Apple Music now offers student discount

Apple Music is cutting down its prices for the students to cost US$4.99 (around $6) per month, which is also the price Spotify offers students. What Apple is emphasizing here though is that the Spotify discount only lasts for 12 months, while Apple Music will offer the discounted rate for four years after sign up. Of course, you need to verify your enrollment status once you sign up.

At the moment, the offer is available to students in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. It’s rolling out throughout the day so Apple might be bringing it to your area soon.

Source: Lifehacker

Apple Music app for Android gets update, brings music video support & family membership

The latest version of Apple Music for Android brings with it some new features including music video support and family membership plans. Version 0.9.8 of the app gives Android users to the many music videos Apple hosts on its servers, including those that are exclusive to the streaming service. You can see the videos of fresh and popular tracks in the app’s New section. If you’re looking for a specific video, you can use the search feature.

Aside from that, Android users now have the option to sign up for the Apple Music Family Membership plan within the app. If you’re interested in this, the plan will give you and up to five other members of your family access to Apple Music for $14.99 per month (instead of paying $9.99 per month for single users). The app is a free 32MB download from Google Play and needs Android 4.3 or higher to run.

Source: Apple Insider

Shazam gets deeper integration with Apple Music in new iOS update

Apple had plans to expand the capabilities of Apple Music with third-party apps. We’re now seeing that with the latest update of Shazam. The music discovery app now lets you easily add songs to your Apple Music library and into any of your preexisting playlists. A new My Shazam Tracks playlist will also be available in the Apple Music app, when you Shazam songs, which is much like what you can do with Spotify. You can also listen to full tracks you Shazam without leaving the Shazam app as these are streamed directly from Apple Music.

Source: 9to5Mac

Apple Music to start streaming on Sonos speakers tomorrow

Sonos started testing out Apple Music streaming in December last year. Now, the two companies are ready to introduce the full support starting tomorrow, February 10. Sonos speaker systems around the world will be able to access all Apple Music features and stream your entire catalog through these speakers.

To stream Apple Music on Sonos, all you have to do is select "Add Music Services" from any Sonos controller app and look for the Apple Music icon and then enter login credentials.

Apple Music on Sonos was tested by hundreds of thousands of listeners through a successful beta program that started in early December. To stream Apple Music on Sonos, customers simply select “Add Music Services” from any Sonos controller app, scroll down to the Apple Music icon, and login.

“The feedback from Apple Music members on Sonos during the beta period has been great,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Sonos plus Apple Music provides an amazing listening experience at home – and we’re excited to offer it to all Sonos customers starting tomorrow.” 

“This partnership has been an excellent example of two companies that truly care about music coming together to deliver a great listening experience,” said John MacFarlane, Sonos chief executive officer. “Working with Apple gives us the opportunity to share Apple Music throughout people’s homes in a way that’s easy, intuitive, and sounds great.”

Source: Sonos