Rumor Comes with the Price Drop of Apple Music by Christmas Holiday Season

Rumor has that Apple is prepare and investing a major price drop! For its Apple Music streaming service. The new price would start to rolling out by Christmas, with a "holiday promotional discount". It means that potentially both individual and family plans would see a price drop by the holiday season; while the student rates would remain the same.

Citing a pair of sources who have "worked closely" with Apple Music since its launch, Digital Music News reports Apple might lop as much as 20 percent off current subscription pricing.

If implemented, individual Apple Music plans would drop from $9.99 to $7.99 per month, while family plans could move from $14.99 to $12.99, a significant decrease when compared to competing services. Student pricing would remain unchanged at $4.99 per month.

The publication was quick to note that while "serious discussions" are ongoing within Apple, the cuts may not materialize. That said, the new price tiers could potentially debut as soon as December as part of a holiday promotion.

The report's wording implies the pricing launch as a one-time deal, meaning customers who sign up during the aforementioned holiday promo period will keep the reduced pricing as long as they continue monthly payments. Users signed up for the standard three-month trial window will automatically be switched to the new rate, while existing subscribers might be transitioned to the lower rate "if it becomes permanent," though details remain murky.

Driving discussions to lower Apple Music's barrier of entry is Amazon, which recently launched an all-you-can-eat music streaming service called Music Unlimited, the report said. For regular consumers, Music Unlimited comes at a price commensurate of Apple Music's $9.99 per month fee, though that cost drops to $7.99 for members of the e-commerce giant's Prime program.

It should be noted that Digital Music News previously issued a spurious report claiming Apple would end iTunes downloads in the near future. Similar to today's report, the publication cited sources who worked with Apple but who are not directly affiliated with the company as saying the monumental change would occur either "within two years" or "the next 3-4 years, maybe longer."

The rumor was thoroughly debunked in separate statements from Tom Neumayr and services chief Eddy Cue, prompting Digital Music News to soften its prediction in a subsequent report.

source from
http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/10/31/rumor-apple-mulls-20-apple-music-price-decrease-

iPod! Happy 15th birthday! Apple Forgot to Celebrate, But Readers Make It Up

It was 15 years ago, in 2001, Apple unveiled iPod, a product helped the company stretch out of the niche of PC market. And an evolution morphed the company into the world-dominating presence. But yesterday, Apple, the iPod’s own daddy. No press release.

But many readers share their memories of the classic play, for they have lots of episodes with ipod, with apple.

I wanted a MiniDisc player but dad insisted the iPod was the future’
I was at university and I wanted a MiniDisc player but my dad insisted that the iPod was the future. So I queued up by the Apple Store on Tottenham Court Road to get one of the first generation models.

Ironically, I was underwhelmed, I only owned about 12 CDs. Also, it turned out I needed to use a friend's computer just to load it as the interface wasn’t compatible with my old Mac. I remember for the next few months getting on the tube and giving other people with the iconic white headphones an (admittedly smug) conspiratorial smile. Sadly it died a few years ago.

I wouldn't be without my iPhone now!

Heather, 35-year-old technology marketer, Bristol


Noor’s 6th generation iPod Classic
‘It’s an audio scrapbook of my music taste over the years’
I own a sixth generation iPod Classic and even after eight years it still works like a gem. 120GB of space and an amazing battery life means it has accompanied me through long bus rides and border crossings during my backpacking trip in South East Asia, overnight cramming sessions for my university exams, nights when sleep just wouldn’t come and more. I suppose you can call it an audio scrapbook of my music taste over the years.

For me, it holds a wealth of memories - that tiny chip in the corner from its first fall when I was rushing for an interview that eventually led me to my current job, and the signatures from members of Copeland on its back when they played their ‘farewell’ tour in Singapore.

Noor Ashikin, 27-year-old working in the media, Singapore



‘Though it is long gone now, I loved my first iPod’
My brother was working in the US and he contacted me and said he was at a Mac show. He said they were selling this new music player and asked if I wanted one.

I already had a little MP3 player, a Sony or something, that was terrible - it could hold one album and the conversion routine to get it onto the player was hard work. I said yes, of course.

It cost an arm and a leg but he brought back the most beautiful object ever and I fell in love with it. As I was of the generation who had been transformed by the Walkman I understood immediately what we had here. Though it is long gone now, I loved my first iPod.

Ivan Pope, writer living in Brighton

However, some hold that it’s a bittersweet birthday for the iPod; she’s so close to being dead it feels like Apple is keeping her on life support.

resources from

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/24/happy-15th-birthday-ipod-readers-share-their-memories-of-the-classic-mp3-player

Facebook New App: Buying Wthout Leaving Facebook

Wednesday, Facebook updated a series of changes to its main iOS app, mainly focusing on getting people to use it to interact with local businesses. It allows its users to interact directly with different brands, which enable the users to order food and purchase tickets, directly from businesses' Facebook Pages, without leaving Facebook and opening a new page or tab.

For restaurant orders, partners are Slice and Delivery.com. For movie and event tickets are Fandango, Eventbrite, or Ticketmaster. Even booking an appointment from some business pages is also available. But this requires users to have a MyTime account. Don’t worry as it is easy as there will be no more need to create a MyTime account, fill up forms or log in.

From the Web to mobile, Recommendations system is also being delivered by the social network. The app will auto-detect when a post is calling for local suggestions, and offer to turn the system on, automatically building a list from friends' posts, along with a map.



An estimated 650 million Facebook members, according to TechCrunch, use the Events feature each month. 35 million view a public event in a day. In 2015 alone, 47 million public events were created. But the previous problem is that users need to log into a different page or site to buy tickets to such events.

Those figures will potentially increase the easier and more personal interaction with brands. The new app will also hopefully increase Facebook traffic among the teenage demography which, according to reports, has fallen recently.

All of the new changes are initially rolling out in the U.S., starting today. The exception is the updated Events tab, which will only arrive in the U.S. "in the coming weeks." Facebook didn't offer any details on international rollouts.



Source from

http://www.itechpost.com/articles/43862/20161020/facebook-news-updates-new-app-lets-order-food-buy-tickets.htm

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/10/19/facebook-updates-ios-app-with-food-ticket-purchases-new-recommendations-system-more