Apple has a new streaming offer: Apple Music Voice. It costs $4.99 a month and it’s available in the U.S; it will be launched in Mexico and several other countries at a later date.
I bought a gift card to try it on my iPad, and my initial impression was actually pretty good. I selected the British version of Siri, and most of the time it understood what I was asking. I said, “play Coldplay’s latest album” and it played “Music of the Spheres”; I asked it to play songs of Keane, and “Somewhere Only We Know” started.
Apple Music Voice on iPad
My dog started barking and Siri could not listen to me. And at the time of writing this, with the screen off, I said several times “Hey, Siri” and nothing, I had to turn it on for Siri to catch my command. But yeah, Siri got most of my requests right, even with my Mexican accent, which believe me, a few years ago, it would not understand me at all.
Now, that’s one part of the Voice plan equation. Would I subscribe? The answer is pretty simple: no. I don’t use Siri, and this version of Apple Music has been stripped down to its bones.
You don’t get lyrics, you can’t select a song from an album – you can only listen to a snippet – and you can’t use this on an Android device. Apple wrote this on the press release:
For access to Apple Music’s premium offerings, including Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio, Lyrics, Music Videos, and more, subscribers can easily switch to Apple Music’s individual plan for $9.99 per month…
And you can tell Apple wants you to cough up the $9.99: look for an album on the music app, select a song and a pop up will tell you to ask Siri or upgrade for the full experience. Same happens when you want to check the lyrics of a song playing.
So, it all comes down to how much you use Siri, and if you really want to save $5 a month. I would definitely pay the full version. You can give it a go with the free 7 day trial that Apple gives to all new users.