As most of you already know, Apple’s highly anticipated music streaming service, Apple Music, was officially released yesterday. Providing users with many music based programmes, the new service was received with a lot of enthusiasm by users and developers alike.
The biggest and most sought after of all, is Beats 1, a curated DJ’d radio station playing some of the best music from across the globe. Beats 1 broadcasts to 100 countries worldwide via the Music app on iOS devices and via iTunes on the desktop. While that was all good news for iOS/OS X owners, Android users were left to sulk until Apple released its Android app for the new service by this fall.
But now, developer Benjamin Rumble (who is a huge Apple fan, by the way) has come out as a savior for many Android users who wanted to experience Apple Music’s Beats 1 right now (via TechCrunch). He apparently stumbled upon an unencrypted stream for Beats 1 radio and embedded it on his own personal website. Accessing this website via an Android 4.1+ device will allow you to listen to Beats 1 from your Android browser with a slight, unnoticeable delay.
And it actually works!
We tested it on a Sony Xperia Z2 running Android 5.1 Lollipop and used the stock browser on the phone. Logging on to the given URL on Rumble’s website gave us a clear session with Apple’s Beats 1.
Rumble says that the stream works for all users on iOS 6+ devices, Android 4.1 and higher, and via Safari on OS X.
Do note however, that this isn’t the only attempt at finding and integrating a stream of Beats 1, even though the service was released just yesterday. Reddit users have found additional URLs for audio streams that can be accessed outside the iOS Music app and iTunes 12.2.
The only requirements are that you should be from a country where Beats 1 officially streams and have a player or app that supports the HLS protocol. These include Safari (OS X/iOS), Chrome (Android/iOS not desktop), Quicktime X (OS X), Microsoft Edge (Windows 10), Media Player Home Classic (Windows), TuneIn Radio (iOS/Android), and others listed here.
These new streams will not only enable Android users to tune in to Beats 1, but even people using desktops can get their ears perked. Though as awareness spreads, Apple will probably take these streams down but until then, we non-Apple users can enjoy Cupertino’s special new service, unofficially !
