T-Mobile Expands “Music Freedom” to Include Apple Music

T-Mobile today revealed it's final "#uncarrier Amped" move of the summer:

T-Mobile is adding Apple Music to the long list of "Music Freedom" services that allow for unlimited music streaming for T-Mobile Simple Choice customers, WITHOUT any impact on your monthly data caps.

While not as exciting as the awesome "Mobile Without Borders" continent-wide roaming, or even the generous new family data plans, it is still an exciting additional feature for RVers looking to get their music fix while out on the road.

T-Mobile describes it this way:

Not surprisingly, Music Freedom has been an enormous hit with Un-carrier customers. They now stream over 131 million songs every single day – up an amazing 275% from a year ago when we launched Music Freedom. If AT&T customers streamed that much music, they could be paying upwards of $2.3 billion a year - and that’s not even factoring in overage penalties.

Music Freedom Services

T-Mobile launched Music Freedom last year with support for just eight music services, but since then has been constantly adding to the list.

Here are the services (current as of July 28th) that you can stream for free via T-Mobile without it counting against your data caps, even while roaming in Canada and Mexico:

• Apple Music
• Pandora
• iHeartRadio
• Rhapsody
• Beatport
• Spotify
• Slacker
• Radical.FM
• 8tracks
• Milk Music
• Black Planet
• Songza
• Rdio
• Radio Paradise
• AccuRadio
• SoundCloud
• Saavn
• Digitally Imported
• JAZZRADIO.com
• ROCKRADIO.com
• RadioTunes
• radioPup
• radio.com
• Mad Genius Radio
• Xbox Music
• Live365
• Fresca Radio
• Google Music
• Fit Radio
• SiriusXM
• Tidal Music
• MixRadio
• BandCamp

Sadly - two of my favorites remain unlisted - SomaFM, and the world's first Internet streaming station, the incomparable KPIG.

What About Network Neutrality?

There had been some worry that the new network neutrality rules might mean the end of T-Mobile's ability to offer music streaming for free.

But so far, T-Mobile has avoided running afoul of network neutrality rules with Music Freedom because T-Mobile does not charge streaming providers to be supported, and they do not favor partners in any fashion.

Since T-Mobile is treating all streaming services the same, they seem to be in the clear.

The T-Mobile Music Box

For music fans - dedicating a spare tablet to being a dedicated streaming music box sure beats listening to local radio overrun with non-stop commercials.

The cheapest T-Mobile Mobile Internet plan is just $20/mo, and though it only offers 1GB of high-speed data - even after the 1GB is used up music keeps streaming at high-speed.

As T-Mobile explains:

"If you reach your 4G LTE data limit through other means your on-network data will be slowed to 2G speeds but music streaming through included services will not be slowed down."

The only downside is T-Mobile's limited coverage in many areas in the US.