Half the price, but do you get half the Apple Music fun with only Siri to control things?<\/b>
\nApple kicked off its Apple Unleashed Event coverage by letting the world know that a new Apple Music plan was coming \u2013 the Voice Plan. Half the price of the standard Apple Music plan, it\u2019s designed for those that like to use Siri to command their Apple devices (although how many people that really is remains to be seen). However, contained within that description is something rather mysterious \u2013 what does Voice Plan really mean? What music can you listen to? What are you losing by skipping half the price? So what will you get? Basically, Siri is your own personal DJ, allowing you to ask it to play you things wherever you can talk to the personal assistant. You\u2019ll be able to ask for more things in terms of the types of music you\u2019re after \u2013 not just \u2018hit music\u2019 or \u2018country songs\u2019, but \u2018dinner party playlist\u2019 or \u2018music for hiking\u2019 will be enabled. You\u2019ll be able to skip through songs using Siri, and the artwork used suggests you\u2019ll be able to tap the screen to jump through \u2013 although we\u2019ve not had that last point confirmed by Apple. The key thing revolves around what\u2019s meant by \u2018Siri\u2019: we all interpret that as the voice assistant only, but you\u2019re also able to see the songs that have been played recently, as well as listener recommendations. This sounds like there will be more functionality within the Apple Music app, but it\u2019s yet to be confirmed. What is clear though, is that the Apple Music Voice Plan is not designed for those that like to spend hours curating their own playlists, using all the advanced features of the streaming service \u2013 it\u2019s designed for you to ask Siri to play a certain category of music, and let the virtual assistant do the hard work for you. Well, this is where it gets a little confusing. The features you\u2019re losing are pretty clear: no lyrics, ability to download songs for offline playback, no downloading of Apple Radio shows, Spatial Audio and Lossless playback are both missing… and you won\u2019t be able to see what your friends are listening to. You also can\u2019t create your own playlists to listen to later, which makes sense if you can\u2019t actually type anything into the app itself \u2013 it\u2019s all done by voice. You could, in theory, have said \u2018Hey Siri, add this song to my \u201cDead Good Jamz\u201d playlist\u2019 but that\u2019s not on offer here. When will you be able to sign up to the Apple Music Voice Plan? Well, the website currently says \u2018Coming soon\u2019, and we\u2019ve not been able to get a more definitive answer than \u2018later this fall\u2019. We\u2019d expect that to mean some time in November which, coincidentally, is when the new colors for the HomePod Mini will be released. It will land in 17 countries, which are: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This one\u2019s a little simpler: it will cost $4.99 \/ \u00a34.99 \/ AU$5.99 per month, which is half the price of the standard Apple Music plan, and a third of the cost of the Family plan. If you want to sign up, you\u2019ll need to do it through the Apple Music App, or you can just ask \u2018Hey Siri, start my Apple Music Voice trial\u2019, where you\u2019ll get seven days\u2019 music without it automatically renewing. While the new plan will work on any Siri-enabled device, it\u2019s really meant for those walking with a pair of AirPods or Beats headphones connected to an iPhone, or for anyone buying a HomePod Mini. It just halved the \u2018tax\u2019 on that latter product, with it now costing 50% less to get the most out of the tiny speaker by combining it with Apple Music \u2013 although it\u2019s surprising that Apple isn\u2019t bundling a large amount of its Music service with each purchase of a HomePod Mini, as that would surely be a no-brainer to continue when users are in the habit of regularly playing new music with their voices.<\/p>\n