Apple is barging into the music streaming industry with Apple Music, with the service being unveiled at the company's annual WWDC.
At the keynote for the event, Apple introduced new operating systems OS X El Capitan and iOS 9, along with updates to apps for the iOS, Apple Pay, iPad functionalities, the Swift programming language and watchOS.
Apple saved the announcement of Apple Music for the very last, with the revealed details of the service making it worth the wait. Apple is clearly positioning Apple Music to become the dominant music streaming service, challenging Spotify for the industry's top spot.
Comparisons between the two music streaming services have been ongoing ever since rumors about Apple Music began to surface, with details being compared to those of Spotify as they were revealed.
Matching up Apple Music to Spotify begins with how much access to the service would cost. Both Apple Music and Spotify offer free options with support from advertisements, and both of them offer premium accounts at $10 per month. Apple Music, however, is offering a family plan for up to six users for only $15, while in Spotify, it will be $5 for each additional user.
The catalog of music accessible to subscribers under Apple Music and Spotify will both be expansive ones, featuring tracks numbering more than 30 million. There will be some tracks found exclusively for Apple Music and there will be some tracks found exclusively for Spotify.
Spotify has an edge, however, in availability. While Apple Music will release an app for Android in addition to within the Apple ecosystem, Spotify is now readily available for both iOS and Android, along with access through the Sony PlayStation and even on Uber cars.
Spotify also has a social aspect wherein users can find out what their friends are listening to, along with features that allow users to enjoy their music in different places. For example, Spotify has recently released the Running feature which detects the user's running tempo measured in steps per minute and looks for tracks which will match the user's speed.
The big differentiator for Apple Music, on the other hand, is Connect, which is a part of the service that allows users to keep up with their favorite artists. The Facebook-like pages would, in turn, provide users with a more personal connection to artists as they post exclusive content such as new song premieres, lyrics in development, behind-the-scenes videos, and much more.
Apple Music will also allow users to integrate their personal music collection into the service, collecting all the music of users into one spot for them to access. The service will also feature Siri integration, which will allow users to use voice commands to play certain songs or search for specific tracks.
Apple Music is offering a trial period that will last for as long as three months, compared to the 30-day trial period of Spotify. Users with Apple devices could very easily switch to Apple Music as their credit card information will already be on their devices, which could definitely pose a challenge to Spotify's crown in the music streaming industry.
