Apple begins limiting Apple Music free trial period to one month
A banner ad recently posted to Apple's website suggests the company might soon change Apple Music's free trial period from a generous three months down to one for new users.
The ad, which anchors the Accessories page on Apple's Online Store, contains text referencing a new one-month Apple Music tryout term.
"Millions of songs. One month on us," the ad reads.
Clicking on the graphic directs users to an iTunes webpage that reiterates the one-month term, including a dedicated initiation button that reads, "Get 1 Month Free." Links in iTunes also direct to the one-month offer, though some ads on social media platforms and others strewn across the internet either directly reference Apple Music's longstanding three-month trial or point to an iTunes page that echoes the legacy three-month, no-commitment offer.
While not confirmed, the policy change could be rolling out by region, as some users are no longer capable of signing up for a three-month trial. Others, however, still have access to the original offer through both iTunes and the Music app on iOS.
MacRumors reported on the banner ad earlier today.
The updated terms mark the first change to Apple's streaming music subscription structure since the service launched in 2015. Designed to draw in new users, the three-month, no-obligation trial was among the most generous from the world's major streaming services. By contrast, Spotify presents new users a 30-day free trial to its premium tier, while Pandora provides similar incentives for its for-pay product.
Over the past two years, however, Apple Music has quickly cemented its status as a leading streaming provider. According to Apple's most recent numbers released in June, Apple Music boasts 60 million paying subscribers. A far cry from Spotify's 100 million subscriber count, Apple Music is growing more rapidly than its competing market leader and is in control of key countries like the U.S.
The ad, which anchors the Accessories page on Apple's Online Store, contains text referencing a new one-month Apple Music tryout term.
"Millions of songs. One month on us," the ad reads.
Clicking on the graphic directs users to an iTunes webpage that reiterates the one-month term, including a dedicated initiation button that reads, "Get 1 Month Free." Links in iTunes also direct to the one-month offer, though some ads on social media platforms and others strewn across the internet either directly reference Apple Music's longstanding three-month trial or point to an iTunes page that echoes the legacy three-month, no-commitment offer.
While not confirmed, the policy change could be rolling out by region, as some users are no longer capable of signing up for a three-month trial. Others, however, still have access to the original offer through both iTunes and the Music app on iOS.
MacRumors reported on the banner ad earlier today.
The updated terms mark the first change to Apple's streaming music subscription structure since the service launched in 2015. Designed to draw in new users, the three-month, no-obligation trial was among the most generous from the world's major streaming services. By contrast, Spotify presents new users a 30-day free trial to its premium tier, while Pandora provides similar incentives for its for-pay product.
Over the past two years, however, Apple Music has quickly cemented its status as a leading streaming provider. According to Apple's most recent numbers released in June, Apple Music boasts 60 million paying subscribers. A far cry from Spotify's 100 million subscriber count, Apple Music is growing more rapidly than its competing market leader and is in control of key countries like the U.S.
Comments
I think if you buy a new iPhone or Mac computer, you should get a free year of Apple Music.
That's funny considering people spend over $1,000 for a phone and Apple cannot even provide a $9 dongle to connect headphones, or provide a USB-C to lightning cable. Good luck on Apple giving away Apple Music for a year.
The average age of Apple Music users are millennials because Mommy and Daddy pay for it. I don't have AirPods because I would rather have headphones that offer high quality sound, and sound quality is not a top priority for their earbuds or AirPods. Their discontinued in-ear headphones had fantastic sound, but they kept working their way out of my ears, and then the left one stopped working. I, like you, would rather OWN my music, not rent it. I get CDs for free from my local library and I also buy CDs, new and used, from Amazon from my favorite artists. I prefer to rip the CD at a higher quality for convenience, but also still have the CD for uncompressed sound quality. The average age of Apple Music users grew up listening to lousy MP3 files.
If you're not using the service enough to justify the cost in your mind, cancel it. You can do this at any time, but ... since you don't seem to have a good understanding of the point of it anyway, so I'd suggest you cancel it anyway and go back to free internet radio or buying select songs or whatever you did before.
2. Spoken like a person who hasn't tried it at all. Don't like new stuff? Doesn't matter -- there's 45M+ songs in there. Prefer Luciano Pavarotti or Hank Williams or John Coltrane or Tony Bennet or Van Morrison to DJ Khalid or Katy Perry? No problem, it's all there. Apple Music is MOST DEFINITELY not for only people who like current trends in music, and since you tell it your tastes in music, you don't see most of that stuff anyway. Why are you so afraid of giving it a try?
3. I'm slightly older than you, and I love the shit out of Apple Music.
4. I have three (or four, actually) different headphones. AirPods are amazing but they are "walkin' around" buds, not "serious listening" cans. I have a noise-cancelling set of headphones for air travel, a "flat as possible" reference set for deep listening, an over-ear set with good sound for casual home use, and then AirPods for my walks.
I'm sure the average Apple Music (and Spotify) user is younger than we are by quite a bit, but that's because older people like yourself have a lot of misconceptions about how it works, and are mysteriously afraid of giving it a (completely free) spin. The first time you ask Siri to play you some early Pink Floyd or a specific album you don't already own, or just "some sad songs from the Sixties," you will *get it* with this whole streaming thing.
I’m 47 and still listen to new music. For someone like me who listens to music all the time (have several AirPlay speakers set up all over the house) it is definitely worth the $10/month. Even more so considering I like pretty much like all genres of music and would cost me a fortune to purchase 1% of what I listen to.
Again, no one should be paying $10 a month. Student is $4.99 and the rest can be paying a couple bucks more.
I want AirPods because high end headphones suck for working out. See, I can do that too.