Apple Music. Let's have a look and see whether they could be overcome.
As we mentioned in the previous paragraph, one advantage of Apple Music is that it provides a month's trial. You will appreciate Apple’s 3-month free trial, but there is no way to extend your enjoyment at the expense of ads after the period ends.
Unlike Spotify and other streaming services that offer free subscriptions at the cost of quality and ads, Apple Music provides streaming with full features and high-quality music audio in all its subscription tiers and does so without ads. When the free trial expires, you will also lose music you downloaded through Apple Music.
The second drawback of Apple Music is that it has limited device compatibility. Apple Music may be available to Android and non-Mac users, but music streaming has extended beyond desktops and smartphones.
You can access Apple Music with macOS, iOS, and Apple devices like Apple Watch, Android phones, and tablets. But, competitor music streaming services are available on in-game consoles like PlayStation 4, Xbox, other Android devices, speakers, and stereos.
Apple invented podcasts. A journalist coined the term “podcasting” writing about audio blogs at the time of iPods. Apple’s updated iTunes 4.9 with native support for podcasts. For a long time, Apple dominated the podcast market because there was no major competition. Only recently, Apple made updates but nothing significant for the creators or users’ experience.
Podcasts continue to grow in popularity, and streaming services are heeding the demand. Spotify seems to have superseded Apple in this department by buying multiple podcast studios and distribution platforms aside from its internal studio.
Also, it doesn’t help that Apple’s podcasts are in a separate app that you need to log out of Apple Music for access. Spotify’s integration of music and podcasts is just more convenient for its users.
Apple Music songs are in M4P format. And M4P format has an AAC audio layer combined with Apple’s Fairplay, a DRM copy-protection technology. This DRM protection restricts access to Apple’s content by keeping songs within the app. You can play and download songs only through Apple Music; copy or transfer is not permitted.
Users have to have a subscription to sign in to Apple Music and play the download songs. Remember, a subscription is only free for three months. So when you cancel the subscription, the songs become unplayable (grayed out) for 30 days and then deleted if you don’t renew. This situation is inconvenient with a large number of downloads. Apple puts pressure to keep your membership.
Now, you have some idea of the pros and cons of Apple Music. Parts 1 and 2 of this article provided four of each, but one con stands out. Have you noticed it? This one drawback has a solution, and you can take action on it.
You can’t avoid paying the subscription fees; unless you’re a software genius, cannot force apps on devices; And you are just a consumer of Apple Music content. But, you can remove DRM protection from Apple Music songs. If only you could extract the audio content from the M4P file, you get the unprotected song in a readable music file format. Sound easy enough?
It is easy. With a special software tool, you download, remove Apple Music’s DRM protection, and even convert it to a more favorable music format. DumpMedia Apple Music Converter is the perfect solution to turn this disadvantage around. It also covers other cons of Apple Music, like no freemium and device compatibility.
DumpMedia Apple Music Converter allows you to listen to Apple Music songs without the limits of subscription and in-app playback. After removing Apple’s DRM protection, you can convert the M4P files to standard formats like MP3, AC3, M4A, and more, including the lossless FLAC format. The output setting is customizable.
You also get to keep 100% of the song’s original quality and ID3 tags and information. All these, with download and conversion at an impressive 10x speed!
With unprotected and converted songs, enjoy them anytime, even when offline and on any device. iTunes-purchased music and audiobooks are supported as well, even Audible audiobooks. There are many benefits; download and try DumpMedia Apple Music Converter for free.
Apple, as a company, needs no introduction. But as a music streaming service, its name has been surpassed by bigger players in the business. Does Apple Music meet or exceed your expectations? Or do you consider some drawbacks a turnoff? This article provided some of the pros and cons of Apple Music for you to judge.
With the facts and some figures laid at hand, you might decide to subscribe to Apple Music. The 3-month trial period is inviting, and more of the benefits as discussed in Part 2. There are downsides, though, enumerated in Part 3 of this article; the most disappointing might be Apple Music’s DRM protection.
However, you now know that with DumpMedia Apple Music Converter, some limitations are solvable. This tool goes well with your subscription (especially the free trial) to remove Apple Music DRM, and overcome other hurdles like device limitation, etc. You might even rethink the pros and cons of Apple Music.
