Apple’s “Unleashed” event is underway, and the company has announced a new Voice Plan for Apple Music. It’s a new Apple Music plan that costs just $4.99 a month, but it has a few catches. The first is that it’s limited to one person per subscription, and the second is that your music playback is limited to Siri only. There’s also no spatial or lossless audio, and you won’t have access to lyrics or music videos, either.
Apple announced that the new Apple Music Voice Plan will be available in the following countries:
- Australia
- Austria
- Canada
- China Mainland
- France
- Germany
- Hong Kong
- India
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Spain
- Taiwan
- U.K.
- U.S.
Alongside Apple’s new Voice Plan, the company also announced greater Siri integration with Apple Music. There are new playlists in Apple Music for “hundreds of moods and activities” available for all Apple Music subscribers. They’re accessible via voice commands through Siri and are also included in this new Voice Plan. For example, you can ask Siri to play a playlist themed for hiking, or you can ask Siri to play new music.
Apple’s new Voice Plan is perfect for those who don’t mind using a voice assistant to listen to music and will integrate well with Apple’s HomePod devices. Apple’s $4.99 Voice Plan is incredibly competitive when put against the likes of Spotify, Deezer, and TIDAL. It also acts as an incentive to use Siri and may encourage users to make use of Apple’s virtual assistant more in general. Apple Music usually costs $9.99 for an individual or $14.99 for a family of up to six people. Saving $5 a month to just use Apple Music with your voice sounds like a pretty interesting trade-off, and may encourage more people to use the service.
