Apple’s new music streaming service, radio station and social network are now live. Apple Music along with Beats One an Connect are now available within iOS 8.4. Introduced at this years WWDC earlier in June, Apple Music is the company’s first move from the downloading music strategy to streaming it instead.

The new version of iOS 8.4 and OS X 10.10.4 for that matter are now out and can be updated by going to Settings > General > Software Update on an iPhone and you need the latest version of iTunes and as of writing isn’t yet available.

Features

One of the main features of Apple Music is Beats 1, it is a 24/7 radio station which live all of the world and has the main host Zane Lowe who was formally on BBC Radio 1 here in the UK. Other hosts will include Elton John Drake and Dr Dre.

Connect is another big part of Apple Music, it allows you to stay in the loop with you favourite artists such as Pharrell Williams who is one of the artists using it, they can post backstage or behind the scenes photos and videos as well as lyrics. Also, not only will you have access to all of the 30 million plus songs on the service, but your own purchased songs from iTunes as well as CDs you may have imported will be on hear as well.

Pricing and Trial

Apple has given its streaming service a generous free trial of three months, which is a lot better then Spotify. After the free trial, it will cost £9.99/$9.99 per month or £14.99/$14.99 for a family plan of up to six people. Apple Music is compatible with iOS, watchOS, OS X, Apple TV, PC and Android.