Apple to release iOS 8.4 ahead of Apple Music launch
Apple Music is coming on Tuesday, June 30, which means the release of iOS 8.4 has to come at around the same time. According to a recent report from MacRumors, the new version of iOS will go live at 11:00 a.m. EDT on June 30, two hours earlier than Apple’s usual update release window.
According to former Beats Music CEO and current Apple Music senior director Ian Rogers, Beats 1 will begin transmitting an hour after the release of iOS 8.4, offering users around the world a streaming music station that airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Tuesday morning we’ll be unveiling the next chapter. Please make a note to upgrade to iOS 8.4 at 8am PT Tuesday, June 30th and listen to the first Beats 1 broadcast at 9am PT. Here’s a Facebook invite to make it easy for you to say yes, you’ll be there, and invite all your friends. See you there.
Beats 1 will be free to all users signed in with an Apple ID. Apple Music, Cupertino’s new music streaming service, will offer a paid streaming component priced at $9.99 per month for a single user, or $14.99 monthly for a family of up to six people. Apple Music is likely to launch alongside Beats 1. Subscribers will have streaming access to the full Apple Music catalog, which currently contains more than 30 million songs. Apple will offer a free three-month trial to give users the chance to test the new service.
What I’m curious about is whether Apple will also release a new beta of iOS 9 at the same time. It seems to me that Apple Music will necessitate changes to the native Music app, or its own program altogether. Perhaps Cupertino doesn’t care so much about beta users getting in on Apple Music, but I certainly hope those of us running the prerelease software can test out the streaming music service on our devices.
For help getting Apple Music, see our article on what you need to do to receive the service.
