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The weekend’s best deals: Apple Music subscriptions, Sony headphones, and more

 2 years ago
source link: https://arstechnica.com/staff/2022/06/the-weekends-best-deals-apple-music-subscriptions-sony-headphones-and-more/
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Dealmaster —

The weekend’s best deals: Apple Music subscriptions, Sony headphones, and more

Dealmaster also includes Sonos speakers, lots of video games, and the Google Chromecast.

Ars Staff - 6/11/2022, 3:27 PM

The weekend’s best deals: Apple Music subscriptions, Sony headphones, and more
Ars Technica

It's the weekend, which means the time has come for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a nice offer for those who've been interested in trying out Apple Music or just want to wring out a few free months of music streaming. As of this writing, Best Buy is offering six months of service to new subscribers of Apple's Spotify rival at no cost. If you're a returning subscriber, meanwhile, you'll get five months for free. Apple normally provides a one-month free trial to new users before charging a $10 monthly fee, so this deal works out to a $50 discount in total.

You'll need to supply Best Buy with an email address to redeem the offer, and, sadly, the deal doesn't apply to current Apple Music subscribers. Once you activate the extended trial, your subscription will be set to auto-renew by default, but the Dealmaster can confirm that you're able to turn that off in your account settings without losing access to the free months of service. It took about five minutes for Best Buy to email us a redemption code after putting in an order, so don't be alarmed if you don't receive the deal immediately after purchase.

We covered the pros and cons of Apple Music in our guide to the best Spotify alternatives earlier this year. Compared to its biggest competitor, Apple's service tends to put more emphasis on music curation by actual people. It's not devoid of algorithm-based recommendations by any means, but in general, Spotify's are better-tuned. Apple's approach could be good or bad depending on how in tune you feel Spotify is with your taste, but either way, both services have a massive music library that you can sort into playlists and listen to à la carte as you please. Unlike Spotify, Apple doesn't offer a free tier to fall back on, but it can integrate music you may already own (on iTunes) with its streaming library, and it offers higher-quality audio with some content (for now, at least). Naturally, it's also more tightly integrated with other Apple products—here's looking at you, HomePod owners—though it has apps for both iOS and Android.

If you don't feel like switching to a new music service, though, our roundup has plenty of strong discounts on other gadgets and gear we like, including Sony's still-excellent WH-1000XM4 noise-canceling headphones, Google's Chromecast with Google TV, Sonos' Move portable speaker, a truckload of PC, Xbox, and PlayStation games, Fitbit trackers, high-speed SSDs, and much more. You can check out our full curated roundup below.

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Featured deals of the day

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At its current deal price, the Sony WH-1000XM4 (right) is still a great value among noise-canceling headphones. Compared to the <a href=newer and pricier WH-1000XM5 (left), the XM4 aren't quite as comfortable and have a more bass-heavy sound by default, but they can fold up for easier storage, and they still deliver excellent active noise cancellation." />
Enlarge / At its current deal price, the Sony WH-1000XM4 (right) is still a great value among noise-canceling headphones. Compared to the newer and pricier WH-1000XM5 (left), the XM4 aren't quite as comfortable and have a more bass-heavy sound by default, but they can fold up for easier storage, and they still deliver excellent active noise cancellation.
Jeff Dunn

Electronics deals

The Sonos Move is hefty, but it works over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and sounds great for a (technically) portable speaker.
Enlarge / The Sonos Move is hefty, but it works over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and sounds great for a (technically) portable speaker.
Jeff Dunn

The Fitbit Versa 3 is a fitness-focused wearable we recommend in our <a href=guide to the best smartwatches." />
Enlarge / The Fitbit Versa 3 is a fitness-focused wearable we recommend in our guide to the best smartwatches.
Fitbit

Laptop and desktop PC deals

Most people don't need the higher speeds of a PCI Express 4.0 SSD like WD's Black SN850 just yet, but if you own a PlayStation 5 and want to expand its internal storage space, this model meets Sony's specs and performs capably.
Enlarge / Most people don't need the higher speeds of a PCI Express 4.0 SSD like WD's Black SN850 just yet, but if you own a PlayStation 5 and want to expand its internal storage space, this model meets Sony's specs and performs capably.
Jeff Dunn

TV and home entertainment deals

The Google Chromecast with Google TV is <a href=our top pick among affordable 4K streamers." />
Enlarge / The Google Chromecast with Google TV is our top pick among affordable 4K streamers.
Jeff Dunn

Video game deals

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The blockbuster first-person shooter <em>Halo Infinite</em>.
Enlarge / The blockbuster first-person shooter Halo Infinite.
Xbox Game Studios / 343 Industries

The playful open-world racer <em>Forza Horizon 5</em>.
Enlarge / The playful open-world racer Forza Horizon 5.

The tough-as-nails and stunningly animated run-and-gun shooter <em>Cuphead</em>.
Enlarge / The tough-as-nails and stunningly animated run-and-gun shooter Cuphead.

Sony's DualSense gamepad for the PlayStation 5.
Enlarge / Sony's DualSense gamepad for the PlayStation 5.

Gaming deals

It's a few years old, but HyperX's Cloud Stinger is still a good value if you <a href=want a sub-$50 gaming headset." />
Enlarge / It's a few years old, but HyperX's Cloud Stinger is still a good value if you want a sub-$50 gaming headset.

Accessories and miscellaneous deals


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