Here's a First Look at Apple Music's Voice Plan Launching With iOS 15.2

[MacRumors]

iOS 15.2 is expected to be released to all users as early as next week, and one of the software update's key new features is the Apple Music Voice Plan, which is designed to let users access Apple Music exclusively through Siri.

Ahead of iOS 15.2 being released, we're able to provide a first look at the Voice Plan, courtesy of MacRumors contributor Steve Moser.

Users will be able to subscribe to the Voice Plan by saying something along the lines of "Hey Siri, start my Apple Music Voice Plan trial," or by signing up through the Apple Music app. Pricing is set at $4.99 per month in the United States, with first-time subscribers who request music through Siri able to receive a free seven-day preview without auto-renewal, and a three-month trial with auto-renewal available in the Apple Music app.

Once subscribed to the Voice Plan, users can ask Siri to play music on any Siri-enabled device, including the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod mini, and AirPods, as well as through CarPlay. The plan also works with the "Type to Siri" accessibility feature, according to fine print on Apple's website.

With the Voice Plan, users will have access to Apple Music's entire catalog of over 90 million songs and playlists, as well as Apple Music Radio. In the Apple Music app, a dedicated "Just Ask Siri…" section provides subscribers with listening suggestions, and there is also a queue of recently played music through Siri.

Voice Plan subscribers will have full playback controls, including unlimited song skipping through Siri. If a Voice Plan subscriber attempts to control the Apple Music app without Siri, a screen pops up advising them to use Siri or upgrade to a standard Apple Music plan, which costs $9.99 per month for individuals and $14.99 per month for families.

Voice Plan subscribers cannot listen to songs in Spatial Audio or Lossless Audio, download songs for offline playback, watch music videos, view lyrics, see what friends are listening to, or listen on other supported platforms like Android.

Apple Music's Voice Plan will be available on iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, macOS 12.1, watchOS 8.3, and tvOS 15.2 in 17 countries and regions, including the United States, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Article Link: Here's a First Look at Apple Music's Voice Plan Launching With iOS 15.2

 

[masterleep]

What more evidence do you need that Siri is a flaming pile of garbage than Apple giving you a discount if you're willing to put up with the annoyance of using it?

 

[fwmireault]

Apple would pay me to only use Siri when listening to music that I would refuse

 

[erikkfi]

This is the least desirable thing Apple has launched since the Amelio era.

 

[contacos]

That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard and I thought Spotify only playing random songs from a playlist on a certain plan was already random.

Stupid Siri isn’t even multi lingual. Good luck getting her to understand songs or even artists in another language

Siri Play „Display Hinata“ [Despeinada]

 

[sdz]

So stupid.
Just put there a search bar. I don't want to spell complex artist names...

 

[imac wannabe]

Why would I pay for this??

 

[Futhark]

Do you not need an iPhone to setup an AirPod? So then this service seems a little unusual?

 

[Marbles1]

Tip: you can turn on an accessibility feature: type to Siri - and use the keypad to put in a request. I assume this would still work ?

 

[tomnavratil]

Am I the only one who thinks this plan is so confusing and useless? I mean many users still don't understand what the hell it even is.

 

[radioflyer]

I thought I could always say “hey, Siri, play “80s Hits” radio” or whatever song and it would play? Half the time when I ask for a song it plays some random song not even close to the same name. I don’t get the point to this service when it’s something we’ve been able to use anyway. What am I missing?

 

[Agneev]

Every Apple employee who backed this absolutely ridiculous feature is dumb as a rock.

 

[contacos]

Am I the only one who thinks this plan is so confusing and useless? I mean many users still don't understand what the hell it even is.

You basically pay less for a different [limited] input method? Dumb

 

[incoherent_1]

And I thought Ping was stupid.

 

[tomnavratil]

You basically pay less for a different [limited] input method? Dumb

Indeed, still find that surreal. Why would you compromise UX like this?

 

[John Connor]

HomePod mini but not HomePod?
As yes. Just wasn’t included in the list.

 

[jazz1]

Getting my bowl of popcorn out to watch the deserved flames rise. Maybe we should pay extra for album art...color art, that's extra I should not be so negative during the holidays. To each his own...Happy Holidays!

 

[Kelly the Dude]

The only justification for this that I can think of is if there were a large number of users only with HomePods and no other apple devices that wanted to gain access to Apple Music and didn’t want to pay full price for features they didn’t need.

My feeling is that this isn’t the case and rather the reverse is true: the vast majority people with HomePods also have at least an iPhone, and HomePods are more likely iPhone/iPad/Mac/TV accessory.

 

[211]

The Voice Plan is aimed at casual music listeners, probably people who want background music, so will ask for playlists mainly. Siri just can’t understand the vast majority of requests for specific songs/albums/artists- and these requests are in English. I don’t know how well other voice assistants are with these kind of requests but the voice search on YouTube is pretty good as it seems to correct itself to what makes sense, rather than only accepting what it thinks I have said

 

[Unity451]

Not to pull the Steve card, but... This would've never happened if Steve was still around.

 

[that be me]

All this and yet I still can't ask my homepod to play music stored directly on my phone without paying for it.

 

[Rogifan]

Who is this for? I can’t imagine having to rely on Siri to give me the right song.

 

[topdrawer]

maybe someone will make an app with a music player interface that translates to siri.

 

[kkclstuff]

the point here is Apple is trying to milk its customers for a feature (Siri) that should be accessible across our devices already. (Try to get Siri to play a personal playlist from your HomePod mini without an Apple Music subscription.)

the Digital Revolution has been usurped by 'Subscription Oligarchy'

 

[benh911f]

I have to assume Apple is banking on people getting fed up with having to use it this way that they’ll just upgrade to the normal plan.