So Apple music finally launched on June 30th or just this past Tuesday and here’s what you need to know about it.

First you need to update your iOS software and then you’ll discover that the little music icon’s colour will change to the picture below;

Once you click on it, you should still have access to your music only this time you’ll be presented with more options. One of such options is the “start 3 month free trial” feature which allows you try out the streaming service before you begin to pay monthly or start a monthly family pan just like you see in Spotify.

Another feature is the “Connect” option which is designed to give artist a “one stop shop” experience where they can upload stuff like photos and lyrics to songs. This can then be shared on other social media sites directly as well as the artist’s own website. Fans are not left out the Connect experience as well. They can interact directly with favourite artists using the comment, Like and share tools

Thirdly, you should see the radio called Beats 1 radio which will live feed from Los Angeles, New York City and London.

How much do you start paying beyond the free trial period?

$10/1,900 Naira per month. Oh yes there’s also a free trial period of 3 months and if you want to be on a family plan which is similar to what Spotify offers, you can get that for $15/2,900 Naira a month. It’s interesting because for UK users, you still have to pay £9.99/month which is about 3,085 Naira/Month.

You can start using this service right away if you’re an iOS user. The service will also be available on OS X and Windows, but people with Android phones will have to wait until later in the year.

Streaming is now a big service and now a report puts the number of songs and videos that was streamed by Americans in the first half of 2015 at 135 billion. This is huge people. The UK has over 7 million paying music streaming subscribers.

You can read our analysis of this market here

Reactions and reviews of the Apple Music streaming service

Apple Music will make Spotify totally irrelevant within a year — here’s why. You can read more on that reaction from Business Insider

Apple Music Is Hot — and Messy and that’s from David Pogue at Yahoo Tech

Apple Music vs Spotify comparison: Apple’s new music streaming service is a huge threat to Spotify – Mac world

Apple Music First Look: Rich, Robust — But Confusing – Recode