CUPERTINO, CA (CelebrityAccess) — The highly anticipated Apple Music service debuted on Tuesday when the company rolled out over-the-air updates to its mobile iOS operating system, a new version of the iTunes desktop app, and with the launch of Apple's curated Beats 1 internet radio service.
Apple's new streaming music service provides users with access to a library of over 30 million songs, as do rivals Spotify and Tidal, but unlike Spotify, Apple offers no free tier and after a free three month trial, users will need to pay to play.
The key point of divergence for Apple is their radio service, which features stations curated by artists such as Elton John, Dr. Dre Pharrell Williams and BBC Radio DJ Zane Lowe, who kicked the station off for Apple on Tuesday.
The service also offers curated playlists. Pulled directly from Apple Music's predecessor, Beats Music, the playlists are purported to be created by hand by recognized artists instead of being generated by algorythms. As well, prominent music publications like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork also have curated playlists available on Apple's service.
Apple further refines the experience by analyzing what music you like and populating a special 'for you' section with music that may appeal to your tastes.
Apple Music Connect, the services' social media offerings are still a little spartan as many artists are still in the process of buildng their pages.
As well, the rollout of the service was not without technical issues with many users reporting installation trouble, and that the latest edition of Apple's desktop app, iTunes music, had caused songs and playlists to be moved around, and many artists, albums and songs being mislabelled.
While it is too early to tell how successful Apple's attempt to transition away from their music download business model into a music streaming service, but the initial reaction of users of Apple music service seems to be a positive one.
"Apple has built a handsome, robust app and service that goes well beyond just offering a huge catalog of music by providing many ways to discover and group music for a very wide range of tastes and moods," said Re/Code reviewer Chris Mossberg. – Staff Writers
