Apple Inc. had a big event today where, alongside the new Apple M1 Pro and M1 Max System on a Chip (SoC), the company offered new plans for Apple Music. The cheapest of the plans, called ‘Voice Plan’, will cost $4.99, and will need subscribers to access the same through Siri only.
There is a trio of new subscription plans for Apple Music. Apple Inc. calls them the Voice Plans, Individual Plan, and Family Plan. They cost $4.99, $9.99, and $14.99 respectively.
Apple Music $4.99 Voice Plan wants users to access the service only through Siri:
Apple has announced its new Voice Plan for Apple Music from $4.99 per month. The company seems to have intentionally designed the new basic subscription around Siri.
The Apple Music Voice plan is the cheapest among the three subscription plans. Nonetheless, subscribers will gain access to Apple Music’s catalog of 90 million songs, and tens of thousands of playlists. Apple Inc. is also offering unrestricted access to Apple Music Radio through the cheapest plan.
Apple Music Is Launching a Voice-Only Siri Plan for $4.99 per Month https://t.co/FYKhYZpRkZ
— Variety (@Variety) October 18, 2021
Speaking about the new Voice Plan, vice president of Apple Music and Beats, Oliver Schusser, said:
“Apple Music and Siri are natural partners and already work seamlessly together. With Siri actively used on hundreds of millions of devices worldwide, we are thrilled to add this new plan that delivers an effortless music experience just by using your voice and makes Apple Music accessible to even more people around the world.”
🍎🍏Apple Music plans
Voice Plan $4.99(₹367)/month#AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/UXtt9B4iRZ
— 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿👨💻 (@TechyPreacher) October 18, 2021
The new Apple Music subscription plans are as below:
- Voice Plan at $4.99 a month and you get 1 person, Siri on Apple devices, access to songs, playlists, and stations. The plan covers all Apple devices.
- Individual Plan at $9.99 a month for 1 person. It covers Siri on Apple devices, songs, playlists, stations, lyrics and music videos, spatial and lossless audio and Apple+ supported devices.
- The Family Plan is the same as the Individual Plan but covers up to 6 people. The Family Plan covers up to 6 people.
Why is Apple Inc. forcing its Apple Music users to access the service through Siri?
Apple Inc. claims it introduced the $4.99 Voice Plan to bring Apple Music to more people. The price alone is a good justification for the claims.
However, mandating subscribers to access the Apple Music service only through Siri, could be a frustrating experience, claim some regular iPhone users. It seems the company is forcing its customers to use Siri just to reach the Apple devices that don’t support Apple+.
Kind of like the iPod Shuffle of Apple Music plans. pic.twitter.com/T4VfKSEti7
— Harry McCracken (@harrymccracken) October 18, 2021
Apple Inc.’s Siri seems way behind Google Assistant, and even Amazon’s Alexa. It is quite likely that the company could be attempting to train and improve Siri by forcing users to take an extra step, even if verbal, to access Apple Music.
Apple device users who are interested in Apple Music Voice Plan can start by saying “Hey Siri, start my Apple Music Voice trial.”
#Apple has introduced today Brand new subscription plan for #AppleMusic Voice Plan. $4.99 per month.
Available in 17 countries.Here are the plans 🥳
Retweet 🔥#AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/tqfd54HHsf
— ANUJ ATRI 🇮🇳 (@techworld005) October 18, 2021
Incidentally, Apple Inc. seems well aware of Siri’s limitations. Hence, the company has reportedly confirmed it is adding “hundreds of new mood and activity playlists optimized for Siri.”