104 MACWORLD DECEMBER 2021
PLAYLIST APPLE MUSIC VOICE PLAN AND HOMEPOD MINIdinner party playlist,” for example. Apple
Music already has many such playlists, but
with a whole plan built around Siri voice
control, it needs to have hundreds more.
Apple Music’s new $4.99 Voice Plan
will be available later this fall in 17
countries: Australia, Austria, Canada,
China, France, Germany, Hong Kong,
India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New
Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, the United
Kingdom, and the United States.WHAT YOU DON’T GET
WITH THE VOICE PLAN
If you subscribe to the Voice Plan and you
open the Apple Music app, you’ll get a
“customized in-app experience with
suggestions based on the listener’s music
preferences and a queue of recently
played music through Siri.” Apple says
users will have “full music controls
including unlimited song skipping through
Siri,” so it’s unclear which standard
playback features you’ll be able to
control with your device and which you’ll
need to use Siri for.
In addition to missing out on the full
app experience, with the ability to browse
the whole catalog and create custom
playlists, Voice Plan users will miss out
on a few other premium features. They
won’t get Spatial Audio or Lossless
Audio, can’t see lyrics, and can’t watch
music videos. ■Apple made in its “Unleashed” event on
October 18 (fave.co/3BDLGCY). There’s
also a brand-new Apple Music tier that’s
half the price of the individual plan.
THE $5 APPLE MUSIC
VOICE PLAN
Apple Music has always distinguished
itself from other music services, particularly
its rival Spotify, by not offering a free
ad-supported tier. You have to pay at least
$9.99 a month for an individual plan or
$14.99 per month for a family plan, or
subscribe through the Apple One services
bundle (fave.co/3EFtF9p).
Now Apple is adding a new more
affordable option. The Voice Plan costs
$4.99 a month and is meant to be used
with Siri as your only means of starting up
new music. Apple will offer a free trial that
you can start entirely with Siri, by saying
“Hey Siri, start my Apple Music Voice trial.”
Using Siri, you’ll have access to the
entire Apple Music catalog of 90 million
songs, playlists, genre stations, and radio.
You’ll get the algorithmic personalized
playlists like Chill Mix, New Music Mix,
and Get Up! Mix, too, but you will
probably not be able to create and
save your own custom playlist.
To that end, Apple is adding hundreds
of new mood and activity playlists
optimized just for voice. You’ll be able to
say “Play something chill” or “Play the