I have been an Apple Music subscriber since the middle of August and have been using it at college ever since. I will say that I am coming from Spotify and did have to transfer three of my playlists via the SongShift app. This did cost me $5 to do but was well worth the money.Â
As a college student, music is very important to me. It is the thing can both help me wake up in the morning and put me to sleep at night. Personally, I’m more of a pop, rock, alternative, and film score music fan, so I think I can say my choice of music is pretty diverse.
One of the things that I have come to like about the service that Spotify and other competitors (Spotify and Tidal) is the huge catalog of music to choose from. There have been many songs that I have found through Apple Music that were either songs that I could not find on Spotify or even ones that were removed from the streaming service. This was very critical when listening to Christmas music this past holiday season. There have been songs (I’m talking about you, Good Will Hunting soundtrack) that I have not been able to stream via Apple Music and will eventually have to buy from iTunes in the future. At least Apple allows you to add your iTunes library to your Apple Music library and playlists.
Another thing that I really like about this service is getting music before it releases to other services. No, I am not talking about Apple Music’s exclusive content, but that if there we a song that was being released on a Friday, I would be able to stream it on Apple Music hours before midnight (or in other words, before the next day begun).
When first using the service on iOS 9, there was a little bit of a learning curve. The UI was not as good that it could have been, which I will admit was a disappointment because I expect a lot out of Apple products and services. Most of those issues went away when iOS 10 was released last fall, which came with a redesign of Apple Music. However, I do still have to use the iOS 9 version of when listening to Apple Music on my iPod Touch fifth generation.
I think my favorite device to use it on is my Apple TV fourth generation. The reason is because I can pull an old iPod commercial and jam to my music. Plus, on the Apple TV, it’s very-well-integrated with your playlists and the interface is something that no other streaming service can compete with.
And lastly, the price of it all. Since I am a college student, I do get a 50 percent off discount on the service, which brings the price down to only $5 per month. This is great for students like me who want a premium music streaming service like Apple Music, and still get the great catalog and experience that it brings, not only to my eyes (interface) but also to my ears.
Needless to say, Apple Music is one of the best investments I have ever made. It feels so great to not have to buy music from iTunes whenever I want a new song to listen to that is not available on Spotify. I hope to have more good days and experiences with Apple Music this semester and all throughout 2017.
